Today, I turned on my phone to discover a strange new widget/icon on my homescreen that looked like a blue magnifying glass and was labelled 'Search'.
Of course, being suspicious I removed the widget. I then looked through the list of installed widgets and apps, but nothing unusual was there.
Later when I opened the internet browser, the usual google homepage looked a bit different - identical, tabs and all, except for the search button appearing the same as in the widget and the Google logo missing (as if it hadn't loaded yet).
I've reset my homepage to Google, but in my history the bogus sites are:
start.infospace.com
searchmobileonline.com
Scanned with both AVG and Avast, but neither picked anything strange up.
I have since found out that this is adware that some free apps on the Market are using to generate revenue. In my case I have since confirmed it came from Brightest Flashlight Free, an app with over 1 million downloads and 5 star average.
Here's an article explaining it *http://www.pcworld.com/article/245305/sneaky_mobile_ads_invade_android_phones.html*
Just though I'd warn everyone, as I'm a very careful / savvy user and only use very popular, respected apps, but still got it. Personally I think adding phantom widgets and hijacking your browser homepage with a fake google look-a-like is disgusting and bordering on criminal, as no warning or notification is made that this is going to happen, where it came from and how to remove / fix it.
AXIS of Reality said:
Today, I turned on my phone to discover a strange new widget/icon on my homescreen that looked like a blue magnifying glass and was labelled 'Search'.
Of course, being suspicious I removed the widget. I then looked through the list of installed widgets and apps, but nothing unusual was there.
Later when I opened the internet browser, the usual google homepage looked a bit different - identical, tabs and all, except for the search button appearing the same as in the widget and the Google logo missing (as if it hadn't loaded yet).
I've reset my homepage to Google, but in my history the bogus sites are:
start.infospace.com
searchmobileonline.com
Scanned with both AVG and Avast, but neither picked anything strange up.
I have since found out that this is adware that some free apps on the Market are using to generate revenue. In my case I have since confirmed it came from Brightest Flashlight Free, an app with over 1 million downloads and 5 star average.
Here's an article explaining it *http://www.pcworld.com/article/245305/sneaky_mobile_ads_invade_android_phones.html*
Just though I'd warn everyone, as I'm a very careful / savvy user and only use very popular, respected apps, but still got it. Personally I think adding phantom widgets and hijacking your browser homepage with a fake google look-a-like is disgusting and bordering on criminal, as no warning or notification is made that this is going to happen, where it came from and how to remove / fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good call mate! I downloaded the AirPush Detector, AdFree Android, and Addons Detector thats mentioned on the post, and they found some on my SG2.
I will give all offending apps a one star rating, and this will get these dev's to act!!
Thanks
If you're going to give these apps one star ratings, don't forget to put a very scathing review up as well. A single star rating either way isn't going to bother these people much, but if you put a really negative review up as well, it adds a little impact.
In my experience, a brutal review tends to get devs attention fairly quickly, especially those who care about the rep of their apps
... and I wondered from where that magnifying glass appeared on my homescreen.
By the way, the icon sucks
I installed one crappy app from the market but unistalled everything fishy in the moment I saw that icon ...
This has happened to me 2x wish I knew what app it was. I normally only download popular ones too.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
I have the magnifying glass too. I didn't notice it at first because I use TWLauncher 4.5 and it only added itself to the stock launcher. I guess its time to do some forum searching or uninstall all my add based apps.
You guys (especially OP) need to use programs like Lookout or ESET and stay away from ****ty apps like AVG (Which is also **** on PC).
GRiM-UK said:
You guys (especially OP) need to use programs like Lookout or ESET and stay away from ****ty apps like AVG (Which is also **** on PC).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lookout doesn't find the search adware widget.
I had that icon too.. it even changed the default search engine on my browser..
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
AXIS of Reality said:
Today, I turned on my phone to discover a strange new widget/icon on my homescreen that looked like a blue magnifying glass and was labelled 'Search'.
Of course, being suspicious I removed the widget. I then looked through the list of installed widgets and apps, but nothing unusual was there.
Later when I opened the internet browser, the usual google homepage looked a bit different - identical, tabs and all, except for the search button appearing the same as in the widget and the Google logo missing (as if it hadn't loaded yet).
I've reset my homepage to Google, but in my history the bogus sites are:
start.infospace.com
searchmobileonline.com
Scanned with both AVG and Avast, but neither picked anything strange up.
