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

The boring answer is that people are used to doing whatever they want with their computers, so computers (typically) have a lot less limitations.

Phones are, for a lot of reasons, more “tightened up” and get away with it because people actually accept their limitations.

The limitations give viruses fewer entry points that can be attacked, and for that reason they are perceived as more safe.

In reality, the difficulty in getting a virus into a phone also makes it more difficult for a user to know that there is a virus in it, so this is a double edged sword…