Here’s the thing about that ... programs absolutely cannot be installed on an iPhone - but by only one route - which is the Apple App Store. All the apps are vetted by Apple first, or else they can’t get in the store. You can’t get a program on the iPhone unless it passes through that store.
If, by some quirk, some malicious code snuck in another program and got on the Apple App Store, within a short time of someone seeing problems and reporting it, Apple would yank it,
BUT FURTHERMORE, a person cannot get a program downloaded to their iPhone unless they sign onto their account by name and password - and you can make as strong a password as you want and keep changing it every week if you want.
If you don’t sign in with an account, you can’t get an app on the iPhone. No account sign-in means no app downloaded. So no one else can download a program on your iPhone because they don’t know your password. And then, as said above, all apps are vetted through the Apple App Store.
It’s a combination of software protection (by design of the iOS), plus the method you get apps (can only be from Apple), plus the practice of vetting all apps, plus the practice of not being able to even have an app on your iPhone in the first place, unless you enter the correct password.
And one more thing. If you think that something is wrong with the system that you’re running, it’s real easy to wipe the phone (and easy to back up your personal data) and load a fresh copy of the system, straight from Apple, itself.
The actual apps are NOT RESTORED from any backup that you have, but they are DIRECTLY REDOWNLOADED from the Apple App Store itself, They are all fresh and clean copies, directly from Apple.
Again, it’s a COMBINATION of PROCEDURE and SOFTWARE that blocks this from happening. The procedure is FORCED by Apple and by it’s design of how everything works.
Well, that’s all very nice and comforting, except for the fact that all of the biggest players in the high tech arena have been exposed as collaborators with Uncle Snooper. They’ve allowed the federal spy agencies open access to otherwise secure portals across the digital domain.
Someone with an iPhone may be very safe from hackers and malware, but gov’t snoops have unfettered access to their digital devices — with the full cooperation of those companies we’ve trusted for so long.