Help App called Advertisement

[Houzvicka]

So i have this '' App'' but it isnt any app i can find on my phone. When I hit the display apps button the title is advertisment. I've Uninstalled every app that I can possible think may do something like this including Facebook. Excluded pop up permission on almost everything. I can not stop the ads.. For the most part it is a full screen ad after I hit the back button to get out of an app or go back, but if the phone sleeps just a few seconds it may pop up Also I get a bubble pop up from time to time. It's getting very annoying Thanks for any advise ,I'm near ready to wipe the phone.

 

[lunatic59]

It's not an app called "advertisement", rather it's an advertisement platform being pushed by an app. If you can recall what you installed around the time this started, it's probably a good bet that's the app doing it.

 

[Houzvicka]

I've Uninstalled nearly every app ,even the ones recently updated. In debug mode I can't identify the app running when only core apps are enabled. I'm uinstalling everything I possible can at this point. Only big name apps are left installed. Companies you should be able to trust. If the platform loads it is loading separate from the app which contains it. Seems odd to me that I cant find the specific process.

 

[lunatic59]

Do you ever get a notification along with the ad? You could long-press the notification and it will tell you the app that's generating the notification.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Have you tried pressing the square 'recent apps' button when the ad is on your screen? If not, give that a try because it may identify the actual program that's generating it.

 

[aio developers]

So i have this '' App'' but it isnt any app i can find on my phone. When I hit the display apps button the title is advertisment. I've Uninstalled every app that I can possible think may do something like this including Facebook. Excluded pop up permission on almost everything. I can not stop the ads.. For the most part it is a full screen ad after I hit the back button to get out of an app or go back, but if the phone sleeps just a few seconds it may pop up Also I get a bubble pop up from time to time. It's getting very annoying Thanks for any advise ,I'm near ready to wipe the phone.

RE install your stock rom like flash it again or use adblocker or delete hosts file in your phone in the ETC folder

 

[Houzvicka]

Guess I should mention this is a non rooted phone. Long hold in recent apps shows nothing. Long hold on the popup ad bubble also shows nothing. Tried to lock the app in recent but it is the only one I'm unable to. I am down to only big name apps installed that should be trustworthy. Avast has found nothing and ive download and installed other "malware" apps that have also found nothing. With the dev option running services I've e attempted to get screen shots of what may be the app, this is going to sound crazy but it seems to close itself when i scroll over it, running services refreshes and adjusts, every time. To quick for me to make out its name. I'll look for a way to bring up some kind of terminal without root. Driving me nuts

 

[aio developers]

Guess I should mention this is a non rooted phone. Long hold in recent apps shows nothing. Long hold on the popup ad bubble also shows nothing. Tried to lock the app in recent but it is the only one I'm unable to. I am down to only big name apps installed that should be trustworthy. Avast has found nothing and ive download and installed other "malware" apps that have also found nothing. With the dev option running services I've e attempted to get screen shots of what may be the app, this is going to sound crazy but it seems to close itself when i scroll over it, running services refreshes and adjusts, every time. To quick for me to make out its name. I'll look for a way to bring up some kind of terminal without root. Driving me nuts

use adb to unlock bootloader and do it or if mtk use sp flash tool to flash the phone :-0

 

[Hadron]

Most phones can't be unlocked with ADB/fastboot. And even if they can it usually factory resets the phone.

Anyway most people don't want to root, don't want to have to put in the time to learn enough to maintain the device afterwards, and don't want to have to deal with apps that won't work on rooted devices. I've rooted a lot of phones, and I've modified them far more deeply than just flashing a ROM, but I'd not recommend it unless someone has shown that they are interested and willing to put in the work. For a general user problem it would be my last resort, not my first.

Just out of interest @Houzvicka , what model of phone is this? There have been some models, generally intended for the Chinese market, which have adware as part of the system software. That shouldn't happen with a major brand, but there have been cases where reputable manufacturers have included apps as part of their system software and then the app developer has pushed out an adware update to that app (the the version that came with the phone was fine, but after the update it began pushing intrusive ads). "Peel Smart Remote" was one example of this. So it might be worth looking at the pre-installed apps as well, and try disabling or uninstalling updates for any that you aren't absolutely certain of.

 

[Houzvicka]

Most phones can't be unlocked with ADB/fastboot. And even if they can it usually factory resets the phone.

Anyway most people don't want to root, don't want to have to put in the time to learn enough to maintain the device afterwards, and don't want to have to deal with apps that won't work on rooted devices. I've rooted a lot of phones, and I've modified them far more deeply than just flashing a ROM, but I'd not recommend it unless someone has shown that they are interested and willing to put in the work. For a general user problem it would be my last resort, not my first.

Just out of interest @Houzvicka , what model of phone is this? There have been some models, generally intended for the Chinese market, which have adware as part of the system software. That shouldn't happen with a major brand, but there have been cases where reputable manufacturers have included apps as part of their system software and then the app developer has pushed out an adware update to that app (the the version that came with the phone was fine, but after the update it began pushing intrusive ads). "Peel Smart Remote" was one example of this. So it might be worth looking at the pre-installed apps as well, and try disabling or uninstalling updates for any that you aren't absolutely certain of.

