Do Macs, iPhones and iPads need antivirus?

Viruses aren’t that much of a threat to iPhones. There­fore, anti­virus for iPhone is not the most essential app — if blocking viruses is all it does. However, an iPhone virus is not the only threat out there.

You can, for example, encounter phishing on iPhone. Phishing aims to trick you into giving personal details like banking information or pass­words to criminals. They then try to steal your money or take over your online accounts.

It’s very unlikely you have to delete a virus on iPhone or iPad. However, many legitimate apps can gather detailed information about you. This blurs the line between a malicious and a normal app. The collected data is used for profiling you so advertisers can better target ads to you. You can simply uninstall these apps from your iPhone.

The tricky part is to detect the unwanted actions and which app is causing them. That’s why it’s important to carefully consider why apps ask certain app permissions. Do you really want apps and their developers to have access to your photos, location, contacts, micro­phone and so on? If not, deny the app permissions.

Data breaches are also a threat regardless of what device you use. Valuable personal information can be compromised in massive breaches. If that happens, criminals will use the stolen details for identity theft and account take­over attacks. You can limit and even prevent damage with the help of 24/7 identity monitoring and pass­word manager.

Privacy is about keeping your pass­words, online activities, and sensitive information safe from prying eyes. Many parties online are interested in all that information. Joining unsafe Wi‑Fi net­works can also endanger your pass­words and banking information. For online privacy and Wi‑Fi safety, use a VPN.

As with iPhones, viruses aren’t a major threat to iPads. But no device or operating system is completely secure by default. Just like with any other device, there are other security threats than virus on iPad. Phishing, altered advertising, unsafe Wi‑Fi net­works and data breaches are a security threat for iPad users as well.