Beware of apps that use the "MyApp" ad service

TisMyDroid

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The "MyApp" ad service has the ability to frequently push full page ads into other apps while these ads don't appear in the app that uses this ad service. This is very problematic because the natural assumption is to think that the app where these ads appear is generating the ads when that app is innocent.

I recently discovered this after trying to use my email app that I have used for years and never included ads. But out of nowhere, I was getting so many full page ads that were so intrusive that I could neither read or write emails. I thought my email app's recent update was the cause of these sudden ads. I was about to uninstall my email app but decided to write the developers instead. They assured me that they do not use ads for their app. It took us hours emailing back & forth to discover what the problem was.

After uninstalling and reinstalling my email app with no success to remove the ads, then cleared data cache. Again, no success. Next was to uninstall the app, delete all folders associated with the app, turned off phone then restarted. Still no success. I almost went ahead with a factory data reset but I decided to scan my apps using an add-ons detector.

The guilty party was an app called AirLauncher that uses an ad service called "MyApps." This ad service has the ability to push ads into other apps (see screen shots). Once I got rid of that app, my problem was solved.

This was a pita but my bigger concern is that this form of very crooked advertising is very damaging to app developers that use no ads or minimal ads. The average person is going to assume that the ads are being generated by the app where these ads appear, then delete the app, not giving the app a fair shot for success. And yet it is not even that app that was pushing the ads and difficult to determine which app is actually creating this ad nightmare. Very bizarre that such an ad service exists.
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TisMyDroid

TisMyDroid

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Yuck. Good to know that there's something out there that could make an innocent app seem like a guilty party. Thanks for sharing Tis!
Yuck is right. I wrote a review for that app calling it evil! I should experiment with that app to see what other apps it would end up infiltrating with push ads. It is interesting that it chose my email app to attack...one of the the apps I use the most.

I wonder if there is a way that app developers can block advertising that is being pushed on their app by another app. I actually wrote Google to insist they not approve any apps for the PlayStore that uses the "MyApp" ad service. I thought my phone had some virus and was ready to do a factory data reset.

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Jonny Kansas

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I wonder if it's worth it to get devs who don't use this ad service on-board? Since this ad is effectively making money for developer of app "A" while you're using app "B", I wonder how developer of app B would feel knowing that someone else is making money for people using their apps.

If I was a developer, I'd further be upset if I'd decided to make my app ad-free and then these were popping up on top of it.
 
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TisMyDroid

TisMyDroid

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I agree. In addition, people will get rid of the app where these ads appear as well as potentially give that app a bad review when it's not even that app that is pushing the ads. In my situation, I was going to uninstall my email app because I thought they decided to go ad crazy and include my disappointment in a PlayStore review of their app. I decided to email them to complain instead. If I hadn't emailed them first, I would have continued to believe the ads were from their app.

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