I have since found out that this is adware that some free apps on the Market are using to generate revenue. In my case I have since confirmed it came from Brightest Flashlight Free, an app with over 1 million downloads and 5 star average.
Here's an article explaining it *http://www.pcworld.com/article/245305/sneaky_mobile_ads_invade_android_phones.html*
Just though I'd warn everyone, as I'm a very careful / savvy user and only use very popular, respected apps, but still got it. Personally I think adding phantom widgets and hijacking your browser homepage with a fake google look-a-like is disgusting and bordering on criminal, as no warning or notification is made that this is going to happen, where it came from and how to remove / fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
personally i feel you should report this app to Google straight. No chances should be given for developers of such nasty lowdown apps.
I personally dont use any of the antivirus stuff but have my host file update for removing ads and use LBE security to block applications access to the internet.
Thanks
Thanks... very usefull information
Installed LBE and now monitoring apps
Thanks for the heads up and the useful apps recommended.
All clean here, but glad I checked.
Further good reasons not go down the pirate route kids - get that Blackmarket and Mobilism app off ya devices
Mobilism app isn't malware.
I use Avast and adaway and they seem to be effective enough although no doubt malaware is a cause for concern.
666fff said:
Mobilism app isn't malware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll take your word for it. It allows you to test pro versions or other paid apps, and if you like them, you go to Android's market and buy the "proper" goods.... Sure. That's all right then.
How much does eset cost? Could only see free 30 day trial
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
B3311 said:
I'll take your word for it. It allows you to test pro versions or other paid apps, and if you like them, you go to Android's market and buy the "proper" goods.... Sure. That's all right then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I use it for. I like to trial an app properly. If I like, buy from the market, if it's crappy, delete.
The same happened to me, I only realised when a lot of my google searches were US based and not UK. When I clicked on the "privacy" link at the bottom of the Google page (or what I thought was google, it just had a different search icon) it brought up info about a different company, it wasnt the usual google privacy disclaimer.
In the end I think I had to uninstall all the recent apps because I wasnt sure which had done it and had to clear data on the browser to remove it.
My Samsung Galaxy Note has also been invaded by this searchmobile pest and I am looking for a lasting solution, or an app that can identify which app invited the malware. "free iPads" have also appeared annoyingly frequent.
I've just tried an app from a website out of stupidity and it totally took over my phone. It just kept loading a webpage over and over until I killed the app. I'm just concerned about my Nexus and my data.
Has anyone heard of http://leviathansecurity.com and the nopermissions.apk?
Stock and unrooted.
I haven't heard of that website but I think you should uninstall that app rather than just closing it.
I downloaded a bad app as well last week but it deleted all my SD content, photos and music etc
Now I only install Apks from here on XDA and play store of course
here's link about that apk,
leviathansecurity.com/blog/archives/17-Zero-Permission-Android-Applications.html
3 functions
reads sd data,
reads what apps install and access their data
device information
then sends info via url by opening webpage to send data
its just to show how easy it is to give access to your information for apps that abuse permissions or even given none like this apk, this one is intentional to show the loop holes
I didn't realise how easy it was, rooted is evem worse
GMonkey said:
I've just tried an app from a website out of stupidity and it totally took over my phone. It just kept loading a webpage over and over until I killed the app. I'm just concerned about my Nexus and my data.
Has anyone heard of http://leviathansecurity.com and the nopermissions.apk?
Stock and unrooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DELETE that app, make sure the apk is gone too.
When you approved side loading of apks, your good phone warned you to be careful with what you ok to install, no?
Install Lookout as well and let it do a full scan, you never know..
Leviathan security, and the no permissions app, is a test application to show how zero permission apps can still read and steal data from your phone without permissions. AFAIK it isn't malicious, just a test app to show how easy it is for 0 permission apps to steal your data. Just uninstall the APK. More info here: http://leviathansecurity.com/blog/archives/17-Zero-Permission-Android-Applications.html
Thanks Peeps, It did seem legit on the site before I installed it. It's just the fact it took over my browser for a bit. The app was removed but, would there be a need to hard reset or anything like that? I'm normally rooted and have a data firewall to block anything outgoing on certain apps but, with the N4 being so good as it is I've put it off until I can no longer resist the urge.
