I get a pop-up window asking "Do you want to download "occ" in my Safari browser

This is what I've been repeatedly getting (iPhone 8Plus running 16.7.10 - don't laugh). I get it in Safari when I open Wordle (NYT) and a local TV news station's site. It also happens in the Reddit app when I try to open articles in the news feed. I have never seen the "occ" message, though.

I have been getting it for the past week. Yesterday I got the message when I was in my local TV channel page. It MAY have started when I updated to 17.6.1 last weekend.

I’ve not gone to 18 yet as I read some horror stories and will wait until they sort those out b4 going to 18.0.

in all the years I’ve been on Apple (iPhone3) I’ve never seen anything like this “occ”. Apple’s strength has been keeping those out. I still can’t see where to report it and that’s probably why many, many others have not as well.

Same. I started getting “do you want to download” pop ups. And same, I was reading news on Google News, browsing in Chrome and Reddit news feed when it happened first time.

curious: does Reddit newsfeed come through Google news maybe?

Here’s a screen grab from today.

are there any fixes???

I was getting this pop-up for the past two days. Now I am getting a new pop-up asking “Do you want to download sync?” I have never seen either of these pop-ups before. They always occur when reading online news.

Hey! I totally understand your concern about that pop-up. It can be really frustrating when unexpected messages show up, especially after an update. If you're curious about what "occ" is and how to handle that pop-up in Safari, I came across a helpful article that explains it. You might find it useful: Hope it helps!

[Edited by Moderator]

Mac Jim ID - Thanks so much for the information.

It makes iOS sound invulnerable, but I note in a different article that "Apple's long-awaited iOS 18 refresh landed Monday with fixes for at least 33 security vulnerabilities that expose iPhones and iPads to an assortment of malicious hacker attacks." () so is it possible that anyone encountering this issue before updating to iOS 18 could be in danger?

[Edited by Moderator]

Same here it’s happening on trusted news websites when using Safari on iOS 17.6.1 . Many comments on Reddit about the same issue these last few days. Hope it gets resolved ASAP as it’s super annoying and worrying

Bill Bradford wrote:

I assume you are not a world leader where a foreign power is looking to overthrow your government or a high value target worth spending hundreds of millions of dollars for information.

Every update contains security improvements as that is what makes iOS the most secure platform in the world. The part in your article that you failed to mention was: "The company did not mark any of the iOS 18 vulnerabilities in the already-exploited category." None of which is related to the topic on hand where an executable downloaded from the internet can be launched. Try it for yourself by downloading a .exe or .app file and try and run it. You will see that it is not possible.

Your rhetoric is more in line with posts from security bloggers who get their money/clicks the same way you see AntiVirus software attempting to scare users into believing they need their product to keep their devices safe. Fyi, those ads are scams.

I'm using an older iPhone (SE, but the second version) and iOS 17.4.1. I tend to keep things as they are - minimum upgrades - until I have to make a change. Most recent update to 17.4.1 was probably a few weeks ago (required by my bank's mobile app).

The "download occ" popup started for me on Sept 19, 2014 (two days ago), using Safari. I didn't X anything, just backed out of that page. It reoccurred multiple times: nerves and stress. I re-booted my router and phone, went to MSNBC, clicked on one headline, started to read a little bit, and got the prompt again.

I'm generally extremely careful about my clicking; if I get somewhere I shouldn't be, it's usually a finger-touch error. Mostly use my phone browser for news, word games, plant id and research. I'm reluctant to download or install anything - including ad blockers. Not sure why, but no prompts since late last night, knock on wood! Just adding my specs for stats even though I don't think they reflect anything new.

Earlier I posted a comment that said Apple should test their software more thoroughly before rolling it out. When I said that, I did not consider the possibility that the prompt to download OCC is caused by a web component on the backend web server, rather than on the iOS device. So I’d like to apologize for that comment. It’s very possible software running on the web server that is common to news websites, is actually causing the problem on iOS devices running safari. Sorry Apple. But I still would like to know the root cause.

Guitartrooper wrote:

But I still would like to know the root cause.

Yahoo screwed up somewhere within their data collection / tracking / analytics implementation, as a guess.

I’d doubt we’ll ever see an announcement or post mortem review published, whatever the source was.

Don’t make the mistake of assuming that this web stuff is simple, that it’s all served from one server, or that two people will receive even remotely the same data served to them, too.

No I’m still getting “do you want to “download” and “Canada committee” for one website I use. I spoke to Apple support and they said they would research it and call me back “in a few minutes” but they didn’t.

Well, I thought installing Adguard solved it for me. But, it’s back this morning, and this message showed up when I logged into my bank account:

Do you want to download “_codexch”?

I X’d it out, but I assume Apple is unable to help at all.

I called apple support do to kids phone was allegedly red flagged because a casino tried to take 300 from my account,the apple rep told me to go get a card load money and sent me a transaction number and told me to turn on my location,I asked could he see my location and he replied yes your in Canton,He gave the wrong location and I realized I was being scammed.They had my bank card info when they called.

all70 wrote:

I called apple support do to kids phone was allegedly red flagged because a casino tried to take 300 from my account,the apple rep told me to go get a card load money and sent me a transaction number and told me to turn on my location,I asked could he see my location and he replied yes your in Canton,He gave the wrong location and I realized I was being scammed.They had my bank card info when they called.

That is a common phishing technique that you may see on a website, email, or even text message. Review this link below to help identify these scams. Calling a number that is given to you is not a good idea. If you want to contact a company, go to the web page of the company to find the contact info. Simply searching for a phone number using Google may bring up a fake number as scammers pay Google to have their search results show at the top of the list.

Recognize and avoid social engineering schemes including phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support