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My phone operator, Movistar Argentina, is sending a lot of spam. I managed to block most of the SMS, however it has now also started opening ad popups on my phone (see below).

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I've looked at How do I block this (carrier) advertisement dialog? but I cannot find the "SIM Toolkit" app anywhere on my phone to disable it. Is there any other way to block this?

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    Desactivate: adb shell pm disable-user com.android.stk To activate again: adb shell pm enable com.android.stk
    – aDoN
    Commented Aug 27, 2020 at 12:37
  • On a Dual SIM phone I additionally had to use adb shell pm disable-user com.android.stk2 to disable both. By the way, the advice works and the SIM Toolkit applications do not reappear after phone restart.
    – Vyacheslav Lanovets
    Commented Jun 15, 2021 at 7:07

6 Answers 6

Reset to default
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This generally seems to be done as a 'value added service' in the Andriod SIM Toolkit, as per this question here.

However, in this case it may be a Cell Broadcast.

Cell Broadcast is designed for simultaneous delivery to multiple users in a specified area. Whereas the Short Message Service-Point to Point (SMS-PP) is a one-to-one and one-to-a-few service (requires multiple SMS messages, as each message can only carry one phone number), Cell Broadcast is a one-to-many geographically focused messaging service. Cell Broadcast messaging is also supported by UMTS.

If you go to your SMS app and go SMS > Settings > Cell Broadcast and disable it, this should stop this popup.

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If that can help someone, the app I needed to disable was /system/app/Stk.apk and it was called "Services SFR v4.1.2-LL__zg".

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  • Sorry, I didn't understand. What do you mean by 'it was called "Services SFR v4.1.2-LL__zg"'? Isn't it just Stk.apk?
    – Luis A. Florit
    Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 15:00
  • @LuisA.Florit, I guess it's a custom service by the phone operator (SFR), so it would be called differently on a different phone.
    – laurent
    Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 15:31
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    You mean the process/service, or the APK? How did you discover the actual name? I just renamed Stk.apk, but not sure if that will do it. La RPTMQLP a las operadoras de telefonia!!
    – Luis A. Florit
    Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 15:37
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    Removed the APK and disabled cell broadcasts. No more spams!
    – Luis A. Florit
    Commented Sep 16, 2015 at 14:18
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    Stk is probably shorthand for SIM Toolkit
    – Display Name
    Commented Jan 19, 2016 at 18:35
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Unless your are root-ed, you won't be able to uninstall it. It is bundled with your SIM (damn modern world...) and you can only "force stop" STK services for current session: go to your Settings-Apps-All and stop "SIM Toolkit" and "Cell Broadcasts".

They will restart on next boot.

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    In my case it restarts right after disabling it (damn modern world)
    – golimar
    Commented Jun 29, 2018 at 16:31
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Try looking in Settings -> Apps -> swipe to the right until you get to the "all" tab, and then scroll down until you see "SIM Toolkit", at which point you should be able to tap on it, force stop it and disable it.

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  • "SIM Toolkit" is not on my list. There is one with my Cell company name instead, but it does not allow to be turned off.
    – Luis A. Florit
    Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 15:00
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Try turning off 'Cell broadcasts' under the SMS app's settings menu. (it was there in my Samsung TW ROM)

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As it looks it may be a operator service (here in india called flash services/flash messages) you can disable it by contacting with your service operator or can be disabled by sending a message (methods can very from operator to operator)

or either it can be a cell broadcast you can disable it by going to sms settings (cell broadcast in android version upto oreo )(wireless alerts on android pie)

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    This is a very obnoxious thing to get rid of, and never could get rid of it. I could surely freeze/force uninstall the app as root, but I ended up being unable to place or receive any calls, and ultimately got my phone soft bricked (if you reboot with it uninstalled). I did try to contact the carrier, they said they disabled it, but after some months the popups came back. Even as root, it's difficult to get rid of it, but I am sure there IS a way (at least as root).
    – Renato
    Commented May 13, 2019 at 12:27

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