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Getting Spam Or Mysterious Alerts In Your Android Notification Bar? Here’s How To Get Rid Of Them

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I’ve been fiddling with the settings on the Galaxy Nexus for the past few days attempting to figure out a way to keep the battery drain down to a dull roar. Since the screen brightness slider in Android 4.0 doesn’t tell you the exact percentage the phone is set to, I download an app called MySettings which allows me to set brightness by percentage value.

A couple of days ago I got a notification with a green cross icon next to it telling me that an update to the Android Market was available. I ignored it, at first. But when I gave it some more thought I realized that Android doesn’t notify users when there’s an update to the Market, Google just pushes it. So what was this about?

I clicked on the notification. It opened the browser (bad sign number one) to a web address that encouraged me to download “the newest Android Market.” The webpage even used the official Market logo. But the market in question is actually a third party one called Wrappio.

notification spam wrappio

I know enough not to fall for such things, but not everyone does. The bigger problem for me was: how did that get into my notifications?

A little while ago I got another mysterious notification, one using the same green cross icon as before. This one let me know that there was an 1 iPad 2 Unclaimed! for me. That’s not even trying not to look like spam. But again: how is it getting into my notifications?

This is how spam looks in Notification pull down

I figured it had to be coming from some app I’d downloaded, but which one? I’ve installed several the past few days. All of them I’d installed before and never had this problem.

Josh Smith did some investigating for me and found out that the mysterious notifications are indeed ads being pushed from an app. He suggested I download Airpush Detector to discover which one.

Airpush Detector is free on the Android Market and does what it says on the tin: detects apps that use the notifications pulldown to push ads your way (AirPush). It lists the apps it detects and, if you tap them, you can uninstall right away.

Only one app came up: MySettings. A shame, really, because I like that one. It has many useful features. But I do not want ads in my notification drawer, so away it went.

MySettings is the AirPush culprit

Once I uninstalled the app the remaining notification went away, too. Good riddance.

I accept that one of the ways app makers earn money is by placing ads within their apps, and I’m fine with that. It keeps many apps free yet still compensates the devs. However, I’m not at all down with ads showing up in my Notification bar where I expect to see real news and alerts, not fake ones. Plus, that first ad was designed to trick people, and it wouldn’t surprise me if other ads were similar. It’s spam, plain and simple, and not okay.

MySettings isn’t the kind of app that people will spend time in, so I get why the dev might look for alternative means to get ads in front of you. But the description does not inform users that they’ll get AirPush ads or what that might mean, just that the app is ad-supported.

Plus, this is a new addition to the app. The ads showed up with version 1.9.7 in late November. Unsuspecting users who upgraded started seeing the mysterious additions to their notifications and figured out that MySettings was to blame. They’ve been posting 1 star reviews and warnings to the Market ever since. Some even claim that the ads messed up their phone and introduced malware and trojans — possibly because they tapped the notifications.

MySettings isn’t the only app doing this. If you encounter this or any other app using AirPush ads, don’t tap on them and immediately uninstall the app. If you’re not sure which app is to blame, download Airpush Detector.

Then give the app 1 star, if you’re inclined.

106 Comments

106 Comments

  1. Anonymous

    12/20/2011 at 1:57 pm

    I’m a developer for the Banner app in the market and in-app ads is how I get some pocket cash. I’ve played with those AirPush ads and my gut told me they were to intrusive so I never deployed them. Ads need to stay within the apps. If the dev needs some cash, then do a handicapped free app with an option for a .$99 app with all features. If its a good app, $$ will come!

  2. Jenelle Romero

    12/22/2011 at 4:47 pm

    THANK YOU FOR WRITING THIS!  You just saved my phone.  The AirPush Detector app totally worked.  Detected and removed in a matter of seconds!  Thanks again, those would have drove me mad… and I would have ended up deleting a bunch of apps just by guessing which I had downloaded/updated recently.  Not easy when updates are getting to be more often!  Just updated 30 today. :/

  3. Gerry

    12/25/2011 at 10:39 am

    Thanks I downloaded Airpush Detector and found Ram Info was pushing this ad, I was going to get rid of it anyway.

