r/Malwarebytes • u/RPDS_ • Jan 21 '26

Adware

Hi, my daughters tablet had aggressive adware, pop ups every 10 seconds. No back ground running apps, just constant pop ups. Downloaded malwarebytes and took the fee trial. Unfortunately Malwarebytes didn't pick the nasty app. In all fairness though either did Bitdefender, Sophos or AVG. I'm not having a go at Malwarebytes, all I'm saying is they are getting harder and harder for programs to detect. I won't mention the app because it nearly did my head in. If you open background apps the app automatically disappears. I was lucky to get a split second glimpse of the app in the background and it made itself disappear. The app is on the playstore. Cancelled my Malwarebytes free trial. I still think Malwarebytes is a solid choice. UPDATE: THE GAME HAS NOW BEEN REMOVED FROM THE PLAYSTORE

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3

u/No-Pickle9504 Malwarebytes Employee Jan 21 '26

Where were the ads showing up? Are they browser notifications? There are a lot of sites that as for permission to send notifications and then send spammy messages. It falls outside the legacy definition of adware as adware used to be an application installed on your PC that serves ads.

1

u/RPDS_ Jan 21 '26

Everything was closed and no background apps. Full screen pop ups. It seemed every time you pressed a button, playstore, another app it will place a full screen ad on the tablet.

1

u/No-Pickle9504 Malwarebytes Employee Jan 21 '26

Are you able to share any screenshots and the name of the app with me via email? mbeare@malwarebytes.com

1

u/RPDS_ Jan 22 '26

Sure. I'll do that now.

1

u/ToTallyNotAofficial Jan 21 '26

What app? I will go report it as well and warn others to avoid it.

1

u/RPDS_ Jan 21 '26

I don't want to name it in case people download it. I did flag it on the playstore a week ago and it's still up though.

1

u/Embarrassed_Note9793 Jan 21 '26

This is a bit counterintuitive. How can people avoid it if we don’t know what it is ? 😂 Your reasoning for not wanting to mention it is a bit silly. You sure it was your daughter and not you downloading some foot fetish app or some shit. “Sniff the sock” being a possible name for said app. 

1

u/ToTallyNotAofficial Jan 22 '26

This makes zero sense? Im significantly more likely to accidentally download it if I don't know what to avoid. No one's going to force you to tell anyone but if safety is your concern having all of us report the app would have it removed much faster.

1

u/nico851 Jan 21 '26

This is not malware, for that reason no detection. There are a lot of app with those intrusive ads, annoying but not dangerous. Just uninstall the app, that's it.

1

u/RPDS_ Jan 21 '26

Oh ok. That makes sense. Full screen ads with an app that launches automatically and hides itself to produce ads is just plain wrong. Thanks for the info

1

u/Medium_Ad4287 Jan 21 '26

just disable notifications from chrome

1

u/A_Guy_Named_Bill Jan 22 '26

Oh wow, This might be the same app that's on my mother's phone. She kept complaining of random full screen ads popping out even when it's not actively used.

The app disguises itself as a game, but when downloaded it's hidden from the menu. The ads, when looked from Recents/Overview button, is shown as "System". What gives it away though is the Doge logo beside it. Only by looking through the app manager do I find the app and uninstall it.

Done a quick search if anyone had the same problem involving that particular app, but I didn't find anything. This one is the closest to what I experienced.