Samsung S5 Mini with Strange UI

[S7MiniQuestion]

My mother is pretty much totally tech illiterate (and I'm not a tech genius either)

She is always installing weird apps on her phone despite my constant warnings (mostly slot machine sims) and now her phone has a really strange UI that I cannot figure out how to remove. There is nothing unusual in the Application Manager that I can pin it to. Will a Factory Reset be necessary or perhaps there is another solution?

The home page now features apps titled Themes, Wallpapers, Boost, App Lock, Junk Cleaner, CPU Cooler, Battery, Boost+, Emoji, Shuffle (spins a little colour wheel then changes the background to that colour) and "Lucky," which opens up a screen with 3 gift boxes, which I was not going to select one. None of these apps show up in the application manager.

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

Re: Samsung S7 Mini with Strange UI

2 questions.

1) What’s an S7 Mini? AFAIK, it doesn’t exist.

2) What do they look like?

 

[S7MiniQuestion]

Re: Samsung S7 Mini with Strange UI

Sorry, she is the one who purchased the phone and told me that was the model.

After a quick online search of Galaxy S models it appears to be an S5 Mini. It has a textured back.

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

Alright, moved to the S5 subthread.

Could you provide a screenshot?

 

[can3gxw]

Sounds like some serious adware/malware/junkware on that phone. A factory reset will definitely restore it back to what it should be, but take a closer look through the app manager. There is SOMETHING there that has done all of this, I'm willing to bet.

Go through the list carefully and start uninstalling things. Apps that look benign enough often are not. You can skip the Google, Samsung and carrier apps. Anything else, at this point, are fair game.

 

[S7MiniQuestion]

Phone seems to be unable to take screenshots now. Am now receiving push notifications saying that the "battery is 40 degrees Celsius" and pushing to use that CPU Cooler app.

There is definitely nothing amiss in the Application Manager as I quite literally have deleted everything but the standard Google ETC apps.

Definitely thinking a Factory Reset is the only option right now unless you have any other ideas.

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

Phone seems to be unable to take screenshots now. Am now receiving push notifications saying that the "battery is 40 degrees Celsius" and pushing to use that CPU Cooler app.

There is definitely nothing amiss in the Application Manager as I quite literally have deleted everything but the standard Google ETC apps.

Definitely thinking a Factory Reset is the only option right now unless you have any other ideas.

It’s probably the best choice. It’s probably some bad piece of malware or a junk app that has usage access.

 

[S7MiniQuestion]

Alright, thanks for your time. Went with the reset so all is well now, was just hopeful for a more simple/easy fix that wouldn't require reentering all the details and such. Thanks again.

 

[can3gxw]

We always hope that a factory reset won't be necessary, but as @D13H4RD2L1V3 states, some app got installed that subsequently hid itself so you have no clue what else it may be doing. Factory reset will get you back up and running, much like a full Windows reinstall is the best option if your computer gets infected with a virus. You can NEVER be 100% sure that you have everything bad removed.

Good luck!

 

[B. Diddy]

There's actually an S5 mini subforum, so I moved this thread again.