If you are an iPhone user and you are like me, you asked yourself, ‘Can someone hack if?’. I am storing my personal contacts, photos with my family and me, emails, credit card; you name it. My phone knows everything about me! But can I protect it better? And probably you are asking yourself if you can get an antivirus software on your iPhone, to have the extra layer of protection.
So Can You Get Antivirus for your iPhone? No, you can’t. What you can get is a security app from a few antivirus vendors. It will offer you some privacy features like VPN, Anti-Theft, Call Blocker, Contacts Backup, Network Scanner, Identity Safeguard, and other similar components.
These apps help you add an extra layer of protection on your iPhone, which already has some security features out of the box. Those will help you both with personal privacy and malware protection
How is Apple protecting its iPhone users
For a virus or malware to spread, it needs to be able to access different apps so it can create a system. The operating system on iPhones makes this difficult for the bad man.
When you open up an app on your iPhone, it launches in a virtual space that cannot be accessed by other applications. So if for some reason you get infected, the virus will be isolated in that app, and it cannot spread through your phone.
Usually, you get infected by downloading apps or documents from the internet. If you have a factory iPhone, you can download applications only through the App Store. When a developer uploads something on the App Store, that file is checked for viruses and malware. If the app has any infection, it will not be uploaded so you and your data will not be hacked by downloading and using it.
Another essential security feature of iOS is that it will not give you Root access. A hacker needs root access to infect or control your device. Some people are jailbreaking their iPhones to have root access to it so they can install apps that are not in the App Store. They are a perfect target for a hacker.
What historical data tells up?
A lot of iPhone users are trusting iOS to protect them against attacks. If you do a little search online, you can see that iPhones were hacked before. They are more secure than a Windows computer is, but they are not bulletproof.
The last major attack on iPhone users was malware that could read the user database. That includes contacts, messages, as well as WhatsApp and Facebook messages, passwords, and many more. Google security team claimed that a lot of users were affected by this breach. Apple claimed that the attack focused on a small religious group in China, and it affected less than 12 users.
The malware was placed on a website, and it got into the user’s phone just by visiting it. We will never know how big this attack was! What we can take from this is to be extra cautious and don’t fully trust our iPhone with our privacy.
How to make sure you are not getting a virus or malware?
You can never be 100% sure that you will never get hacked. Humans make iPhones, and they are not perfect. It is impossible to design an operating system without flaws. There are a lot of developers out there that are using their skills to find vulnerabilities. They exploit them and use them for their profit.
There are few ways to make sure that you are never going to get your iPhone hacked. And to be honest they mostly common sense:
- Never jailbreak your iPhone unless you know what you are doing. Jailbreaking your iPhone so that you can install paid apps for free is never a good idea. You are trusting a website that hacked a paid app and made it available for free not to infect you. You have to ask yourself why someone would do that.
- Download applications only from the App Store. Uploading a malicious app into Apple’s store is almost impossible. They have tons of verification before they make the app public. The good news is that if you didn’t jailbreak your phone, you could not install apps from a different source.
- Never visit fishy websites. If a site is full of ads, really glitchy and is looking like it was designed in the ’80s, exit as fast as possible. You can get infected just by visiting it. Also, never visit or download from a website to get something for free (movies, music, or other documents) if the content that you want regularly isn’t free.
- Use your better judgment. The ultimate security filter is you. You decide what to download or visit and what you do with your phone, so be wise!
Who Offers Security Apps?
If you search in the App Store ‘Security app or Antivirus’, you will see a lot of results. From big security companies to unknow developers. The purpose of such an app is to offer more privacy options, not a full antivirus functionality. Why is there no real antivirus for iPhones, you may ask yourself? Because Apple will not allow any into their App Store. iOS was developed with the security in mind, so the engineers think it doesn’t need anything else to be more secure.
Depending on what security feature you are looking to enhance, you can choose an app specifically designed for one purpose. Or a more complex application with more the one function.
Before you decide to use such an app, I strongly suggest first visit security and privacy settings on your iPhone. Most likely, what you are looking for is already there. If you feel like it is not enough, go into the App Store and search for what you need!
Top Security apps Rated by Users
When I choose a tool or take advice from somebody, I look at their background. I need to know that that person or company has authority in their field. So when it comes to choosing a security app, I will go with the companies that have the most experience in the area. They proved over time that they can develop something I can trust.
1. Bitdefender
They’ve been in the security field for a while now and won numerous awards for their products. They have one security app for iPhone that can be purchased individually or with total internet security. Bitdefender’s application offers:
- VPN
- Account Privacy
You can learn more about their security application here.
2. McAfee
Like Bitdefender, McAfee has tons of experience when it comes to securing devices. Only in 2019, McAfee won 4 awards for the best security software by three different independent well-known testers.
McAfee offers three different packages for its iPhone security App, and the cheapest one is FREE! Their top tear app offers:
- System & Wi-Fi scan
- Media Vault
- Anti-Theft
- Contacts Backup
- 24/7 Phone Support
- No In-App Ads
- Safe Web
- Wi-Fi Guard VPN
You can learn more about their offerings here
3. Norton
Like both app vendors I mentioned so far, Norton is one of the top security companies out there. They are in this business from 1990 and know a thing or two about malicious threats and how they work. When it comes to iOS, Norton provides one application that offers:
- Wi-Fi Security
- Web Protection
- Device Security
To learn more about Norton and what they offer click here
To sum up
I started off telling you that you cannot get an antivirus for your iPhone, and we looked at the alternatives. Personal privacy is significant for anyone and me, and you want to make sure we never get hacked. Our private information is personal and should remain that way. Sadly there are people in this world that try every day to find a way to break in some else’s device and steal their information for their benefit.
In my opinion, you don’t really need a security app for your phone if you use it lightly. Using your phone as your primary device for internet use and having a habit of going to fishy websites puts you in a hot seat. You will be better off using such an application just to have an extra set of eyes. But remember, the best security filter is you!
