This type of misuse of our data isn't supposed to be possible, but there are plenty of people with bad intentions that are just as smart as the people who wrote the OS on your phone. Your phone can't get a virus, but it can get malware if you install it. This could be something that seems harmless, like which apps you have installed and how often you use them, or it could be sensitive, like your bank password. Usually, the malware tries to collect random data from other apps about you and then sends it back to some centralized server. And even if it were to get transmitted to another user, it has the same restraints on a different phone - someone has to manually tap a button that says yes when it asks to be installed.īut there are other types of malware. Once installed, that app can only access its own data and files so it can't copy itself somewhere else. No app can be installed without a user who has permission to install apps (that's you and any other users who have signed in to your phone) saying it's OK. (Image credit: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central) And if you like to tinker and have rooted your phone, you can grant yourself superuser permissions so that you can change anything you like. Some users and groups have elevated permissions, like the system level that Google or Samsung would have if you were using a Galaxy S22, for example.

If you do not have the right permission as a user or the right permission as a member of a group, you can't change anything.

Every file and folder on your phone knows what users and/or groups are allowed to modify anything about it. the system is also a user and it is in a different group with other permissions. You are a user, and as a user, you are part of a group of other users with similar permissions. This is because of the user/group permission model.

Nothing on Android or iOS can be done automatically unless Google or the company that made your phone's operating system wants it to happen.Īpps can not install themselves on your Android phone. The word virus gets thrown around a lot, but did you know your Android (and iOS) phones and tablets can't get one or pass them along?īoth can get infected by other types of malware though, so it's important to recognize what can and can't happen.Ī virus is a bit of code that can automatically install itself, replicate itself, and pass itself along to another device without any assistance from you.

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