Icelandus
Icelandus is a potentially unwanted component that may infect iPhones and iPads, attach to their browsers, and generate aggressive ads and automatic redirects to sponsored sites. Among the most noticeable indications of Icelandus on your iOS are the obtrusive on-screen notifications and pop-ups that, once clicked on, reroute you to random ad-filled pages.
By large, everything that Icelandus performs within your iOS device qualifies as browser hijacking activity, therefore, security experts don’t classify this application as a Trojan, Ransomware, or some other piece of malware that can pose a direct threat to your safety.
However, it might be a good idea to uninstall Icelandus from your smartphone or tablet before you have started to experience some annoying issues such as ads overload, unauthorized redirects, browser unresponsiveness and freezing, etc.
These are common consequences of the main activity of the majority of browser hijacker programs that continuously try to push numerous sponsored links and ads linking to websites, online services, products and other applications on the screen of your iPhone or iPad.
Unfortunately, the promotional links, ads and banners, pushed in this manner, may not always be reliable to click on which is why, in general, the apps that generate them are considered problematic and potentially unwanted.
For instance, if you click on a random pop-up powered by Icelandus, you may potentially be re-routed to a site that includes phishing components or is used to distribute unwanted software or real virus infections. Additionally, you may come across deceptive advertisements that seem to be highly appealing but offer low-quality goods or programs that may be a waste of money. Of course, this may not happen at all, but is a very real possibility that hides certain risks.
This, along with the frequent pop-up interruptions, explains why it is not recommended that a hijacker such as Icelandus be active on your iPhone or iPad for an extended period of time. Therefore, if you’re seeking for a safe and reliable method to remove the browser hijacking software, please follow the precise removal steps provided below.
SUMMARY:
| Name | Icelandus |
| Type | Browser Hijacker |
| Danger Level | Medium (nowhere near threats like Ransomware, but still a security risk) |
| Symptoms | Hijackers like this one can cause the device to become unresponsive, get flooded by ads and banners, and get additional undesirable apps installed on it. |
| Distribution Method | Rogue applications that users download from unverified third-party download platforms are the most common source of iPhone browser hijackers. |
Icelandus Removal
If you have an iPhone virus, continue with the guide below.
If you have an Android virus, please use our Android Malware Removal guide.
If you have a Mac virus, please use our How to remove Ads on Mac guide.
If you have a Windows virus, please use our Windows Virus Removal guide.
First you need to close all pop-ups that are currently open.
- If the pop-up has a checkbox named “Don’t show more alerts from this webpage” click on the checkbox before closing the Ad.
- If a Block Alerts button happens to appear after you shut down a pop-up on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch tab that button to stop receiving alerts from the same page.
In case that a pop-up fails to close after performing the above operations:
- On your Mac you should make your Safari browser close forcibly by pressing Command-Option-Esc. Select Safari from the list of Apps and force close it. After you force close it you need to restart Safari, but please hold the shift button while it starts. This will prevent any pesky Ads from opening automatically.
- On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch you can do the same by pressing the home button twice in a quick succession. You’ll then see a preview of all apps that have been recently used. Swipe left to find Safari and then swipe up on the app’s preview to close it forcibly In order to prevent Safari from opening unwanted windows on startup go to Settings->Safari and Clear History, as well as Website Data. This will also clear your browser history and cookies so keep that in mind and export them if you want to keep them.
Choose Preferences from the Safari menu. Then do the following:
- Select the Security icon and then click on “Block pop-up windows“. This should stop many types of pop-ups from appearing.
- Next check on your homepage and the settings for the search engines. Adware likes messing with those. We can not provide more specific instructions for this, as you may be using many different browsers.
- Select the General icon and look at the Homepage field. It should either be empty or filled with the address of the Homepage you want.
- Follow up on the Search icon. Again it should be either the default search engine or any that you have set for yourself. Note that in some versions of Safari these settings are found in the General panel/
Open Safari and click on the Extensions button. Note that Adware use extensions almost exclusively to inject the pop-up Ads into your browser. Any extension on this list that you do not remember installing yourself is likely planted there by the Adware. Remove ALL extensions you are unfamiliar with.
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