Safari is constantly redirecting me to either a **** page or the App store. Please help!

For me this problem started when I arrived in the US last Wednesday. I turned off javascript to stop the popups but that of course severely reduces functionality as it prevents videos from playing. Like dBdt the problem is exclusive to the BBC website. I have sent a report to the BBC about the problem but of course have received no response.

Read this discussion and see Thomas A Reed's instructions at the end.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4470453

Since yesterday I've been having the same problem when going to the webpage of the Argentinian newspaper La Nacion (lanacion.com.ar). It only happens from my ipad, not from my PC or my mobile. I emptied the cache and it is still the same. It seems to me that this is happening to very specific sites. What's going on?

This affects me as well, on safari and on chrome but not on Skyfire!

Hi

Am getting exactly the same problem with redirecting from Guardian.co.uk website without clicking on any advert etc. It still redirects after cache emptying etc, it does it on Chrome as well as safari.

I have tried restore from backup, restore as NEW iPad and it still happens. It DOES NOT happen if I turn Java off but it is incredibly annoying.

Any advice from anyone out there..

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1381277&page=2

It seems to be because of bad adverts!

This is happening because of bad ads on the affected site. These ads are designed to randomly redirect mobile device users to other sites. It has nothing to do with your iPad. The random nature of the re-directs is intended to confuse the user and keep this garbage below the radar.

Turning OFF Javascript (not Java - the iPad doesn't even run Java) bypasses the problem because the mechanism implementing the redirects uses Javascript. This is not really a solution, however, because turning Off Javascript affects all sites and will certainly cause problems.

Complain to the affected site to get these ads removed.

i just experienced "the problem".

1) it's not advertising, because the site that hijacked me doesn't have any ads. no advertiser in their right minds would hijack people to that type of site.

2) it wasn't random - 2 ios devices got hijacked (to random x-rated pages), and 2 desktops didn't, trying to reach the same url. but when i changed one of the desktops to pretend to be running "mobile safari", it got hijacked every time.

3) it's the mobile server, not the ad server, that seems to have been hacked.

4) most troubling: it's not the app store! it's a website for an hd adult app, that has copied the look-and-feel of the app store in order to fool people into clicking the "buy" button.

don't waste your time trying to fix the ipad/iphone, because the problem isn't there; contact the owners of the website and ask them to fix their mobile server. (the problem is real. but may only be happening to ios users.)

I have the same issue, iPad 2, latest ios etc etc. Doesn't happen on MacBook or my wife's PC or iPhone just iPad.

it can't be the site as it happens mainly on Sky Sports and even happened on the BBC website (they don't run ads).

I get either App Store or **** surely corporations of this size wouldn't have an issue that only affected iPads and I highly doubt the BBC has be hijacked, have all these sites been hit all at once??

changing DNS is not an option, this shouldn't be happening it is all over different forums, help please....

lipics wrote:

I have the same issue, iPad 2, latest ios etc etc. Doesn't happen on MacBook or my wife's PC or iPhone just iPad.

it can't be the site as it happens mainly on Sky Sports and even happened on the BBC website (they don't run ads).

I get either App Store or **** surely corporations of this size wouldn't have an issue that only affected iPads and I highly doubt the BBC has be hijacked, have all these sites been hit all at once??

changing DNS is not an option, this shouldn't be happening it is all over different forums, help please....

1) it sounds like the exact same problem. the hijack is specific by browser type, and some people have reported that it seems to be random, although what i experienced with my iphone was that i was hijacked each time, but the destination page seemed randomized (but always adult content, and probably related companies).

2) "it can't be the site"? why not? it absolutely was on the hosted site that first hijacked my iphone. (owner of the site contacted the hosting provider and they took down the problem within the hour.) the interesting aspect of this hack is that they're only hijacking some clients, based on type - by NOT hijacking desktops, for instance, they're staying "under the radar" of most web spiders and security programmes. most support people will pull up the site on their desktop and convince themselves that there's no problem.

3) why is changing dns not an option? it's quick and easy, and affects pretty much nothing on your ipad, except filtering out the offensive adult content. it's not a fix, but it makes the effects of the hijack less graphic.

and by the way, it's not coming from ads. the hijack is happening on the mobile server, which many sites use to convert their content for mobile devices. the adult content site would be stupid to run ads (and establish a business connection) with a site they were going to hijack - that would be like writing a ransom note on the back of your own business card!

and it's NOT the app store!!! it's a web page that only looks like the app store, to fool people. if you read the address in the toolbar, you'll see that it's not related to apple at all.

THe same thing has just started on my iPad but only on BBC.co.uk which has now become unusable as a result. The advert is always for some variation of a game and seems to be from Apples app store.

Try the app Weblock. It's an adblocking app that can help defeat the browser hijack ads that are out there.

This exact problem has started happening to me. When I go to bbc.com, after a few seconds it just switches to this ad which I can't close (to return to the bbc website). Very annoying. For sure it looks like the website has been hijacked. I've only seen it when going to bbc.com on my IPad.

oh bliss. I have fixed this. general/restrictions/website limit adult content. Then add the website "d.mobpartner.mobi". When it tries to rrdirect you next time it gets blocked by Safari. You just press the back button. Best of all the ad makes no money.