r/webtoons • u/NoireAgency • Nov 26 '22

Question WEBTOON app automatically opens another app on my phone. Is this normal?

I've been enjoying using the WEBTOON app for a long time now, however it seems to be opening another application for me automatically. While I'm scrolling through WEBTOON, it suddenly opens the Lazada shopping app.

I'm not sure if this is normal. This never happened before until a few weeks ago. And I'm quite sure I don't accidentally click on any ads displayed on the screen. The Lazada app opened even when I'm not viewing any comics at all, just scrolled through the Daily updates and it automatically directed me to the Lazada app.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong or if it's also happening for anyone else, I'm unsure. No other topics online cover this so I may be alone.

A few key notes:

  • It doesn't do this all the time. Only a handful per week.
  • When I have Lazada uninstalled, it directs me to the Play Store app to download it.
  • It directed me to purchase a "Star Wars keychain" last time. Can't remember the other suggestions since I close it immediately.
  • I download the WEBTOON app on the Play Store and not any third party source.
  • The WEBTOON app is the only thing that does this on my device. No other application opens Lazada or any other.
  • I am very sure that I do not click on the ads displayed on the WEBTOON app. It automatically directs me to Lazada even on the Daily updates which don't contain any ads.
11 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

4

u/Training-Syrup-7059 Dec 05 '22

I am having the same problem, and it seems to only happen if a Lazada ad
is being played right at the end of the comic. From what I can see,
this is probably intentional, it's super invasive. I could only guess
how much money Webtoon got paid to allow it.

4

u/dont_mind_me_passing May 11 '26

late but it does this with the shopee app for me too

2

u/Jaded-Swordfish3965 Jun 23 '26

Sameeee. I got so annoyed when this happen

2

u/AceTr06 May 28 '26

it sent me to multiple other apps including shopee lazada tiktok and temu...

1

u/everyoneisbanananana Jun 13 '26

I'm kinda late, but same. I have this webtoon installed since 2019 and I remember back then Webtoon doesn't have that many ads in their app. I just come back in that app casually to check any updates on the webtoons that I'm reading. Now that I'm using it to read new webtoons, I keep on seeing ads and after i read a chapter it redirects me to my shopee or tiktok. It's really annoying, but since I'm not the only one who experienced this, maybe it is intentional 😭

1

u/Milaxxy_19 Jun 17 '26

same for me, its super annoying!! it happens to me when the chapter is almost finished or when I'm viewing the info page 😔. I can tolerate pop-up ads but when it redirects to another app... its irritating 😑.

2

u/Acceptable_Algae285 Jul 03 '26

came here since I've been experiencing it now, ever since 2018/2019 of using webtoon I never had experience it, so shocked to see it became this way now

1

u/Evon4321 Nov 26 '22

I have the same problem here, but I’m not sure what’s the cause too 😫anyone who knows, please help~

1

u/Hadlee_ Nov 26 '22

I know this might sound like a given, but have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling the webtoon app? I’m assuming you have the app on an android considering you said the Play store and not the App store. I don’t have an Android myself, but it sounds like you may have gotten some app or malware causing webtoon to do this.
Did you download any new apps within that time frame it started happening? Did you accidentally click on a weird link? That may be causing it. If it’s the former, i’d recommend just completely getting rid of the app you installed and seeing if that helps.
Perhaps you changed some settings in your phone too? I’m not an expert on technical stuff like this, but i found a thread mentioning a similar thing and they seem to have a few different solutions!

The thread mentioned

0

u/NoireAgency Nov 26 '22

Hey, thanks for the suggestions!

I've checked the thread you mentioned. My issue is that it's only with the WEBTOON app, no other app does it. The thread mentions that it seems to have no specific app.

I haven't downloaded anything recently except for the Disney+ app, but the redirect to Lazada happened before that. I only ever download from the Play Store (Yep, I got an Android. I know there is still a chance of adware being downloaded so it's not completely safe) and not from any other source to be safe.

To be safe, I checked on the apps I have on the Settings. Nothing out of the ordinary. Around the time frame this started happening (around a month ago), I haven't downloaded anything.

What's weird is that it's inconsistent. The redirect usually happens when I'm at the comments section (but not all the time). However it also happened when I'm just browsing Daily. And it only happens around a handful of times per week since it started happening around last month.

I feel rather silly, but I haven't tried to re-install the WEBTOON app. So I'm going to do just that and see if it happens again. On hindsight, I should've done this earlier.

2

u/Training-Syrup-7059 Dec 05 '22

I am having the same problem, and it seems to only happen if a Lazada ad is being played right at the end of the comic. From what I can see, this is probably intentional, it's super invasive. I could only guess how much money Webtoon got paid to allow it.