The following has happened on 2 different iPhones on 2 different networks.
When we visit several gay tube sites on the iPhone safari browser, we get redirected to download a “tube app” for an app called Baldoink or a similar name on the very first visit but not future visits. What is interesting is the app is $1.00 exactly and not the usual $0.99 cents.
First I know it’s not the tube site or owner redirecting mobile traffic to a traffic broker or ad network.
A code audit has been conducted and it’s not on their sides, or malware on the server or in the php code somewhere.
Has anybody else experienced this? I am not throwing accusations around but the second iPhone had a virgin iOS install with only Grindr installed, and I know it isn’t Apple.
Re: Gay dating app Grindr possibly redirecting mobile traffic
What it could be is
1), If there’s a proxy like in front of it with a buried mobile redirect. Or, I don’t know if the apps on iPhones ‘check in’ with the app store but it wouldn’t be the first time a squeaky clean corporation made a few bucks off of porn in a very quiet fashion
2), If the Tube software has some obfuscated redirect in its code that could be very hard to pick out
But if it only does it once per iPhone that just doesn’t make sense, because if it were intentional then it would have to do it more than once to have any chance of success. Unless of course it’s not actually doing it once per iPhone but is randomized or set to activate every X times/days…
Re: Gay dating app Grindr possibly redirecting mobile traffic
Which tube sites is this happening on? I could try with my iPhone to see if it happens although I’m not sure I totally understand what your saying. The title of this thread mentions Grindr yet everything your doing is through Safari? How is Grindr thrown into the mix? I don’t have Grindr btw so if I check it would be on a phone without it and never had it.
Re: Gay dating app Grindr possibly redirecting mobile traffic
Becuase it may be a possibility for an app that’s been installed to be redirecting mobile traffic. If that is true, I want to know about it.
Apple has enough money, they are not the ones redirecting to porn. I am connected to wifi only never the network as this is for testing purposes and have no proxy in front of me… it has to be something on the phone, and I am guessing it’s an app that is doing it.
The first time it happened was a friends iPhone that was connecting though the AT&T network, but with my experience on my home connection as well… it’s not the cellular network.
The code is not encrypted with IonCube or Zen. I am almost 100% sure it’s something on the phone side that is doing this.
I almost wonder if it is some type of malware that was trying to install or a phishing site. Apple doesn’t allow porn apps in the official app store, so I don’t know what the vector of attack would be since this model isn’t jailbroken either and only will run signed code. I wished I could get it to come up again, I’d follow through with the offer and see what happens.
Re: Gay dating app Grindr possibly redirecting mobile traffic
You most likely got re-directed to this when you visited a tube site on an IOS device. They have an affiliate program that I have seen some tubes sites use to make money.
Re: Gay dating app Grindr possibly redirecting mobile traffic
An easy enough way to test this would be to do a PHP script using curl with UserAgent and JS headers set to see what if what it retrieves is just straight html or something else.
Re: Gay dating app Grindr possibly redirecting mobile traffic
I had only seen it really fast, when I didn’t get to the site I was working on, I reloaded the domain and it went away. I didn’t click around on it so it didn’t really confuse me, the first “ad” looked like a app screen but I didn’t go into it. It wasn’t sanctioned or put into place by the tube site itself, so we’re wondering how it came about on the first visit to the tube.
Re: Gay dating app Grindr possibly redirecting mobile traffic
If it’s not a malicious app on the iPhone, not the tube site itself, malware on the server, the only other thing I found in the code was a VideoSecrets iFrame embed which could possibly have the potential to skim mobile traffic.
I’ve removed the VideoSecrets code from the php include that was also on the mobile version of the site and will test it on another iPhone ASAP.
Re: Gay dating app Grindr possibly redirecting mobile traffic
Update: It’s not VideoSecrets, I got the Baldoink app scam to show up again while trying to play a video on mobile. Just redirected when I pressed play. I’ll let you know what I find with grep, if anything.
Re: Gay dating app Grindr possibly redirecting mobile traffic
What is happening insofar as I can tell is that, like Loyd said, they are re-directing their mobile traffic to Badoink (who have been around for ages) to monetize it better.
Mobile traffic is still a challenge to monetize, and it makes sense to toss it off somewhere where people are likely to spend if you cant get anything out of sending to traditional pay sites, or if you dont have a mobile version of your own site. Assuming that the app store is not involved in the path we are talking about at all, It seems that Badoink merely has a webapp. Webapps for anyone not in the know are websites designed to behave like apps, via a similar UI design. They can be bookmarked to a phone’s home screen, and setting the auto-login to remember you will give you one-tap access to members’ areas.
As a matter of fact, there is not very much anymore outside of on-page file uploads (web pages cannot directly access an I-Device’s file tree), and in-store purchasing power, that a webapp cant accomplish in it’s efforts to have simmilar offerings to store-installed actual applications. Even better is that updating a webapp does not require an app update from the user, keeping compatibility as close to immediate as possible.
I dont think that Grindr has a single thing to do with what you guys are seeing, and I dont think there is anything funky going on. Its a pretty simple explanation really.
