Users reporting virus on apps

Hi guys,

I have been using admob on my apps but recently incorporated leadbolt and all of a sudden users are rating my apps that have leadbolt advanced overlays as having virus and they are warning other people not to download. Some say that Dr. Web antivirus reported the virus. Avira has no problem but i just downloaded Dr. Web and it reported “Found Adware” on all apps with Leadbolt’s advanced overlays and appwall.So the questions is, have you guys been faced with these problems?? If yes, how do you guys deal with this?

Thanks

I have the same problem. People are giving 1 star ratings and telling “VIRUS VIRUS!”. It hurts my downloads, but i don’t want to remove leadbolt, because they are my main income source. I think this situation should be solved between the developers of Dr. Web and Leadbolt. Only thing i have done is that I added few lines to the description telling it is not a virus.

Thanks for your response. I can now confirm that Dr Web antivirus warns users downloading apps incorporated with Leadbolt’s advance overlays after installation and they offer them to delete even without opening the app. I have written an email to Leadbolt support staff and in the meantime as you said, i have highlighted this issue in the app’s description info. I hope the two parties( Leadbolt and Dr Web) can find an amicable solution to this problem that is costng us alot.

Oh wow, that’s terrible. That’s the first bad thing I’ve heard about Leadbolt. Do you know if they integrate with mopub? I’d like to try them out eventually that way, but not if I get virus warnings.

Same as me,Both of airpush and leadbolt my user post and leave comment about DR.Web also.
But I don’t care, Because I already push disclaimer at my app comment about push notify ads.
It’s don’t have effect so much with other user.My apps still have other people download it.

For me it is no surprise that push/notification ads gets reported by scanners - because they actually ARE adware - sound’s bad, but that’s what it is.

The bad thing is, that people does not read and think it is a virus (what it isnt, it’s “just” adware, not malicious)

Actually, i do not use push notifications in the apps because i believe they are intrusive. I use Leadbolt’s rich media unlockers WITH option to close the window while in the app. I don’t see how this is regarded as ad-ware because for me it is just like any other banner only difference is the size. I actually got a reply from my Leadbolt’s support staff and it seems they cannot do much about it. They even ask developers to write email to Dr. Web antivirus personnel to liaise with them on this issue. So, i really don’t know what to do. What really strikes me is the fact the other anti-viruses have no issue with have no issue with this. But finally i have decided to continue using them since they generate high revenue and for me the damage has already been done.

as long as you are using the API (which has the code for push ads inside, I think) you are recorgnized as adware … the scanner cannot know if you are actually using them or not (i think)

KreCi wrote a post about LeadBolt.

He was getting the same problem and it looks like he’s not getting flagged for virus anymore.

And there’s also an interesting discussion brewing in the comments on whether push ads and “home shortcuts” are good or not:

http://www.kreci.net/android/leadbolt-is-it-worth-to-implement/

People will always debate about whether push notifications & home shortcuts are good or bad. And there will be good & bad ways to implement both of these. I think app developers (and users) should always have the choice though.

What Dr. Web seems to be doing is assuming nobody ever wants to see a push notification, and that all developers who use this platform are by necessity malicious. This is a vastly over-reaching generalization, which doesn’t help anybody. I’ve used plenty of apps with LeadBolt that I wouldn’t categorise as “Adware”.

I have this problem now :frowning:

I’m not even using push notifications, icon drops or browser changes in my apps. The most aggressive I’ve used are the AppBrain interstitial on app exit.

For now, I’ve included a note in my app description. Would like to hear how others are handling this problem.

Users plural? Maybe someone had different app causing notification ads and mistaken it for yours? But if there are more than one reports it might also be from some competitor that doesn’t play nice.
What SDKs have you included?

It may be the Leadbolt SDK that’s causing this, as others in this thread have mentioned. Dr Web was mentioned in the review too. It’s a relatively new app, and 2 users from Japan have reported a virus. Could be competitors, or could be that the 2nd reviewer saw the first (and only) Japanese review and decided to scan it. So I’ve put a notice in Japanese saying there’s no virus in the app. And I explicitly said I don’t do push notifications or icon installs.

What are you using Leadbolt for? For banners you don’t need SDK - you can show them in WebView. The same for appwall I suppose.

I’m using the rich media overlays and appwall. To be safe, I chose SDK appwall which has the close button. Good point on the appwall; I might migrate to the WebView version and get rid of the overlay ads. But I think the damage has been done now. My app is still 4 stars but it’s not good that users in one country are getting a bad impression.

I am starting to think that free users are more trouble and hassle than paid ones. I have some of both, and no complaints from the paying customers. But I am a newbie and don’t have a lot of data to compare. However the time I spend switching ad networks around because of changes in the ecosystem, may be better spent making new apps instead.

Hello there guys,

I think in this case the false positives may be due to this: http://www.sophos.com/en-us/support/knowledgebase/118311.aspx

Sophos is an “antivirus” for the Android operating system: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sophos.smsec

Thanks for the info, Androider.

Firstly, the problem primarily comes from Users using Dr. Web antivirus and secondly, i realised from the comments that majority of them are from Russia and a few from China. Since, when i started this thread i contacted Leadbolt support and the admitted to be helpless on this issue, i had to find a way to stop this “virus” madness. So, what i did is that i edited the translated version of the app description for these two languages and tried to explain the issue between Leadbolt and Dr. Web. This really helped as i saw users from Russia writing comments to tell the others who were yapping the “Virus” chorus to stop it and read the app description. Ofcourse once in a while you will get a few “mad” people still saying there is a virus but the bottom line is that the numbers reduced drastically. Most importantly, don’t write this info for all the languages. Just edit the description for the languages in question. You don’t want to wake sleeping lions.:stuck_out_tongue:

Thank you. This is good advice. I had also put the disclaimer in English, but this may be a mistake. If I leave it out of the English version then it would just look like random 1-star ratings without comment… I guess this is acceptable?

Also, how did you word this explanation? It’s kind of a touchy subject! Thanks.

Thanks for that info. Most of my complaints have been from users with Dr. Web as well, so it appears to be the same issue.

Is there any chance you could share the translated explanation? I’d like to try the same approach, but am not confident I could write something like that coherently in a language other than English! :slight_smile: