Help Strange app locking problem

[Darrel Whidden]

Hi all,

I am rather new to android (at least since Jellybean), and I have a strange problem. When I open contacts (and a few random other apps), I get the attached screenshot, which calls for a pattern password (which, oddly, the correct pattern is a previous pattern I no longer use to unlock my phone). Once "unlocked", the I get the following message, seemingly from the android system at the bottom of my screen "App will be locked once screen is off." Sure enough, if turn off my screen, even with the fingerprint unlock, I still have to put in my old unlock pattern to interact with the app. Can anybody help me identify why this is happening? I initially suspected an app, but I've gotten rid of just about everything that I thought suspicious...any ideas? Thanks!


Edit: I forgot to mention, and this is the creepiest part. From time to time, I get a screen that says "Intruder" and shows a photo my phone took of me...at the time the pattern unlock screen was up...wtf??

 

[Hadron]

Does it happen in safe mode? If not then it's something you have installed.

Do you have any security or "antivirus" apps? Some of this sounds like it might be a malfunctioning security app.

 

[Darrel Whidden]

Thanks for the reply. That was good thinking. It does not occur in safe mode? The only security app I have even remotely like that is Ccleaner. I tried uninstalling that and no change. Am I going to have to disable each and every app one at a time? lol!


Edit: I actually had a smart idea. Going back to the thought that the app was taking pictures of me using my own front camera, I checked the apps that had permissions to use my camera, and uninstalled the least trustworthy one (a QR Code reader) and bingo! Thanks again for the help!

 

[ozzy6900]

Thanks for the reply. That was good thinking. It does not occur in safe mode? The only security app I have even remotely like that is Ccleaner. I tried uninstalling that and no change. Am I going to have to disable each and every app one at a time? lol!


Edit: I actually had a smart idea. Going back to the thought that the app was taking pictures of me using my own front camera, I checked the apps that had permissions to use my camera, and uninstalled the least trustworthy one (a QR Code reader) and bingo! Thanks again for the help!

Hi Darryl. If you need a QR app, try Quickmark. I've used it for years and never had my problems with it.

 

[Darrel Whidden]

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out.

 

[svim]

..., and uninstalled the least trustworthy one (a QR Code reader) and bingo! Thanks again for the help!

Suggest you use this 'Norton Snap' app instead. QR codes are just pointers to web sites and have become yet another vector to compromise a phone.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.symantec.norton.snap