Ads, Ads, Ads...

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

I have a Motorola G4, provided through Twigby.

 

Android Version 7.1.1

 

Whenever I swipe in, and do the dot code, and login, I am greeted by a full page ad. There are some that are selling a product, but most are games from PlayStore.

 

I thought it was the PlayStore that was sending these ads. Turned off notification, still does it.

 

Went through my entire apps list and turned notification off for almost everything, other than FB or Discord or Gmail. Still no dice.

 

Is it something within Android that is doing this? I did a factory reset, and it still did it.

 

There some good ad-blockers for Android?

 

Edit: I went through like every guide online, nothing works. Some are too new or old, that option isn't available on phone.

[Terry504]

https://www.stechguide.com/remove-amazon-ads-and-bloatware-from-moto-g4/      

 

see if that helps

[Nick H. Supervisor]

What are you using as your launcher? If you change the launcher do the ads still appear?

 

Turning off notifications for apps won't prevent them from sending you ads if they are still running.

[jnelsoninjax]

56 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

I have a Motorola G4, provided through Twigby.

 

Android Version 7.1.1

 

Whenever I swipe in, and do the dot code, and login, I am greeted by a full page ad. There are some that are selling a product, but most are games from PlayStore.

 

I thought it was the PlayStore that was sending these ads. Turned off notification, still does it.

 

Went through my entire apps list and turned notification off for almost everything, other than FB or Discord or Gmail. Still no dice.

 

Is it something within Android that is doing this? I did a factory reset, and it still did it.

 

There some good ad-blockers for Android?

 

Edit: I went through like every guide online, nothing works. Some are too new or old, that option isn't available on phone.

I use AdGuard on my phone, and it is so nice to be able to play a game, browse the web, etc without ads showing up! Also this is a good guide for removing bloatware from your cell phone.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

9 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

I use AdGuard on my phone, and it is so nice to be able to play a game, browse the web, etc without ads showing up!

That's only for Samsung phones.

21 minutes ago, Terry504 said:

https://www.stechguide.com/remove-amazon-ads-and-bloatware-from-moto-g4/      

 

see if that helps

I don't want to root it.

 

11 minutes ago, Nick H. said:

What are you using as your launcher? If you change the launcher do the ads still appear?

 

Turning off notifications for apps won't prevent them from sending you ads if they are still running.

The default launcher, never played with it.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

All the information that I can find suggests that it is one of the apps that you have installed or there is adware of some sort - the phone itself doesn't have ads.

 

Try entering into safe mode to see if the ads still appear. According to this video you press and hold the power button until the "power off" sign appears on the screen, then push and hold the "power off" option until it asks about rebooting into safe mode.

If the ads don't appear in safe mode, you'll need to check each of your apps or provide us with the list so that we can have a look.

[jnelsoninjax]

1 hour ago, Mindovermaster said:

That's only for Samsung phones.

No it's for all android, I have a Google Pixel and it works just fine on it.

here is the direct link to the Android section: https://adguard.com/en/adguard-android/overview.html

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

4 hours ago, Nick H. said:

All the information that I can find suggests that it is one of the apps that you have installed or there is adware of some sort - the phone itself doesn't have ads.

 

Try entering into safe mode to see if the ads still appear. According to this video you press and hold the power button until the "power off" sign appears on the screen, then push and hold the "power off" option until it asks about rebooting into safe mode.

If the ads don't appear in safe mode, you'll need to check each of your apps or provide us with the list so that we can have a look.

I tried that, actually. I got nothing in safe mode. So it's something weird...

 

3 hours ago, jnelsoninjax said:

No it's for all android, I have a Google Pixel and it works just fine on it.

here is the direct link to the Android section: https://adguard.com/en/adguard-android/overview.html

I think the one in PlayStore is wrong... I tried to install it in browser, the apk file, but there's no way to install it.

 

Nevermind, I got it... We'll see how good this works.

Edited December 20, 2020 by Mindovermaster

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

4 hours ago, jnelsoninjax said:

No it's for all android, I have a Google Pixel and it works just fine on it.

here is the direct link to the Android section: https://adguard.com/en/adguard-android/overview.html

I think your way solved it. In the last hour it blocked 15 ads, and 5 trackers...

[jnelsoninjax]

11 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

I think your way solved it. In the last hour it blocked 15 ads, and 5 trackers...

On my phone, since June 29, it has blocked 838,349 ads, 73,725 trackers, and saved 50.35 GB's of data.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

9 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

On my phone, since June 29, it has blocked 838,349 ads, 73,725 trackers, and saved 50.35 GB's of data.

That thing really does work, I guess... 🤣

[jnelsoninjax]

If you can afford to, buy the lifetime license, it can be transferred when you upgrade phones.

[+Good Bot, Bad Bot Subscriber¹]

27 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

I think your way solved it. In the last hour it blocked 15 ads, and 5 trackers...

You didn't fix anything but just covered up the issue. You have spyware on your phone and possible malware. Disable your Adguard temporarily and uninstall any app and addons you installed since the ads have been an issue. Maybe run a anti-virus program like Avast or Malwarebytes and if still no success I would consider a factory reset. The long term solution is getting a phone that is actually still supported since using a device that doesn't get updates is not a good idea.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

1 minute ago, Superuser said:

You didn't fix anything but just covered up the issue. You have spyware on your phone and possible malware. Disable your Adguard temporarily and uninstall any app and addons you installed since this has been an issue. Maybe run a anti-virus program like Avast or Malwarebytes and if still no success I would consider a factory reset. The long term solution is getting a phone that is actually still supported as using a device that doesn't get updates is not a good idea.

