First, disconnect your iPhone from the internet and run a complete malware scan. Then remove all of the unwanted apps. Clear all the cache and browsing data. Performing these steps will remove the hacker from your iPhone.
With a variety of features and functionalities, iPhones have become a crucial device in our daily life.
It contains a large amount of our data and information which gets the attention of hackers and cybercriminals.
” iPhone owners are 167 times more at risk of being hacked than other mobile brands.”
Unauthorized access, manipulation, or control of a mobile device without the owner’s knowledge is called phone hacking.
Hackers take advantage of vulnerabilities or loopholes in the device, network, or application to intercept private data.
If you are worried about the security of your iPhone or you have lost control of your valuable data due to a hacker in your phone. Then this article is for you.
Here are some useful tips and techniques to kick out or remove a hacker from your phone.
Ways To Remove a Hacker From My iPhone
Disconnect from the Internet
If your iPhone is compromised, disable the internet, regardless if you are using Wifi or mobile data. It helps to prevent further damage and mitigate and reduce the risk in the following ways:
Halting malicious activities: Disabling the internet helps to stop ongoing malicious activities on your device, such as spamming, different active attacks, and malicious communication, which will stop malicious apps from getting malicious commands and sending users’ data to malware.
Determining Scope of Security Breach: After being cut off from the internet, you can concentrate on analyzing the issue, figuring out where the compromise came from, and determining the extent of the compromise. Then you will be able to create a strategy to solve the issue.
It is also advised to avoid free wifi or public wifi. Hackers use public wifi to steal your data.
Steps to Disconnect iPhone from Internet
Turn off Mobile Data
Go to Settings
Tap on the fourth option, Cellular.
Toggle the Cellular data switch to off.
Disable Wi-Fi
Go to Settings
Open WLAN option
Toggle WLAN switch to the off position
Change the Password
Changing passwords for online accounts is also an important step to protect sensitive information. It helps to limit an attacker in the following ways:
Protect from unauthorized Access: Sometimes, Hackers gain access to your store login credentials and use them to get access to your phone’s data. If you suspect that your phone is hacked or your data is breached, in this situation changing passwords and using strong passwords is important.
Prevent Account Hijacking: If an individual’s online accounts are hijacked by an attacker, it will result in identity theft, financial fraud, or unauthorized activity. Updating passwords helps to avoid account hijacking.
Protect Sensitive Data: Online accounts that store important information are password-protected. Changing passwords helps protect sensitive data including bank information, private chats and messages and documents etc.
Disrupt Attacker’s Actions: When a password changes, attackers get cut off from the device and can no longer maintain control. It helps to disrupt their malicious action.
Method to Change Your iPhone Password
Open Settings
Tap Face ID & Passcode
Enter old passcode
Navigate to Change Passcode
ReEnter old passcode if prompted
Pick new strong passcode
Verify change
New passcode is set
Run Malware Scan
Running a malware scan on the device helps to locate and remove any harmful apps from a compromised device. Here’s how it helps in protecting our device:
Finding hidden threats: Malware on compromised devices may be built to run secretly, making it challenging to find without special tools. Malware scan helps us to reveal hidden threats that might be present on the device.
Malicious software removal: A malware scan can find the known malware and remove it, helping to lower the danger of additional unauthorized access.
Preserving device’s integrity: A hacked iPhone can have further viruses or backdoors installed. By doing a malware scan, you can ensure that the device’s OS and other components are clear from any threat.
Best Malware Scanners or Antiviruses for iPhones
Some best Malware Scanners or Antiviruses for iPhones are
TotalAV– Provide real-time protection
Bitdefender Antivirus– provides many features and solution
Avira Antivirus– Best antivirus with free plan packet
Norton 360– provide VPN and security function
McAfee– User-friendly, remove threats
Avast Antivirus & Security– Provides an intuitive environment for instant scan.
Remove Unwanted Apps
It’s necessary to remove unwanted apps from compromised iPhones in order to stop future damage and reclaim control of the device. Here’s why it’s essential:
Deleting unwanted apps reduces risk: Apps that have been compromised may contain malware or other malicious code that might damage devices and personal data continuously. Removing these apps helps to reduce the risk that could be possible due to that corrupted software.
Preventing Unauthorised Access: Some applications provide unauthorized access to hackers. Individuals can stop it by analyzing the behavior of apps and deleting such apps.
Protecting Sensitive Data: Compromised apps can also contain access to private data such as images, contacts, or other important information saved on your iPhone. Removing these apps can protect your privacy.
Limiting Communication Routes: These apps can also help hackers to establish communication channels, which communicate your important information to hackers. Removal of such apps protects your phone from data leaks.
Preventing future infection: Infected apps may act as the entry point for viruses and worms that can spread throughout the system and infect further devices. The risk of infection is reduced by removing these apps.
Creating a Safe Apps Environment: Eliminating compromised apps gives you a chance to start over and create a secure app environment from scratch. Users can make sure that only reliable software is operating on their devices by reinstalling trusted apps from legitimate sources.
Improve Device Performance: Compromised apps may use system resources, cause the device becomes slow and drain battery life. The performance of the iPhone can be enhanced by removing these apps.
How to Remove Unwanted and Unused Apps from iPhone?
Tap and hold on to any app on the home screen that you want to delete.
Click on Remove App.
Now click on Delete App, and the app will be removed.
