Annoying Magnifying Glass

[EllieMentary]

I have a Samsung Galaxy S8 and a very annoying magnifying-glass symbol, in a grey circle, has recently appeared on my home screen. When you click on it, it takes you to Buzz Search (which I never use and have no interest in). You can drag it all round the screen, but you can't delete or hide it and Buzz isn't listed as an app so I can't delete the whole thing. It's very intrusive and drives me nuts. Can anyone tell an old gal, who is very low-tech, how to get rid of this intruder? (in very simple step-by-step terms, please!) LOL

 

[mary beth hale]

Do you have a Photo Editor app installed? From what I Googled, that can cause the issue you're having. It's adware.

 

[mary beth hale]

Sorry for short answer. Had to go to work. Will look further when I get home.

 

[EllieMentary]

Aww bless you Mary Beth. I had heard the Photo Editor app might be to blame, so have deleted it, but it's made no difference. Many thanks for your suggestion though.

 

[Javier P]

Aww bless you Mary Beth. I had heard the Photo Editor app might be to blame, so have deleted it, but it's made no difference. Many thanks for your suggestion though.

Welcome to the forums. There are reports of different apps pushing that annoying icon/menu. The usual culprits are Photo Editor, My Camera, ES File Explorer, Z Keyboard, apps by DU ...

See this thread.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=781299

 

[EllieMentary]

Thank you so much Javier. I know Buzz is connected to Google and I've installed a Google keyboard. Will see if uninstalling that makes a difference. I believe I also have DU Battery Saver, so will try deleting that too. I'll report back. Many thanks!

 

[Javier P]

Thank you so much Javier. I know Buzz is connected to Google and I've installed a Google keyboard. Will see if uninstalling that makes a difference. I believe I also have DU Battery Saver, so will try deleting that too. I'll report back. Many thanks!

Start with that battery saver app. The Google keyboard (Gboard) is definitely not the culprit.

 

[EllieMentary]

No you're right. The Google keyboard isn't the culprit. I've uninstalled everything else I can think of, but it's still there! Grrrr!!

 

[Javier P]

No you're right. The Google keyboard isn't the culprit. I've uninstalled everything else I can think of, but it's still there! Grrrr!!

Do you have any other cleaner, battery saver or memory booster app installed? If so, uninstall them and see what happens. When you uninstall any app I'd recommend you to first 'force stop' and clear data before hitting the uninstall button.

 

[EllieMentary]

Thank you Javier. I'm going to try uninstalling every app that wasn't pre-installed on the phone. I had the same problem on my last phone (an SG6 Edge) and was so glad when I changed it, but the magnifying glass has popped-up again!

 

[Javier P]

Also, go to settings - apps - gear icon top right - advanced/special access and see what apps are listed under 'apps that can appear on top' (or 'draw over other apps').

 

[EllieMentary]

Think I've done it Javier. It appears to have been a free app called 'Trash Cleaner'. Thanks so much for your help. I'm very grateful!

 

[Javier P]

Think I've done it Javier. It appears to have been a free app called 'Trash Cleaner'. Thanks so much for your help. I'm very grateful!

Excellent! Glad you found the culprit and thanks for the follow up! It'll be very helpful for other members with a similar issue.

As a general rule, forget about those cleaner/booster apps. Most of them are useless and will fill your phone with adware and unwanted features.

 

[EllieMentary]

I agree. Seems no 'free' downloads are truly free. I'll avoid all in future. Would rather pay to have one that does the job and without the pop-up add. Many thanks once again, Javier!

 

[mary beth hale]

Think I've done it Javier. It appears to have been a free app called 'Trash Cleaner'. Thanks so much for your help. I'm very grateful!

I'm so glad you got it sorted out!

 

[Forgewizard]

I agree. Seems no 'free' downloads are truly free. I'll avoid all in future. Would rather pay to have one that does the job and without the pop-up add. Many thanks once again, Javier!

Does your S8 have an onboard optimized app? My Note8 does. If not just get into habit of turning phone off once a day and clearing cache at least weekly. Check your my files and storage area to keep most on the card.

 

[EllieMentary]

I'm pretty clueless with technology, but I think it does. I'll definitely check and many thanks for your suggestion.

 

[dippynsippy]

I have had the same issue. It took me ages to figure out which app is causing it. Finally I found out it was FREE VPN MASTER. I uninstalled the app and it vanished .

In case you want to find out which app is causing this magnifying glass. Go to settings - Developer options - Running services . Try closing each app individually and find out. It is a long tedious process and there isn't a short cut.