belleuosus

I downloaded the game Feed my Dino and an app called "Search" came with it. Search is quickly draining my battery and accessing files it shouldn't be.

I uninstalled Feed my Dino but the Search app stayed. It can't be uninstalled. I can Force stop it for a few minutes, but it starts right back up.

Someone said I have to root it to rid myself of that app. I'm not completely sure what this means. Can someone help me out with this?

jefboyardee

Have you tried contacting the developer of “Feed my Dino” to see what help they can offer?

I searched that name in the market and appbrain but they didn’t find anything.

belleuosus

Hi Jef,

Sorry, it's call Feed YOUR Dino, my mistake. I haven't contacted them about it.

jefboyardee

That showed up in appbrain as Feed Your Dino! FREE, by Boxisoft. In its description it says something perhaps relevant:

In order to keep the app 100% free, you will receive the following:
Search shortcut icon on your home screen,
Search shortcut on your bookmarks and browser homepage.
This will help us bring you more cool apps like this in the future.
You can delete the search shortcuts easily (Drag & Drop to the garbage), this will not affect the application in any way.

belleuosus

deletes the shortcut, but doesn't uninstall it. It can't be uninstalled. My phone just died. Guess I should read the fine print.

jefboyardee

If it happened to me, I would first try and contact Boxisoft.

If that gets nowhere, I, making things up as I went along, would install Dino again and yank the battery when it got to the part about installing the Search malware, since it presumably has to erase the old install before loading the new one.

A complete shot in the dark, but what else to do...

iowabowtech

I'm hoping your phone just "died" due to running out of battery. Once you're back up and running, use a file manager to see if there are any folders on your SD card that appear pertinent to the original app or the search addon. If so, delete it.

If they forced in another app into /system/app that truly cannot be uninstalled, that is bad news. May have to factory reset on an unrooted phone.

jefboyardee

I may come to that, but if possible, I suggest that you first get something like AppMonster Pro so you can back up the good stuff to your SD card and restore it to your reset phone.

belleuosus

Ok, thanks guys.

iowabowtech

I just noticed that app has over 1M downloads. Seems sort of unlikely there's a malicious situation going on here. I mean anythings possible but...

I'd try every avenue before getting hasty the deeper I look into this.

jefboyardee

Go get ‘em:

For Support and Information contact us at support@boxitsoft.com

Hadron

Would that even work? A factory reset on my phone doesn't affect anything in /system (though it would erase data for system apps).

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iowabowtech

Should wipe it back to stock + any bloatware. However, if a person had their phone set to backup to Google servers, the offending app may return.

Vic Rattlehead

Try use some kind of file manager, find the source and delete.

nicka3200

Is that possible on an unrooted phone?

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Mr. Lucky

I find it hard to believe an app that didn't require root to install would require root to uninstall it.
Try this:
1) Goto Settings > Location and security and see if the search app is listed as a "Device administrator" - if so, undo the checkmark.
2) Next, goto Settings > Applications > Manage applications and see if it's listed under the "All" tab. If so, select it and press all buttons, starting from the bottom and working up, with Uninstall as your final press. GL!

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kmfs

thanks a million man u saved me from resetting my phone...