Routine Browser Hijack or Serious Hack?

[Kiki61]

Starting today, I've started experiencing a troubling issue every time I try to enter an an address via the iPhone Safari Address Window. Outside of Google, every time I type an address in to the address window, I get directed to an outside browser (so.com) instead of the website I typed in. I just updated my iOS (now running 16.6) after I noticed this occurring, and have turned off my phone hoping this would cause it to stop, but neither has worked. I have also cleared the History and Website data multiple times, as well as clearing out the website data via the "Advanced" button as well but no change.

Any suggestions how to remedy this short of factory reseting the phone (which I'd rather not do, I was been unable to backup my phone recently). Has my phone been hacked, or is this a simple browser redirect? I don't recall visiting any suspicious websites or clicking on any suspicious links, but these days one never knows.

 

[BenGoren]

Go to the Settings app, tap on Safari, and see what’s going on there. Make sure the search engine is your favorite (with DuckDuckGo the least worst today. See what extensions and / or content blockers are installed.

If it doesn’t become apparent at that point, come back here for more suggestions.

b&

 

[Kiki61]

Thanks for the heads up. I was so worried that it was something serious, that I focused on the worst case scenario first, and didn't check on the simplest solution. Turns out somewhere along the line that the browser had indeed been reset from Google to 360 (not sure how it happened, maybe hit a stray button somewhere). It's seems to working fine now, but I'll still keep an eye for anything else out of the ordinary just in case.

Thanks again for your help, as it is greatly appreciated. I have been occupied with some serious family issues over the past few days, and my mind wasn't fully engaged like it should have been, so it helped to have input from someone who was looking at the problem with "fresh eyes,' so to speak.