Quickstep makes pop up ads appear when opening apps

[Xdqwerty]

(I already made a thread about this a while ago but that thread died out.)

So, most of the time when opening an app a pop up ad appears before it opens and while that happens the notification bar says that quickstep is causing making those ads appear, but I can't delete it cuz its a system app. How do I stop the ads from appearing, then?

 

[Xdqwerty]

This is how the ads tend to look like

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Can't believe you still have 3G connection. Envy... All turned off here, which means almost a death sentence for older mobile devices now stuck in Edge mode.
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On topic: I failed to find out what Quickstep even is. A short search wasn't very helpful. Maybe you should mention what device you are using, what OS, what version.

I vaguely remember a launcher called Quickstep but that might be false memory. A launcher shouldn't do that (show ads).

Setting up a phone with not generic Android (like Xiaomi, Samsung, etc.) can be a huge hassle. You have to make absolutely sure to not agree to things beyond the usual "Terms of Use" rubbish mandatory before even first access to the launcher.
Might be nested menus, hundreds (not kidding) switches to disagree on cookies, ads and whatnot. The Samsung tablet in front of me has literally over 100 packages uninstalled with
pm uninstall --user 0. Otherwise it would constantly show some Samsung rubbish, some Google rubbish... you get the idea.
Without more information it is hard to say anything beyond: Disagree on anything, deactivate unneeded apps, revoke network permission (if supported on your phone) for pesky apps that don't need internet for their main function.

 

[Xdqwerty]

@KleinesSinchen

And this is quickstep:

 

[JustABadger]

-

 

[Xdqwerty]

Help, I already tried deleting several apps and files but this still happens

 

[KleinesSinchen]

How could anybody but you find the source of the advertisements? I have no idea beyond my generic answer above. I've even heard of ads showing up because of agreeing on push notifications for websites.

Running custom operating systems on smartphones gets rid crap apps once and for all – but of course where light is, is also shadow: Installing custom OS carries risks, especially if you do not have the stock OS at hand for going back. Usually it is hard with unknown brands even getting stock flash file.

 

[linuxares]

Not sure what Quickstep is but I guess it's a launcher?

 

[Xdqwerty]

Not sure what Quickstep is but I guess it's a launcher?

Its android 11 go's launcher

Post automatically merged: Nov 30, 2024

How could anybody but you find the source of the advertisements?

The notifications said quickstep was the reason

 

[linuxares]

Download Firefox or Brave?

 

[Xdqwerty]

Download Firefox or Brave?

1. Those run slower on my phone compared to opera
2. This happenned with those two browsers too

 

[WD_GASTER2]

install an adblocker app. specifically one of those thats sets itself up as a vpn service on your device. though that being said that smartphone may not be able to handle it all that well

 

[Xdqwerty]

install an adblocker app. specifically one of those thats sets itself up as a vpn service on your device. though that being said that smartphone may not be able to handle it all that well

Which one of these? Aside from Brave

 

[Latiodile]

install an adblocker app. specifically one of those thats sets itself up as a vpn service on your device. though that being said that smartphone may not be able to handle it all that well

it's running android go, so the options might be limited

 

[CrAzYLiFe]

Quickstep is whats manages stock android, I highly doubt it's the cause of your ads, it's most likely an app you have installed. Factory reset

 

[Xdqwerty]

Quickstep is whats manages stock android, I highly doubt it's the cause of your ads, it's most likely an app you have installed. Factory reset

But the notifications say quickstep is the reason why the ads appear (bc of overlays and all that)

 

[CrAzYLiFe]

Well, I found a few suggestions from a google search may or may not be helpful, but your not the only one with the issue.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidQuestions/comments/18z0f4b/quickstep_launcher_showing_ads_over_apps/

 

[Xdqwerty]

Well, I found a few suggestions from a google search may or may not be helpful, but your not the only one with the issue.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidQuestions/comments/18z0f4b/quickstep_launcher_showing_ads_over_apps/

Yeah it sucks to not be able to closet background apps after doing what u/Taffer_ said

 

[Xdqwerty]

Ok now my phone is showing ad notifications and I bet its quickstep's fault aswell

 

[Sono]

Here is a test that works 99% of the times: press the app switcher.

If it truly is in the launcher, then it should be empty. If it's not the launcher, it should focus the app that is causing it.
You can even double-confirm this if you can install a 2nd launcher, set THAT to default, but launch an app from the system built-in launcher. If it focuses to the system built-in launcher, then it is indeed what shows the ad.

Sadly there is also the Xiaomi case, where every system app has ads built in, but it's all managed by the app named "msa" (I assume it means "Mi System Ads"), and disabling that will get rid of all ads, unless it's a separate ad system baked into the app (afaik Music and Browser are such cases).

I'd look through the app list (there should be a menu where you can show all system apps), or even use an Intent explorer, like AnyCut (it has a mushroom logo that looks like it's from the Android 2 / Android 3 era, don't download the newer version, it's borderline malware as far as I remember), and see if there is any suspicious Intent in there that could hint towards.
tl;dr: it's *extremely* unlikely that the app trashes the launcher layout completely empty, and replaces it with the popup layout before launching an app. It's much more "Android-esque" that the popup would be an Intent that could be launched.
Note, that if you do find a suspicious Intent that may be responsible for the ad, don't try to launch it, it will most likely just crash due to missing Bundle parameters.