Malware can create an invisible layer on top of an application, to track your screen taps. This is called ‘TapJacking’. As a user, you will see the normal interface, which makes it a tricky thing to notice.
To prevent TapJacking, the Alterdesk messenger blocks all input when it detects that the app has been covered by another app. As such, it could be that this is a benign app and not malware – our app cannot perceive the difference, so to be safe all ‘covering’ apps trigger the input block.
When the input is blocked, you will see the following notification:
“Another app is covering the screen, for safety concerns, please close any overlaying notifications and applications that draw over other apps or change the shade of the screen.”
How can you deblock the input?
In order to deblock the input and continue messaging you can take the following steps:
- Close all notifications or messages that are layered over the app;
- Close all apps that cover our app (Facebook Messenger’s ‘Chat Head Bubbles’ is just one example of apps that do this);
- Close all apps that change the tone of the screen, such as apps that automatically lower blues at nighttime.