No, this is NOT the Xposed "Fix Memory Leak" install that fixes nothing, because Sony already patched that in to their 5.0.2 release. If you have it installed now, you can uninstall it because it is literally doing nothing but taking up free space on your device; and is another hook you don't need in your install process. That also requires root to be installed, and this is a no-root situation
After a week of battling with XZDR and [NUT] starting to hate me, I decided to just bite the bullet, and FTF flash the stock, unrooted firmware, and see what it was like without root and if I could live. Most of the apps, not all of them though, can be disabled completely from within Android app manager, so things like TiBu are not really needed. I don't use Facebook or Twitter apps so having the "Xperia for Facebook" apps, which can't be frozen/disabled, was a pain in the ass, but they don't have any login information so everything's safe there.
I was very unimpressed with the way certain apps loaded. As an example, using Disa for my messaging solution was great, but SwiftKey was being a jerk. I'd press on the text input field and the keyboard would show up and then disappear right away. It would sometimes take up to 3 minutes of constant press *hides* press *hides* press *hides* just to be able to type a "K" message to someone. Not happy. Then, I'd load up Clash of Clans, do what I needed to do, then close it, then load up Family Guy, and it would crash because CoC was in the background. I'd have to completely reboot my phone in order to go from one game to the other. Very unhappy.
I found the app "Android System WebView", and not knowing what it was, tried to disable it. I uninstalled updates and disabled the system package, but it wouldn't let me disable it, only remove and replace with stock, and I thought that that was good enough. Rebooted my phone, and blamo.. phone performance increased by at least 3 orders of magnitude!
I've yet to have the SwiftKey hiding issue, and as I typed this, I finished the gold mine upgrade and went to see if Peter was doing Shipoopiing, and all was well.
Great thing is, if this doesn't fix your issue - you can update it right back to normal from Google Play.
Wiltron said:
No, this is NOT the Xposed "Fix Memory Leak" install that fixes nothing, because Sony already patched that in to their 5.0.2 release. If you have it installed now, you can uninstall it because it is literally doing nothing but taking up free space on your device; and is another hook you don't need in your install process. That also requires root to be installed, and this is a no-root situation
After a week of battling with XZDR and [NUT] starting to hate me, I decided to just bite the bullet, and FTF flash the stock, unrooted firmware, and see what it was like without root and if I could live. Most of the apps, not all of them though, can be disabled completely from within Android app manager, so things like TiBu are not really needed. I don't use Facebook or Twitter apps so having the "Xperia for Facebook" apps, which can't be frozen/disabled, was a pain in the ass, but they don't have any login information so everything's safe there.
I was very unimpressed with the way certain apps loaded. As an example, using Disa for my messaging solution was great, but SwiftKey was being a jerk. I'd press on the text input field and the keyboard would show up and then disappear right away. It would sometimes take up to 3 minutes of constant press *hides* press *hides* press *hides* just to be able to type a "K" message to someone. Not happy. Then, I'd load up Clash of Clans, do what I needed to do, then close it, then load up Family Guy, and it would crash because CoC was in the background. I'd have to completely reboot my phone in order to go from one game to the other. Very unhappy.
I found the app "Android System WebView", and not knowing what it was, tried to disable it. I uninstalled updates and disabled the system package, but it wouldn't let me disable it, only remove and replace with stock, and I thought that that was good enough. Rebooted my phone, and blamo.. phone performance increased by at least 3 orders of magnitude!
I've yet to have the SwiftKey hiding issue, and as I typed this, I finished the gold mine upgrade and went to see if Peter was doing Shipoopiing, and all was well.
Great thing is, if this doesn't fix your issue - you can update it right back to normal from Google Play.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me? i don't find any issues with the memory management by Lollipop as of today (from the first release). In fact, my phone runs faster and smoother compared to KK. Battery is so good that i don't need to recharge at night after the whole day usage. I use also the google keyboard (the VERY first version) which i dont find any problems at all. I just make my phone as simple as possible. No root done and i just disable some bloatwares and un-installing some gapps. I also ask myself, what's the use of Android System Webview? i do some couple of search and i found that, it does not affect the performance of my phone, so i just keep it update.
Facebook WhatsApp camera etc crashesh frequently
Hi Team
I'm facing a serious issue. I'm not able to use Facebook WhatsApp camera etc because these apps crash frequently. Device is Samsung gt p3100 and ur lollipop. Can u pls help me get this resolved. Thank u so much.
