The tale of 2 iPhones, and annoying advertisements

[ALNBen]

First let me say in my short time here, I've enjoyed reading all the tips and tricks I've seen so far. I look forwarding to helping others with their problems as I see so many people here doing.

What is everyone's opinion on virus/malware apps for the iPhone? From what I've ready, it isn't necessary unless using a jail broken device which I'm not.

The reason I ask is that I have 2 identical iPhones. One is my personal phone and the other is company issued. On my personal, when I'm browsing Facebook, I'll tap a news article I want to read and as the article is loading the screen is taken over by some sort of advertisement for Walmart or amazon gift cards or sometimes a warning that my phone has 28 viruses and "Tap here" to have them cleaned. The frustrating part is there is no way to remove the advertisement and see the article. I have to go back and then try the article again which is annoying but also eats up more data and most times I'm hit with the same advertisement. Initially I just chalked it up to FB's advertising but I've noticed that I don't get the same popups when I view the same articles on my company issued phone. Typically when I get this on my personal phone, I put it down and grab my work phone and find the exact same article and I'm able to tap it and read it normally without the popups. This leads me to believe there is something on my personal phone causing the pops up.

I've tried deleting the FB app from my personal phone and reinstalling but it had no affect.

Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[guitarzan]

Are both phones using Safari to browse the articles? Go to Settings, then Safari. One of the options is "Block Pop-ups".

 

[ALNBen]

Thanks guitarzan for the reply. I'm not using Safari on either phone. I use Chrome for browsing but in this case I'm using the FB app on both phones.

 

[spamjim]

Additional security apps are useful even if you don't have a jailbroken device. Apple has occasionally had issues with apps from its "curated" store. It is also possible for malware to load outside of the app store.

While aggressive adware (malware) on one of your phones is possible, it is possible for 2 identical phones to show different advertising content based on behavior observed through the advertising networks.

 

[vacunita]

As far as is known, there are no known viruses or even adware that can directly affect a non jailbroken iPhone.

The fact you are getting aggressive ads on one but not the other probably stems from what sites with ads you visit on one and the cookies they place on your device.

Generally speaking, you should be able website Data in Settings->Safari, and it should affect the browser in the Facebook app as well.

Google has its own web site data in its Settings.



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Phil AKA Vacunita
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OS-ception: Running Linux on a Virtual Machine in Windows which itself is running in a Virtual Machine on Mac OSx.

Web & Tech

 

[ALNBen]

Thank you spamjim and vacunita for the replies.

I have cleared History & Website Data for Safari and also adjusted the Cookie settings.

I'll post back after I've had some time to test to see if this has had any affect.

 

[kjv1611]

If you want to try an app for helping with some of the cleanup, the "Power Clean" app has worked pretty well on my work iPhone.

When it comes to security, never say never. There have been times with different technologies through the years where people thought the tech was safe, only to find out later it wasn't. If the above actions don't work, and you don't want to try a security app to assist, then how about just resetting your phone after backing up anything inportant?

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[spamjim]

As far as is known, there are no known viruses or even adware that can directly affect a non jailbroken iPhone.

That's not quite right. Malware definitely exists.

XAgent, AceDeceiver, YiSpecter, and WireLurker are some of the exploits that can affect non-jailbroken iOS devices.

You can also google for "apple pulls trojans from app store" to find apps that were once curated by Apple but later discovered to contain malware.

I would offer a suggestion of an app to check for malware but there's an inherent problem with that. The App Store only offers apps that play by Apple's rules and limit themselves to their own space (no access to the full system). A malware/virus checking app that would have the necessary full access to check the system would never be allowed on the App Store.

The best the average user can do to avoid malware is to make sure the device is always up-to-date.

In regard to advertising networks, even clearing cookies may not be sufficient to anonymize yourself. Ad networks utilize other identifiers as well. Marketing software can identify the hardware device, OS and IP address to supply a steady stream of targeted marketing.

 

[kjv1611]

I got to thinking - another thing that could help would be an alternative Facebook app. On Android, my wife and I have been using "Fast for Facebook" for a good while now - at least a couple years I think. I don't think it exists on iPhone or else it had bad reviews there. Anyway, Fast for Facebook on Android really cuts down on the bloat of the default Facebook app and seems to generally run faster.

Going along that route, I found a couple of interesting articles/lists I might look at soon myself to see if there's a good option for iPhone for my work phone. I currently just don't use Facebook on my iPhone (work phone) b/c I don't like the data usage of Facebook default apps.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/3-alternative-facebook-apps-for-android-and-ios/

http://www.guidingtech.com/41701/facebook-ios-app-alternative/

(I'm not a big Facebook person, myself. My wife and I did it several years ago for a short time, and quit. Then we rejoined with one account just a couple years ago to see pictures from a sport's team for my son. After that, my wife has mainly used it to keep track of some things, since so much has moved to social media.)


"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[ALNBen]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I cleared the history and website data in the Safari settings on my phone and that seems to have corrected the problem.

I'm hesitant to say the problem is solved for fear of jinxing it but for now I think I'm good.

Thanks again to everyone.