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Spyware Concerns and IPhone Being Hacked

On 5/16, I clicked on a link from a text message in my IMessage on my IPhone that I knew that I shouldn’t have clicked on and it lead me to a page on Safari that reads “Deceptive Website Warning.” But then I did something dumb afterwards: I decided to click on the link again for the 2nd and 3rd time to investigate; this time the page is slowly loading, but I quickly exit out of the page and clear my search history and data in Safari and power my phone off to restart it. I’m still scared and concerned right now because I fear that a spyware app might have been downloaded on my IPhone after clicking on the link and it might be undetected and I cannot see it. And I also fear that my personal information, including my IP address and address location, might have been recorded by that link without entering anything in. I’m really scared right now and I’m paranoid and fear for my life. What should I do? I’ve gotten more scared and paranoid because I found lots of articles online saying that after clicking on a link from a suspicious text message that you don’t know, you can get a malware / virus and spyware downloaded on your IPhone without you knowing that it’s downloaded on there, along with your personal information (IP address and address location) being tracked.

iPhone 11, iOS 15

Posted on May 21, 2022 11:51 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 21, 2022 12:03 PM

  1. Are you running iOS 15.4.1 or later (if you haven't updated to iOS 15.5 you should)?
  2. Have you jailbroken your iPhone?
  3. Did you provide any passwords or personal information at that site?


If the answer to 1. is Yes and 2 and 3 is No you are fine, you can quit worrying about. And if you found a site that said on a non-jailbroken iPhone you can get a virus downloaded you found a site with very bad information. Don't go there anymore.

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6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 21, 2022 12:03 PM in response to toan46

  1. Are you running iOS 15.4.1 or later (if you haven't updated to iOS 15.5 you should)?
  2. Have you jailbroken your iPhone?
  3. Did you provide any passwords or personal information at that site?


If the answer to 1. is Yes and 2 and 3 is No you are fine, you can quit worrying about. And if you found a site that said on a non-jailbroken iPhone you can get a virus downloaded you found a site with very bad information. Don't go there anymore.

May 21, 2022 12:22 PM in response to deggie

Can you explain what do you mean by founding a site that said on a “Non-jailbroken iPhone”? I didn’t quite get what you said there. I feel like I’m more worried now since you mentions “virus being downloaded and non jail-broken phone.” And the site on Safari that the link redirected me to after clicking on it a 2nd and 3rd time, it was slowly loading before I quickly exit out of that page and I clear my history data. I didn’t see what the site is or what was the site about. But I’m still scared.

May 21, 2022 12:26 PM in response to deggie

I clicked on the link, but I didn’t provide any personal information or passwords. The 1st time that I clicked on it, it lead me to a page on Safari that read “Deceptive Website Warning.” But I didn’t enter anything in. So I should be fine, then? But I’m still worry that my IP address and address location might have gotten recorded and tracked by that link.

May 21, 2022 12:28 PM in response to toan46

Yes, and in the future you should heed such warnings and not go back. If you did not fill in any information, you are up to date on your iOS and not jailbroken you are fine. And the IP address even if it was recorded does them no good. You need to also make sure you are using 2-factor authorization and leave Private Relay turned on.

Spyware Concerns and IPhone Being Hacked

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