I've had a Samsung Galaxy A52 5G for about two years, and today it suddenly started showing advertisements even when I'm on the home screen. When I open the recent-apps view, the source appears with a blank white or gray icon that doesn't match any app I recognize. I tried using SD Maid, but it hasn't helped. The screen also seems to glitch every five to ten minutes, so I'm wondering whether that's related. What's a trustworthy way to identify and remove the problem?
3 Answers
This sounds more like adware than a normal system notification. Check Settings > Apps and sort through the full list for anything installed recently, especially apps pretending to be a flashlight, cleaner, PDF tool, battery optimizer, or firmware utility. Also check Settings > Apps > Special access > Display over other apps and disable that permission for anything unfamiliar, then uninstall it. Run Google Play Protect afterward, but avoid installing more cleaner apps since they may not detect the culprit.
The screen glitching may be separate from the ads. If it continues in Safe Mode or appears on the lock screen, during startup, or in Samsung’s hardware diagnostics, back up your data and have the phone inspected. Don’t factory-reset until you’ve backed up your photos and accounts, but a reset is the fallback if the adware can’t be located.
Try Safe Mode by holding the power button, then pressing and holding Power off until the Safe Mode option appears. If the ads stop there, a downloaded third-party app is responsible. Remove apps installed or updated shortly before the problem began, reboot normally, and test again. You can also review Settings > Security and privacy > More security settings > Device admin apps for anything suspicious.
A blank icon can be a clue, but don’t delete anything solely because its icon looks unusual. Check the app’s install date, permissions, package details, and whether it’s a legitimate Samsung or Google component first.