eli5: Why do computer operating systems have lots of viruses and phone operating systems don’t?

Question

eli5: Why do computer operating systems have lots of viruses and phone operating systems don’t?

In: 5085

Answer 1

One reason is that Android is built on Linux, which has always been more secure than Windows. You’ll find there are relatively few viruses in desktop Linux computers too. And phones don’t come with root access, something Windows gives away freely to careless users running random applications.