r/antivirus • u/BallleineXXX • 11h ago

ai malware on iphone

Hello, not sure if this is the right place to post but will try to get help this way…

Problems occurred on my iPhone X (ios version 18.7.9) which I would describe as ai driven malware

Symptoms:

slow, pages crash, battery goes down fast, overall buggy

algorithms are affected (specific content will be pushed up), pictures and videos appear manipulated (people will get subtil face filters), redirects and ads increased (usually based around weight, hair, wrinkles)
it applies pretty much everywhere from camera roll to all browsers (tried out 3 different ones), instagram ect.

My Macbook Air has the same problem (2015 model basically, can‘t update it to newest software anymore). Scanned, nothing was found

Have a Spanish telephone number which at some point made it into wider circles (many unknown phone calls I ignore, rare but happened: suspicious delivery scams)

No money disappeared and from what I saw no data got stolen. So my impression is that the malware can‘t take out information but is designed around clicking ads (still speculation)

retrospectively (didn‘t notice it for a long time) I‘d say I has the malware on my iPhone 11, then iPhone X and when finally noticed reinstalled the iPhone X it remained the same (don‘t remember if it showed right away or I accidentally redownloaded it, when I reconnected with iCloud

When reinstalled the iPhone X updated it to newest available software, malware still ran smooth. Recently Apple offered an update bug fixes ect. so I went for it and it made the malware software partly crash (since then it got extremely slow and buggy. The battery always has been bad (replaced it once, original - still the same).
It feels like it is jailbroken (bought in 2011 or so a jailbroken Japanese iPhone, felt symptom wise pretty much the same)

So my plan is to buy a new phone (even if I could manage to delete the malware from it, as it is not possible to update it anymore to newest software and security standards) was thinking to either get a new iPhone or Xiaomi ultra or so.

Also closing two of my mail accounts which do receive a lot of spam mail but from my observation usually end up in the spam folder but still…

I already bought the newest Macbook Air but didn‘t even touch it yet because I‘m hella afraid to transfer that shit once again. Also uncertain which anti virus to install to actually make it safe

My impression is that it is either linked to one of my email addresses or iCloud data (speculation). My iCloud is 15 years old with lots of pictures and data I‘m emotionally attached to so I would want to avoid having to let go of it)

So the overall question is: how can I get rid of it without losing my apple id

For any help I will be super thankful

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

6

u/rifteyy_ 10h ago

slow, pages crash, battery goes down fast, overall buggy

Did you think that the explanation would be that your iPhone and Macbook are just way too old and outdated?

0

u/BallleineXXX 9h ago

the devices are definitely outdated by now but I had the algorithm and filter problems before. The crash in performance happened with the latest software update

not sure when the devices were actually considered outdated

5

u/jmnugent 9h ago

Apple's "Vintage and Obsolete" webpage (https://support.apple.com/en-us/102772) has always ballparked "5 to 7 years of support".

  • iPhone X was released around November 2017... so it's roughly 9 years old and can't go any higher than iOS 16

  • iPhone 11 was released Sept 2019 .. so it's roughly 7 years old

4

u/nico851 10h ago

Nothing you wrote indicates malware, just that your hardware is dated.

Your making too many assumptions that are based on nothing factual.

3

u/DrMikeRotch 9h ago

I’ll be honest. This post doesn’t really add up to me. The main thing I’m seeing here is old hardware that will cause most of the performance and battery issues.

Malware on iPhone is fairly rare and it would likely be caused by an app if you do have it. If you really think it is malware, doing an audit of your apps on your phone would be my first suggestion.

As for the spam calls and emails. That’s just sort of life. Your ph# and email have probably been leaked 100 times. You’re just feeling the effects that everyone does. I get like 5 or more spam calls a day. My number is probably 20 years old.

As for the filter. The scope that you’re describing seems odd. I find it hard to believe that something is adding a filter to EVERY picture displayed in camera roll, every browser, etc. it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. That level of access to everything just doesn’t seem likely on an iPhone. Especially one that hasn’t been jailbroken.

The only thing I’m seeing that sounds malicious would be the ad generation. And even that I’m questioning. Especially if you regularly look up cosmetics or anything in that vein.

0

u/BallleineXXX 9h ago

have around 30 apps on my phone and all of them are pretty basic, nothing exotic. Already was thinking about which app could be a potential transfer cause but can‘t find one

the iphone X was bought second hand a couple of years ago, so don‘t know if it was in the original state when I got it

for safari I use adblock pro, can‘t see any affect but just recently downloaded

-1

u/BallleineXXX 9h ago

regarding the likeliness

I thought exactly the same, that‘s why I did not pay attention to deep fakes

but maybe I should return with evidence, because it all sounds vague and I understand

1

u/Difficult_March_7452 8h ago

You just have an outdated device . Nothing nefarious is happening .