How to solve the issue with malicious apps taking over the phone?

Hi. Today I installed a 4.1 rated app called Screen Stream Mirroring Free on my Nokia 5 running Oreo 8.1. This junk of an app simply freezed and didn't allow me to do anything, even to restart or turn off the phone (the "perks" of having a non-replaceable battery). It stayed like an overlay over anything except the thin Android top bar. When I connected the phone to my PC running W10, it detected the phone but not the internal storage, perhaps because that USB confirmation dialog was obscured by this app. I had to go to a GSM service who thankfully "rescued" the phone with no data loss.

How should I handle these situations in the future because GSM service is not free? Which software to use to get rid of the malicious apps or even to do a factory reset/resofting? I do daily backup and my data is on a micro SD, so it's not a tragedy if I do a factory reset.

But I got that app from the Play Store. Apparently the quality control is not very high on that Store. Next time I'm going to pay more attention to the app reviews because in hindsight there were some worrying reviews about that malicious app.
However you still didn't tell me how to handle those situations after the fact. If it will happen again I want to fix the issue myself.

— modified on Jun 16, 2018, 10:29:25 AM

Lindsay mcdaniel

Sounds like that app is incapable for your device!
I would try the factory reset!
But if you don't want to have to reprogram -customized your device ,you could install a re-root program and delete that app. Completely!

The app appeared to be compatible with my device (or Google Play lied to me). As for factory reset: how to do that when the screen was basically frozen and I couldn't even restart/turn off the phone?

"And just a comment: it's a shame you can't remove your battery! "

Many new phones are like that. Anyway because the phone doesn't have a removable back cover it seems very solid. The case is some kind of aluminum alloy.