How did Vchat wind up on my phone?

[Android Central Question]

Yesterday, I went to move an app to one of my home screens, and I noticed a new icon there, for an app I never installed. The icon is labeled Vchat (or V Chat). I wasn't about to open the app, since it was installed without my knowledge; I just wanted to uninstall it. I opened Settings, selected All Apps (I have a Moto Z Play, running Android 7.1.1), but could find no app called VChat. Using Google Play, I also could not find an app of that name. I ran a Malwarebytes scan and it came up clean. Does anyone know what VChat is, where it came from, and how I get rid of it?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! I found several apps called V Chat or something similar. What happens if you long-press the icon on the homescreen -- can you move it anywhere?

 

[gf1701]

I can move it to another home screen. And I think I can drag it to trash, but does that actually uninstall it from my phone? And even if so, the question remains: how did it get on my phone in the first place? I have identified the app on the Google Play store:https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.chatviet.vchat And in the Reviews section, there were a couple of people reporting that they found it "randomly installed" on their device. So it's not just me.

 

[B. Diddy]

Hmm -- chances are that some other app caused it to be installed. You're saying that when you go to the System Settings, then Apps, you can't see it listed there? What if you tap Menu there, then Show System?

 

[gf1701]

I already did Show System: it wasn't listed in there either.

 

[B. Diddy]

If you long-press an app shortcut icon on the homescreen, it ought to give you options at the top of the screen for Remove, Uninstall, and App Info. Do you see all of those options?

 

[gf1701]

It only gives me the option to Remove. So this time I did that, which I now think was the wrong choice. Now it is gone from the homescreen, but I suspect that it is still on my device. I was probably better off keeping it in view until I was sure I could get it off my phone.

 

[B. Diddy]

Go to Settings>Device Administrators -- do you see it there as well?

 

[gf1701]

No, it is not in Device Administrators.

 

[B. Diddy]

Did you look through every app in the Settings>Apps menu? Make sure you tap Menu>Show System. I ask this because sometimes an app's name as it is shown in this menu isn't always what's shown on the icon. For example, the Star Wars pinball game from Zen is listed as "Pinball 5."