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Android Phone Suddenly Getting Spam Pop-ups

Hi, Everyone. I have an LG Stylo 5 which has been great.

Suddenly, in the last week, I keep getting pop-up virus warnings and other crap. I've had Android phones for probably about ten years, and never seen this.

1) Is there something I should be changing in Settings to block these?

2) Could someone (or several someones) suggest the best Android Anti-Viral free apps? I tried AVG and it came up empty.

Thanks So Much,
WTH
 
did you download anything recently as far as apps go? adware usually gets installed via a recent app. try clearing cache for each app you installed recently and then uninstall the app. do this one by one until you find the culprit.

i would not recommend getting an anti-virus apps. they do nothing. i have been on android since its inception and have never used one from day one.....never got any kind of virus or anything like that.
 
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did you download anything recently as far as apps go? adware usually gets installed via a recent app. try clearing cache for each app you installed recently and then uninstall the app. do this one by one until you find the culprit.

i would not recommend getting an anti-virus apps. they do nothing. i have been on android since its inception and have never used one from day one.....never got any kind of virus or anything like that.

Great idea, thanks. It seems in the past, though, sometimes I get an app like this that doesn't show in the apps, like it's hiding or ghosting. Has this happened to you?

Thanks again. I will report back.

WTH
 
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Great idea, thanks. It seems in the past, though, sometimes I get an app like this that doesn't show in the apps, like it's hiding or ghosting. Has this happened to you?

Thanks again. I will report back.

WTH

Yes, this can happen.
Some apps can download malware after a certain amount of time, and then install it.

This can turn up as an app without a name or an icon, so it will not show up in your app drawer.

Also, because it is technically another app, it will not be uninstalled when you uninstall the parent app, and as far as I know there are no 'anti-anything' apps that will find them.

But, don't worry.

It is not difficult to get rid of them, if you have them.

Every device is different, but a long while back I made a short video showing how to find these things and how to go about getting rid of them.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IObrh-gc1MEg9LAHj2Cl4pGrlF0xTJu7/view
 
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It would be helpful to know where these messages appear. Simple ads often make themselves look like "virus warnings". If they appear when browsing then it's just from some website(s) you've visited, and clearing browser caches may be sufficient.

Otherwise it could be something you installed or updated, or even one of your apps always had the ability to post such ads but hadn't used it before. It need not be some sinister hidden app installed by a trojan, though if it's popping things up outside of the app responsible it is breaking play store rules.
 
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I wanted to bump and continue this discussion, as I'm still continuing to get popups. Also, I think I have a strategy to get rid of them.

In doing research, one person suggested the following action:

Google Play > My apps & games > Installed > Last used

I've been running this process as soon as I see a popup. According to what I read, the most recently used apps will indicate which app is generating the popups. After doing this for a couple days, it appears it could be any of the several major apps I have on my phone:

Google
Google Chrome
Yahoo mail
Gmail
YouTube

Please tell me if this sounds like a good idea. I have added the MS Edge to my phone, so I have a usable browser. My thinking is to delete one of these apps at a time, then reinstall it. Then I'll wait a while to see if the popups have disappeared. I'll only do one at a time, then wait and see the result.

I've gone through all my existing apps and gotten rid of everything I can, and yet I'm still getting the popups.

Does this sound like a good plan? Any other suggestions?

Thank you very Much,
WTH
 
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Also, the list you find on GooglebPlay is only a list of the apps that you use.

Not what apps are on all the time and showing ads.

Have you enabled Developers Options?

If so, inside there is a way to see all running apps.

As soon as you get a pop up, open Developers Options, select the area to view running apps, and see what is most recent.
 
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Another possible solution is to use an ad blocker, such as Blokada.

The problem is that ads reside inside the cache of apps, so just downloading, installing, and running an ad-blocker is not enough- the ads are still there and will still be seen.

You must first eliminate the ads, and then prevent them from being reinstalled onto your device.

So the cache of each app that is suspect must be cleared first, before anything can help.

Another thing- did I see above that you are using some 'anti-virus' or whatever?

Ditch it.

They are useless, and typically full of ads themselves.
 
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Hi, Guys. Thanks for all the great info and suggestions. It's late here tonight, but I was successfully in enabling Developer Options on my LG Android phone. Within a few day, when I have the time, I will follow your recommendations and pursue the ad popup issue.

I did have one question, and please excuse my ignorance.

I keep reading everywhere about having a "rooted phone." Is my phone now considered "rooted" since I have enabled Developer Options, or is there something more involved?

Thank You,
WTH
 
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Hi, Guys. Thanks for all the great info and suggestions. It's late here tonight, but I was successfully in enabling Developer Options on my LG Android phone. Within a few day, when I have the time, I will follow your recommendations and pursue the ad popup issue.

I did have one question, and please excuse my ignorance.

I keep reading everywhere about having a "rooted phone." Is my phone now considered "rooted" since I have enabled Developer Options, or is there something more involved?

Thank You,
WTH

No.
You are not rooted.
 
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