Amazon winner pop ups on my iPhone

Clearing website data didn’t help me either. What did work was installing Firefox Focus. It’s a privacy browser that only allows one window and blocks everything, however you can turn its ad/social/tracking blockers on IN SAFARI!

Install the Firefox Focus app then follow these instructions: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/focus#w_use-firefox-focus-with-safari

This is the first thing thats solved this Amazon redirect issue for me. Would be nice if Safari team could get their security in place to solve this but it seems like they don’t care about this widespread issue for their users. Pretty sad.

Based on recommendations on this topic, I downloaded and paid for 1Blocker.

What caused me to seek out this page in the first place: reading an article on the Boston Globe's website popped up the nasty. Since I had just deleted my cache and history on my iPhone yesterday evening, it was clear that was no fix. It was equally clear that even highly reputable sites have this issue. I'm unwilling to live without JavaScript for obvious functionality reasons. And I'm getting very tired of turning on Airplane mode, killing the Safari page, turning on Airplane mode again, and resigning myself to not being able to read the rest of the article.

The paid version of 1Blocker worked, at least on this one.

It's an endless war of guns versus armor. Hope my $4.99 helps 1Blocker keep fighting.

You really won’t need to clear history or the other web site data but it won’t hurt. When I installed 1Blocker on my wife’s phone I immediately went to the site that was causing the redirect to the ad page(again NOT a virus) and this time there was no issue. No redirect to the ad. But as an extra measure I did afterwards clear her history. That’s not something you want to do often because it filters through to all your iCloud devices including your Mac requiring you to log back into all your accounts and probably get your security codes sent to your device again. But every now and then it’s not a bad idea. But I can’t emphasize enough that a good ad blocker will prevent a lot of issues. I’ve never seen this ad issue and I don’t clear my history except on rare occasions.

I took the time to read 12 pages out of 28 of this thread…

There were only 18 pages to this topic at the time you read it (19 now). But I presume 28 was a typo.

However, you stopped reading too soon.

The solution: install an ad blocker. There are a few free ones on the App Store that work very well. I'm using the free version of AdGuard. Others are using 1Blocker. There are more.

Pick one. Install it. Use it.

Many sites sign up for ad services to make extra money (they get a fraction of a cent every time an ad is displayed, another cent or something if a visitor clicks on one). The problem is, they don't control what ads you see.

The advertiser they signed up with decides what shows up on the site from their ad servers. They in turn take advertising dollars from just about anyone who shows them the money. They don't care if one (or more) of the ads fed to a site redirects you instead of simply showing an ad on the same site you're visiting. "Hey, it's harmless. Just go back."

I followed your direction and obviously it didn’t make the problem go away.

What directions? If you mean using airplane mode and Lawrence's other steps, those only ensure you're clearing out web data that will immediately redirect you as soon as you launch Safari. However, returning to one of the sites that caused the problem in the first place will just stick itself into your web data again.

Turning off JavaScript helps a lot, but also disables a lot of web functionality. By far the easiest, and most effective solution is to install an ad blocker.

Read the last 3 or 4 pages of this thread. The scammers have evolved their strategy, so the original solution no longer works. But it has been updated.

The absolute complete solution is to install an ad blocker on your phone. There are several free ones in the app store. That eliminates this generation of annoying ads completely.

If you had read this thread instead of just the first post you would know it isn't just Apple, it is the sites and their ad services. It has gotten out of hand, the webmasters and ad services know that and they will try to fix it. If you go to support sites for Windows and various flavors of android you will see the same complaints. The prevailing suggestion is to clear the Javascript hijack from your browser, restart your phone, then download and install 1Blocker or similar adblocker that says they can address javascript browser hijacks.

Your theory is incorrect. You cannot infect an iPhone. This is a browser hijack via javascript. If you clear the cache and history on your iPhone and restart it the hijack is removed. If you don't want to get it again install an adblocker that can handle this type of hijack.

I have sporadically had this happen and clearing the cache and history wiped it away. I'm not running an adblocker and I've not had the pop up since the last time I cleared it. But I'm very selective about the sites I go to.

I have tested most of them and the two best free Adblock apps are Adguard and Norton. 1blocker works well but a lot of it’s functionality is unlocked with the paid version. I have been running the Norton Adblock and haven’t had any pop-ups or Amazon prize nonsense.

I had the same issue on 3 different 6s Plus phones. We tried no fewer than 7 different websites and did everything this site said to do. The only thing that worked for us, was downloading the Norton ad blocker app. So far none of the phones have had any of the annoying “you’re a winner” pop ups! So happy.

ifeeldZy wrote:

And for the 3rd time, nobody is askin apple to fix the internet, im asking them to provide solutions that actually work. Just say you cant fix the internet not hve your customers wasting their time doing stuff that doesnt work. I just hope youre on payroll exhausting all this energy on a message board.

So you think Apple should fix the problem when it occurs in Windows? On Android phones? On Chromebooks?

Apple HAS a fix. Install an ad blocker; there are many in the App Store, and several of them are free. An ad blocker solves the problem. But it seems to be more satisfying to complain about a problem than it is to fix it.

You very obviously didn’t try one, or you would find they work very well. Unless, of course, you didn’t finish following the setup procedure and turn it on in Settings > Safari > Content Blockers. Just installing one doesn’t automatically enable it.

From another user....this worked for me. "Anyway, I do actually do a lot of shopping on Amazon. That's why I have their app on my phone. This morning I decided to delete the Amazon app and see what effect it might have. I deleted the app and cleared all my website data. Lo and Behold, after visiting the Foxnews website many times, there has been no more interruption by the pesky Amazon "Congratulations" ad. I hope that's the end of it."

The reason turning off JavaScript may help is that some of the malicious code embedded in poorly vetted advertisements or infiltrated onto WordPress blogs, instead of using a straight redirect, which you can spot by looking at the source code, or by examining a network packet capture, redirects you by adding a malicious subroutine (usually packaged as a block of hex codes) into an otherwise normal looking JavaScript which is required for the page.

The blog I write for was attacked through a WordPress vulnerability, and the first visit to the site would be redirected to Tokelau (.tk) where some form of spam/scam page would hijack the browser. If you escaped the redirect and went back to the site, looking for what caused the redirect, it would leave you alone.... for a few hours.

After much study, I determined that we did, indeed have an infected JavaScript, actually several of them, and installed Wordfence to clean up the site. It took two cleanups and a gradual plugging of various security risks to finally keep the bad guys out.

So, yes, Cleaning out the browser cache and turning off JavaScript will protect you from this particular type of attack, but if you can determine which website first redirected you, contact the site admin and ask them to check for an infection of the site or one of their advertisers. My only connection to Wordfence is that I bought a copy, but I thoroughly recommend it to any site built on WordPress

It isn't a virus and it doesn't just affect Apple.

If you followed the instructions and it happened again it means you went to a site that has been breached and the javascript hijack was placed on your device again. You can follow the same steps to clear it and avoid the site you are getting it from OR go to the app store and get an ad blocker that says they block javascript hijacks.