I ran malwarebytes on it, found some stuff, but still shows ads. I took everything off I didn't need. I factory reset it like 3 months ago, and still had this issue. It's something within Android that I can't pinpoint.

 

You have money? I seem to have none...

[+Warwagon MVC]

I would close all apps on your phone, disable notifications for everything, seems like you've done that already.

 

Now plug it into your phone into your computer, enable usb debugging. Then open a command prompt and connect to the device over adb. (unless you are worried you have a virus and will spread it to your computer). Could could always try it from a linux live cd in that case.

 

then try adb shell ps | grep u0_

 

this "Should" give you a list of all running packages on the device. You'll probably have to google ones and find the culprit. Not sure if that command works for 7.1 or not.

 

I would also check under developer mode and see what services are running.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

4 minutes ago, warwagon said:

Could could always try it from a linux live cd in that case.

What's a CD? 🤣

 

I use ArcosLinux, so I'm safe from Malware. Could even use it on my laptop...

[+Good Bot, Bad Bot Subscriber¹]

Just now, Mindovermaster said:

I ran malwarebytes on it, found some stuff, but still shows ads. I took everything off I didn't need. I factory reset it like 3 months ago, and still had this issue. It's something within Android that I can't pinpoint.

 

You have money? I seem to have none...

This has been happening for over 3 months? Wow! It couldn't have been happening right after a factory reset as this has NOTHING to do with Android. You made some change to the device and/or got infected somehow. That can happen when have a phone that doesn't have up to date security patches. Do a factory reset and do NOT restore an apps backup. Do not go on the Internet! First thing check for updates, go to Play Store and apply all app updates, and than install your anti-virus/Adguard.

 

At some point you will need to get a new phone... If you are on public assistance they give out new phones for those in need. It won't be anything great but it will more updated software/security wise.

[+Good Bot, Bad Bot Subscriber¹]

Have you looked into what Custom ROMs may be available for your phone? Unfortunately, it looks like LineageOS is only supported on the Moto G4 Play. Maybe check out what's available on XDA? https://forum.xda-developers.com/c/moto-g4.5432/

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

16 minutes ago, Superuser said:

Have you looked into what Custom ROMs may be available for your phone? Unfortunately, it looks like LineageOS is only supported on the Moto G4 Play. Maybe check out what's available on XDA? https://forum.xda-developers.com/c/moto-g4.5432/

I was taught that rooting is bad unless you know what you are doing. You may turn your phone into a brick if done poorly.

[+Good Bot, Bad Bot Subscriber¹]

10 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

I was taught that rooting is bad unless you know what you are doing. You may turn your phone into a brick if done poorly.

That is an odd remark for someone running Linux on their PC... You are NOT rooting your phone but unlocking the bootloader to install a custom ROM. Sure, something could go wrong.  No one taught you having spyware on your phone and/or not having up to date security patches is a bad idea?

[Nick H. Supervisor]

7 hours ago, Mindovermaster said:

I think your way solved it. In the last hour it blocked 15 ads, and 5 trackers...

 

6 hours ago, Superuser said:

You didn't fix anything but just covered up the issue.

This, to an extent. You've managed to block the ads, but we still don't know what was causing the issue.

6 hours ago, Mindovermaster said:

I ran malwarebytes on it, found some stuff, but still shows ads. I took everything off I didn't need. I factory reset it like 3 months ago, and still had this issue. It's something within Android that I can't pinpoint.

Nope. It's not within Android. There is an app somewhere that is giving the ads.

5 hours ago, Mindovermaster said:

I was taught that rooting is bad unless you know what you are doing. You may turn your phone into a brick if done poorly.

Yes, you can brick the phone. I've soft-bricked a phone before. And these days rooting a phone isn't really necessary unless you want to install a custom ROM.

 

I would still be interested to know which app is causing an ad every time you unlock your phone. When the ad appears, if you take a look under your recent apps folder what is the most recent app shown?

[Terry504]

dump the free apps

[SnoopZ]

10 hours ago, Mindovermaster said:

I think your way solved it. In the last hour it blocked 15 ads, and 5 trackers...

You haven't got to the cause of the problem yet, you have just masked the issue, there is some dodgy app on your phone causing it or malware.

 

I know its a hassle but i would either try deleting apps a few at a time and see if it goes away, if it hasnt gone away then reset the phone and start afresh.

[adrynalyne]

6 hours ago, Nick H. said:

 

This, to an extent. You've managed to block the ads, but we still don't know what was causing the issue.

Nope. It's not within Android. There is an app somewhere that is giving the ads.

Yes, you can brick the phone. I've soft-bricked a phone before. And these days rooting a phone isn't really necessary unless you want to install a custom ROM.

 

I would still be interested to know which app is causing an ad every time you unlock your phone. When the ad appears, if you take a look under your recent apps folder what is the most recent app shown?

Rooting is only needed if you need to use an exploit to unlock the boot loader. Rooting in itself is not needed to install a rom unless the pen actively is trying to prevent you from changing the firmware and gives no way around it. 
 

I never once rooted my nexus 6 to install roms, for example. 

[Terry504]

 Twigby Self Care app...  just a thought  is that preloaded on your g4 if so look thru it