Why did iPhone beep and say "Scanning your Device"?

1331XR wrote:

Please see prior posts as there are a couple of them with screen shots. I just had this happen to me tonight and am wondering why it happened.

It’s a sketchy website advertisement. (One of the replies looks like it might possibly have been an in-app ad; a sketchy advertisement in an app.)

A new variation of an old advertisement, this one also using an audio stream.

Websites cannot scan your device. (Apps also cannot scan your iPhone or iPad.)

These websites will usually “find” some issue that can be “solved” by purchasing and installing some unnecessary app, of course. Ignore it, and get on with whatever else you were doing.

nealonb wrote:

Just happened to me 2/23/24

It’s a sketchy website advertisement, so lots of people will see it.

As mentioned above, this is new variation of an old advertisement, this one also using an audio stream.

More generally, websites cannot scan your device. (installed apps also cannot scan your iPhone or iPad.)

These websites and these advertisements will usually “find” some issue that can be “solved” by purchasing and installing some unnecessary app, of course. Ignore it, and get on with whatever else you were doing.

heinet wrote:

I just had this happen to me and landed here. I thought it was an amber alert or something, but no notification. Then when I swiped down I saw a media player display that said “device being scanned” just as described here by others.

Yeah, it’s an advertisement. Not malware. No scanning, either.

If a scammer could scan, they’d skip the pretend-to-scan step, and just steal everything directly!

Follow the steps above for notifications.

If you don’t have the notifications linked above, post up that and we’ll look into your advertisement further.

The audio controls are because the advertisement is offering an audio file.

Pop-ups? Disable those: Block pop-up ads and windows in Safari - Apple Support

Notification? Turn those off: Stop unwanted Notifications - Apple Community

Any add-on commercial first-few-hops VPN client app installed? Remove it.

To improve understanding of the phenomenon, it would be highly beneficial if you could share a screenshot. Visual representations carry greater impact than written descriptions.

Please remember that this is a public forum, so when attaching a screenshot, please avoid including any personal credentials such as IP addresses, card details, email IDs, Apple IDs, IMEI numbers, serial numbers, phone numbers, order IDs, or any identifiable location information if you are sharing a map.

With the limited information that you have provided, It is hard to even guess the problems faced by you. 

You may get faster and better responses to your query by --> Writing an effective Apple Support Commun… - Apple ...

Please re-post with detail so that someone else can help.

The same thing happened to my wife who was scrolling through her news feed in the Google iOS app. A “Scanning your device” media track was launched and played without any explicit action on her part. Seems like a browser exploitation, but unclear what the goal is.

It just happened to me as well. I was reading an article online. Twice while trying to read it the page opened another page. After the second time my iPhone started beeping and this showed up in notifications. When I push play it’s the beeping sounds.

Why am I getting so many “Scanning your device” interruptions on several of my iPhone apps while in use?

I don’t have a screenshot because I immediately restart my device to get rid of it before it follows through.

Is Apple doing this?

Thank you for your help.

The same thing happened to me tonight. I was reading an article when I got 2 beeps and "scanning" message. How do we find out what this is? It doesn't feel safe to use my iPhone until I get more information.

I just had the same thing happen. 2 beeps, pulled my notification bar down and I see "Scanning your Device" in a media style widget, with volume control and a time countdown, then switched back to whatever song was up next in the media widget. I saw where it's a scam, and that's how the sound was played. Very confusing.

Same here. I was just on Google apps searching when I received two beeps with “scanning device” this is SUPER suspicious.. I believe it tied to Google app?

edit: I CAN CONFIRM after closing the Google app this message goes away.

i feel that something malicious has happened.. anyone have insights?

Mine just did the same thing APHoliday experienced

Mine just did the same thing after visiting an SF Chronicle in the Google app.

Did you happen to get any answers regarding this? I’m curious as it happened to me yesterday.

My wife clicked on a legitimate news article, and she got "Scanning your device" with an action of a red line, and then it quit. Is this just cookies being sent to the news article creator of the new article, or is her phone information being copied and compromised? Scary!