How do I track down a deceitful pop-up on android

November 15, 2019 7:06 PM

Recently I've been getting pop-ups in Android that are directing me to a specific app on Google Play. I can't figure out which app is causing this and don't know how to fix it. More within...

Problem: something on my phone is auto-opening Google Play Store to a particular app and I'd like it to stop.

I've gotten two pop-ups (popovers?) recently that are both telling me there is something wrong with my phone security-wise, the one tonight said Chrome was shut down due to an unsafe page and gave a specific filename ( I didn't copy it but it was something like memory-something-something, might have had loop in there). I'd like to know which app is causing these deceitful and for all I know dangerous popups (I clicked ok on the one tonight because it looked like an actual system message and Google play immediately opened to a certain security app, the same one I got a pop-over about a week or so ago). Chrome did not actually shut down. I can't think of an app that I've recently installed that I could uninstall to check and I looked at notification settings for everything and nothing looks amiss. I'm not even sure notifications would apply to this. How can I find out which app is doing this? I do have antivirus with another company installed. Thanks.

posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

I have become fierce about blocking notifications on my android phone. I don't need my phone to tell me to donate to public radio, there's a news story, there's email, etc. Weather alerts, calendar items, not much else. settings, Notifications, Block all games, and go from there.
posted by theora55 at 7:23 PM on November 15, 2019

What are you doing when they pop up? Could it be in the JavaScript of an ad?
posted by advicepig at 7:38 PM on November 15, 2019 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: I don't remember what I was doing the first time but tonight I was browsing news articles in Chrome. When I look at the reviews for the app in the Play store I see a handful of other people also complaining about this, one implicates Chrome so I'll take a look at that. The thing is, it's not a normal notification, it's (tonight's at least) one of those fake "your device is in danger/is accessing a dangerous page etc. white block with a system message in it over the top of the web page and then when I clicked on the "ok" to close what I thought was a system message, it opened the play store. Last week the first time it did this I don't think I clicked on a link and it automatically out of the blue opened the play store, both times directly to that app. Hope this clarifies.
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 8:50 PM on November 15, 2019

Sometimes this happens to me when a certain site I visit has a malicious ad on it that causes the "pop-up." So nothing installed on my phone at all. If I don't visit that site / that particular ad doesn't load or hijack Chrome, then I never see the message again. Just in case it is a similar situation.
posted by tinydancer at 9:19 PM on November 15, 2019 [1 favorite]

Does it happen if you go to the same page in another browser?
posted by AugustWest at 12:59 AM on November 16, 2019

The next time it happens log into Google Play and click on the "My Apps and Games" tab. That list will show you all your apps, and you can sort by last used. If you see an app used in the last few seconds that seems out of place that is probably the culprit.
posted by COD at 8:13 AM on November 16, 2019

It’s a pop up ad from the site you were browsing - local news sites are often terrible with this, IME. Ignore it and/or stop going to that site. You could try a “reading view” to see if that helps, for example saving it to Pocket to read (not sure if Chrome has a reading view).

This doesn’t sound like a malicious app, and it sounds like you clicked a link, it didn’t auto-open the Play store
posted by momus_window at 8:32 AM on November 16, 2019 [2 favorites]

Totally a bad ad -- this happens sometimes. Even just fully restarting your browser can help. (If it's a website where you can email the owner and not like a newspaper or whatever, let them know because they can pause the network that's most likely serving this ad.)
posted by Countess Sandwich at 8:50 AM on November 16, 2019 [1 favorite]

Yup, based on your follow up, it is very likely a terrible ad on a site in your browser. They can look exactly like system alerts and be very insistent and hard to exit. I wish browsers would do something about it, because it’s clear that ad companies don’t care.
posted by advicepig at 8:56 AM on November 16, 2019 [1 favorite]

Chrome does that because it's tuned not to block ads. Install Firefox for Android and at least UBlock Origin - it's one of the recommended plugins in Firefox for Android's settings.
posted by scruss at 9:05 AM on November 16, 2019 [2 favorites]

Seconding trying a browser with an ad-blocker. I use Firefox with UBlock Origin as well, but if you'd like everything to work out of the box, you might try Opera or the Brave browser.
posted by Aleyn at 10:56 AM on November 16, 2019