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

Hi, this is usually not a virus — it’s most likely a Shortcut or Accessibility setting causing it. Try this: delete the HH School Fights shortcut, then go to Settings > Accessibility and turn off Zoom and Invert Colors / Smart Invert.

Quick fix

• Delete the shortcut.
• Restart the iPhone.
• Check Settings > Accessibility > Zoom and turn it off.
• Check Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size and turn off Smart Invert or Classic Invert.

Else contact Apple Support iPhone - Official Apple Support

Hello 👋

For science, I downloaded this "moo virus" on my iPhone ! This was made to analyse it !

First of all, it's just a shortcut, there is nothing dangerous about it, it's just a shortcut that will change some accessibility settings and say moo moo (actually I did not test the sound part but it seems like it makes a cringe sound)

What to do after the shortcut is running

In fact this shortcut is repeating himself infinite times... So you can either open shortcuts and press on the shortcut to stop it or Force restart iPhone - Apple Support (CA)

After that, double press with 3 fingers to temporarily turn off the zoom, and then you will go and revert back the text size to normal, turn off smart/classic invert and turn off color filters...

Notice that this shortcut will also turn on airplane mode, off bluetooth, on dark mode and volume set to 100%

More can be added since shortcuts can change...

What I noticed :

• Since you are asking a lot to your iPhone, it can overheat a bit or be a bit slower, don't worry, just restart your phone after all and everything should be fixed...

• I won't tell the name of the shortcut but it's not moo moo, it doesn't have moo in the name...

After all

You can delete the shortcut but the most important thing is how you got pranked... if your friend knows your password, change your password... Make sure that you are the only one who have access to your phone and never download anything that you don't know...

You got lucky, this is just a shortcut but next time, it can be worse...

It is not a virus, it is a shortcut that has been added/shared to you and other members of your Family Group. Go to the Shortcuts app and delete the shortcut and if the member shared the shortcut through iCloud, then on that members device, you would need to stop sharing the shortcut. For that, go to this Support Article and follow the steps under Stop Sharing a shortcut.

Share shortcuts on iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

That will immediately stop the moo sound, but for any changes made with the Shortcut you will need to go into Accessibility settings and change those back.

As for how it happened, that is most likely by one of your members that did it as a prank or were misled on a Social Media post to download the Shortcut. There are others you can find on Social Media that will say any phrase either hourly or at predetermined times.

SravanKrA wrote:

1. The Moo sound is surely from a third-party app. So if you’re hearing a cow’s “moo,” it’s probably tied to one of these:

No, 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.

jayjay122 wrote:

Hello my I phone 15 por max off block screen on screen help please 😭

Settings > Accessibility > Zoom : off.

Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Smart Invert : off

Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Classic Invert : off

Then delete the shortcut.

You have to use 3 fingers to unzoom, to click anything u have to press it twice, turn ur phone on and off to get rid of mooing then go to accessibility settings to turn off, colour invert, invert, smart invert and then figure out the rest

Bimma

Lovelexi wrote:

How do u delete the shortcut ????

Long press on the Shortcut in the Shortcuts app and you will see the option to Delete it. There is also an option to Edit the shortcut and that can be used to give you an indication on what it is doing.

Moinca wrote:

I don’t like the moo virus bc it glich my iPhone and now I have to figure out how to take this off

Remove the shortcut from Shortcuts app, and reset your accessibility settings, as discussed earlier in this thread.

Change your passcode and passwords too as somebody clearly knows your passcode and quite possibly much more. Unless you decided to load this shortcut yourself, that is.

No, I reported the link to the moderators because of possible terms of service violation. The link to TikTok was useless, if nothing else.

It’s not a virus. It’s an Apple Shortcut. They’re easy to make, easy to share, but to the uninformed seem mysterious and impossible to remove. The correct advice has been given. Change your settings in Accessibility. There is no need to sensationalize this into something it isn’t.

Back in 2022, TikTok was (falsely) claiming calculator app could be used unlock any iPhone.

There have been other wrong, bogus, or entirely unwise suggestions propagated on the ‘net too, but that’s pretty much any day ending in “Y”.

In this case, this is a shortcut that adjusts existing accessibility-related display settings, with a plausible (and false) story used to convince the viewers.

Sorry to disappoint.

Double tap the screen with three fingers.

Mia_parker6 wrote:

All my apps are gray and it’s like a neon color like TT I can’t see the real color only black and white

Settings > Accessibility > Zoom : off.

Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Smart Invert : off

Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Classic Invert : off

The Moo sound is surely from a third-party app. So if you’re hearing a cow’s “moo,” it’s probably tied to one of these:

1. Do you have any third party Alarm App installed which is making the sound that you are hearing?
2. Do you have BedTime alarm set?
3. Was there any Alarm symbol on status bar on top (Watch the 1st GIF below)
4. Check your Reminders Today Notifications (Watch the 2nd GIF Below)
5. If it’s a downloaded tone, connect your iPhone to a computer and remove it via iTunes/Finder. A complete process of a RingTone Purchase, Download and Assign… - Apple Community

lamessie wrote:

I need to get this fix now or I am in trouble

Read the thread you posted in. To unzoom your screen, double tap with three fingers.

Jeff Donald wrote:

No, I reported the link to the moderators because of possible terms of service violation. The link to TikTok was useless, if nothing else.

Well that confirms the theory that it was downloaded from a Social Media site. A person the believes everything told to them on Social Media are easy targets to get them to download these shortcuts. They can even be talked into sharing them to others, or will do it themselves as a prank.

In any case it is not a virus, no matter what the kids are calling it on Social Media. Virus is just a term that is used to get "likes" and "shares" to promote their posts. You could easily create one called "Cat Virus" and talk users into downloading it. The options are endless.