Earlier this year, Apple cracked down on antivirus apps, pulling a huge number of them from the AppStore. Many believe the reason behind this move is to eliminate concerns about whether or not iOS devices are susceptible to virus and malware attacks.
Apple informed many of them that their app descriptions were misleading and could potentially lead customers to believe that viruses are present in iOS.
Why is Apple so confident in their ability to protect against vulnerabilities?
Apple’s high security standards
One of the biggest reasons why iOS devices are generally safe from malware is Apple’s meticulous process when it comes to determining what type of apps they allow into their AppStore. While it is true that installing third-party antivirus apps won’t cause any harm to your device, Apple believes that its high standards when it comes to security is already enough protection for its users.
This has been the subject of much debate. Many believe that though Apple does a good job of protecting their sandboxed iOS environment, it’s still not 100% safe. Not allowing third-party developers to create antivirus apps just so customers won’t think iOS is vulnerable to attacks could cause major problems down the line.
Not totally gone
Searching for an antivirus app on the AppStore will show you a few results, but it is interesting to note that none of them have the word “antivirus” in their titles or descriptions.
Most of the remaining “security” apps simply monitor emails, have anti-theft features, display current memory and data usage, and check if the iOS version is up-to-date.