  4. BetterWang

    12/29/2011 at 1:28 pm

    I got this notification not so long ago. But AirPush detector doesn’t find anything for me.
    Any ideas?

    • Katherine Anderson

      01/16/2013 at 8:37 am

      Airpush detector didn’t find anything for me either. The app gave me the option to “help” by sending a list of apps to the developer so she/he could look at which apps of mine might be airpushing but that are not on the list.

  5. Abdul

    01/01/2012 at 10:42 am

    You article was a great help… Thank you I couldnt figure out for the life of me which app was doing it …. turns out it was a stupid live wallpaper, which Iv never even used… Once again thanks for your work…

  6. Usandthemonkeys

    01/01/2012 at 9:17 pm

    Thanks so much, this was the only thing I could find on the web that helped solve the problem.

  7. Asburget

    01/11/2012 at 3:36 pm

    Amazing, thank you for the info.

  8. Trav

    01/15/2012 at 1:15 am

    you can also go to the airpush website and enter your imei number which removes you from the list so that you no longer recieve ads from them, don’t even need the app to do it.

    • Frazer

      10/09/2012 at 10:39 am

      But – be aware of the permission that you have granted to the app when you install it. For example, AVI Player wants access to your personal information – e.g. contacts. Ask yourself: Why? Simply turning off the spam at the AIrPush site may stop the spam – but what other information is the malware sending to AirPush? The email addresses for all your friends? Pay attention to those permissions!

  9. Jo

    01/18/2012 at 11:50 am

    Thanks a bunch!!!

  10. Smith61111

    01/19/2012 at 11:45 am

    It worked!  Thank you!!

  11. Mshackneyyy

    01/23/2012 at 10:47 am

    You can just go to xapush.com and opt out of receiving air push ads by entering your MEID, IMEI, or ESN number and you will not need to uninstall the app that gave you airpush ads. I did it, and it worked. I didn’t uninstall my app, and I didn’t have to install the app detector.
    When you go to xapush.com and opt out, there are 2 options: to download the app, or manually opt out. I went to the market to download and saw tons of reviews warning me not to download the app. That’s why I decided to manually opt out. Plus I was able to keep my app.

  12. Support

    01/24/2012 at 10:43 am

    This is customer service for Wrappio. We offer a premium android market and app recs sent to your phone. The service requires
    your knowledge and consent to subscribe by affirmatively opting-in
    twice. Also, please distinguish between ads promoting Wrappio and the
    actual Wrappio service, as there appears to be some confusion above
    between the two. In any event, to cancel the actual Wrappio service,
    you may reply STOP to the shortcode. If you are unhappy with your
    service and would like to request a refund, we also offer a
    no-questions-asked full refund policy for all unsatisfied customers. You
    may call 1-888-883-2423 to speak with a live operator. We apologize for
    any inconvenience.

  13. Htrhtr

    02/01/2012 at 11:59 pm

    Brilliant, thank you

  14. Cathy Lail

    02/06/2012 at 3:34 am

    great post! i had the same thing happen to me this past week – and i’m no lightweight either, but the ad *initially* fooled me too. thanks for the recommendation on AirPush. i had two apps with ads – Pinterest (which REALLY disappoints me) and another unimportant app. oh well.

  15. Karl Marx

    02/07/2012 at 10:53 pm

    Brilliant – got the iPad2 thing too – have now uninstalled “Victorious” – my eight-year-old will be displeased though.

  16. Ashooten

    02/09/2012 at 5:03 pm

    Thank you for giving out this information.  It helped me.

  17. Ben Cucjen

    02/23/2012 at 8:36 am

    thank you so much. Finally i am free of these stupid green plus’

  18. John

    02/23/2012 at 8:54 am

    Awesome!  Thanks.  It worked exactly as you stated.  I hope app developers will get the hint.  Play fair, and people will do business.