OR
Tap on Settings
Scroll down and navigate to General
Tap on iPhone Storage
Enable Offload Unused App feature (This feature will dump the unused app)
To delete unwanted apps scroll down and check the list of Apps installed on your phone
Click on any unwanted app
Tap on Delete App
It will free up all the space occupied by this app
Reset Network
Resetting the network on a compromised iPhone is an effective way to handle any security issue and regain network connectivity. Here’s is an explanation of how’s it effective:
Removing Unauthorized Network Setups: Infected iPhones may have customized DNS servers or proxy configurations which can reroute internet traffic and compromise privacy. Resetting the network setting guarantees that the device is utilizing default, trustworthy settings and eliminates any unauthorized configuration.
Disconnecting From Suspicious Networks: The connection of an iPhone with a malicious network is risky for security. By erasing saved wifi networks and resetting it helps to prevent the device from connecting to such network automatically.
Resolving Network-related Issues: Infected phones may encounter network-related issues, including unreliable connections, slow, speeds, or difficulty in accessing specific websites or services. By resetting the network, the network configuration can help to resolve these problems.
How to Reset iPhone Network?
Tap on Settings
Scroll down and navigate to General
Scroll Down and tap on Transfer or Reset iPhone
Click on Reset
Different reset options will appear.
Tap on Reset Network Settings (It may ask for your passcode to proceed)
You have successfully done the network reset.
Delete Browsing Data
Deleting browsing history is an important step to protect the privacy of your phone and get rid of potential evidence of the compromise.
It will reduce the possibility of additional unauthorized access. It helps you to kick out hackers in the following ways:
Removing Saved Credentials: Browser data may include autofill information and saved usernames and passwords. These credentials can be accessible to an attacker if the iPhone gets compromised. Deletion of browser history helps to remove such stored credentials and prevent unauthorized access to online accounts.
Deleting Session Cookies: Session cookies are frequently used by websites to identify and authenticate the users while browsing data is collected. An attacker can access the online account without authentication and use the user’s identity by compromising session cookies. These session cookies are erased when browsing data is deleted.
Steps to Delete Browsing History
You can follow these steps to delete and clear your browsing history and data:
First of all, you have to identify that your phone is really hacked or compromised.
But if you are not sure about the presence of the hacker in your iPhone, then firstly you have to identify that your phone is really compromised. The question would be how to know if your phone is hacked.
Below are some signs that you need to check for to predict the presence of a hacker on your phone:
Unexpected Behaviour: If your iPhone begins acting strangely, such as by freezing, crashing, or operating more slowly than usual, it may have been compromised. The device frequently acts abnormally as a result of a malicious process that hackers frequently run in the background.
Battery Draining Quickly: Another warning sign is a rapid decline in battery life. Some software and apps running in the background may consume more energy, leading to quicker battery drain.
Suspicious Transaction: You should always pay close attention to your bank transactions and invoices. Unauthorized changes or strange transactions can be a sign that your phone is compromised and is being used for fraud.
Modified Settings: If you find that your smartphone’s settings have changed without your knowledge and consent and repeatedly return to different parameters. It can be an indication of a hacker in your iPhone. Hacker change settings to access different functions of your device.
Calls and Messages that You Didn’t Send: It’s alarming when your friends or contacts claim that they received calls and messages from you that you weren’t aware of. Your messaging and calls app might be compromised by hackers, who use it to send them spam and phishing messages and calls.
Codes to Check if Your Phone is Hacked or Tapped: Some smartphone includes particular USSD code numbers dialed to check for evidence of hacking or tapping. You should dial these codes to check if your phone is tapped.
Conclusion
In conclusion, It is essential to act quickly and get rid of the hacker and protect your device if you suspect that your iPhone has been compromised.
Start by turning off wifi or mobile data on your iPhone to separate it from the internet. Next, make strong and original password changes for all of your online accounts.
Run malware scans and get rid of unwanted applications to improve the privacy and performance of your phone.
If necessary, ask for professional help from a cybersecurity specialist. Keep your device updated and use appropriate security measures.
This was the most common question that many people ask. I hope applying these methods will clean up your iPhone from any viruses encountered.
Frequently Asked Question
If you have identified that your iPhone is compromised, you should take security measures to kick out hackers from your phone, such as changing passwords, removing unwanted apps, resetting the network, deleting browsing data, etc. After that, consult with a cybersecurity professional to ensure that the hacker is removed from your phone.
iPhone is made very secure, but the hacker uses different techniques and exploits the application’s loopholes to get access. Like stealing or brute-forcing credentials, convincing users to install malicious apps, and using different tools to send spam and phishing links.
If you suspect that your iPhone is compromised, check potential signs like unusual phone behavior or activities, battery drain time, phone settings, etc. There are some USSD codes for iPhone and Android which help to check if your calls or messages are being forwarded to a stranger’s number. Dial those numbers in your Phone’s dial pad to check for evidence of hacking.
Malware scanners and antiviruses help to identify known malware, threats, and attacks, and block them with user consent along with providing advice and security measures to follow.
If the app is automatically installed on your device, then you should remove it, as a hacker could install it. If you are sure that the unwanted app is secure, then it still uses the space and resources of your phone for no reason and decreases your phone’s performance. So to increase performance and speed, you should uninstall it.
Khadija Naz
Khadija Naz is a Cybersecurity Engineer having expertise in Bug Bounty, Ethical Hacking, Risk Assessment, and Content Creation. She has also made a contribution to one of the books on Amazon that delves into cyber secrets. Her objective on this website is to offer insights and promote cybersecurity best practices for a safer digital world.