Regards
Amresh
I just disabled it, Does anyone know which apps depend on it? So far everything works fine.
amresh.india said:
Hi Team
I'm facing a serious issue. I'm not able to use Facebook WhatsApp camera etc because these apps crash frequently. Device is Samsung gt p3100 and ur lollipop. Can u pls help me get this resolved. Thank u so much.
Regards
Amresh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Bro,
Wrong thread. please direct you're question to Samsung Thread. maybe they can helped you in there. This is a Sony Xperia Z1 thread. But since you're here, Try to factory reset your phone or wipe dalvik and cache.
Wiltron said:
No, this is NOT the Xposed "Fix Memory Leak" install that fixes nothing, because Sony already patched that in to their 5.0.2 release. If you have it installed now, you can uninstall it because it is literally doing nothing but taking up free space on your device; and is another hook you don't need in your install process. That also requires root to be installed, and this is a no-root situation
After a week of battling with XZDR and [NUT] starting to hate me, I decided to just bite the bullet, and FTF flash the stock, unrooted firmware, and see what it was like without root and if I could live. Most of the apps, not all of them though, can be disabled completely from within Android app manager, so things like TiBu are not really needed. I don't use Facebook or Twitter apps so having the "Xperia for Facebook" apps, which can't be frozen/disabled, was a pain in the ass, but they don't have any login information so everything's safe there.
I was very unimpressed with the way certain apps loaded. As an example, using Disa for my messaging solution was great, but SwiftKey was being a jerk. I'd press on the text input field and the keyboard would show up and then disappear right away. It would sometimes take up to 3 minutes of constant press *hides* press *hides* press *hides* just to be able to type a "K" message to someone. Not happy. Then, I'd load up Clash of Clans, do what I needed to do, then close it, then load up Family Guy, and it would crash because CoC was in the background. I'd have to completely reboot my phone in order to go from one game to the other. Very unhappy.
I found the app "Android System WebView", and not knowing what it was, tried to disable it. I uninstalled updates and disabled the system package, but it wouldn't let me disable it, only remove and replace with stock, and I thought that that was good enough. Rebooted my phone, and blamo.. phone performance increased by at least 3 orders of magnitude!
I've yet to have the SwiftKey hiding issue, and as I typed this, I finished the gold mine upgrade and went to see if Peter was doing Shipoopiing, and all was well.
Great thing is, if this doesn't fix your issue - you can update it right back to normal from Google Play.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So your telling me to disable or uninstall Android System Web View in order to increase performance on lollipop....
martin132014 said:
So your telling me to disable or uninstall Android System Web View in order to increase performance on lollipop....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use the built-in Android uninstaller - don't use TiBu if you're rooted or completely uninstall it. Android interface won't let you uninstall it entirely, just remove the updates and return it to stock factory settings.
It's currently working perfect for me - no issues or slowdowns or crashes all day today. I've used Chrome, the key program that this app is designed for, and it still works fine, along with a few other select programs that utilize it. All is well.
I don't know about stability issues if you're rooted and you completely uninstall it - so proceed at your own risk..
Wiltron said:
Use the built-in Android uninstaller - don't use TiBu if you're rooted or completely uninstall it. Android interface won't let you uninstall it entirely, just remove the updates and return it to stock factory settings.
It's currently working perfect for me - no issues or slowdowns or crashes all day today. I've used Chrome, the key program that this app is designed for, and it still works fine, along with a few other select programs that utilize it. All is well.
I don't know about stability issues if you're rooted and you completely uninstall it - so proceed at your own risk..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As interesting as this solution seems, I think I found why you don't have an issue I used to have a lot of launcher redraws and slow downs every now and then. So I froze a bunch of apps using ROM Toolbox and boom, no more redraws or slow downs. Worked like a charm. I think freezing or uninstalling bloat was the reason your memory issue was fixed. Cause I didn't uninstall the web view or make any changes with regard to it.
Uninstall or freeze bloat, and it should fix it immediately
ROM Toolbox requires root.
Freezing and Uninstalling bloat also requires root.
My fix doesn't require root.
It dosnt fix it ? % but atleast better, i saw an article before mentioning that android webview cause lag problems idr where
I will test that! I also suspected that component to be a memory hog... Thanks for sharing, I will test and see what happens!
