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Mercury browser hijacked, now not in AppStore?

A

apluser

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 18, 2014
16
10
I have been occasionally getting browser redirects to a webpage that says "congratulations you can win an iPhone", then redirects to the AppStore while on Dodgers MLB forums (forums.mlb.com) using the Mercury browser app on iPod touch. In a panic, I deleted the Mercury browser, reset the IPod, and then went to AppStore, and now I can't find it. Was it deleted from the IOS AppStore?

Using IPod touch 5G
IOS 8.3
 
The browser wasn't hijacked, it was just a maliciously crafted advertisement that contained javascript. I've seen a lot of those lately.. someone needs to be kicked out of the ads rotation on the affected sites
 
ardchoille50 said:
The browser wasn't hijacked, it was just a maliciously crafted advertisement that contained javascript. I've seen a lot of those lately.. someone needs to be kicked out of the ads rotation on the affected sites
Click to expand...

Good to hear . When my computer did that, found out it was a bunch of spyware that took a while to get rid of. Thanks for response. I guess the fact that the Mercury browser isn't in the AppStore is just coincidence? Weird.
 
ardchoille50 said:
The browser wasn't hijacked, it was just a maliciously crafted advertisement that contained javascript. I've seen a lot of those lately.. someone needs to be kicked out of the ads rotation on the affected sites
Click to expand...

Hmm seems like I don't get that jump to a weird webpage ever since I deleted my mercury browser on my Ipod (visiting the same exact webpage). Used Safari browser on ipod (IOS 8.3) and firefox on Android.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre using Forums
 
Yes I wonder now if it wasn't coincidence and there was some security concern that caused it to be taken down at least 3 days ago.
 
apluser said:
Yes I wonder now if it wasn't coincidence and there was some security concern that caused it to be taken down at least 3 days ago.
Click to expand...

Funny, it is still available in Google Play store for Android devices (it is my favorite Android browser also).

No mention of the pulled app on the Mercury developer's website....

Odd.
 
Ok now I'm getting lots of ad redirections on that website (forums.mlb.com) using safari on my Ipod. Almost unusable. I think my ipod must be infected because no ne else on the website is complaining about it. What do I do about it?

-- Sent from my Palm Pre using Forums
 
apluser said:
Ok now I'm getting lots of ad redirections on that website (forums.mlb.com) using safari on my Ipod. Almost unusable. I think my ipod must be infected because no ne else on the website is complaining about it. What do I do about it?

-- Sent from my Palm Pre using Forums
Click to expand...
I just visited the website you linked and am also getting several redirects (never visited before today). Using Safari on iPad Air 2. This appears to be a problem with the website itself.
 
Thanks for reply. Yes I am now getting redirects and more using Safari now. Stopped it by disabling java script , but that's not a solution. I have been visiting there for a while and never got that. Weird. Turned on do not track and reset add id, but not sure what else to do. Thanks for reporting this.
 
apluser said:
Thanks for reply. Yes I am now getting redirects and more using Safari now. Stopped it by disabling java script , but that's not a solution. I have been visiting there for a while and never got that. Weird. Turned on do not track and reset add id, but not sure what else to do. Thanks for reporting this.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately something that Apple hasn't addressed in quite some time now and it seems some shady ads use to essentially hijack user experience.
 
apluser said:
Thanks for reply. Yes I am now getting redirects and more using Safari now. Stopped it by disabling java script , but that's not a solution. I have been visiting there for a while and never got that. Weird. Turned on do not track and reset add id, but not sure what else to do. Thanks for reporting this.
Click to expand...
The fact that you disabled it by turning off JavaScript supports the belief that it was a maliciously crafted ad and it could not function as intended without the JavaScript being executed.
 
ardchoille50 said:
The fact that you disabled it by turning off JavaScript supports the belief that it was a maliciously crafted ad and it could not function as intended without the JavaScript being executed.
Click to expand...

Yes I agree. I solved my problem by downloading the Dolphin browser and enabling Adblock on it. That web page loads noticeably faster now too.
 
szmatt said:
Looks like Mercury made an announcement on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mercurybrowser/posts/698522770253675

"There’s a crash with our App Store developer account so that Mercury is temporarily taken off."