  19. CMO

    02/24/2012 at 12:28 am

    Thanks – I was getting notifications everyday.  Make sure people give a negative review on the market if you find an app that does this type of spamming

  20. Eric mahr

    03/14/2012 at 7:23 am

    Thank you!!!! It kept using my data

  21. New here

    03/22/2012 at 8:37 pm

    Thank you, I am getting these notifications recently. The notes gone as soon as i unstall the apps. Hoo ray!

  22. Pi19rimx

    03/25/2012 at 3:58 am

    Thank you. I’ve been trying to figure this out for weeks. Air push downloaded, and fixed my problem in 30 seconds.

  23. boann80

    03/30/2012 at 7:54 am

    Thank you! This is perfect for what I need, i’ve been googling for ages trying to work out how to get rid of this stupid add in my notification bar.

    App does what it says

  24. Paul K

    04/01/2012 at 4:35 pm

    Thanks worked a treat. It would be correct to sassume that developers who utilize the push ads in their sofware are quite foolish, eventually no-one will use their apps at all.

  25. KalaJo12

    04/03/2012 at 3:14 pm

    I’ve never found a forum that actually works. Thank you so much! Just in case anyone is curious, the application was Music Paradise for me. I didn’t start getting the push notifications until about two months after I had installed the application. This really did work quite well for me. Everyone should check out this application, Airpush Detector. Installed super fast, great speed. I had my application detected within seconds. Thanks a ton!

                                                                                                     -Kala Jo

  26. Fifi_d

    04/10/2012 at 5:12 pm

    THANK YOU! these ads were driving me crazy and I unfortunately had deleted apis I could have kept.

  27. MLuiten

    04/15/2012 at 1:04 pm

    So glad I read this, feed the dino, harmless i thought for my child to play on the phone. I nearly downloaded a battery upgrade. Phew and thanks!

  28. Florence Hulihee

    04/17/2012 at 5:06 pm

    Thank you!!!  For the past few days these notifications have been driving me crazy. Just downloaded Airpush dectector and it found the offensive app and now it’s gone. Thank You!!!!

  29. Nicole

    04/19/2012 at 9:19 pm

    thak you so much. Stupid dino something free game was pushing ads

  30. Eleni

    04/23/2012 at 3:38 am

    Thanks!!!! This really helped saving my account!

  31. Guest

    04/24/2012 at 3:49 am

    Thank you so much!!!

  32. Jo84

    04/24/2012 at 3:11 pm

    Thank you for this, those ads were really p##sing me off! Saved my new phonea!

  33. Hilpo

    05/03/2012 at 4:54 pm

    Thank you. Mine was feed your dino. Will just download to nook – got luck pushing to that never read the notifications.

  34. Tim

    05/04/2012 at 1:41 am

    Was annoyed that iris, a FRIGGIN voice assistant, BEST APP! is pushing ads :'(

    I recommend IRIS, but ads made me uninstall it.

  35. Jax

    05/06/2012 at 6:07 am

    thank you for this article…i was wondering from where these notifications where comming….thank u…very nice small tool/app.

  36. Heather

    05/08/2012 at 12:43 pm

    Thank you!

  37. Venkat

    05/09/2012 at 4:43 am

    Thanks so much for this post. A lot of live wallpapers seem to be pushing these annoying ads.

  38. Wink

    05/10/2012 at 2:57 pm

    Man o Man, thanks to your article I got rid of two themes that were pushing adds. Like you, I don’t mind the adds within the program (If I really like the program and don’t want the adds I buy it.) but these that were pushing to my notification bar were really getting on my nerves. I downloaded the program and it took about 10 seconds to find the problem. It took me longer to read your post than it did for Airpush Detector to find the “Bad Guys”. :-)

  39. Liz

    05/15/2012 at 9:16 pm

    Thanks so much! I woulda been lost without your help!

  40. Eric

    05/16/2012 at 10:16 pm

    YOU ROCK! Thanks for the help!

  41. Jerome

    05/20/2012 at 5:35 am

    Finally something that WORKED! Got rid of these unnecessary notifications for good. The Ap that caused it was an Electric Shaver. I know, it’s a pointless gimmick anyway :) Thank you for sharing the info!