Note 9 on Sprint latest security patch. I used to root my phone but no longer feel the need (starting to reconsider just to find this). I have disabled most of the apps that could be and cleared cache and even the data dir on some that couldn't be. I've had the occasional advertisment crap pop up in the past and deleted app XYZ with no issues before. This is different. Ive Uninstalled even big name apps now, gone in and deleted their directories and then reinstalled in case they are unaware of some malicious bug or exploit, not that it would stop many exploits.

 

[Steve1978]

I have an exact same issue with my S8+ on ATT. It is driving me nut. It happened since yesterday. I did everything to get rid of this thing. All malware detectors I used cannot identify this.

 

[Dannydet]

Install adguard from the play store and post your results

 

[n0tall0wed]

I have the same phone but on Verizon. Disable/uninstall samsung+, samsung remote, and Samsung Smart switch if you haven't. I removed all 3 and ads went away.

 

[Houzvicka]

Okay so im beginning to think it was an app photo editor pro which (to my dismay) i thought was an instagram sponsored app. @Steve1978 do you have the same app installed? I just uninstalled but didn't do just it. It has been on my phone for months and recent updated jan 11th. I think they may have gotten greedy and covered there tracks very well.

 

[lunatic59]

There are over 20 apps called "photo editor pro" on the first page alone in the play store when you search for it. Which one was it?

We've seen this happen with other apps as well where the first release is simply a nice app that does what it's supposed to do and then somewhere down the road they bundle something nasty in an update. Since most users will update already-installed apps, they sneak this crap in under the radar.

 

[Houzvicka]

There are over 20 apps called "photo editor pro" on the first page alone in the play store when you search for it. Which one was it?

We've seen this happen with other apps as well where the first release is simply a nice app that does what it's supposed to do and then somewhere down the road they bundle something nasty in an update. Since most users will update already-installed apps, they sneak this crap in under the radar.

By picsgram. Looking at the comments it appears their update made it horrible. I see it had some invasive comments prior but i disable popups for dang near every app and this one was disabled. I haven't had a popup since my comment yesterday so Im going to reinstall some of the others one at a time and see if it could be something else.

I understand these guys need money to make an app but how you go about it is horrible. Made me not want to visit the folks using the add network because i kept seeing their banners. The fact that this one hid which app was the cause made it even worse. They hid it well.

 

[lunatic59]

Based on the comments it looks like that was the culprit. It's a despicable practice if you ask me.

 

[Steve1978]

This is a photo of this advertisement crap. I don't think that its coming from the web browser. It just pops up randomly when I use a phone. Adguard doesn't work to delete this ad-popup. I still have the issue.

 

[aio developers]

This is a photo of this advertisement crap.

OH DEVElopers shit ads ,just need a rooted phone and delete any host file and check the build.prop and delete any LINK found in it and change your launcher to MINI launcher apk or any launcher nova etc

 

[Unforgiven]

Crap!! I've been following this thread and just remembered something.

My FIL (not a tech person and not one to install apps) had a Samsung (I don't remember which, I think S7, he just got the S9 for Christmas) and had a similar problem. I uninstalled Peel remote to get rid of it. I think it was preinstalled as this implies and my FILs lack of knowledge of the play store and lack of desire to use his phone as a remote. As this article states, it seems to have followed the Cheetah Mobile path of taking a great app and slowly polluting it with undesirable functionality (to put it nicely).

 

[Steve1978]

Okay so im beginning to think it was an app photo editor pro which (to my dismay) i thought was an instagram sponsored app. @Steve1978 do you have the same app installed? I just uninstalled but didn't do just it. It has been on my phone for months and recent updated jan 11th. I think they may have gotten greedy and covered there tracks very well.

I have 360 Photo Editor factory installed by Samsung. I just disabled it and wait to see whether it will stop the AD.

Update> Still has a problem..

 

[Steve1978]

Ok. I did a couple of things. Set the samsung web browser as a default web browser and activated Adblock Plus, Adblock Fast, and AdGuard Content Blocker in the browser. Things I found that this crappy ad malware may be from appsqaure.net. Instead of having Ad-pop up, the browser is sometimes randomly open and redirected to appsquare.net. I try to block this website as well.

 

[lunatic59]

If you are sure it's coming through the browser and not being served by an app, then clearing the browsers (and browser app) cache and data, then rebooting your phone should clear it.

 

[Steve1978]

I am not a tech guy. I am probably wrong. I don't think it's coming from the browser but they use it when they deliver the ad. The ad not pops up now but the appsquare.net page randomly pops up thru browser. If i change the default browser to Firefox. The page stills pops up from Firefox. I don't know how to stop this.

 

[lunatic59]

That's being served by an app/adware. You have to find the culprit. Would it be possible to list the apps you've installed on your phone? Maybe something will jump out as a known spam source.