Enlarge (credit: SophosLabs)
Google's official Play marketplace is waging an uphill battle against Android apps that display an unending stream of popup ads even when users try to force them to stop, researchers said Friday.
The researchers, from UK-based SophosLabs, said they have found a total of 47 apps in the past week that collectively have racked up as many as 6 million downloads. They all use a third-party library that bombards users with ads that continue to display even after users force-close the app or scrub memory. In a blog post, SophosLabs said Google has removed some of the privately reported apps while allowing others to remain.
The MarsDae library that's spawning the popup torrent supports Android versions 2.3 through 6, as well as Samsung, Huawei, Mizu, Mi, and Nexus devices. One app that incorporates MarsDae, SophosLabs said, is Snap Pic Collage Color Splash, which remained available on Google servers as this post was being prepared. Snap Pic has been downloaded from 50,000 to 100,000 times. Once installed, it displays ads on the Android home screen. Even after a user uses the Android settings to force close the app, the ads resume a few seconds later.