iphone 5, redirects from safari links to app store

"It's a feature, not a bug."

"It's being used for its intended purpose."

You could say the exact same thing about popups. I don't know if you remember the late 1990's, but it started with a few websites that had popup ads and then it reached the point where you had to CTRL-ALT-DEL. Then the browser companies came up with popup blockers and the problem - whups, "extremely beneficial feature being used as intended" - completely went away.

I'm seeing the same progression on mobile redirects. At first I wondered how I ended out at the App store looking at Candy Crush saga. Now a typical web surfing session on my phone that involves googling and going to websites that I have not yet vetted (I know, I know, I'm a terrible and irresponsible user for doing internet searches) typically involves a few app store redirects. This could be fixed with a setting that eliminates all redirects to App store URLs. Then all you redirect apologists can continue to benefit from this highly desirable "feature."

You could say the exact same thing about popups.

Indeed. And some days I curse the pop-up blocker, when it transparently prevents a website from operating correctly and I get no information of any kind about why I can't get it to do what I need it to... until I finally figure out that I need to turn off the pop-up blocker. Meanwhile, unethical advertisers are using new tricks these days, so the pop-up blocker really don't block much bad stuff anymore. It's all rather silly.

If someone kept running up and shoving a sign in your face, what would your solution be? Close your eyes, or punch the fool in the mouth and leave the area? Only one of those is actually a solution, while the other is simply a way of ignoring the problem by inconveniencing yourself.

When it comes to websites that are behaving this way, 1) help them develop a bad reputation by reporting them to sites like WOT and 2) avoid them in the future.

This could be fixed with a setting that eliminates all redirects to App store URLs. Then all you redirect apologists can continue to benefit from this highly desirable "feature."

Again, that's not going to happen. Apple is not going to be interested in blocking a core feature of the web that will cripple their own web store. Take this problem to the people responsible rather than blaming the technology.

Tiny Tower most definitely does not cause this problem. I used to have Tiny Tower on my iPad, and never once saw this behavior.

If Tiny Tower has been changed to include in-game advertisements - which I see no indication that it has, but I no longer have it, so I can't be sure - then accidentally tapping an ad for another game could cause the App Store to be loaded. However, it certainly wouldn't cause any problems while you're web surfing in Safari - that's an impossibility, due to the iOS sandboxing model, which prohibits such app-to-app interactions.

Hi Thread.

Thank you for your repeated posts on this issue. I am seeing this issue crop up on my IOS Safari browser, despite browsing in private mode which blocks any advertising cookies. It is irritating me and is clearly an incidence of malware/security vulnerability in the browser or OS.

The websites I'm seeing this appear on are major media sites and the issue persists even if I'm using a VPN connection

on my Ipad. Does anyone know how to publicize/raise the issue with Apple to see if it can get fixed.

Trev

PS I notice a recurrent theme in Thomas's posts, which is a continual denial of any potential security issues with any IOS device or any Apple service. This makes me suspicious and I'd like to check if ThomasR works for, or is employed by Apple in anyway, or by a 3rd party connected with Apple and if he/she been instructed to publicly deny any potential security IOS issue as a condition of employment/renumeration.

I'd like to check if ThomasR works for, or is employed by Apple in anyway, or by a 3rd party connected with Apple and if he/she been instructed to publicly deny any potential security IOS issue as a condition of employment/renumeration.

Don't be ridiculous.

If you'd like to find out more about what I do, check out my web site:

http://www.thesafemac.com

You'll find that I know quite a bit about security issues.

I'm a bit tired of this kind of nonsense, though, so I think I'll call it quits on this topic. There's only so long you can try to get through to folks before you have to give them up as a lost cause.

agree about Thomas' posts. This issue is embedded in javascript and is not considered a virus although it certainly acts like one. I went to my local Apple store and was met with denial and frank hostility until the "genius" actually witnessed it himself, not before telling me "Apple doesnt have viruses". He reset the phone buy that did nothing to stop the problem

I also am experiencing a redirecting issue today in safari. I'm on an unjailbroken 5s and am experiencing a redirect from some articles on Technobuffalo's website. I suspect the offending code is imbedded in the advertisements, since I am sent to the App Store for the apps displayed in the ads. I think the most effective way to avoid this issue is if apple were to implement a promt that asks the user to confirm every time whether they want to go to the App Store. It would still be annoying, but at least you wouldn't be swapping to the store all the time. What would be better is if Safari offered a site-by-site option to block all pop ups from there permanently, but we'll see.

Just disable the App Store via Settings > General > Restrictions. You'll still have access your current apps however, to get back onto the App Store, you'll need to enable App Store again.

thanks but I folowed this to restrictions.... i see "Itunes store", "installing apps", deleting apps" and

"in-app purchases".

Which are you referring to as "App store"?

Apparently it comes from shady ad networks, and sorry, despite what Thomas says, it's an exploit to ruin the user experience of many for their personal gain.

There is some hope. Apple is aware of the problem and is working on it, but there's no telling when it'll be fixed. Read this good article on the problem:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/06/shady-app-install-ads-are-automatically-redirec ting-mobile-users-to-app-store-google-play/

I don't buy that. These redirects occur exclusively on FB for me. It is severely annoying. I took my phone to the apple store and the "genius" was so focused on repeatedly claiming "Apple has no viruses" that when I demanded a new genius, she felt compelled to rudely interject her "opinion" to the new "genius", therefor swaying his opinion before I could even speak. The real and deliberate problem is explained by this article about the relationship between King.com and Zuckerberg. No wonder the problem has conspicuously not been resolved.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/98131 20/Riccardo-Zacconi-king.com-looking-for-growth-rather-than-flotation.html

YALEDOC wrote:

thanks but I folowed this to restrictions.... i see "Itunes store", "installing apps", deleting apps" and

"in-app purchases".

Which are you referring to as "App store"?

Installing Apps. Sorry for the confusion.

hello apple, why so silent on this issue?

I've also encountered this, though only when clicking a link in a Facebook post. What annoys me is that I want to see the linked site. The simple workaround is to open Safari, go to the site you want, and search for the content. I'm not seeing the problem often enough to complain about it.