[SOLVED]Strange ads appearing "behind" the screen. not coming from any visible app - not pop-up

[Android Central Question]

Hi all, I've been having weird ads appearing in my screen, however no as a pop-up like it seems to often be the case, but as a strange "behind the screen" sort of overlay. The ads are vaguely visible behind the app or home screen, and there seems to be multiple ads mashed together. it doesn't seem like the ads are clickable, however I'm worried there is some malware on my phone

 

[mustang7757]

Re: Strange ads appearing "behind" the screen. not coming from any visible app - not pop-up

Can you post a screen shot? And which phone ?

https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=413366

I'll leave a Link to register so you can communicate here as a guest account you can only post questions but can't reply.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=409154

 

[Crakdip]

Re: Strange ads appearing "behind" the screen. not coming from any visible app - not pop-up

HI, thanks for the quick reply. Here's a screenshot of what it looks like : https://ibb.co/fqNyP8p.
The ads tend to disappear after a couple of seconds, and then come back some minutes later. I tried using ad detectors (as you can see from the screenshot, but nothing comes up there.

 

[Javier P]

Re: Strange ads appearing "behind" the screen. not coming from any visible app - not pop-up

HI, thanks for the quick reply. Here's a screenshot of what it looks like : https://ibb.co/fqNyP8p.
The ads tend to disappear after a couple of seconds, and then come back some minutes later. I tried using ad detectors (as you can see from the screenshot, but nothing comes up there.

Welcome to the forums. That's so weird. Which phone and launcher are you using? Have you already tried safe mode?

 

[Javier P]

Re: Strange ads appearing "behind" the screen. not coming from any visible app - not pop-up

I'll post your screenshot to make things easier. Zooming in you can read the text included in the background.

 

[Crakdip]

Re: Strange ads appearing "behind" the screen. not coming from any visible app - not pop-up

I'm using a samsung galaxy S7, Android version 8. Not sure what you mean with Launcher. I haven't tried the safe mode so far. I attached another screenshot with a new ad. Oddly, even if I close all apps the ads still appear behind the home screen for a while : https://ibb.co/Z6pYkJx

 

[Javier P]

Re: Strange ads appearing "behind" the screen. not coming from any visible app - not pop-up

See if you still get those ads after booting in safe mode.

This guide can help you to identify which app is pushing those ads.

 

[Mooncatt]

Re: Strange ads appearing "behind" the screen. not coming from any visible app - not pop-up

Are these screenshots taken on the phone, or photos taken from another camera?

 

[Crakdip]

Re: Strange ads appearing "behind" the screen. not coming from any visible app - not pop-up

those are screenshots from my phone. I will try in safe mode, but ideally I would like to remove whatever is pushing those ads

 

[Mooncatt]

Re: Strange ads appearing "behind" the screen. not coming from any visible app - not pop-up

Odd indeed. It looks like you're in the app drawer in those photos. What happens if you back out to the main home screen?

 

[Crakdip]

Re: Strange ads appearing "behind" the screen. not coming from any visible app - not pop-up

The same, however due to my background picture the ads are less visible, so I go to the app drawer to make the ads more readalbe, if that helps

 

[Crakdip]

Re: Strange ads appearing "behind" the screen. not coming from any visible app - not pop-up

Alright the ads where not showing in safe mode, so it's likely some app. It's almost 2am now so I will go sleep, but I will update this thread tomorrow if the problem persists or if it disappeared. Thanks a lot all for your help so far!

 

[Javier P]

Re: Strange ads appearing "behind" the screen. not coming from any visible app - not pop-up

Alright the ads where not showing in safe mode, so it's likely some app. It's almost 2am now so I will go sleep, but I will update this thread tomorrow if the problem persists or if it disappeared. Thanks a lot all for your help so far!

That's something. Try the steps explained in the guide I linked above and tell us how it goes.

 

[mustang7757]

Re: Strange ads appearing "behind" the screen. not coming from any visible app - not pop-up

This you only see behind the app drawer ?
Change to dark wallpaper or original

 

[Javier P]

Re: Strange ads appearing "behind" the screen. not coming from any visible app - not pop-up

Alright the ads where not showing in safe mode, so it's likely some app. It's almost 2am now so I will go sleep, but I will update this thread tomorrow if the problem persists or if it disappeared. Thanks a lot all for your help so far!

I found the PDF Reader app that you have installed and most of the recent reviews are very bad, some of them reporting full screen ads. I would recommend you to uninstall it and see what happens.

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Strange ads appearing "behind" the screen. not coming from any visible app - not pop-up

FYI, there's no need to install a 3rd party PDF app. If you have Google Drive installed, that comes with a PDF viewer built-in.

 

[Crakdip]

Re: Strange ads appearing "behind" the screen. not coming from any visible app - not pop-up

Hi all, sorry for replying a bit late. So I followed the guide, and noticed that inded PDF reader was using a fair amount of battery despite me not using it in a while. Uninstalled it and for the past 2 days I haven't seen the ads again, so it looks like it's fixed. Thanks everyone for your help!

 

[mustang7757]

Re: Strange ads appearing "behind" the screen. not coming from any visible app - not pop-up

Hi all, sorry for replying a bit late. So I followed the guide, and noticed that inded PDF reader was using a fair amount of battery despite me not using it in a while. Uninstalled it and for the past 2 days I haven't seen the ads again, so it looks like it's fixed. Thanks everyone for your help!

That's great !
Nice find @Javier P

 

[Javier P]

Re: Strange ads appearing "behind" the screen. not coming from any visible app - not pop-up

Hi all, sorry for replying a bit late. So I followed the guide, and noticed that inded PDF reader was using a fair amount of battery despite me not using it in a while. Uninstalled it and for the past 2 days I haven't seen the ads again, so it looks like it's fixed. Thanks everyone for your help!

Excellent! Glad it helped and thanks for the follow up, it'll be very helpful for other users with a similar issue. See you around the forums.