The “Overlays detected” error is caused by a conflict between running and recently installed software that requests permission to display information on top of other utilities (for example, instant messengers, alerts, battery status, etc.). If the tips described below do not help get rid of the problem, contact the application developer via support on the website or email.
Working with overlays on Android devices.
What are overlays in Android
Have you wondered why the problem keeps appearing on your Samsung or any other Android device? The Android operating system has come a long way. With more features, design upgrades, and millions of utilities that tax Android's hardware and software capabilities, after a certain time, error messages start appearing. Experts have suggested that overlaying on top of other windows can be used to infect a device with a virus. From a software point of view, this is impossible, but the virus opens a window that resembles an overlay. There may also be a requirement to enter credit card information so that the window can be closed or minimized.
With this in mind, the researchers published a recording of the work of specially developed software on Android. The message is displayed on top of the user interface. In essence, the user “clicks” only in those places that the system indicates to him. The clickjacking function is repeated several times, as a result of which the user unknowingly gives the virus access to the resources of the smartphone, which culminates in the complete absorption of the Android device. On Google Play, approximately 10% of utilities use overlays. If this is banned, subscribers and developers will lose their temper with rage.
To avoid accidentally installing such software, you should always first check the permissions in the Google Play Store - if Screen Overlay is listed, it may be a virus. Even Google can't run an analysis of software before it's published.
Heroes & Generals freezes. The picture freezes. Solution
The situation is approximately the same as with crashes: many freezes are directly related to the game itself, or rather to the developer’s mistake when creating it. However, often a frozen picture can become a starting point for investigating the deplorable state of a video card or processor.
So if the picture in Heroes & Generals freezes, then use programs to display statistics on component loading. Perhaps your video card has long exhausted its working life or the processor is heating up to dangerous temperatures?
The easiest way to check the load and temperatures for the video card and processors is in the MSI Afterburner program. If you wish, you can even display these and many other parameters on top of the Heroes and Generals picture.
What temperatures are dangerous? Processors and video cards have different operating temperatures. For video cards they are usually 60-80 degrees Celsius. For processors it’s a little lower – 40-70 degrees. If the processor temperature is higher, then you should check the condition of the thermal paste. It may have already dried out and needs to be replaced.
If the video card is heating up, then you should use a driver or an official utility from the manufacturer. It is necessary to increase the number of revolutions of the coolers and check whether the operating temperature decreases.
Cause of error: Overlays detected
Whenever you install any new program, it needs to be given access to use system information or data from any other utilities. If an Android overlay is detected, a corresponding pop-up window appears during installation. And it will appear until the overlay is turned on. This is not only annoying, but can also affect the operation of important functions of the device.
Introductory
Everyone has probably heard about all sorts of developer modes in Android, which allow you to do something tricky in the settings.
These attitudes really exist and they really allow you to use cunning tricks. The only question is whether it will be beneficial or not, and to whom, in fact, - you, your battery, performance, or some developer.
Nevertheless, an attempt is not torture. Firstly, the phone can be made faster, and secondly, everything will run faster in 3D games (with the release of PUBG Mobile, everyone is directly obsessed with this idea), and in general, it’s interesting and pleasant.
Let's get started.
How to fix
How to remove the error? There are several basic methods that have been tested on different Android devices. The first one works on almost all devices. If not, gradually try the ones described below.
Disable overlays in pure Android
This is the most popular method that works on most gadgets with Android 6:
- open settings;
- scroll the page to the “Applications” item;
- click the button with three dots in the upper right corner of the window;
- select “Overlay on top of other windows”;
- click on the button with three dots, select “Show system applications”;
- a list of all applications, including system ones, where this function is active will appear;
- disable the service in all programs one by one.
Now the message will not appear until you enable it again. For example, for some messenger.
Disable overlays in Android on Samsung
The overlay is part of the system and can be displayed on top of others. The most famous example is Facebook Messenger. Disable the function:
- “Settings” – “Applications”;
- "Application Manager";
- in the upper right corner “Advanced” – “Overlay on top of other windows”.
