New Speed Charge/Battery Status Lock Screen with annoying ads "just appeared" on GN4

[juliesdroidsync]

So, 2 days ago, a new lock screen "on top of" my regular lock screen "magically appeared" on my Note 4.

It shows time/date in upper left corner, and a ... menu in the upper right that allows me to turn off speed charging. Then, a % charged indicator, and underneath that, some annoying ad... at the bottom, there is a "slide to unlock", which then goes to my Nova Launcher lock screen, which I have setup with my fingerprint scanner.

So basically, now I have to go through an additional lock screen and view an annoying ad to get into my phone.

I have no idea where this came from, and to the best of my recollection, I haven't added any new apps.

Any idea how to get rid of this?

Thanks for your help!

 

[wm4]

This might seem like an odd question, but did you by any chance enable any "add-on" buttons from Clean Master?

Sounds a little nuts, but it seems as though this first appeared when I turned-on 1-Tap Hibernate...and seems to go away when I turn 1TH off...hmmmm

 

[natehoy]

What apps did you install two days ago? One of them came with some adware.

 

[juliesdroidsync]

Good thought, as I'd read elsewhere Cheetah Mobile does that... I've uninstalled everything from that developer, but it's still there... :-(

 

[wm4]

If you will search here, as I did in the interim, for "Clean Master" threads, you'll come to the conclusion, as many have, that it's worthless, that Android already does a decent job of memory management, etc. - moreover, now the use of CM speed buttons for battery "utilities" opens the door for ads, as with the "lock screen atop your lock screen.".

All CM products now uninstalled here - many thanks to the android central community for wising me up.

 

[natehoy]

I highly recommend "Ad Network Detector" (from the same authors as Lookout Antivirus) because it is really good at identifying adware and telling you what apps to uninstall. The best part is that it doesn't actually make any changes - it just breaks down the ad networks installed on your device, what behaviors each one can engage in, and what apps use them. Uninstall all of the apps that use a misbehaving ad network, and the ad network goes away.

Unfortunately it cannot complete a scan on my Note 4 - but maybe you'll have better luck.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ails?id=com.lookout.addetector&token=dUaECK-v

EDIT: If anyone has any alternatives they can suggest that do the same thing but actually work, paid or not, I'd be grateful for the tip. Even the full Lookout doesn't appear to have nearly the full feature set as this one. The only others I've found are from Cheetah Mobile, and installing their stuff on my phone to PREVENT invasive software seems counter-intuitive.

 

[juliesdroidsync]

yes, wm4, I too have come to the same conclusion... No Cheetah Mobile for me, either... Even though they were not the culprit this time, like you, there seems to be no need for those kinds of apps, and they just seem to be bundled with trouble.

natehoy!

Thanks so much for the suggestion...

Like you, Ad Network detector could not complete a scan of my phone either, but at least you pointed me in the right direction to a similar app - Stopbadapp. I didn't realize there were apps for this kind of thing.

It actually crashed for me on the first time too, but I did a cache wipe, reinstalled it, and it worked fine. (tried the same thing with Ad Network Detector, and it still couldn't scan my phone.)

At any rate, the culprit was actually a PAID app... one I paid for so as to NOT have the ads ($19.99!), so I would have never suspected this one, as I've been using it for months. GoSMS Pro.

I guess it must have updated a few days ago, and somehow got "disconnected" from the upgrade I paid for, and reverted to the free version, which was really weird. So, I clicked to buy it again (yes, I was going to pay for it again and appeal to the developer to give me a refund later...) to see what would happen, and it "re-connected" to my purchase without charging me, and the ad went away immediately... So strange.

Anyway, thank you all for your help. I learn so much here, and save so much time and frustration because of the great help.

 

[natehoy]

Like you, Ad Network detector could not complete a scan of my phone either, but at least you pointed me in the right direction to a similar app - Stopbadapp. I didn't realize there were apps for this kind of thing.

That one looks like a decent find. Testing it out now. Thanks.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ls?id=com.secore.privacyshield&token=QjFzmYPg

Edit to add: So, the funny part is that "StopBadApp" scanned my phone, found one app that I didn't really need all that badly (WiFi Analyzer) that had permissions that were a little far-reaching, and then in a fit of excess honesty it also pointed out that it was then the highest threat on my phone. LOL

I uninstalled it, because I don't need active scanning running all the time, but I'm glad I ran a quick scan using it since Lookout isn't working. Thanks for the tip!

