[Guide] Full screen ads. How to find the culprit.

[Javier P]

Re: Full screen ads. How to find the culprit.

Hi, I posted my questions on the android q&a but I was redirected here so I'll repost what I ask there:
For the past couple of days, my phone has randomly been launching chrome to some website saying that I need to update or that I won something from google. I haven't downloaded any new apps as of recent so it's probably not something that I downloaded and I only really use chrome to look up things once in a while. I have tried other internet browser and the same things keep happening. As of now, I have disabled/uninstall all the browser app and once in a while, I noticed the home button turning green and goes back to normal so I'm assuming something is trying to open up the browser but can't because there isn't any. I have tried using antivirus like malwarebytes and avast to do a scan but it couldn't find any issue. I have heard people saying that there may be an unnamed app that may have been installed but I have yet to see any suspicious app. Has anyone experienced anything similar to this?

I have tried checking the running services but I haven't seen anything suspicious.
My phone is LGV20

Welcome to the forums. That definitely sounds like an app pushing those ads. This guide includes different ways to find out which one is the culprit.

Many times an "innocent" app that you installed a long time ago starts to behave this way after an update from the Play Store.

 

[artemisxrpg]

Re: Full screen ads. How to find the culprit.

Not sure what happened, but the ads just suddenly stopped appearing. I didn't unstalled anything yet so it's really strange. I don't know if someone has been in a similar situation but I'll update here if anything comes up. Thanks for your help.

 

[martinstone86]

I was shocked and saddened to discover that the villain of my battle with unwanted and intrusive full page ads was none other than McAfee! I was invited by McAfee via my laptop to install their "wonderful" anti-evil software ONLY TO DISCOVER that I had just let the bag guys in the door. I'm disability all the master software I own ASAP.

 

[Alex Hobson1]

hi i keep getting a pop up on my phone about hot popular game play for free now i can't click on more when i hold my finger on the pop up because it pops up with the app wasn't found in the list of installed apps. Can anyone help me please thanks