It feels like our phones are glued to us more than ever in 2025, and while they're only getting more advanced, we're warned about some crucial warning signs that tell us it's time to switch off. We're constantly being fed different advice on what to do if we're worried our smartphones have been infected with malware, so what’s the official stance?
With Apple pushing to have our phones integrated into our lives even more with smart glasses, it'll soon be harder than ever to switch off from them, but sometimes, you have to do it for the good of your devices.
We continue to be warned about what apps we're installing and where we're plugging in our phones thanks to hackers, malware installers, and general bad actors who are trying to ruin our devices or sometimes our whole lives.
As reported by Forbes, there are three signs that it could be time to turn off your phone and follow some simple steps or seek professional help before things get worse. By turning off your phone and forcing it into a hard reboot, it should kill any potentially malicious processes currently running on your device. Although persistent threats will keep running, you should be able to check what's going on when you restart.
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The first of these red flags you should look out for is a temperature change. Even though a phone running hotter than normal might be expected while charging, a scorching device during normal usage could mean that an intense process is working away behind the scenes. Suggesting that a malicious process is zapping power from your phone and potentially be ticking away in the background, hot phones can often be accompanied by a screen that's been on longer than normal.
Similarly, your battery running out quicker than normal is another telltale sign. We know that iPhone users are constantly bemoaning the battery drain when a new iOS rolls out, but whereas that subsides after a few days, malicious process will continue to (literally) suck the life our of your phone. Forbes points to Android phones being plagued by the Gorilla SMS stealer that has been coded to bypass power management.
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Third and finally, if your phone starts to slow down, there's a chance that there's malware hiding out somewhere. While it's true that devices can get a little sluggish when they get older or start to run out of storage, you should take note if there are delays in loading apps, websites, and your day-to-day processes. Even if it doesn't feel like much, it's better to be safe than sorry with a reboot.
In 2020, the National Security Association released a 'best practices' guide that suggested you reboot your phones weekly. Although some have criticized this as overkill, the NSA reiterates that you should at least be making sure your firmware and apps are kept up to date on a weekly basis. There's the obvious one that you should only download apps from official app stores, while never opening unexpected links from emails, messages, or websites is common sense.
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There is a fourth warning sign, but to be honest, if your phone starts being bombarded with unexpected pop-ups, we'd suggest you might need more than a reboot.