Screen Overlay Detected, what can I do?

[AC Question]

screen Overlay Detected

I've got Android 6.0 and I'm having a problem with Android asking me to give apps permissions (remember the Mac commercial taunting Windows on this ten years ago?). The point is that i can't use my apps thanks to this. For example, I want to watch baseball games on my MLB At Bat app but then it asks me to enable location, which thrn takes me to a pop up window that says "Screen Overlay Detected. To change this permission setting go to..." then I'm stuck in an endless loop where i can't change any of the settings and i can't operate many of my apps.

Help!
Thanks in advance

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! The Screen Overlay settings can be found by going to Settings>Apps, tap the gear icon, then Draw Over Other Apps. (This is on a Nexus 6P--if you have a different phone, there might be some differences in the menu location.) By default, it should be Enabled, but each individual app can be turned on or off. Does the error message want you to enable to disable the screen overlay?

 

[electricpete]

Re: screen Overlay Detected

​

I've got Android 6.0 and I'm having a problem with Android asking me to give apps permissions (remember the Mac commercial taunting Windows on this ten years ago?). The point is that i can't use my apps thanks to this. For example, I want to watch baseball games on my MLB At Bat app but then it asks me to enable location, which thrn takes me to a pop up window that says "Screen Overlay Detected. To change this permission setting go to..." then I'm stuck in an endless loop where i can't change any of the settings and i can't operate many of my apps.

Help!
Thanks in advance

Screen overlays are things created by one app that cover part or all of screen while another app is in the foreground. Example is Twilight app to reduce blue light at night to help you prepare for sleep....it applies an overlay on top of everything else to tint the screen.. In addition to apps that tint the screen, apps that put buttons or indicators floating on top of everything else are using overlays.

You can imagine it may be dangerous for android to allow you to to change a sensitive setting while an overlay is active because you may be clicking on something different than what you think you are clicking on (if the overlaying app is malicious and trying to trick you). Therefore to improve security, android doesn't allow you to change sensitive settings while an active overlay is detected.

So you need to identify the app applying the overlay:
* using app permissions settings described above for clues..
* also check recent apps and apps using memory and especially dev options/running programs for clues...
* it is narrowed down to apps with that overlay permission that are currently running a service.

Turn off the overlay FROM WITHIN THE APP THAT CREATED THE OVERLAY.

Once all overlays are disabled, you can adjust settings however you want. You can at that point also adjust permissions to deny overlay permission to the offending app if you are not satisfied with the controls within the app or the trustworthiness of the app.

 

[Rckfsh69]

Re: screen Overlay Detected

Since I did this latest update I can't change permissions, upload pictures among some other things. Its causing me a lot of trouble. I keep getting a popup saying screen overlay detected and to turn it off. It takes you to the settings but no matter what I do nothing changes. Its all very vague. It's just a loop accomplishing nothing. If anyone knows of a fix please share. I've tried a few suggestions for nexus that I found but no success. LG g4, unfortunately lol

 

[2715014]

Since I did this latest update I can't change permissions, upload pictures among some other things. Its causing me a lot of trouble. I keep getting a popup saying screen overlay detected and to turn it off. It takes you to the settings but no matter what I do nothing changes. Its all very vague. It's just a loop accomplishing nothing. I can't change any permissions at all. If anyone knows of a fix please share. I've tried a few suggestions for nexus that I found but no success. LG g4, unfortunately lol

I just did the update on my s7 today and now I'm getting the same message, I have no idea how to make it stop. It won't let me post pics in messenger, says I have to turn off the screen overlay in system apps. But there's nowhere to go. I can't find anything.

 

[Mark Davies5]

I just did the update on my s7 today and now I'm getting the same message, I have no idea how to make it stop. It won't let me post pics in messenger, says I have to turn off the screen overlay in system apps. But there's nowhere to go. I can't find anything.

My S7 is also doing this after latest update
I've Uninstalled twilight however the problem is still there
I cannot use most apps anymore
.. What's app, Facebook.etc are all in viewing mode only

 

[Constitutional Kaffir]

I just did the update on my s7 today and now I'm getting the same message, I have no idea how to make it stop. It won't let me post pics in messenger, says I have to turn off the screen overlay in system apps. But there's nowhere to go. I can't find anything.

When you see that message pop up, follow the prompt to go to settings & turn off the overlay for all apps in the list, this solved the issue for me. I don't want my apps to overlay other apps anyways so no issues there. Hope this helped.

 

[Rckfsh69]

As I posted before, same issues but no filters like twilight. Well after alot of frustrating tries I was able to figure it out. It ended up being Clean Master. As soon as I uninstalled it the problem was gone. I haven't tried reinstalling it but I did install the lite version with no problems. I'll let you know what happens if I decide to try the full version again. Once I got an understanding of how overlaying works I realized that alot of apps could be the culprit (Any floating apps or apps with floating aspects) . Anyways hope this helps someone. This site has been a big help to me in the past so thanks to everyone for posting.

