ad in notification bar that seems extremely concerning
Hi,
Today was the second time that I got an ad in my notification bar. The first time was a few months ago. I downloaded AirPush Detector but it couldn't find any app as the culprit. I also scanned my phone with both avast and lookout mobile for spyware and viruses but found nothing. I made sure to update both avast and lookout before scanning. I searched and found that I should look for information about the ad. The icon in the notification bar is the standard droid bot icon. The actual ad reads "Featured Game: Temple Run Download Temple Run for Andoird!" if you click the ad it sends you to the standard app market to download the game. I searched for the app on the android market but I could not find the game on the market. Even though I could not find the app listed on the market unless I go through the ad, it seems like the ad is taking me to the legitimate android market app. The icon used for the game is taken from the temple run for iphone app as are the screen shots (App Store - Temple Run). The developer listed for the game under the name of the app is showen as "Official android app" and the name of the app is showen as "Temple Run Free". Under developer the link to the webpage is Android Games / Mobile Games // AndroidGames.com and to send an email is lists contact@androidgames.com. Also the rating for the game are almost all 5 stars (3506 out of 3876 total reviews) but it shows tat it has 0+ downloads and shows Februar 6th, 2012 as the date, I got the ad on the February 5th, 2012. Also all the reviews are one word reviews (Great, awesome, ect). I initially thought that this was caused by a virus or spyware but since neither avast or lookout can find anything I am unsure of that. Also the fact that the market page it takes me to seems extremely questionable concerned me but it seems to be taking the legitimate android market. If any one has any information or knows how to stop these adds it would be much appreciated. My phone is HTC droid incredible 2 on Verizon running 2.3.4 and is not rooted.
I shared the app by e-mailing the link to my self. it is: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.templefungame.free
Thank You.
Last edited by scneni91; February 5th, 2012 at 08:40 PM.
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to scneni91 For This Useful Post:
I am having the exact same problem. I received the "Featured Game: Temple Run..." notification this evening on my phone and have run both Lookout's Push notification detector and Addons Detector and neither of them can find any Push adware on my phone. I have very few games or additional apps on my phone so hate to indiscriminately uninstall... however, these notification adds are amazingly annoying; if anyone has any information about tracking down the culprit, or a list of known apps that have sneaky push ads, it would be much appreciated. [Nexus S, not rooted]
And... as an end user I want to put it out there that I almost always buy developer apps that I enjoy, for no other reason than to support the developer. Conversely, *love* going on sites that try to forcibly advertise and 1-starring them, sending nasty emails, etc... not only will I not do business with any pushy product, I will tell others to do the same and never even consider supporting any company remotely related to them. Definitely sure I'm not alone.
I have the exact same problem. I've attempted both Addons Detector and Airpush Detector and neither identifies the culprit. This is the second notification ad I've seen in a week. Very frustrating. I've attempted to disable all apps which start on boot and will see if that makes any difference. I've removed all the apps I've installed recently, so I'm now suspecting it is an app that was updated instead.
I tracked down the Android Market app complaint page and reported the app (my first post, won't let me post the link).
I'd suggest other people do that as well in case there is a minimum threshold that they review them at.
Here is a list of some apps I have that want to start on boot, in the hopes other people will have only one or two in common and can report back so we can narrow down the culprit.
CPUMonitorMini
OS Monitor
Wiki Mobile (prime suspect, runs a service called com.nulldroid.library.notifications.SettingsServic e)
Other Apps I think are unlikely suspects:
Bookmark Tree
K-9 Mail
Flixster Movies
My.Services
Speed Test
Advanced Task Manager Free
AppsLib
to Overcast - from your list first thing I'd remove is the Advance Task Manager Lite, whether or not it has the ad. Task Manager on an Android 2.2 and up aren't good.
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Lookout writes about the "apperhand SDK package": It is capable of identifying the user uniquely by their IMEI number, for instance. But unlike some networks, this SDK forward-hashes the IMEI before sending to its server. They're identifying your device, but they are obfuscating the raw data. (That's a good thing.)
The SDK has the capability to deliver AirPush Notifications ads to the user. We're not huge fans of push notifications, but we also don't consider push notification advertising to be malware.
The SDK drops a search icon onto the desktop. Again, we consider bad form, though we don't consider this a smoking gun for malware provided the content that is delivered is safe. In this case, it is simply a link to a search engine.
The SDK also has the capability to push bookmarks to the browser. In our opinion, this is crosses a line; although we do not believe this is cause to classify the SDK as malware.
But I think I would look in the phone's log for that service "apperhand".
For to look in the log I would use 'aLogcat'.
Harry
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I have the exact same problem. I've attempted both Addons Detector and Airpush Detector and neither identifies the culprit. This is the second notification ad I've seen in a week. Very frustrating. I've attempted to disable all apps which start on boot and will see if that makes any difference. I've removed all the apps I've installed recently, so I'm now suspecting it is an app that was updated instead.
