Desktop has much better tooling than it used to, including code signing, built-in browser scam website filtering, and automatic malware removal tools distributed by OS vendors. The late 90's was full of "take over your computer, time to wipe your hard drive" level viruses and malware (and I downloaded many of them!)
Macs even have recently added sandboxing for manually installed apps similar to the ones seen on App Store apps, such as OS prompts asked to allow access to personal folders, camera, desktop sharing, and other sensitive areas. Even a manually installed app is less likely to access private things because of this addition.
If AltAdBrowser (which, I assume is spyware/adware) is our level of harmful software we're talking about, it should be noted that app stores allow this type of data collection with user consent. Just check out the privacy tab in Apple's App Store for Facebook or TikTok.
Just like on a PC, all it takes is one uninformed download button press to install spyware/adware on your iPhone.
Your relative could also just only click download buttons within the app store on their desktop. That would be a very easy piece of advice.
There have been numerous cases of Apple missing malware in the App Store, here's one: https://www.wired.com/story/apple-app-store-malware-click-fr...
Desktop has much better tooling than it used to, including code signing, built-in browser scam website filtering, and automatic malware removal tools distributed by OS vendors. The late 90's was full of "take over your computer, time to wipe your hard drive" level viruses and malware (and I downloaded many of them!)
Macs even have recently added sandboxing for manually installed apps similar to the ones seen on App Store apps, such as OS prompts asked to allow access to personal folders, camera, desktop sharing, and other sensitive areas. Even a manually installed app is less likely to access private things because of this addition.
If AltAdBrowser (which, I assume is spyware/adware) is our level of harmful software we're talking about, it should be noted that app stores allow this type of data collection with user consent. Just check out the privacy tab in Apple's App Store for Facebook or TikTok.
Just like on a PC, all it takes is one uninformed download button press to install spyware/adware on your iPhone.
Your relative could also just only click download buttons within the app store on their desktop. That would be a very easy piece of advice.