Tried everything, full-screen ads continue to pop up on my phone.

[Linc_oln]

My phone has recently been having full-screen ads pop up on my phone when I unlock. I have checked the entire phone for malicious/suspicious apps, but to no avail. I have installed dozens of different anti-malware/adware programs, but they all say my phone is clean. Clearly it isn't. Whatever app(s) are causing this are doing a damned fine job at hiding themselves. I have not recently installed any apps.

The only option I see so far is to factory reset my phone, which I am reluctant to do.

Any suggestions as to what I can do to fix this issue?

Thank you in advance.


EDIT: I have checked for device administrators, the apps list (under 'all') and absolutely no out-of-the-ordinary apps are installed. Nothing blank, either.

 

[n0tall0wed]

My phone has recently been having full-screen ads pop up on my phone when I unlock. I have checked the entire phone for malicious/suspicious apps, but to no avail. I have installed dozens of different anti-malware/adware programs, but they all say my phone is clean. Clearly it isn't. Whatever app(s) are causing this are doing a damned fine job at hiding themselves. I have not recently installed any apps.

The only option I see so far is to factory reset my phone, which I am reluctant to do.

Any suggestions as to what I can do to fix this issue?

Thank you in advance.

Where did you buy the phone?

 

[Linc_oln]

Where did you buy the phone?

Verizon store.

 

[KBU2]

I use Adguard VPN that works wonders

https://adguard.com/en/welcome.html

 

[KBU2]

Also check in Settings> Google apps > Connected Apps and look for the culprit where I'm sure it's most likely hiding.

 

[n0tall0wed]

Then the one answer I had isn't useful. I agree with KBU2 use adguard and check apps connected with Google

 

[Linc_oln]

I use Adguard VPN that works wonders

https://adguard.com/en/welcome.html

Thats only a temporary solution, and while it probably would work, I want to permanently remove the app that is causing these ads.

Also check in Settings> Google apps > Connected Apps and look for the culprit where I'm sure it's most likely hiding.

Checked there just now. Looks normal to me. All of the apps listed are ones I recognize.


After installing Anti-Adware (Keerby), the software noticed that new apps I install appear to be infected with "Mopub". Installing apps from the play store is much slower than usual. I tried a test install of a game (Pokemon GO, if you really care) and it seemed to be clean.


This is some sneaky software.

 

[Linc_oln]

Ah, yes, if this helps.

 

[Linc_oln]

I have also noticed that sometimes when going to the 'recent items' screen from another app (i.e. Snapchat) the app immediately closes. No "[app] has stopped" warning.

 

[KBU2]

Thats only a temporary solution, and while it probably would work, I want to permanently remove the app that is causing these ads.



Checked there just now. Looks normal to me. All of the apps listed are ones I recognize.


After installing Anti-Adware (Keerby), the software noticed that new apps I install appear to be infected with "Mopub". Installing apps from the play store is much slower than usual. I tried a test install of a game (Pokemon GO, if you really care) and it seemed to be clean.


This is some sneaky software.

Adguard has a log that will identify the app that's giving you the problems if you ever download and enable it.

 

[Linc_oln]

Adguard has a log that will identify the app that's giving you the problems if you ever download and enable it.

Ah, I see. I'll give it a shot.

 

[Linc_oln]

Adguard has a log that will identify the app that's giving you the problems if you ever download and enable it.

Installing AdGuard on my phone forces me to install a compatible browser, and I see no option for logs. Can't find any log files on my phone, even after an ad popped up.

 

[svim]

Installing an ad-blocker or VPN service won't help delete any kind of currently active malware exploit. At this point you should be focusing on cleaning up the problem in front of you. (Also, a VPN is not a security measure, it's for user privacy) Ad popups aren't necessarily caused by some exploit either so whichever anti-virus/anti-malware apps you did try (it might help if you actually listed them so we don't waste time guessing with repetitious suggestions). Try going into your Settings >> Storage menu and clear the data cache of your internal storage. This wipes all app caches (in the event the popup was residing in one or more of your app's caches). Restart your phone just as a reset measure and see if that popup problem still exists.
If it does, and again without knowing just which utilities you did try, a Factory Reset is probably your next option. It is really, really important to backup all your data first. And don't just do a backup, do it and check your data exists in the backup. Don't just assume.
If after a Factory Reset that popup problem is still there. than there's a good chance a some exploit managed to compromise the actual operating system. A Reset only wipes the user data partition clean, it does not do anything at all to the operating system itself so if some exploit is in the OS itself that's a harder problem to clear out. Anti-virus/anti-malware apps you install from the Play Store are going to be installed as typical user apps, that is they will have complete access to that user data partition, but have only very limited access to any of the system partitions. You only have a couple of viable options if the OS is infected with something, root it and manually clean it out (a time and effort consuming project, and you need to know specifically what you're looking for to delete/repair), or just flash a stock ROM. Flashing the ROM is essentially the same as doing a clean install on a computer. This XDA Developers thread on your model is a good place for info and instructions on this:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g4-play/how-to/guide-return-to-stock-firmware-recovery-t3551797

