How to fix Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus with virus infection message that keeps popping up (easy steps)

ByHarold Hisona

We’ve been contacted by some of our readers who own the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus saying that they keep on getting a pop up that says their devices are infected with a virus and that they have to install an antivirus to keep their phones and data safe. Unless you downloaded files from shady sites on your phone, the pop-up message is actually embedded in one of the apps you may have installed on your phone.

One thing to know about it is that this virus infection message should be embedded in the app you may have manually installed on your phone. If you’re into hacked game apps, then that would also be another reason why you’re getting it. Apps from the Play Store may have ads on them but not similar to the virus infection message you keep getting as Google is very strict when it comes to the kind of ads placed on apps that are uploaded on its servers.

Don’t worry, this problem is pretty minor and you can actually get rid of the virus without having to install an antivirus. Believe me, the antivirus that the pop-up is saying is actually another virus or malware that may even cause more harm to your device. In this post, I will give you a quick rundown of things you need to do to get this problem sorted out so continue reading as this article may help you.

Before anything else, if you have other issues with your device, try to browse through our troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed several issues with this device. Odds are that we’ve already published a post that tackles similar problems. Try finding issues that have similar symptoms with what you currently have and feel free to use the solutions we’ve suggested. If they don’t work for you or if you still need our help, then fill up our questionnaire and hit submit to contact us.

How to fix Galaxy S9 Plus with virus infection message?

Malwares are embedded in third-party applications unless of course, pre-installed apps are already infected. Follow the procedures below so as to avoid further infection and get rid of the virus from your phone…

First solution: Run your phone in Safe Mode

You need to do this to find out if the infection already spread to other apps especially pre-installed ones. By doing this, you’re temporarily disabling all third-party apps and services. Since most of the time the virus is embedded in an app, it may not run while your device is in this mode. This is also the best way to prevent the spread of the malware.

While in this mode, continue using your phone to know if the virus infection pop-up still appears. If it doesn’t, then it hasn’t spread to pre-installed apps yet. Find out which of the apps you installed carries the virus and uninstall it. This is the best way to fix the problem.

This is how you run your phone in safe mode:

  1. Turn the device off.
  2. Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen appearing on the screen.
  3. When SAMSUNG appears on the screen, release the Power key.
  4. Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume downkey.
  5. Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
  6. When Safe mode appears in the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume down key.

And this is how you uninstall the infected application:

  1. From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
  2. Tap Settings > Apps.
  3. Tap the desired application in the default list.
  4. To display preinstalled apps, tap Menu > Show system apps.
  5. Tap UNINSTALL > OK.

You may have to uninstall more than one app to get this problem sorted out. If you can still remember the apps or games you installed manually (through an .apk file), then uninstall them one by one and then run your phone in normal mode to find out if the problem still occurs. You may be able to fix this problem by simply uninstall the carriers of the malware.

However, if the virus infection also shows up even if the phone is in safe mode, then it has spread to pre-installed apps. You will have to go after the firmware instead of the individual apps.

Second solution: Backup your important files and reset your phone

If you haven’t installed an antivirus prior to the occurence of this problem, then you can no longer fix this problem using an antivirus. In this case, you need to reset your phone so the firmware, applications and all configurations will be brought back to factory settings. This is the best solution for the the virus infection. Before the reset, however, make sure to make a backup of your important files and data as they will be deleted and then follow these steps to reset your device:

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the green Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
  4. Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’.
  5. Press Power button to select.
  6. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  7. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  8. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  9. Press the Power key to restart the device.

I hope that this troubleshooting guide can help you fix your Galaxy S9 that keeps on rebooting by itself. If you have other concerns you want to share with us, feel free to contact us or leave a comment below.

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