Here you need to find the application that requires overlay permission - usually the last one used. Disable the function and run the utility. The message will no longer appear. Let us know in the comments what helped you, indicating the Android version or phone model.
Disable overlays in Android on LG
You can remove Screen Overlay on your LG device by following these settings:
- “Settings” – “Applications”.
- In the upper right corner there is a button for calling an additional menu - “Application Manager” or “On top of other applications”.
- In the list of utilities that opens, you can disable access. Select recently installed software or all utilities at once and disable the overlay service.
How to take off with this: how to speed up Android, games in general and PUBG Mobile in particular
By the way, we already wrote a little on this topic when we talked about limiting the number of processes in the article "":
In total, we need a “Multiprocessor WebView”
, is one of the extremely important points that will speed up the system as a whole, although it may have a negative impact on battery life.
How to speed up Android even more? And is it visually clear? The same applies to the item “SD card optimization”
, if, of course, you even have one (card) and item in general).
Further, if you are not a fan of all kinds of animations, then it would be extremely rational to disable the animation of windows and transitions and remove the duration of the animation. This will save resources by an order of magnitude, and visually (subjectively and in terms of sensations) your phone will immediately begin to fly.
Flash memory
Goal: Accelerate reading and writing flash memory
Method: changing the cache for drives
Root access: required
If you've ever copied many small files, you may have noticed that reading and writing them is much slower than doing the same operation with a single file of the same size. Increasing the drive cache will help improve the situation a little. Despite its name, it depends only on the operating system, and not on the drive itself. The principle of operation of such a cache is simple: the gadget allocates a small area in RAM, which will be filled when information is written to the drive. After it is filled, information is written to the drive in a single block, which slightly speeds up the operation of the latter. When reading information, the reverse process occurs. Naturally, the faster the memory, the less it needs the cache as such, so the most noticeable result can be obtained with relatively slow low-end memory cards.
You can set the desired cache value either manually in the Android system files or using the SD Speed Increase application. Whichever method you use, we also recommend downloading one of the free memory speed testing programs to monitor changes each time you increase the cache. Once the speed starts to drop, all you have to do is set the cache size back a step and enjoy the increased performance.
Finding problematic programs
There is an excellent program called Alert Window Checker that allows you to monitor running programs with access to the overlay.
- Install the application from the Play Store.
- Launch the program.
- The Running Screen Overlay Apps window displays the active overlay applications.
- Click “Hide” for each software in turn and check for an error.
- If there is no notification, then you have found a problematic application.
Advice! Remove the problematic program or update it to the latest version.
Active applications
Goal: increasing device autonomy
Method: Find and remove wasteful applications
Root access: not required
Probably nothing causes Android users as much inconvenience as applications that constantly “hang” in the background unnecessarily, which greatly consumes battery power. The only way to combat this behavior is to remove the “gluttonous” programs, but first you need to find them. But before you start searching, uninstall the Facebook client and messenger if you have them. The exorbitant energy consumption of these programs has been proven many times, but the developer is in no hurry to optimize them. For some users, the increase in autonomy after deleting Facebook applications reaches 20%.
Let's go back to searching for applications. The easiest way to identify the culprit of rapid battery drain is to use standard means: just open the settings and go to the “Battery” section (in some smartphones you will also need to click the “Statistics” button). The number next to each application means how many percent of the total battery charge this program has spent since the last charge. If the first lines are occupied by “Android OS” or “Screen”, intervention is most likely not required. If in their place there are third-party programs for no known reason, you should check their settings and, if that doesn’t help, remove them.
If nothing suspicious was detected in this way, it may be due to excessive energy consumption by some background process. Android has a built-in tool for such statistics: to access it, you need to go to “Settings ‑> Developer Options ‑> Process Statistics”. Please note that the list you will see is not the battery consumption of programs, but simply the statistics of their work in the background. You should pay attention to those lines in which the active time is 90% or more: if you see a program there that definitely should not be running in the background all the time, perhaps that is the problem.
