Question Xiaomi phone keeps installing junk apps by itself

[mistan]

It’s been happening for weeks — every few days I find four to six junk apps, mostly “space optimizers” and similar stuff, that flood my phone with notifications. Very annoying. I uninstall them all, but they come back after a few days.
I’ve checked whether any app has permission to install from unknown sources — none of them do. I don’t know what else to do; it’s so frustrating. Any hints or tips?
Thanks.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! This can happen with certain apps that carriers preinstall on their phones (like T-Mobile's AppSelector and Verizon's App Manager). Did you get your phone directly from your carrier, or did you get it unlocked from some other seller?

Xiaomi might also have some preinstalled system app that is doing this. See if this thread helps:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Xiaomi/comments/16fzt3l/unknown_apps_automatically_being_installed_on

 

[VidJunky]

Welcome to Android Central forums. A few questions to get us started.

What model phone is this?

Is this phone new to you?

Are you on a free plan, like a government phone?

If you're not doing the free phone, who is your carrier?

Do you remember installing anything around the time this started?

Where do you get your apps? Are you using vetted sources for apps like the Play Store, Amazon App Store, or Xiaomi's App Store or are you getting them from random online websites?

Are you using an Antivirus or Malware app?

There are really only a few ways I know of for this to happen without permission. One is the free phone program. Now make this make sense, because it doesn't to me, but these phones are paid for by pushing ads and apps to users, who if they are on the program likely don't have a lot of disposable income. So, push ads to folks that aren't going to buy what you're pushing...? The other way is to install questionable apps. Apps from random online websites are not vetted and could be infected with anything and once you allow them on your device they try to do the same thing, serve as many ads and install sympathetic apps to increase their revenue.
Given the nature of the examples you've provided, optimizers and such, Antivirus and Malware apps are notorious for the upsell. They usually try to scare users into getting other apps or paying for premium features, again it's all about money.