Pop ups "force open" App Store

I know there is a lot wrong with the world, and one should not be so infuriated by such a thing, but I have never encountered something for which I desire to burn things before..... Lol....


Random pop ups in both safari and chrome, suddenly open with only the option to "ok" disabling the browser, disabling any ability to press the back button.... And proceed to open the App Store, closing chrome/safari and sending me to rubbish casino apps and spartan wars.... Etc.... This is completely forced, no choice disgusting advertising that frankly should be banned out right without question....


I am sincerely getting board of this ipad now.... It's like late 1990's with the thing.... I once got 9 pops ups in one shot over and over...... Unbelievable... But this thing is infuriating..... For a random pop up to have so much power on ones device is disconcerting, to be able to close your browser, open App Store, delete ability to press back button.... Grey out your browser completely..... Scary....


Question is...... How on earth do I stop it..... I'm even more worried that I can't find any info online....


Example


http://seth.avazutracking.net/tracking/redirect/redirect.php?id=1912897&czid=YXZ henUxOTEyODk3MQ==&usrid=Mjg3N2F2Y&rgid=Xp1Mjgx&kw=iok6jaow99mg&vurl=1710_1385


Dan

iPad (4th gen) Wi-Fi

Posted on Sep 3, 2013 11:21 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 6, 2016 9:41 AM

This is how I got by this. I didn't see any replies like this, so I will share.


Go to Settings -> General -> Restrictions -> (Enter PIN if you set one)


Look for these 3 options and tap each to the OFF position.


1. Installing Apps

2. Deleting Apps

3. In-App Purchases


By setting these options, it will block the code that forces the App Store to open. In fact, when you set these 3 options to OFF, the App store icon disappears from the Home screen. The code can't open a program that doesn't "exist".


You can always flip these back on for when you want to buy apps and such. Your other apps will still work, but if they contain in-app purchases, the links won't work while the option is set to OFF. Also, this is security if you have little ones that might buy that extra life from Candy Crush and such.


Hope this helps!

68 replies

May 24, 2014 7:43 PM in response to Feckyou

100% GUARANTEED SOLUTION HERE.


We may not be able to delete the App Store, but we are certainly able to restrict ourselves access from it.


Go to settings and find the page that allows you to set restrictions (the sort of stuff you do to a child's device if you don't want them doing certain things).


Next, enable restrictions and set yourself a password that you will remember.


Disable access to anything related to the App Store.


App Store is no longer accessible to be opened. Period.


If you have the desire to use it again, simply enter your password at the same page, and re-enable the apps.


You're welcome:)

May 25, 2014 7:03 PM in response to TCortese7

Genius! I thought blocking the App Store meant you would still be able to browse, but not buy. No, restricting it makes it impossible to even open the App Store. This solution makes opening the App Store more troublesome, but I hardly use it anyway.


This will do until Apple fixes this problem (probably never). I heard you can also use a browser that lets you report as a desktop browser to the site, which will also prevent popups. iCab is one such browser.

Aug 14, 2014 8:34 AM in response to TCortese7

As a user, that solution prevents me from buying me whatever I want so, not really what I wanted.


As a dev... I just wanted to register here that this seems to be the intended behaviour for links. I am working on this website for a musician who actually wants to sell his albums from iTunes Store. I made his album pictures link to the iTunes Stores. For desktops it works just fine, if the person wants to buy it, they click it. that's it. But I was shocked when I went to test the site on my iPhone, and it immediately opened the itunes Store. I NEVER meant the site to be like that. I HAVEN'T yet found a way to make it work differently. So just to let you guys know. Devs aren't evil.


*wanders back to dev forums*

Aug 21, 2014 3:11 PM in response to Feckyou

SO my iPad 4 is possessed ?

In the the last couple of weeks i keep getting automatically being redirected to the App Store when using Apples browser?

I'm not touching anything, just boom out of Safari and into apps store. I've also had my setting set the same, which is the same as others here have suggested. But still being redirected way too many times a day!


THis ( so why the caps on the first two letters of a new paragraph now) is absolutely crazy for apple to allow these redirects, especially since all the available tools are in force to prevent such behaviour !


ANd and to those of you that don't think it's an Apple problem, I ask you why my Windows 7/8 devices NEVER do this.


MY iPad and phone are getting more buggy and useless by the day!

Aug 29, 2014 9:07 AM in response to JaneiR36

Well I did everything I could find to do. After the big restore, which was fun in of itself. For some reason iTunes just disappears from windows after updating or trying to update. So after numerous attempts at getting iTunes working again,update wouldn't work from iTunes itself which finally caused iTunes to physically disappear from windows? Had to download iTunes and reinstall, even had trouble downloading the software!

in any case a clean install and restore the issue hasnt shown up, but I'm still getting system reboots when using Safari. You can see hesitation in safari as if It's having trouble doing something, then BANG I'm shown the apple logo and a reboot is in progress.

KInd of reminds me of the early Days of windows, when it didn't handle multi-tasking errors very well.

HOw ironic how well windows works these days compared to my two IOS7 devices !

Dec 20, 2014 9:40 AM in response to Feckyou

This problem, instead of going away, has become ubiquitous. When advertisers started doing this and realized Apple was unwilling to stop it, they expanded their use. Now its a problem on a wide variety of respectable sites, including Keenspot, HuffPo, CNN, NYT, and more. Apple needs to forbid opening app store links from Safari, period. End of story. Any other solution will inevitably be worked around.

Feb 25, 2015 9:44 AM in response to Feckyou

Apple should be chastised for letting this go on for so long, and worsen. Maybe if the media writes an article about it they'll finally do something. I have an android phone (work) and an iphone 6 (personal). I am in the habit of using my android phone instead of my iphone for applications with this issue.


The workarounds all of various annoyances with them. I've settled on using Mercury Browser as a fix for web browsing, though I prefer Chrome.

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Pop ups "force open" App Store

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