The security pros at Wanders say that two popular selfie apps that have been downloaded over 1.5 million times contained sneaky permissions intended to sneak adware onto your smartphone.
The apps are called Sun Pro Beauty Camera and Funny Sweet Beauty Selfie Camera. Both apps offer photo effects.
Here’s the issue with the apps. When the app is opened it puts a shortcut on your home screen and then disappears from the app drawer. The app becomes active and runs in the background constantly, even if you remove the shortcut. The apps then begin showing you full-screen ads.
Even if you never open the app, it can still serve up the ads. The apps also require some suspicious permissions like recording audio without user permissions, installing shortcuts, and displaying content on top of other apps. That type of content can be used to trick people into going to malicious sites or installing otherwise unwanted apps.
When installing apps, always make sure to check all permissions before agreeing to install them. If something doesn’t sound right, skip the installation.