  42. Cin

    05/20/2012 at 3:42 pm

    Thanks! What a relief! The app causing the ads in my notification bar was Planets and Stars. Pity really.

  43. Luis

    05/22/2012 at 12:53 pm

    Cheers, very helpful. Thanks

  44. T.C.

    05/28/2012 at 8:13 am

    Been wondering how to get rid of the green cross spam. A shame the perpetrator had to be a useful app too.. Thanks for the help! Worked like a charm.

  45. Marko

    05/31/2012 at 7:39 am

    Thanks a lot!
    I upgraded my android firmvare to Ice Cream Sandwich and the telephone updated my apps. In old versions of my apps I didn’t get notifications, but in the new I got them as soon as the upgrade was finished. I thought that these is because of new Android firmware although I fought that is strange.
    Notifications notified me about Battery Upgrade app, that is actually a trojan. Because the notifications keep repeating I thought it already installed.
    So thanks for these article – I downloaded AirPush Detector, uninstalled Dog Whistle app and notifications disappeared.

    So don’t install Dog Whistle!

    Thank you again!

  46. Lynae

    06/02/2012 at 10:22 am

    THANK YOU sooo much!! I thought my phone had a virus. Those stupid ad notifications were killing my battery and driving me crazy!! Thanks again and God bless!

  47. Nickwad

    06/02/2012 at 2:01 pm

    AWESOME!!!! Thanks a million for this info! I flushed out 3 offending apps (mostly wallpaper app) and the SPAM notifications went POOF!!! TYVM!!!

  48. KLU

    06/04/2012 at 4:26 am

    Excellent article. Thank you!

  49. DJ

    06/04/2012 at 5:36 am

    Thank you for this.
    I was extremely pissed off with spams being pushed through to my notification bar and found the culprit and uninstalled it right away.
    It turned out to be a seemingly harmless battery calibrator app.

  50. Si

    06/06/2012 at 2:05 am

    Brilliannt. I got a Samsung Note last week and this was doing my head in! Thanks for this advice.

  51. Panda

    06/06/2012 at 7:45 am

    Thank you!! I’ve been freaking out for a few days trying to figure out where these ads were coming from! Its a shame, the ones they are coming from I actually liked having too but I wont stand for silly little ads on my phone :( Guess I’ll just have to find a new theme and mp3 downloader haha.

    Anyways, thanks for the info! I wasn’t finding any info anywhere else!!! And the Airpush Detector worked easy peasy! So thanks!!

    • LotusJaguar

      06/26/2012 at 9:03 pm

      LOL Panda! I had the SAME issue … find new wallpaper and mp3 downloader …

      To the author of this post, may you be well blessed for blessing me this day. Now I won’t have uncontrollable tantrums and turrets episodes cussing out my Motorola Droid X2. LOL THANK YOU!!!

      • Jennifer

        07/10/2013 at 9:24 am

        Me too. MP3 downloaded was a good app, just the Airpushes drove me NUTS!!!

  52. DjB

    06/07/2012 at 4:56 am

    Thank you, I have plenty of apps and didn’t want to delete them all just to rectify this problem. I agree with everything you say, and am very pleased to know about airpush detector worked very well and easy to use for the not-so-technical android user!!

  53. GL

    06/08/2012 at 10:42 am

    THANK YOU this was extremely informative and helpful!

  54. Dima

    06/09/2012 at 12:27 am

    Thank you very much! The ads annoyed me a lot.

  55. David

    06/10/2012 at 9:33 am

    THANK YOU! This is exactly the info I was looking for. The app is question is now gone, no more unwanted notification!!

  56. Glenn Moses

    06/11/2012 at 4:10 pm

    Wow, thanks so much for this. I never would have found out what the offending app was without your help. In my case, it was my favorite theme for GOsms – just the theme! The theme in question was Dark Purple. Thanks so very much for sharing.

  57. Mike

    06/14/2012 at 1:43 pm

    Beautiful! Thank you so much for the help! I’ve been so frustrated everytime I look at my phone due to stupid spam and now I longer have to worry about it. Turns out it was a GO Launcher Theme–ICS. Thanks for saving my life!

