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Help Is this malware? lock screen hijack?

B

BrownDevil

Newbie
This is actually for my friends Galaxy s8+
He has no idea why but this has taken over his lock screen, and neither him nor I can find away to make it go away.
Anyone have any ideas?
Would rather not do a master reset.
TIA
Robert
 

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Does it have any battery booster apps, ES file explorer, or Flash Keyboard?

Check this list if the phone has it:

• Amber Weather Widget • ES App Locker • GO apps (of note: GO Weather, GO SMS, GO Keyboard, Next Browser) • Kingo Root • KittyPlay Wallpapers, Ringtones • TouchPal apps (TouchPal makes multiple keyboard apps) • Xender (file transfer app) • Zero Team apps (of note: Z Camera)

These are all known apps that can put adware your phone and put unnecessary apps like that lockscreen in the picture
 
tube517 said:
Does it have any battery booster apps, ES file explorer, or Flash Keyboard?
Check this list if the phone has it:
• Amber Weather Widget • ES App Locker • GO apps (of note: GO Weather, GO SMS, GO Keyboard, Next Browser) • Kingo Root • KittyPlay Wallpapers, Ringtones • TouchPal apps (TouchPal makes multiple keyboard apps) • Xender (file transfer app) • Zero Team apps (of note: Z Camera)
These are all known apps that can put adware your phone and put unnecessary apps like that lockscreen in the picture
Click to expand...

Rock1119

I have LG K7...Do you reccomend sn app to cool down..boost..clean..etc. And whivh one? Thaks
 
Ask your friend to check his running apps after a reboot and make list of the ones that were not launched by him, among these will be the app that is troubling him. This used to be the best fix for me when I was a total newbie.

And no, his mobile has not been hijacked. That just some stupid app he must've installed by mistake.
He also does not need to do any reset.
 
Last edited:
Rocker1119 said:
Rock1119

I have LG K7...Do you reccomend sn app to cool down..boost..clean..etc. And whivh one? Thaks
Click to expand...

I don't use any "boosters" or "Cleaners". They do nothing for your phone except make it work harder. Also, some of those apps will put adware on your phone that are sometimes difficult to remove.
 
tube517 said:
Does it have any battery booster apps, ES file explorer, or Flash Keyboard?

Check this list if the phone has it:

• Amber Weather Widget • ES App Locker • GO apps (of note: GO Weather, GO SMS, GO Keyboard, Next Browser) • Kingo Root • KittyPlay Wallpapers, Ringtones • TouchPal apps (TouchPal makes multiple keyboard apps) • Xender (file transfer app) • Zero Team apps (of note: Z Camera)

These are all known apps that can put adware your phone and put unnecessary apps like that lockscreen in the picture
Click to expand...
Checking on this now. Will post up with results. Thanks!
 
OK guys, checked for all the above mentioned suggested culprits. He has none of them installed on his phone.

Any other guesses? o_O
 
Does it have Clean Master or any apps by Cheetah Mobile?

Any apps by DU (Like their battery booster app)?

Any other cleaning, task cleaners, cache cleaning apps?
 
Have you long pressed the Home screen after swiping it to see if that's a lock screen image or not?
 
dontpanicbobby said:
Is he being pranked? That could be a wallpaper that looks like a Lock screen. Also what happens when he slides to unlock?
Click to expand...

He's not being pranked. There is no slide to unlock anymore. That's what I'm saying, it's screwed up. I have no ideas where it came from or how to get rid of it.
 
I'm sticking with it being a wallpaper prank gone wrong.. Looking at that image I don't see a service provider in the upper left corner which is what you'd normally see on a lock screen. Anyway even if it's not he'll have to do is Factory reset his S8+ using the hardware buttons to make it usable again. After the Factory reset all the data will be wiped from the device and have to be reinstalled but that's better than sitting there with a very expensive paperweight.

"Press and hold the Volume Up + Bixby + Power buttons at the same time. Release all buttons when the Phone vibrates. From the Android Recovery screen, select Wipe data/factory reset. Utilize the volume buttons to cycle through the available options and the power button to select."

That's from Verizon Wireless but will work with any Samsung Galaxy S8+.
 
This could be way off here but es explorer did a similar thing to me a while a go. I have a feeling es put itself as a device administrator to be able to take over the lockscreen. It's worth checking the device administrator settings to see if somethings there that shouldn't be. However that could've been the solutions to one of the many other problems I had with my xperia so it might not work. Worth a shot though ;)
 
BrownDevil said:
This is actually for my friends Galaxy s8+
He has no idea why but this has taken over his lock screen, and neither him nor I can find away to make it go away.
Anyone have any ideas?
Would rather not do a master reset.
TIA
Robert
Click to expand...
looking at pic i see no errors or warnings
 
Shotgun84 said:
This could be way off here but es explorer did a similar thing to me a while a go. I have a feeling es put itself as a device administrator to be able to take over the lockscreen. It's worth checking the device administrator settings to see if somethings there that shouldn't be. However that could've been the solutions to one of the many other problems I had with my xperia so it might not work. Worth a shot though ;)
Click to expand...

My mistake. It wasn't es file explorer. It was some photo editing app (sorry can't remember the name) which set itself as an administrator and changed my lockscreen.
 
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