How do I stop the constant popups?

[Wright13]

My husband and I both have Galaxy S5's and about 3 days we both started getting random pop ups all the time. When we unlock our phone our get on browser or try to clicking on any app. It's very obnoxious.... Neither one of us have downloaded anything similar. We deleted any recent downloads, cleared history, cleared cache, cleared saved data. We get multiple different pop up. One is a facebook prize, one is a Google play virus download, one is a website to get free stuff, or they randomly take up to google play to download stupid games. Everyone I've talked to did a hard reset and it didn't fix the problem. His google play just recently did a new update that changed the way it looks and mine doesn't have it? What can we do?

[vzw_customer_support]

Wright13, I can see how frustrating this may be for both you and your husband. I honestly would be annoyed as well if I had this trouble with my phones. When did this start happening? When the update was done to the Google Play store? Have you or your husband tried to uninstall the update? Go into Settings, Applications, Application Manger, swipe over to All, scroll down to where you see Google Play Store, tap it and uninstall the updated. Power the phone off for about  30 seconds or so and test.

TionnaB_VZW
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[Wright13]

My phone says the program is up to date and there arn't any updates where his has already done the update. His is a newer version but we aren't sure when it took place. The pop ups started about 3 or 4 days ago. It's about 4 or 5 different pop ups back to back.

[Wright13]

Uninstalling google play store didn't fix the problem. Actually started get different pop ups now. Below is the Web popping up on one of them. I can't upload a picture cause I'm on my phone.

[Wright13]

When the address is clicked on it redirects through 3 or 4 sites and ends in google play trying to get us to download apps...

[vzw_customer_support]

Wright13, an experience like this would certainly make me bonkers as well. Popups are extremely annoying. Typically these are caused by free apps, which generate ads either from within in the app itself, or via the browser.  Usually deleting the said app can stop these messages from popping up, however, sometimes a full system reset is what is needed if the app has affected .the way other apps operate.

Have you tried doing either of the above?
NicandroNN_VZW
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[Wright13]

Yes I've tried that and it doesn't fix the problem.

[vzw_customer_support]

Hi Wright13,

Thanks for the hardwork. Lets continue troubleshooting.  Please place the device in Safe Mode  http://www.verizonwireless.com/support/knowledge-base-97645/ to see if the pop-up stop occurring. 

Thanks,
PamelaF_VZW
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[smith6612 · Accepted solution]

Since both phones are affected by the same issue, please do the following:

1. Look at each phone. Gather a list of applications for both and compare what common applications exist. Exclude Samsung and Verizon pre-installed applications from this list.
2. Grab a copy of MalwareBytes Anti-Malware from the Google Play Store. Run a full scan using this app. Make sure to keep this app in focus with the screen on until the scan is done, so the app isn't "killed."
   1. Allow MalwareBytes to uninstall any application it locates as malicious. If it cannot remove then, help it out by uninstalling the application(s) detected.
3. Both of these phones include a built-in Flashlight widget. If you have any Flashlight apps installed to the phones, uninstall them. You can add the Flashlight widget by going to the Home Screen, long pressing on an empty space, selecting Widgets from the bottom, and locating the 1x1 Flashlight button.

If pop-ups continue to appear...

1. On one of the affected phones, open Settings > Applications > Application Manager. Check the "Running" applications section. Normally, you will see some basic applications related to the Android OS, and perhaps some applications like Facebook or other Social Media apps running. Make a list of these apps.
2. Swipe to the "Downloaded" section of the Application Manager
3. Locate each app seen in your Running list. Select on each one of them.
4. Locate a permission called "Run at Startup." Mark down what applications have this permission on your list.
5. Locate a permission labeled "Draw over other apps." Mark down what applications have this permission on your list.
6. Post up your findings here for us to review.

For #4 and #5 - if you find applications with both of these permissions, and they are something like a Flashlight app, Game, or another free to download application, immediately uninstall this application.

Hope this helps.