Security issue
Please be aware that you are opening yourself up to security issues by uninstalling these updates. This webview component is the part of Android used for displaying webpages inside of other apps. Since it is a full HTML renderer, it is susceptible to the same security issues that regularly get fixed in your Chrome installation. But previously, (pre-lollipop) this component was part of your ROM and could only be updated by firmware updates. Since lollipop, Google separated this component into an updateable Android package. I sincerely wonder if your ¨fix¨ was due to the uninstallation of these updates. You have, however, already missed 4 security updates.
Proceed with caution...
Wiltron said:
No, this is NOT the Xposed "Fix Memory Leak" install that fixes nothing, because Sony already patched that in to their 5.0.2 release. If you have it installed now, you can uninstall it because it is literally doing nothing but taking up free space on your device; and is another hook you don't need in your install process. That also requires root to be installed, and this is a no-root situation
After a week of battling with XZDR and [NUT] starting to hate me, I decided to just bite the bullet, and FTF flash the stock, unrooted firmware, and see what it was like without root and if I could live. Most of the apps, not all of them though, can be disabled completely from within Android app manager, so things like TiBu are not really needed. I don't use Facebook or Twitter apps so having the "Xperia for Facebook" apps, which can't be frozen/disabled, was a pain in the ass, but they don't have any login information so everything's safe there.
I was very unimpressed with the way certain apps loaded. As an example, using Disa for my messaging solution was great, but SwiftKey was being a jerk. I'd press on the text input field and the keyboard would show up and then disappear right away. It would sometimes take up to 3 minutes of constant press *hides* press *hides* press *hides* just to be able to type a "K" message to someone. Not happy. Then, I'd load up Clash of Clans, do what I needed to do, then close it, then load up Family Guy, and it would crash because CoC was in the background. I'd have to completely reboot my phone in order to go from one game to the other. Very unhappy.
I found the app "Android System WebView", and not knowing what it was, tried to disable it. I uninstalled updates and disabled the system package, but it wouldn't let me disable it, only remove and replace with stock, and I thought that that was good enough. Rebooted my phone, and blamo.. phone performance increased by at least 3 orders of magnitude!
I've yet to have the SwiftKey hiding issue, and as I typed this, I finished the gold mine upgrade and went to see if Peter was doing Shipoopiing, and all was well.
Great thing is, if this doesn't fix your issue - you can update it right back to normal from Google Play.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"...because Sony already patched that in to their 5.0.2 release." <- I reported that already.
About the WebView. If you think that WebView is responsible for your device not working properly then you definitely don't know what WebView is and when it's even being used. You don't just go and disable any system app you don't recognize. Those advices are worthless.
All you need is a stable ROM. I'm using my own custom ROM, have the latest Play services, Play Store and WebView embedded into the ROM. The ROM works perfectly and normaly has 700-800 free RAM.
Have a look here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-z1/general/icylollymod-igor-eisberg-t3101848
Wiltron said:
ROM Toolbox requires root.
Freezing and Uninstalling bloat also requires root.
My fix doesn't require root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your attitude towards root does not make a lot of sense: your system apps have root regardless of rooting status. Your android runs as root without asking for permission. So, your phone IS rooted by default. The only one who does not have root access is you. Having root for you means having an app that alerts you and asks for your permission when there is a request for root by other apps. That prevents malicious script execution. Let me give you an example: your web browser sits in system partition which has automatic root access. Suppose, you visit a site thay silently executes a java script and takes over your browser. Now, it has root permission without any notice to you: it can download anything to your system and take over your phone. And there is nothing you can do to stop this unless you have root. Also, think about oem and google updates: they all can run silently, unless you have root.
So, in short, having no root equals no security at all...
Wiltron said:
No, this is NOT the Xposed "Fix Memory Leak" install that fixes nothing, because Sony already patched that in to their 5.0.2 release. If you have it installed now, you can uninstall it because it is literally doing nothing but taking up free space on your device; and is another hook you don't need in your install process. That also requires root to be installed, and this is a no-root situation
After a week of battling with XZDR and [NUT] starting to hate me, I decided to just bite the bullet, and FTF flash the stock, unrooted firmware, and see what it was like without root and if I could live. Most of the apps, not all of them though, can be disabled completely from within Android app manager, so things like TiBu are not really needed. I don't use Facebook or Twitter apps so having the "Xperia for Facebook" apps, which can't be frozen/disabled, was a pain in the ass, but they don't have any login information so everything's safe there.
