Addons Detector catches apps that spam your homescreen

As if ad banners, click walls, and notification spam are not enough, some apps fill your homescreen and browser bookmarks with links to their advertisers. And many apps do so without telling you in advance or asking for permission first.

If you install a couple of apps and find a bunch of icons leading to junk, it can be hard to find out which app polluted your homescreen and your bookmarks. Google should require full disclosure of all advertising and tracking in apps before you install them, and kick developers who fail to ask for your permission out of its Google Play Store. Unfortunately Google doesn't seem to care, so we need to find out what's lurking inside our apps by having a look ourselves.

That's why Addons Detector keeps its eyes open. It scans all your apps and tells you which banner farms they sleep with, which stats collectors they send your data to without asking first, and which permissions apps grab even though you don't want to give 'em everything they ask for.

And now Addons Detector tells you which apps are guilty of dumping spam links on your homescreens.

Addons Detector only detects malware, adware, spamware, and other junkware. It doesn't remove it. To get rid of anything you don't want you can either uninstall the offending apps, or tame them with firewalls, ad blockers, and permissions managers.

• Addons Detector (Google Play Store)

Fight spam and scary permissions (rooted phone required):

• AdAway (blocks ads in apps and websites)
• LBE Privacy Guard (lets you control which permissions your apps get)
• AFWall+ (firewall)