 

[Deleted User]

You could root it and Install an App called AdAway from XDA Developers it blocks ads from apps and websites but requires root to use ir see if an app that uses ads to pop up can be disabled or uninstallable!

 

[Linc_oln]

Installing an ad-blocker or VPN service won't help delete any kind of currently active malware exploit. At this point you should be focusing on cleaning up the problem in front of you. (Also, a VPN is not a security measure, it's for user privacy) Ad popups aren't necessarily caused by some exploit either so whichever anti-virus/anti-malware apps you did try (it might help if you actually listed them so we don't waste time guessing with repetitious suggestions). Try going into your Settings >> Storage menu and clear the data cache of your internal storage. This wipes all app caches (in the event the popup was residing in one or more of your app's caches). Restart your phone just as a reset measure and see if that popup problem still exists.
If it does, and again without knowing just which utilities you did try, a Factory Reset is probably your next option. It is really, really important to backup all your data first. And don't just do a backup, do it and check your data exists in the backup. Don't just assume.
If after a Factory Reset that popup problem is still there. than there's a good chance a some exploit managed to compromise the actual operating system. A Reset only wipes the user data partition clean, it does not do anything at all to the operating system itself so if some exploit is in the OS itself that's a harder problem to clear out. Anti-virus/anti-malware apps you install from the Play Store are going to be installed as typical user apps, that is they will have complete access to that user data partition, but have only very limited access to any of the system partitions. You only have a couple of viable options if the OS is infected with something, root it and manually clean it out (a time and effort consuming project, and you need to know specifically what you're looking for to delete/repair), or just flash a stock ROM. Flashing the ROM is essentially the same as doing a clean install on a computer. This XDA Developers thread on your model is a good place for info and instructions on this:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g4-play/how-to/guide-return-to-stock-firmware-recovery-t3551797

Just wiped the cached data. Restarted. I'll update if I see any changes (e.g. no ads). Also, extra info, I did not allow app installs from unknown sources.

You could root it and Install an App called AdAway from XDA Developers it blocks ads from apps and websites but requires root to use ir see if an app that uses ads to pop up can be disabled or uninstallable!

My phone was rendered (sort of) unrootable after the android 7.1.1 update that was recently installed. Already tried that, rooting after the update left me without a network connection at all (No wifi, bluetooth, mobile network -_-). I unrooted the phone and things worked normally again. And again, I want to permanently end the issue, not just block the ads it causes. I know I did the root correctly, as I have rooted many phones in the past. Especially this phone, when tinkering (before the update). It just isn't compatible (yet, hopefully. Stock moto rom is really buggy and broken when rooted at the moment)

 

[KBU2]

Installing AdGuard on my phone forces me to install a compatible browser, and I see no option for logs. Can't find any log files on my phone, even after an ad popped up.

First of all you have to install Adguard CA credentials to run on your device.

 

[KBU2]

In the lift upper corner where the horizontal lines are take that and open it and this is what you will see then tick

filtered log

 

[KBU2]

Here is the log on what's running on device including apps and including hidden indignities. Now the log that I have presented is all the sites that has ping Chrome browser while I was logged into Android forums, now I have neither tweeter nor Facebook on my device,so this app is this just shows you what type of web crawling is going on that you didn't know about.

 

[Linc_oln]

Bleh, my apologies for not posting after a few days. Internet was out. My phone was updated again (damn it android) and is stuck at the startup screen. Gonna wait for a bit, then I'll try KBU2's suggestion again.

 

[Linc_oln]

After doing more checking, it seems a hacked spotify APK was in my download folders. Strange, considering I already have premium, this would be of no use to me. I checked my apps folder and there was only one version of spotify (the hacked APK). Opening it revealed the dreaded pop-up opening app. Finally figured it out. Deleted it and made sure nothing was left behind, not even the APK. Thanks to all for your suggestions.