I was very unimpressed with the way certain apps loaded. As an example, using Disa for my messaging solution was great, but SwiftKey was being a jerk. I'd press on the text input field and the keyboard would show up and then disappear right away. It would sometimes take up to 3 minutes of constant press *hides* press *hides* press *hides* just to be able to type a "K" message to someone. Not happy. Then, I'd load up Clash of Clans, do what I needed to do, then close it, then load up Family Guy, and it would crash because CoC was in the background. I'd have to completely reboot my phone in order to go from one game to the other. Very unhappy.
I found the app "Android System WebView", and not knowing what it was, tried to disable it. I uninstalled updates and disabled the system package, but it wouldn't let me disable it, only remove and replace with stock, and I thought that that was good enough. Rebooted my phone, and blamo.. phone performance increased by at least 3 orders of magnitude!
I've yet to have the SwiftKey hiding issue, and as I typed this, I finished the gold mine upgrade and went to see if Peter was doing Shipoopiing, and all was well.
Great thing is, if this doesn't fix your issue - you can update it right back to normal from Google Play.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As few peoples pointed out, by NOT installing Android System WebView update, your phone might have some security risk.
I would really not recommend using this "FIX" , My Z1 doesn't have this sort of problem anyway.
Webview IS security risk, because it is an html renderer with web connection abilities. There is no legitimate reason for a user to have this app, which purpose is to provide an advertising vehicle for corrupt developers (I call corrupt those devs who use ads in their "free" apps). It is better to just uninstall this app than constantly update it where updates are always behind bugs, malware and other security vulnerabilities. Only your web browser, e-mail client and internet messaging apps should be allowed to connect to the internet for security reasons and battery/performance sake. So, while I don't agree with OP's attitude towards root, I support him when he gets rid of another bloat/malware/security risk...
As far as deleting the app, if your rom does not provide for system app removal, just use a file manager (root required) and erase the app from the system...
For anyone who cares:
Webview is part of android. Not updating it is a bad idea as others have stated. There was an update about two weeks ago that had some bugs and was eating battery and causing some apps to crash. Google fixed it quickly and the current one in the play store is fine again. No battery drain and plays nice with all apps.
It's funny that if Google didn't release a buggy update, nobody would have even known or cared it was there. They would have just updated it.
As others have stated it was always there, only now they are updating it regularly through the play store instead of having to wait for an OTA. If you don't update it, that's fine, it is your choice.
It should be updated considering there are security and performance fixes in the updates. Giving others erroneous information and telling them to remove it completely when you don't even know what it is, is not a good idea.
A simple Google search when the buggy update dropped would have revealed that it was just that, a buggy update. Solution was, uninstall just the update UNTIL Google released a fixed one. Personally I have noticed better battery since the newest update.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Free mobile app
No matter the solution, this new Lollipop release is really bug when it comes to memory management. I can't listen to a podcast without the app being killed ten times an hour... It never happened to me before. My smartwatch is constantly disconnected because the Wear app is killed every time I receive a message and so on (while there are still at least 400 MB free in memory).
optimumpro said:
Webview IS security risk, because it is an html renderer with web connection abilities. There is no legitimate reason for a user to have this app, which purpose is to provide an advertising vehicle for corrupt developers (I call corrupt those devs who use ads in their "free" apps). It is better to just uninstall this app than constantly update it where updates are always behind bugs, malware and other security vulnerabilities. Only your web browser, e-mail client and internet messaging apps should be allowed to connect to the internet for security reasons and battery/performance sake. So, while I don't agree with OP's attitude towards root, I support him when he gets rid of another bloat/malware/security risk...
As far as deleting the app, if your rom does not provide for system app removal, just use a file manager (root required) and erase the app from the system...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I´m sorry, this really is just bad advise: you are breaking apps (legitimate apps, not the adviews you refer to) by removing this app. Again: this is not an app, it is a system component that Google made updateable via the play store. It is not meant to be removed without breaking apps.
stamppot said:
I´m sorry, this really is just bad advise: you are breaking apps (legitimate apps, not the adviews you refer to) by removing this app. Again: this is not an app, it is a system component that Google made updateable via the play store. It is not meant to be removed without breaking apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Name one app (that is no malware/bug/ad) broken because one removes webview...