I tracked down the Android Market app complaint page and reported the app (my first post, won't let me post the link).
I'd suggest other people do that as well in case there is a minimum threshold that they review them at.
Here is a list of some apps I have that want to start on boot, in the hopes other people will have only one or two in common and can report back so we can narrow down the culprit.
CPUMonitorMini
OS Monitor
Wiki Mobile (prime suspect, runs a service called com.nulldroid.library.notifications.SettingsServic e)
Other Apps I think are unlikely suspects:
Bookmark Tree
K-9 Mail
Flixster Movies
My.Services
Speed Test
Advanced Task Manager Free
AppsLib
I also have been getting the notifications and I have wiki mobile as well. I'm gonna un install it and see if it goes away!
Thanks overcast75, you pointed me in the right direction with Wiki Mobile being the culprit to serving the annoying notification bar alerts.
I ran avast! Mobile Security, Ad Detector, AirPush Detector and Push Ad Detector. None of them found a thing. I then ran Addons Detector from lunatic59's suggestion. I filtered the results to Push Notifications and there was Wiki Mobile. I selected it, force stopped it and the push ad disappeared from the notification bar.
I will post back if notification alerts return but I feel confident they won't considering the alert immediately disappeared after force stopping Wiki Mobile.
As a side note, I went back to the Android Market and couldn't find this version of Wiki Mobile listed. If I recall, when I originally downloaded it, it claimed to be 100% ad free. I imagine this is why it's no longer available.
Removing it worked for me as well (so far anyway). FYI, that wiki app just went to the mobile wikipedia site anyway (link below), so you can just put a bookmark on your desktop and it will be the same thing. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I just thought I'd reply, I was getting the same notifications and was directed to try the push ad app but it didnt detect anything. I noticed most of you said the ads were caused by wiki mobile, but i dont have that app, so i decided to download the addons app, and good thing i did because it detected that the cause was my Etsy app. Hope thia helps any one else with this annoying problem!!
I just thought I'd reply, I was getting the same notifications and was directed to try the push ad app but it didnt detect anything. I noticed most of you said the ads were caused by wiki mobile, but i dont have that app, so i decided to download the addons app, and good thing i did because it detected that the cause was my Etsy app. Hope thia helps any one else with this annoying problem!!
Welcome to the forums, and thank you for sharing your information!
Hi, I had the same problem, and following your suggestions, got rid of it using Addons detector.
In my case, this was pushed by an app called "photo to pinterest", which has now been removed from the market. The app was published by "nulldroid custom".
Hi, I had the same problem, and following your suggestions, got rid of it using Addons detector.
In my case, this was pushed by an app called "photo to pinterest", which has now been removed from the market. The app was published by "nulldroid custom".
Best,
Luciano
Welcome to the forums! Another app that uses Airpush ads is Mp3 music download. Discovered with Addon detector.
this app seems a little shady but I'm sure it's nothing bad but lousy adds but I believe I found a dodgy app in the market it's an ICS theme by Dev. Team Syndicate in the comments people claimed it had a Plankton-G[PUP] in it and it did other things like redirect people in the browser and replace there home page and bookmarks with other sites so I stayed clear of that app I'm just reporting what I read in the comments unfortunately we have those out there that like to ruin the fun and make downloading apps a careful process but with a good head on ones shoulders it can be averted sorry about the Notification popping up I hope it's not malware hopefully it's addware I learned a lot about app safety here Android permissions explained, security tips, and avoiding malware
credit goes to alostpacket I'm sure it's just lousy adds I hope I'm not scaring you I only wish to help
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Just to agree on the danger of some of the themes, I am using ADW for a launcher and decided to add the GalaxyS2 SOSO Theme, which can be found here. Well if you go to the site it tells you that several persons have uninstalled it because of the push adds. I was getting the adds even though it was not the theme that I was using. (Seemed like I also got a stray Google Search icon placed on my desktop every so often as well.) Anyway used AirPush Detector and as soon as I opened it this theme was shown to be the culprit. Uninstalled the theme and the notification that was in my status bar was removed. (I refuse to click anything when I see something strange, never know what will trigger the malicious response.)
Just to agree on the danger of some of the themes, I am using ADW for a launcher and decided to add the GalaxyS2 SOSO Theme, which can be found here. Well if you go to the site it tells you that several persons have uninstalled it because of the push adds. I was getting the adds even though it was not the theme that I was using. (Seemed like I also got a stray Google Search icon placed on my desktop every so often as well.) Anyway used AirPush Detector and as soon as I opened it this theme was shown to be the culprit. Uninstalled the theme and the notification that was in my status bar was removed. (I refuse to click anything when I see something strange, never know what will trigger the malicious response.)
All this to say, THANKS.
Welcome to the forums, and thanks for sharing your experience! I'd watch out for the themes that ask for internet access in the permissions.
ad in notification bar that seems extremely concerning
