Popup Fullscreen Ads on my s8! Help please!!!

[Candywaffle]

Yesterday out of the blue my s8 started popping fullscreen ads randomly anywhere, inside apps and homescreen too. They appear very random every 20 minutes 3 ads at the same time or every 5 minutes... I have searched but nothing gives me an answer to this. I cant find a fix and I dont want to restore my whole phone... I havent downloaded any new apps, havent visited any websites with viruses and i never had this before. Its really annoying it messed my whole phone up.. Cant even play games from the ads. Does anyone have the same issue or know how i fix this?

(till i finish writing this i got spammed by ads 4-5 times)

 

[StephaneM60]

It's an app you installed that do this (even one installed a long time ago, but that you recently used). If you don't want to reset your phone :

1. Uninstall any unneeded apps
2. Install adguard

Adguard is an ads blocker, while it will not remove the adware, it may prevent the ads to be displayed (though you may still be bothered by blank popups)

if this doesn't work, you'll have to reset...

 

[Candywaffle]

Thanks for your help Stephane im going to try and let you know.

Update: I uninstalled almost every application from my phone without success, then I tried something else...I deleted the samsung internet application and re-installed it and looks like Ads went away..Its been 1 hour without any ad I will let you know after if this really solved my problem. Look like a website in my cache had a virus or something.

 

[Gayle Lynn]

Malwarebytes would be worth installing. If it can't remove it might also disable adware/malware.

Are you using any extensions for ad blocking in Internet?
Uninstalling would have also cleared it's cache.

Malware can lie dormant waiting to wakeup or a 2nd stage.

 

[Candywaffle]

They started appearing again after hours.. I'm going to give a last try on Malwarebytes.

 

[Candywaffle]

Yes it worked thank you! Malwarebytes found 2 files and deleted them since then i get no ads.

 

[Gayle Lynn]

Any idea what or where or name?
Might help others to know about these two.

 

[Candywaffle]

Both named "File Downloader" and they both had different android icons than the original android .

 

[Gayle Lynn]

Some tips and hopefully helpful
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...malware-target-users-in-the-us-uk-and-france/

https://www.extremetech.com/computi...rus-apps-are-useless-heres-what-to-do-instead

https://www.theverge.com/platform/a...googlian-android-malware-install-app-security

One more on subject.

"attackers can net hundreds of thousands of dollars per month by getting an app into Google Play, through techniques like slamming users with exploitative in-app purchases, and generating fraudulent ad revenue in infected apps." https://www.wired.com/story/google-play-store-malware/

 

[TimFrank9]

After many calls to tech coach that were unsuccessful I started deleting apps 1 by 1. NOTE 8 Music Player deleted and no more full screen ads. In my onion that was the cause of unwanted full screen ads on my Note 8

 

[SDTRMG]

After many calls to tech coach that were unsuccessful I started deleting apps 1 by 1. NOTE 8 Music Player deleted and no more full screen ads. In my onion that was the cause of unwanted full screen ads on my Note 8

Was it the Samsung music player? That's odd if so

 

[Gayle Lynn]

Keep Malwarebytes. Install Adguard.
https://adguard.com/en/welcome.html

Maybe the ads were an embedded music file and had used music player. All a ruse to trick the user.

 

[Ibrahim Alenezi]

Hi
you can the App which generate the full screen ads the block or unstill it. Here is the way;

press the left button which makes multi-windows App to close them, as the Apps at this shape, look for the Ads window and from the left-up corner, press long, it will show you exactly the real app behind the ads

 

[colin ignat]

colin_ig
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Hey (SAMSUNG GALAXY S7)
I have the same problem. The point is I didn't install any apps at all in the last 4 days.
This annoying ads pops up even when somebody is calling me.
As u can see in the img uploaded, I pressed the left button for the multi-windows App to close them (like Ibrahim Alenezi said), and did a screenshot. The logo it's sort of a green "N" (Nougat logo).

Malwarebytes and Adguard didn't solve the problem so what I did was uninstalling apps that didn't come with the phone. We'll see if those bloody ads will still bothering me.

 

[Gayle Lynn]

Ouch! I’m going to use Norton Security and watch to see. They also have VPN that filters “known” ad players.

If you’ve wiped cache partition? Also SD Maid (Pro) can disable bloat and system apps and may help find hidden apps.

I tend to believe it’s a rogue hidden app, ones that don’t play nice so may not have been installed. Or obvious.

 

[LadyWho]

How do I know which apps are default, that come with the phone? There are a few I don't recognize, "duo" and launcher 3 dont sound familiar to me.

 

[Gayle Lynn]

There's preinstalled.
Carrier apps.
Apps that can not be uninstalled.
Apps that can't even be disabled.
Apps in your Google Play Store Installed. Library.
Settings > Apps > .... Show System apps
Samsung Galaxy app

You can disable Gmail, Chrome, Samsung Email
But you can't uninstall as example.

 

[marcellaCR]

I am having a very difficult time with ads from everywhere and then every variety described here. So you said that you deleted the Samsung internet app from your S8, correct? I am unable to delete that app. I can disable it... How do I delete it?

 

[kreoth]

Ibrahim, thank you for the tip, it works and I caught the culprit. It is an app called PDF Reader, but not the one from Adobe. I guess google play failed to filter it. It woke me up today at 2am with a loud Uber ad! Man, you made my day.

 

[Enigmatikbest]

Hi
you can the App which generate the full screen ads the block or unstill it. Here is the way;

press the left button which makes multi-windows App to close them, as the Apps at this shape, look for the Ads window and from the left-up corner, press long, it will show you exactly the real app behind the ads

Thanks ! It works for me. Except I have a OnePlus phone and the button which makes multi-windows App to close them is on right