I just did the update on my s7 today and now I'm getting the same message, I have no idea how to make it stop. It won't let me post pics in messenger, says I have to turn off the screen overlay in system apps. But there's nowhere to go. I can't find anything.

 

[Angie Smith 1976]

I had this same problem and followed your advice and it worked. You were right not to install the full version again. It caused the problem all over again. Thanks for the help.

 

[Bedford-Tigger]

Ok I have turned off all my eye saving filters even Uninstaller restarted and still in screen overlay loop. I just did software update. Note 5 on Verizon HELP Please.

 

[Rckfsh69]

Nice! Glad it helped. Thanks for the info on the full version. Did you install the lite one?

 

[Siouxx]

Ok I have turned off all my eye saving filters even Uninstaller restarted and still in screen overlay loop. I just did software update. Note 5 on Verizon HELP Please.

We have a Note 5 in the house and we have the same issue. We can't figure out the app that is causing the issue.

 

[Rckfsh69]

It could be any floating app causing it. Hope you figure out which one, its very frustrating.

 

[zumbachica20]

As I posted before, same issues but no filters like twilight. Well after alot of frustrating tries I was able to figure it out. It ended up being Clean Master. As soon as I uninstalled it the problem was gone. I haven't tried reinstalling it but I did install the lite version with no problems. I'll let you know what happens if I decide to try the full version again. Once I got an understanding of how overlaying works I realized that alot of apps could be the culprit (Any floating apps or apps with floating aspects) . Anyways hope this helps someone. This site has been a big help to me in the past so thanks to everyone for posting.

Thank you for sharing this information. As soon as I uninstalled Clean Master I was able to get into my apps that used location. I then installed the lite version and had no problems.

 

[Tswfootball]

It can be a bunch of different apps.
If you use Facebook messenger chat bubbles it can be those.
You don't need to turn of the chat bubbles though, just temporarily remove them from your screen when you're prompted for a permission, and it will work.

But this really is a extremely confusing situation for most users. You get a error message, where most people probably don't even understand what its saying.. instead you're forwarded to a list of apps and are supposed to GUESS what app is causing an error.

Google seriously needs to come up with a more intuitive solution for this.

I can see a lot of users walking around with apps that have no permissions allowed and without having a clue as to why.

I've already seen a friend who can't see contacts on Gmail, and simply assume that that's just the way it is..

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Maro2020]

It can be a bunch of different apps.
If you use Facebook messenger chat bubbles it can be those.
You don't need to turn of the chat bubbles though, just temporarily remove them from your screen when you're prompted for a permission, and it will work.

But this really is a extremely confusing situation for most users. You get a error message, where most people probably don't even understand what its saying.. instead you're forwarded to a list of apps and are supposed to GUESS what app is causing an error.

Google seriously needs to come up with a more intuitive solution for this.

I can see a lot of users walking around with apps that have no permissions allowed and without having a clue as to why.

I've already seen a friend who can't see contacts on Gmail, and simply assume that that's just the way it is..

Posted via the Android Central App

Hi
I just uninstalled clean master and closed other apps , but still I get the same problem. I got the problem since an hour before.

I have samsung note4

My whatsapp doesn't work anymore.������ please help

 

[Eric Karno]

Yup. Clean Master was the culprit. Everything works once I uninstalled it.

 

[HL35]

I have Android 6.0.1 on a S7 Edge. The only workaround I have been able to come up with is to do the following:
When the request to inactivate the screen overlay pops up, after opening the settings page, first "show system apps" from the menu, then deselect each and every app. Then restart the phone. Now allowing access works for _one_ app. Then restart the phone, now you can allow access for another app. Repeat restarting your phone for each app...

 

[LD C]

I have Android 6.0.1 on a S7 Edge. The only workaround I have been able to come up with is to do the following:
When the request to inactivate the screen overlay pops up, after opening the settings page, first "show system apps" from the menu, then deselect each and every app. Then restart the phone. Now allowing access works for _one_ app. Then restart the phone, now you can allow access for another app. Repeat restarting your phone for each app...

Originally in the past turned off my developers options, and as soon as I turn them back on my ovary problems with Pokemon go we're fixed I have the Galaxy Note 5 with the latest update. I hope this helps also..

 

[sohappy]

Really? That's the Android solution? That's friggin' ridiculous. I'm moderately computer savvy and this is intuitively not making sense to me, now you're suggesting the solution is a massive amount of trial and error and rebooting, just to disable stuff, and hope you get the right stuff eventually, then reinstall or reenable the apps again!?

Not sure why my reply didn't thread properly. Oh well. Uninstalled App Cache Cleaner and disabled some other settings with draw over turned on. Rebooted and now Pokemon Go gets part the screen overlay detected message. About to test and see if it has fixed the same problem with Cardboard/VR apps. Still finding the whole experience a counter intuitive mess.