Will Google Stop the Full Screen Pop Up Ads!?

[Android Central Question]

I have full screen pop up ads that seemingly appear at random between jumping to new apps or when I pick up my phone and turn it on. I did not bargain for this! It is like a jab in my back every time I am confronted with it. May seem like a small thing, but not to me. I hate the unwarranted intrusion. It rubs me terribly the wrong way. It is one thing to expect ads within the apps I agreed to download or otherwise have on my phone. It is wholly another to have them pop up on me at any time without doing anything to have permitted such. Before you try to tell me how to get rid of them, I have opted out of personal ads. I have opted out from all sponsors which, brings me to another gripe. Some of those sponsors allow opt out but then change the setting unbeknownst to you at a later time. So, I have to continuously go back to the google ads to opt out of all once again. And before you say I should reset my device; I did that. I reset back to factory settings, went through the pain of adding back my accounts and needed apps and still have the problem. I only included those apps I truly needed, which were few, to help ensure I would not have the problem again. Now I admit that I went to download some ringtones recently but stopped and uninstalled while in progress remembering that I don't want to take the chance of getting the full screen pop ups again. And they did seem to start happening more after that. But if I have to worry about downloading simple apps, what the heck is the point of having this phone? I paid good money for this phone; I pay much money for service; and now I have this unwanted, unwarranted intrusion that really pisses me off. This is my first android phone and my last. I am going to try and sell it to get some of my money back and will then get a dumb phone now. This nonstop, advertising in your face world that we live in is bad enough without this forced, unseemly intrusion. I have saved this post and will post it on other forums because others should know about this. Maybe it does not matter to some, but it will matter to others when they make their choice.

 

[Javier P]

Sorry for the delay. Man you are not making things easy for me I've noticed just now that you answered my questions editing my quote, I didn't see it when you posted. On mobile long quotes need to be expanded to see the full text so I missed your answers. And as chanchan05 said, please don't zip files, most people, including me, won't download them on a public forum. Use the instructions to post screenshots included in the guide I linked above, please.

Anyway, I decided to "infect" my backup phone with an app well known for pushing full screen ads. I'll wait until I get one and I'll perform kind of a reverse search to see which traces it leaves and try to find an easy way to detect it. I'll keep you posted.

 

[macdaddy31]

Sorry for the delay. Man you are not making things easy for me I've noticed just now that you answered my questions editing my quote, I didn't see it when you posted. On mobile long quotes need to be expanded to see the full text so I missed your answers. And as chanchan05 said, please don't zip files, most people, including me, won't download them on a public forum. Use the instructions to post screenshots included in the guide I linked above, please.

Anyway, I decided to "infect" my backup phone with an app well known for pushing full screen ads. I'll wait until I get one and I'll perform kind of a reverse search to see which traces it leaves and try to find an easy way to detect it. I'll keep you posted.

O.K. Sorry about that. Just an add on note ... I did locate the "draw over other apps" permissions and removed permissions for all except a couple that seemed necessary. Received a couple pop ups after that but had not rebooted. I just rebooted recently and have not had a pops up since, but it has not been very long. Not sure if that has anything to do with it or not, or if I will get a pop up later on.

 

[romulusclay]

I am experiencing all of the same things that the previous users have posted. This started after I up dated my phone to the android pie and then simultaneously updated all of my apps which I have almost 200 of. I have turned off all push notifications I have turned off all of the “draw over other app” options I have deleted many of the apps that I either never used or rarely used and was just keeping around. So I’m concluding this is not because of a recently installed app but because of a recently updated app. I have ESET mobile security running and have had it running continually it did not detect, catch or stop this from happening....... I gladly welcome ads from free apps that I use while I’m using them but do welcome full-page pop-ups that come out of nowhere, seem to have no pattern to how they are triggered is not only frustrating but insulting

 

[kitgeil26]

I've recently started to experience these same annoying pop-ups.

Taking advice offered here, I deleted a couple of recent apps - both Apple-TV remote apps - and the problem ceased.

Many thanks for the solution.

 

[THinK4812]

This has been going on for some time for me - even before the upgrade to Pie. I have spent countless hours researching how to fix this - thankful to have found this thread. However, I don't have any of the apps that are listed as the culprit(s) here. And my full screen rogue apps aren't nearly as aesthetically pleasing as others have shown. Here are two of mine. Any thoughts?



P.S. Spouse has identical Google Pixel 2, bought on the same day as mine. He does not have these issues at all.

 

[Javier P]

This has been going on for some time for me - even before the upgrade to Pie. I have spent countless hours researching how to fix this - thankful to have found this thread. However, I don't have any of the apps that are listed as the culprit(s) here. And my full screen rogue apps aren't nearly as aesthetically pleasing as others have shown. Here are two of mine. Any thoughts?
View attachment 290223
View attachment 290224

P.S. Spouse has identical Google Pixel 2, bought on the same day as mine. He does not have these issues at all.

Welcome to the forums. Can you see a card for that app in your recent apps? See this guide for possible solutions.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=901497

 

[THinK4812]

Javier P ~ Thanks so much for your reply. No, I have not seen a card for that app in my recent apps, but the guide you sent me to was invaluable. https://forums.androidcentral.com/a.../901497-full-screen-ads-how-find-culprit.html . Thank you.

Under Running Services, I saw two separate incidences of Google Play Services - one running 19 different services(!) since the phone started today. Google Play Services is not an installed app, but I did stop as many of the services as I could. With a restart, there is only one incident of GPServices now and 1 service running in it now. (Spouse has no incidents of Google Play Services on his phone, btw.) That may be the culprit, but too soon to tell. Will get back with this thread as soon as I know.

Again, thanks for https://forums.androidcentral.com/a.../901497-full-screen-ads-how-find-culprit.html .

****
21 Sept 2018 Update: Even after going through the steps of "how to find the culprit," I'm still getting full-screen ads. And oh, the irony of the ad today:

Looks like the only solution is to do a factory reset - unless anyone has a better idea at this point.

 

[Paraandroid]

I have newly purchased moto g6. I have deployed only the apps I was previously using in Mi4i. I get the annoy g fullscreen pop ups placed by "ads by google" and with Google play store logo and it is a google product. Let me know where to upload the screenshot. It is clearly google taking liberties with stock android installation.

I have factory reset my phone thrice denying all sorts of permissions to Moto the vendor. The only remaing culprit is stock Android.

 

[Paraandroid]

True, a free app wishes to place ads and we know the deal. But those are within that app and ignorable if one wants. Grabbing the whole screen irretrievably for at least five seconds is a deal breaker. It cannot be considered what we "bargained" for. Bargain should be up front. Not buried deep in multitude of "help" pages.

 

[Hamza Iqbal Sufi]

Please help I am also having the same problem
A web page opens(not in any browser on phone) with ad and it disables back key ,menu key and recent app screens long press key of android phone.....then I have to turn WiFi off and click on ad while being offline and then after website fails to load a cross sign appears and then I am able to close it until it appears next time......this happened right after I started using google's voice command widget

 

[ManiacJoe]

See if this link helps:
https://forums.androidcentral.com/a...ull-screen-ads-how-find-culprit-new-post.html