Q for Android experts: Play Protect repeatedly tells me a preinstalled app (Set Wallpaper) is unsafe and that I should uninstall it, but tapping the notification just shows Play Store, and the app can't be found in Settings. It's a cheap phone that was sent to me by Lifeline. Third-party AV is a no-go, since using Sophos-X in a similar situation bricked the phone. Unimax U696CL, Android 11, June-05-2023 patch level. (Unimax is notorious for preinstalled malware.)
On this same topic, the phone "bricked" yesterday but an acquaintance managed to restart it. After that, the Play Protect warning about "Set Wallpaper" no longer appeared on the automatic or on-demand scan, though the phone (was) acting rather weird. Updated to add: I installed Bitdefender Free on it, but BD didn't find anything. VT showed 1 detection for the suspicious app based on its unusual permissions, but the file itself is technically clean and may have been an FP by Play Protect, which is prone to such according to the latest AV-C mobile report.
its this what i read in the past. either you buy a cheap phone and get hunted, or a cheap used from mainstream vendors, unlock it and have benefit from it all. another topic are updates, in time. android 11 got EOL in 2020, this and the vendor = no go.
Android 11 (and 12 and 13) is very much alive. In fact, the affected phone got the Sept-5-2023 patch. Also, I had no choice of phone or brand. Lifeline providers buy slightly outdated Android Go phones in bulk and donate them to the program participants. The only phones they "sell" are reconditioned and way overpriced. https://endoflife.date/android
by bad, i settled on wrong informations, wikipedia tells it right, sorry. and yes, it was that page, which is wrong. if you had no choice, sorry again. ok, "go phones" - not for me, sorry. https://www.android.com/versions/go-edition/
Updating the whole thread because this "Set Wallpaper" app is showing up on other devices from T-Mobile and in fact is malicious. I found it using over 2 GB/month (almost half) of my very limited Lifeline data allocation, even when background data use was disallowed and Data Saver mode on. Disabling the app resolved the issue and also has reduced the heavy battery drain I've always had on this device. The only other hint of malware was a few popover browser pages. More detail at https://www.howardforums.com/threads/set-wallpaper-data-usage.1927604/ The article which helped me diagnose the excessive data usage: https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-tell-if-your-smartphone-has-malware/
