Run Run Chicken spam

[Dave-in-Decatur]

Twice now I've gotten spam on my phone advertising a game called Run Run Chicken. It may be coming by text message, since the Messaging icon shows in the notification bar at the top of the screen. But when I go to Messaging there's no new message. When I pull down the notification screen and tap on the notification, it takes me to the Google Play store page for this game.

It's kind of annoying (esp. since I pay per message), and frankly I suspect any free game that's advertised this way has probably got something devious and wrong in it. None of the Play store reviews indicate anything wrong about it, though.

Is anybody else getting this spam? Is there any way to stop it, since I can't tell for sure where it's coming from?

[PJNC284]

Could be an app you have installed that is using air push.  Try using https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.byq.airblocker to detect if there's an app doing it.  Won't be able to block it but you'll know which app to get rid of.

[Dave-in-Decatur]

Thanks for the tip. I downloaded it and ran it, but it did not find any app using Airpush. But that in itself is good to know!

[demmo86rt]

Lookout network ad detector may also help (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lookout.addetector&feature=nav_other#?t=W251bGwsMS...).  This one will tell you if an app is using any sort of push notification ads, not just Airpush.  It does also show admob (in app ads) and others, so you have to select any that it shows to find out how the ads are presented.

[Dave-in-Decatur]

Thanks, demmo, Lookout Ad Network Detector is a GREAT app. It did not find any apps that were pushing ads to the notification bar (so the Run Run Chicken mystery remains), but it did locate 4 apps using AdMob to collect location information and helped me opt out of AdMob's ad targeting. It also found apps using AdMob (the same 4) and Millennial (2 apps) to collect device or network info.

I was aware of all these apps and I know that they won't function at all without some advertising, since they're ad-supported. I accepted that, knowing how good I am at ignoring ads!

Of the small number of apps on my phone doing this kind of advertising, the only one I hadn't intentionally installed was Slacker Radio -- another good reason not to use that piece of bloatware. Lookout Ad Network Detector, as I understand it, does not detect actual activity by these apps (Slacker Radio is not running without my knowledge and collecting information; obviously it can't advertise to me if I never use it). It only detects apps that have the potential to do a variety of annoying or harmful things if you use them.

Thanks for the tip!

[zebulan]

Hey!  I found your post through Google, as I too have also been getting these notification ads for Run Run Chicken.  I got frustrated to the point that I started uninstalling applications until the notification went away.

Do you have "Go Keyboard" installed?  This was it for me.

A quick search of their Google Play page shows other customer reviews also claiming that Go Keyboard is sending out these advertisements.

I hope this helps you and anyone else that may stumble here.

[Dave-in-Decatur]

Thanks, Anthony! I do indeed have Go Keyboard, which is an excellent keyboard app and a necessity for me since it includes a couple of foreign language keyboards that I need. It probably is the culprit here, though. This behavior only started in the last couple of weeks, so they may have started doing something they weren't doing before.

I have noticed that this app updates once a week or so, with no obvious functionality added. I'll be sure to be more vigilant about the updates! It may be necessary to go looking for another multilingual keyboard.

In fact, I just decided to do a little test. I started a text message, and when the Go keyboard came up I tapped the logo in the upper left corner. It brought up a kind of ribbon, whose first item was GO Market -- and when that is highlighted, a Run Run Chicken ad pops up. Simply using the keyboard doesn't bring it up; you have to explicitly go to it.

It also has a separate app, and in that app is a link to remove ads. Guess what -- for $4.99 you can get a plug-in to remove the ads! I used to really like this keyboard. Not so much now.

[Dave-in-Decatur]

One further follow-up: several reviewers said they'd detected GO Keyboard's ads through an app called Addons Detector. I downloaded that, and it did indeed flag GO Keyboard as pushing ads to the notification bar. Addons Detector also allows you to upload information about your apps to keep their database up to date; and you can (and should) download the most current version of their data.

I think the combination of Addons Detector and Ad Network Detector (both very fast and detailed, and both free, though Addons Detector will let you make a donation to become a premium user) will be good to keep as ad-free as I desire.

[B33]

Dave on some of these apps that have Adds they can pop them to were even if your Careful you can tap the add an when that happens they could send you something it happen to me some time ago that is why i hate apps with adds...

[demmo86rt]

No problem, it's always nice to know what's going on with your phone, even if it's not a big concern. I fully understand in app ads, devs are just trying to make some money for their work, but these notification bar ads, imho, are despicable. When I use an app, that was free, and there are ads contained within, fine... I get it, but don't harass me when I don't even have the app open.