  58. Joe

    06/16/2012 at 4:36 am

    This was very, very helpful. I used AirPush Detector and instantly found 2 wallpaper apps. Of course I uninstalled them immediately.

  59. Bob

    06/19/2012 at 10:48 am

    Awesome!
    Good job! Now, I am rid of those ads.
    Thank you very much!

  60. Jeff

    06/19/2012 at 10:55 am

    Thanks a ton for this article! Wanted to get rid of the annoying spam, and even though I liked the app it had to go.

  61. Robert

    06/19/2012 at 1:01 pm

    Thank you thank you!! Totally cured my frustration. ‘Shake to Charge’ was the culprit.

  62. Robert

    06/19/2012 at 2:48 pm

    Thank you so much!! so many free live wallpapers do this!!

  63. Robert

    06/19/2012 at 2:49 pm

    ahh two different roberts posting almost simultaneosly!!!!

  64. Masood

    06/21/2012 at 8:25 am

    Thanks a Million, these notifications just suddenly started appearing from nowhere and companies doing this are taking a real liberty.

  65. Matt

    06/26/2012 at 11:18 am

    Great info! It turned out that the “Bowman” game was responsible… I liked that game…

  66. Doris

    06/26/2012 at 11:20 am

    Very Helpful, i keep searching appstore with ‘anti spam’ keywords and never found anything until you wrote this. thank yoy

  67. Blanca

    06/27/2012 at 11:09 am

    thank you soooooo much.

  68. Tina

    06/28/2012 at 5:15 am

    Thank you so much! These annoying ads have been bugging me for a few days now.

  69. Anna

    06/30/2012 at 11:58 am

    I have been deleting apps for a week trying to figure out which one was spamming these annoying adds on my phone. I finally decided to look it up finally, out of frustration, and now I only wish I had sought assistance sooner. I’m still wary just due to the nature of apps, but so far so good! The developer should definitely consider charging for this service.

  70. Joe

    07/01/2012 at 8:08 am

    Thank you, i let my kids down load a Magic 8ball app and that is what was giving me the push notifactions. I removed it and have not received one yet.

  71. Yamil

    07/04/2012 at 8:04 am

    Goood!!!! Works smoothly.
    Thanks for the advice.

    Regards from Mexico

  72. Chris Chippendale

    07/08/2012 at 12:36 pm

    Tried this on my girlfriends phone, and it’s not detecting anything – anyone got Amy advice? It’s a galaxy s2, she’s getting ads for different games in the notifications bar. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    • Orit k.

      09/16/2012 at 11:26 pm

      In addition to Airpush exists many more push ads networks. I found another great tool for detection and removal of spamming apps. Look for Addons detector.

  73. Erin

    07/10/2012 at 9:58 am

    Thanks!! I have been getting so many of the unwanted notifications. Had to get rid of some apps I liked but nothing I couldn’t live without.

  74. ni,k

    07/12/2012 at 7:14 am

    Every time I load this page I get a star (white) in notification bar. Lol site has been taged. Downloading “airpush” now. Thank’s for the info.

  75. Josh

    07/12/2012 at 11:05 pm

    Thank you! so simple!

  76. Mark

    07/14/2012 at 9:46 am

    Hey I appreciate the post… helped me out a bunch.

  77. haidee

    07/15/2012 at 9:43 pm

    Thanks, the pop ups were driving me nuts, – especially when you wanted to type a text and the notifications would just pop up!

  78. Steve

    07/18/2012 at 5:30 am

    Worked like a charm. Remember to report apps that AirPush.

  79. Felicity

    07/22/2012 at 11:37 pm

    THANK YOU!! my goodness, I was pulling my hair out getting “inappropriate” ads appearing in my notifications. After reading this it took less than a minute for the problem to be solved. I’m extremely grateful.

  80. play nintendo 3ds on windows

    07/24/2012 at 4:26 pm

    Hey there, You’ve done an excellent job. I will certainly digg it and for my part recommend to my friends. I’m sure they’ll be benefited from this website.

