How to fix 'Moo virus' causing zoomed-in screen, inverted colors, and mooing sound on iPhone?

weeklycod wrote:

moral of the story: stop clicking random links you find

No, that's not the moral of the story at all. Generally speaking, clicking on a link to a website, by itself, is not the problem. The morals of the story are "Don't install random shortcuts you find on the internet" and "Don't use random terminal commands you find on the internet."

Also, possibly, "Stay away from social media. It's bad for your mental health."

jetziel256 wrote:

How to counter the hhs/moo virus. Never click on any links with "shortcuts" in them it'll be a virus

Well, no.

It’s definitely not a virus (not self-propagating), and is arguably not even malware (intentionally installed).

TikTok selecting for skepticism, mostly.

As for shortcuts, they’re common, and many are quite useful.

But malicious shortcuts can also potentially be hazardous to user data.

nutty_boy123 wrote:

i made a shortcut to turn it off

[Edited by Moderator]

These users got into trouble because they trusted someone they did not know and downloaded a shortcut that did not do what they thought it was going to do. We advised them to never download from someone they do not know and stick to sharing Shortcuts with Family & Friends, or download from the Gallery in the Shortcuts app. They also do not know you, so following that same advice it would not be appropriate to recommend doing that either.

I do understand your intention may be genuine, though the shortcut may also change Settings that they did not want to change.

I would also add that the moo moo virus shortcut can change, a shortcut like that could make people think "oh yeah I run moo moo and then I can run this an I will be fine"

So just do not run any shortcut without reviewing !

Ronniej20_12 wrote:

So, I would like to know if anyone has a “cure” because this virus is on a rampage, and a lot of people are getting it.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Recent iPhone virus

use your favorite search engine if in doubt.

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=what+is+moo+virus+on+iphone%3F&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

ref: Recognize and avoid social engineering schemes including phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

weeklycod wrote:

I can't see any moo virus

Because there is no such thing.

moral of the story: stop clicking random links you find

How to counter the hhs/moo virus. Never click on any links with "shortcuts" in them it'll be a virus

I agree, personally I would recommend to check the shortcut before adding it (3 dots), if you don’t know anything about shortcuts then don’t add anything !

It's a not a virus at all. YOU have to CHOOSE to install it. That makes it a Trojan. It can't get onto any device without your help.

Apple will keep removing this link. Trusting an unknown third party is how moo gets on your device in the first place. So how is trusting an unknown third party link to remove it any safer?

Mac Jim ID wrote:

SravanKrA wrote:

It is a shortcut prank that is all over TikTok right now. Users are tricked into downloading these shortcuts and the "Moo" sound is heard on intervals along with changes in the Accessibility Settings. All you need to do is delete the shortcut and return the Settings changed back to their defaults.

Less destructive than the “prank” that told people they could fast charge their iPhone in their microwave oven. But just as pointless.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

Less destructive than the “prank” that told people they could fast charge their iPhone in their microwave oven. But just as pointless.

Correct! It amazes me how many people will just blindly do what they are told because they saw it on a TikTok video, or even consider that a source of factual information. It was on TikTok so it must be true, right?

Mac Jim ID wrote:

Lawrence Finch wrote:

Less destructive than the “prank” that told people they could fast charge their iPhone in their microwave oven. But just as pointless.

Correct! It amazes me how many people will just blindly do what they are told because they saw it on a TikTok video, or even consider that a source of factual information. It was on TikTok so it must be true, right?

There have been a number of suggestions like this that make devices (not just Apple devices) useless or actually damage them. At least with Apple devices none of these destructive options have compromised security. Less true for Android devices that (until very recently) allow unrestricted side loading.