How do I identify and remove this spammy malware "Suggestion" app?


Question

Recently these spam ads have started showing up on my phone from an app calling itself "Suggestions". I never installed this thing itself and I don't see it on the apps list.


It runs periodically throughout the day by itself. Maybe once/hour? Generally when I turn on the phone and unlock, its there. More rarely it pops up in front of the active app if I've been using the phone for a while.


Presumably it tagged along with something else I installed, but I can't recall that it started occurring at a corresponding time with any other app being added.


Generally once I minimize it, it disappears entirely.


Is there a way to identify & remove this?


The ad shown below is just an example, they vary.




While this was on the screen, I long pressed the square Android apps button to go into split screen, somehow this triggered the following site to open up:


(don't click it - just for info)


https://yourphoneboost.com/landers/external/cleaner-update/landing.html?device_name=Motorola%20o&language=en-US&device_brand=Motorola&device_model=o&uclick=17m7e8xr0&uclickhash=17m7e8xr0-17m7e8xr0-gm-sy-9z-wf0-tw3y-7a9e36#



This phone is a Motorola G4 running Android 7. The security patch level was April 1, 2018.





(click images for larger variants)


Answer

It turns out to be "Bluetooth Auto Connect" that introduced this spamware-like behavior. This app had been installed for a long time but apparently only recently changed its behavior. I will find a replacement.


Thanks to a tip from @Firelord, I was able to determine the actual app (process?) by:



  1. Pressing the main Android square recent / running apps button



  2. Long-pressing the title bar of the "Suggestions" window.



  3. Pressing the (i) icon which shows up after the long-press. This showed the actual app name.




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