  81. Setsuna

    07/25/2012 at 6:33 pm

    Thanks for sharing, you just help to solve my airpushed ads issue :)

  82. Kris G

    07/27/2012 at 5:56 pm

    Thank you as everyone else has said for writing this. For me it was downloading a couple of Live Wallpapers that caused the spam I was getting.

    Thank you for making this easy to solve!

  83. Steve

    07/28/2012 at 11:08 pm

    Thank you! For me, it was an app called, Hotel Tonight, which is a shame. I did like the app & found it useful.

  84. Connie

    07/31/2012 at 6:35 am

    Great to have found your article! God savior! I kept on getting those hot girls ads for gods sake! They are from an TV app.

  85. Brian

    08/08/2012 at 9:31 am

    Thanks man! I was trying to figure out what app was sending the notifications and the app you informed us of worked like a charm. The app that was sending it was ringdroid. What a shame, because the app was great. Thanks again!

  86. Mike

    08/13/2012 at 8:04 am

    Thanks. Got rid of Special FX app with this tool. I downloaded it at my son’s request. No more annoying air push ads.

  87. Tim Lalahi

    08/15/2012 at 1:55 am

    Thanks for this article. Got rid of DBZ wallpapers and rated them 1. Had the app for ages before it started doing that. Ads were driving me bonkers.

  88. Elly

    08/16/2012 at 7:19 am

    Thank You!! Was able to locate which app was sending these stupid notifications, I was getting anywhere from 5-10 a day!! It was starting to piss me off. Downloaded the suggested Airpusher and sure enough it was an app I downloaded that never worked!

  89. Lori

    08/16/2012 at 4:10 pm

    Thanks a bunch! Stupid ads were driving me bonkers..turns out it was a live wallpaper…off it went! Thanks again :)

  90. Tom

    08/31/2012 at 9:16 am

    Dooood! thanks! I was getting alert spam every few min. it’s all gone now woot!

  91. Kathy

    08/31/2012 at 10:36 am

    Thank you!!

  92. Orit k.

    09/16/2012 at 11:21 pm

    Thank you for a great review. Today, the Google Play is even more full of spamming apps, in addition to Airpush exists more push ads networks. I recently found another fantastic tool for removing that kind of spamming apps – Addons detector. It is free and detects many push ads in addition to Airpush. Strongly recommending.

  93. Lisa F

    09/21/2012 at 5:52 am

    Orit, thanks for your post! I downloaded the Adpush app but it didn’t detect what was giving me the notifications. I downloarded Addons and it was unfortunately the Go SMS Samsung 3 theme :( The ad disappeared as soon as I uninstalled the theme. Thanks so much!!

  94. Craig

    09/24/2012 at 9:40 am

    I think that if you download an app that is “free” and the developer clearly states that the they have included an ad network to help pay for their time – but also offers a pro version without ads, you should buy the pro version. What most consumers don’t realize when they download “free” apps is that someone actually took their time to build something cool and if you want it, you should pay the $0.99 for the non-ad one. I get sick of people complaining about “free” applications that display ads or notifications. Simply pay the developer for their time with their “pro” version and you can stop complaining about ads.

  95. sipho

    07/02/2013 at 10:56 am

    Pls stp notifiying me abt advets

  96. Anona Mous

    07/28/2013 at 5:40 pm

    @Craig. And I get sick of people (like Craig) who don’t read and comprehend the article about INTRUSIVE ads in the notification area. The apps including these nuisances do NOT explain beforehand that they’ll pump a bunch of junk into your notifications. IN-APP ads are ok… spamming our basic functions is not.

  97. Joseph

    09/10/2013 at 12:18 pm

    I stared getting all these weird ads about meeting singles in my area. Try to explain that to my boyfriend. All because I downloaded some app to add extra fonts to my phone… Live and learn. Thanks for the info. It saved more than just my phone :)

  98. Gef

    11/26/2015 at 12:56 am

    Is it really necessary to uninstall the app? It seems to me that, once the app identified, unchecking the “show notifications” box in the app menu should do the job.

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