Slow camera app and random pop up ads

Hey Fairphone community

For several months now I own a FP3 and I like it so far. Yet, there are two things that bother me about it.

First thing is the terribly slow camera. Whenever I try to capture a moment, it takes at least 5 seconds for the camera to finish taking the shot, sometimes longer. Due to that, capturing short moments is practically impossible. I could not find anything about this on this forum nor on Google so I guess it is probably an issue on my device, but I cannot find a fix for it.

The second thing is the fact that my phone keeps opening sudden ads out of nowhere, regardless of the app I am using. In fact, it even happens on the home screen. I saw support tickets dedicated to this specific issue for the FP2, unfortunately there was no definitive solution given. In those topics it was said that it is not strange that this happens as free apps are being used. I feel this is total nonsense, ads can pop up when using an app but not outside of apps.

So, I am looking for a solution to the slow camera and the random pop ups. Could someone here please help me?

Best regards,
Thomas van Hemert

I don’t have an FP3 so I don’t know about the camera, but could you specify about the ads? This really shouldn’t happen, it’s probably a sketchy app that found its way on your device.
Are the ads in the notification menu? If so, you can long-press on the notification to see from which app it is coming. Also, post a screenshot of an ad if you can and list all the apps you’ve installed right befire the issue began (focus on less popular ones or games).

I’ve never heard of this before, but it’s making me really curious :thinking:

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Welcome to the community forum.

If we’re positive that the Fairphone 3 freshly out of the box does not display random pop-up ads, how else can we explain the behaviour you observe?
Can you upload a screenshot?

It’s most probably an App installed by the user. The solution is to find out which App and uninstall it.
Any App with the respective permission can initiate a notification. Most users just accept the plethora of permissions even simple free Apps want to have.
If the ads come as notifications, you can long-tap the notification to find out which App was initiating the notification.

As for the camera … could this be autofocus?

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Thank you both for your responses. I will take a screenshot when it appears again and will show it to you. I will also try this :

If so, you can long-press on the notification to see from which app it is coming.

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Just saw this here

the other day. If the review is correct, this dictionary would display ads in other apps, too. Not sure if that is true or if the user caught some adware instead.

I remembered another permission an App might use to display ads, if the ads don’t come as notifications:

  • Set your phone’s language to English (if your language is a different one).
  • Search for “over” in the settings search bar.
  • Tap on the “Display over other apps” search result, tap once more on the highlighted “Display over other apps” line in the list that follows.
  • Check the resulting list of Apps with this permission for Apps which look suspicious … or give us a list of them.
  • Set the phone back to your default language (if it wasn’t English).
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