Sounds like the app in Apple review at the moment, so hopefully it is available again soon.
Click to expand...

Yes, that FB announcement was 16 days ago, and the message itself was somewhat odd. I would not be completely surprised if we do NOT see Mercury Web Browser back again on iOS.

EDIT: I now see that on June 11 the app dev. said they uploaded a new version, so hopefully Apple approves the app quickly.

There really are no iOS browsers with a complete feature set like Mercury, except for the old Atomic Web (which I designed the app icon for) which has not been updated since 2012 and I think the app dev. abandoned the app--maybe Apple made him a secret deal to no longer update his widely popular browser...who knows, Atomic browser dev. will not say anything to me about it, even thought I updated his icon to flat style and he never used it!
 
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If the dev submitted the updated app on June 11, and today is June 23, then that is past the average 11 day window for app approval that i've heard random people on the net mention. I really hope Mercury comes back soon, it is by faaaaar the best browser out there.
 
I have revised my prior position (again) and I am thinking Apple is not going to approve this app...:mad:

ICab is the only other browser that comes close to Mercury.

I cannot believe that one cannot change font size for websites with Safari, my biggest gripe with that browser. and iOS 9 is not going to fix that, either.

EDIT: This thread has only 16 reply and 3,800 views...It seems many others are interested in this also! thanks Apple for rejecting (or at least dragging your feet on) approval of this update.

If your browser had a bit more functionality, this would be a non issue. All that complexity you put into the new music app, yet you keep Safari bare bones!
 
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doug in albq said:
I have revised my prior position (again) and I am thinking Apple is not going to approve this app...:mad:

ICab is the only other browser that comes close to Mercury.

I cannot believe that one cannot change font size for websites with Safari, my biggest gripe with that browser. and iOS 9 is not going to fix that, either.

EDIT: This thread has only 16 reply and 3,800 views...It seems many others are interested in this also! thanks Apple for rejecting (or at least dragging your feet on) approval of this update.

If your browser had a bit more functionality, this would be a non issue. All that complexity you put into the new music app, yet you keep Safari bare bones!
Click to expand...
Why wouldn't Mercury update there status on the Facebook page?
 
Good news! Mercury has been my go-to for quite a few years now on the iPad.

On a related topic - anyone have any idea why none of the 3rd party browsers have implemented the native javascript engine that Apple opened up oh about a year ago? There was a fair bit of discussion about it at the time, but none of the browsers I'm aware of have done anything with it. I started a thread in the iPad apps forum a couple months ago, but got no response.
 
I must comment on the reviews of the New Mercury browser app...

It seems many are saying that this new version is a different developer that "stole" the original app...

Not sure what to say or believe about this, but something odd seems to be going on...

Read some of the comments in the app review on the app store.

The app itself seems to work fine to me.

EDIT: My guess is there was an internal fight with the Mercury web browser dev team and they split and only 1 party got the app goods, but not sure, just guessing.
 
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doug in albq said:
I must comment on the reviews of the New Mercury browser app...

It seems many are saying that this new version is a different developer that "stole" the original app...

Not sur what to say or believe about this, but soemthing odd seems to be going on...

Read some of the comments in the app review on the app store.

The app itself seems to work fine to me.

EDIT: My guess is there was an internal fight with the Mercury web browser dev team and they split and only 1 party got the app goods, but not sure, just guessing.
Click to expand...

Hmm, you're right, this does seem fishy. There's been no announcement about it on the developer's Facebook - https://m.facebook.com/story.php?st...fid=17&_ft_=top_level_post_id.711366695635949

And the previous version of Mercury isn't showing up as having a new update, you have to search for it on the App Store and it's there as a new app from a new developer named "Lucy Ding" rather than being from "Mercury" like the old versions were. And when you click for info about old versions, there are none. So this was submitted as a new app uploaded by some unknown person. Definitely very fishy.

With that said, i've been using it for the past 15 minutes and it's been working fine aside from the fact that it has nothing saved from the old version so I have to re setup all my preferences, speeddial links, gestures, etc.
 
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