 

[wm4]

Well, thank you, juliesdroidsync, for pointing me to stopbadapp. Just ran it, and I'll be doggoned - found "greyware" in a vintage ringtone app that was capable of all kinds of nastiness.
Staying tuned for natehoy's test results; gotta love androidcentral cadre!

 

[Abe Rodriguez1]

I got the sAmerican thing. ES file Explorer recently updated and added a bunch of new features and took the liberty of activating them all. If you have that app, that is most likely where it came from. Today I pressed the wake button to my phone and discovered that the lock screen had changed to a blue liquid that corresponded the percentage of my battery. Also had an advertising, was able to disable it through the menu button on the top right corner. Also noticed on the notification tray was a button that said allow special permissions. When I clicked on it it launched ES File Explorer. HOPED THIS HELPED!!!

 

[misslauryl]

None of these suggestions have gotten rid of this screen for me, unless I missed something. Has anyone done anything that actually works for this issue specifically?

I only get this screen when I plug my phone in to charge

Here's what it looks like...the menu button only pulls up a check box for "boost charge"

 

[natehoy]

"Words typed today" indicates that it may be a keyboard app - or it is something that is acting as a keyboard.

So that means the app has had access to everything you have typed into your phone for who knows how long.

If you cannot find the app, and I do not use caps lightly, FACTORY RESET! NOW!

Then change any passwords you may have keyed into your phone.

 

[JJ Taylor]

"Words typed today" indicates that it may be a keyboard app - or it is something that is acting as a keyboard.

So that means the app has had access to everything you have typed into your phone for who knows how long.

If you cannot find the app, and I do not use caps lightly, FACTORY RESET! NOW!

Then change any passwords you may have keyed into your phone.

It's actually TouchPal 2016. If you scroll down on the screen it says powered by TouchPal.

 

[Vonzy]

I have the very same problem, after some trouble, I had to reset the phone and used the backup of settings and apps, after it was finished this nag-screen turned up with a included advertise

When I "disable it" then it will not turn up the next time, but after that it's back again

The buttons to click at on the screen is only a decoration

I have been deleting the last installed apps, searching with Google all over the planet, but still no luck
As someone ells here it turns up when I plug my phone into charging - but nothing about what I have been typing.
In some other forums, no one had any answer about this

So I'm hoping that someone here can find a solution, and if I find something useful I will be back

Cheers from Sweden!

(I sneaked in here even if I have a Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, hope that it's ok)

 

[Jeffrey Buoncristiano]

Same exact screen here. How do i follow this thread to be notifoed when a solution happens?

 

[natehoy]

Same exact screen here. How do i follow this thread to be notifoed when a solution happens?

If you are on a web browser, up near the top there is a link called "Thread Tools" and you select "subscribe to this thread". Any time someone posts to it, you are notified.

 

[JoeInCT]

Same here. I'm afraid that it may be from Samsung, but could be wrong. The extra income stream from advertising may have been too tempting for Samsung to resist. What pisses me off is that I paid full retail and shouldn't have to endure banner ads on the very first screen I look at every time I open my phone. Hopefully someone will find a way around it.

 

[Suzie Carmichael]

I don't think that it is Samsung. I started getting the same screen last night and I have been following this string all day. I got about 18 updates last night in Play Store and I didn't start seeing the blue speedcharge screen until after that. Finally went into my applications manager and looked for apps that did not down load and the only ones that I saw came from the virtual reality software that came with the phone (Galaxy S7). It was Cirque du Soleil and Strangers. I uninstalled those along with some camera apps that I had like Bestie and Z Camera and the problem seems to be solved. I just don't know which apps were causing the problem. I did do some research on the Cirque du Soleil and Strangers apps and they seem to be legit. The camera apps that I uninstalled did update right before I started seeing that blue screen though. I hope this helps.

 

[Vonzy]

SOLUTION!
Thanks Suzie, You Made My Day!

It was the Z Camera that was messing it up!
When I removed that camera-program everything is working just fine!!
I have been using around 15 programs to solve this, with no luck

It might be more programs from the same company "Zero Team" that got this kind of nasty extra function
All their programs is here: https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...re/apps/developer?id=Zero+Team&token=2dHIGw9I

 

[Suzie Carmichael]

Glad I could help.