Pop-up ads

[macklovi]

I've been (periodically) getting unwanted pop-up ads when I turn on my phone, or when I wake it up from sleep mode; for example, an ad for the Google Pixel phone. Not very often, but I never used to get any such ads before. The phone is a Samsung Galaxy 7, and so the operating system is Android. 

Does anyone know who's behind this: Android, Samsung or Fido?

And more importantly, does anyone know how I can block such ads?

Thanks for your help!

[samircanada]

I have had the same issue on LG G5 and LG G6. I finally found the root cause of the issue. no need to reset the phone. I used to reset the phone so many times then after installing my applications, the ads would pops up again especially with plugging the phone for charging.

Solution: check for any gps application that was recently installed . in my case, I had to uninstall application called sygic gps and flash light application.

Enjoy

[EFTC · Accepted solution]

Usually pop-ups are caused by junk apps that are installed by the end user where upon loading of such apps will bring up an advertisement of some sort.  Such "junk apps" could be something from a flash light app, QR code reader app, internet browser, mail, messaging (including facebook messenger), video player, weather app, or anything that does not come preinstalled when you first purchase the phone.

My best suggestion is to perform a phone reset (wipe phone clean) to factory settings and start over.  Unfortunely this is extremely unpractical for most people (including myself) but it will surely fix the problem so long as the "rouge app" or "Junk app" is not put back into the phone. I would use this as a last resort.

The next suggestion is go through the app that's installed on your phone and start removing apps that look suspicious or any app that you have not used for a long time. Restart your phone after and see if the ads start showing up. If it doesn't, you may have fixed the problem. Keep in mind that there might be more than 1 - 2 apps in your phone that does that.

Lastly, take note when installing apps from known or unknown sources. Those apps will prompt user to install additional app by discusing it within a notification pop up window.  Installing those apps will surely mess up your phone.  

[macklovi]

Hello EFTC, 

Following your advice, I began removing the apps that I had recently installed -- last in, first out. And it appears to have worked; I'm no longer getting those unwanted pop-up ads. The culprit, I believe, is the LinkedIn app for my Samsung S7. Since removing it, my phone's been clean. Crossing my fingers and hoping it remains that way. 

Thanks for your help!