Just because an app sits in the system does not make it a legitimate one. Any app, if it wants to display an internet page, can use stock browser. There is simply no reason to have an extra layer (webview) that exposes you to security risks. This is, by the way, what Google does: to make sure that your device is wide open to commercial/spying interests. But luckily, because of open source, one can remove most of this garbage...
Hello Community,
I think my Samsung S8 is hacked, well it has been some time crazy.
My 4 connection sensor for LTE, 3G, 2G and so on, plays around. It is this little thing on the upper right of the screen. It stopped one day..
Seems a bit crazy, but the police isn't answering a application.
My Instagram changed too I can't see the List anymore which other people liked.
I think someone wanted to troll me first, but then sent me to the police or smth. **** happened.
I need someone to tell me if the process list is right, or if there is something that shouldn't be seen there.
For example: com.samsung.faceservice. , Face , out of nowhere came the "transfer data to other phones" , the phone is in German, one process is new: "settings suggestions"
Some process can't be stopped, so I writed a really really long text to the "hackers" . And then I just deleted the process and it worked...
I'm thinking a lot.
Can You help me?
Lindors said:
Hello Community,
I think my Samsung S8 is hacked, well it has been some time crazy.
My 4 connection sensor for LTE, 3G, 2G and so on, plays around. It is this little thing on the upper right of the screen. It stopped one day..
Seems a bit crazy, but the police isn't answering a application.
My Instagram changed too I can't see the List anymore which other people liked.
I think someone wanted to troll me first, but then sent me to the police or smth. **** happened.
I need someone to tell me if the process list is right, or if there is something that shouldn't be seen there.
For example: com.samsung.faceservice. , Face , out of nowhere came the "transfer data to other phones" , the phone is in German, one process is new: "settings suggestions"
Some process can't be stopped, so I writed a really really long text to the "hackers" . And then I just deleted the process and it worked...
I'm thinking a lot.
Can You help me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The best bet is if your bootloader is still locked. No root. Then if something is on your phone a simple factory reset will wipe it. Unless a phone is rooted nothing can be installed at the system level. I would start there. You may have some form of spyware or something installed. Check in application manager at the bottom of list for any apps the may not be named. As in space at the bottom but no details. I have i installed apps before that apear not to show in apps list but they are there
TheMadScientist said:
The best bet is if your bootloader is still locked. No root. Then if something is on your phone a simple factory reset will wipe it. Unless a phone is rooted nothing can be installed at the system level. I would start there. You may have some form of spyware or something installed. Check in application manager at the bottom of list for any apps the may not be named. As in space at the bottom but no details. I have i installed apps before that apear not to show in apps list but they are there
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is a video from Marques Brownlee where he discusses some ways that apps have been allowed to get thru the play store that do exactly what you mention. Apps getting installed and the icon disappearing or changing its opacity to 0. This is more-so for the OP, but several of those apps download more parts to the app that then act as spyware. But the mad scientist is correct, if youre not rooted, no system apps can be installed. Go to your apps list and look for stuff that doesnt seem normal and uninstall it. Android wont let you uninstall system apps when youre not rooted, so thats not a worry. Even if you do uninstall system apps, all you need to do is reflash the firmware with the "HOME_CSC" so it doesnt remove anything, instead just overwriting the system stuff. Basically its a mulligan, which you can do over and over and over. So there isnt really much fear of hard bricking these phones. Soft bricks happen frequently, but theyre mostly just a time waster.
youdoofus said:
there is a video from Marques Brownlee where he discusses some ways that apps have been allowed to get thru the play store that do exactly what you mention. Apps getting installed and the icon disappearing or changing its opacity to 0. This is more-so for the OP, but several of those apps download more parts to the app that then act as spyware. But the mad scientist is correct, if youre not rooted, no system apps can be installed. Go to your apps list and look for stuff that doesnt seem normal and uninstall it. Android wont let you uninstall system apps when youre not rooted, so thats not a worry. Even if you do uninstall system apps, all you need to do is reflash the firmware with the "HOME_CSC" so it doesnt remove anything, instead just overwriting the system stuff. Basically its a mulligan, which you can do over and over and over. So there isnt really much fear of hard bricking these phones. Soft bricks happen frequently, but theyre mostly just a time waster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had apps described as such before. Most people don't or wouldn't even notice them. I've seen posts before and very similar applied