Web Protection keeps turning off on Android phones? Here’s what to do
This article guides you on how to prevent Bitdefender Mobile Security’s Web Protection feature from constantly being disabled on some Android phones and tablets. Sometimes, even after manually reactivating Web Protection, it turns itself off shortly afterward. When this happens, Bitdefender Mobile Security for Android notifies you that « Web Protection got disabled by another service. Turn it on to get online protection. »
Why does Web Protection keep turning off?
The Web Protection feature in Bitdefender Mobile Security for Android keeps turning off because the device is using Power Saving mode to save battery, which stops the running apps.
A large part of the bonus features of smartphones revolves around battery life and performance optimization. It is for this reason that vendors are packing battery-saving features with each Android release. But some optimization mechanisms are so aggressive that they kill useful background apps when the screen turns off to maximize your smartphone’s battery life.
This impacts most of the apps that run in the background. Most affected are 3rd party alarm clocks, automation apps, and especially apps that need to work even when you are not actively using your smartphone. The latter category also includes Bitdefender’s Web Protection. Web Protection loses the Accessibility permission required to function when the Android system force stops background applications.
This is why an alert has been implemented warning that another service has disabled Web Security and needs to be enabled again.
How do I enable Bitdefender’s Web Protection on Android?
As seen above, the issue is caused by a system optimization mechanism that removes the permission required by Web Protection. Solving it can be different depending on the device. You can either look for battery optimization and exclude (remove) the Bitdefender Mobile Security app, or look for some rules that can be handled at device-level for managing apps or prioritizing their background functionality.
Step 1 – Exclude Bitdefender from Battery saving settings
The exclusions steps may vary depending on the phone/tablet brand. If you can’t find instructions specific to your phone model in the following article, we recommend looking through the device battery or power-saving settings to find a method of excluding the Bitdefender app from being closed off, so you can keep Web Protection enabled at all times and browse safely.
Step 2 – Grant Accessibility permission to the Bitdefender Mobile Security app
After removing Bitdefender from your battery-saving settings, you need to restore the Accessibility permission for Web Protection to work. To reactivate the Accessibility permission:
- Go to Settings ⚙︎ on your Android device.
- Open the Accessibility section.
- Select Bitdefender Mobile Security in the list of downloaded apps.
- Set the Accessibility permission slider to ON for the Bitdefender Mobile Security app.
- Tap Allow – if prompted – to confirm the change. The Accessibility service is required for scanning purposes.
Step 3 – Turn back ON the Web Protection feature
Finally, turn back on the Web Protection feature so that the Bitdefender Mobile Security app can scan and block dangerous websites accessed in browsers.
After implementing all of the steps provided in this guide, Web Protection should no longer turn off on your Android device.
Comments
-
I tried this, but Bitdefender does not show up as an available app to choose under "Never Sleeping Apps" which is currently found in Settings/Battery/Background Usage Limits/Never Sleeping Apps. I am on a Samsung S21 Ultra and Android 12. Any other suggestions?
4 -
I tried all these for several times, but after some minutes or hours the message from bitdefender appears again.
Getting back to make the correct settings almost everytime I realize that the settings are correct.
All this issue is very annoying and it might be the reason for not renewing my subscription.
2 -
Hi,
Check the instructions from the link below and let us know if they are useful:
Cheers
0 -
I uninstalled and reinstalled Bitdefender and it finally let me add Bitdefender app in areas accessibility and never sleeping apps and now it says it is protecting web activity (we will see if the weekly report says it is or reports zero activity again).
HOWEVER, despite the fact that I have activated extra privacy for banking pages under web protection, BD does not provide any notice when I purposefully go to the login page of a bank just to test the notification. It doesn't even suggest that I use BD VPN for safety on the website. This makes me wonder if BD would alert if I was going to a malicious site. And, yes, all required notification settings are enabled on my Samsung S21 Ultra to allow Bitdefender to send notifications. I note most people in this forum are more interested in turning off BD notifications, but I am concerned because I am receiving no notifications. Any ideas?
1 -
Hi @Clarice,
Make sure you have enabled the banking related VPN notifications as well, should you wish to be notified whenever you access the page of a bank:
1. Tap More on the bottom navigation bar.
2. Tap ⚙︎ Settings.
3. Turn ON the Extra privacy for banking pages switch in the Web Protection panel.
To ensure complete functionality for Web Protection, Mobile Security needs the following permissions:
• Internet access: used for cloud communication.
• Read phone state and identity: used to detect if the device is connected to the internet and to extract certain device info needed to create a unique ID when communicating with Bitdefender cloud.
• Read and write browser bookmarks: The Web Protection module deletes malicious sites from your browsing history.
• Read log data: Bitdefender Mobile Security detects traces of threat activities from the Android logs.
• Location: required for remote location.
• Camera: required for Snap photo.
• Storage: used to allow the Malware Scanner to check the SD card.
Regards
0 -
I never encountered this sort of problem for OnePlus 9 Pro or 10 Pro devices of mine
1 -
I had the same problem. So I uninstalled then reinstalled and it appeared in the list.
1 -
I uninstalled Bitdefender, reinstalled it and did all of the steps above, but I still could not exclude Bitdefender from the battery saving settings. "Bitdefender" is not displayed. Internet protection unfortunately continues to turn off almost daily.
0 -
Bonjour
Mon tel IOS 11 est toujours à risque, je ne comprends pas pourquoi car les autres appareils eux n’ont aucun problèmes.
j’ai beau remettre la protection web mais elle se désactive j’ai regardé dans mes paramètres pour la batterie si Bitdefender y été et rien
pourriez-vous m’aider SVP
cordialement
Bree
chaque fois.
0 -
Bonjour.
Contacter le support client de Bitdefender:
https://www.bitdefender.fr/consumer/support/
chat: En Francais L-V, de 9h a 17h, English 24/7
tel.: France +33 (9) 70 01 97 15, +33 (0) 800 961 161 (Francais - du lundi au vendredi de 9h a 17h)
tel.: Belgie +32 28 80 71 70 (Nederlands/Francais - du lundi au vendredi de 9h a 17h)
tel.: Canada (+1) 647 955 1197, (+1) 647 847 3405 (English: 24 hour service) (Francais - du lundi au vendredi de 9h a 17h)
Cordialement.
1 -
Hi,
In the event the troubleshooting steps from the above article do not solve the issue or don't apply to your device type, kindly get in touch with our Support Teams for further guidance.
Regards
0 -
I'm having the same problem plus I can't connect with support. Every time I try to connect with support it won't load. WTF.
0 -
Hello @Wilco43,
What exactly is not loading? The chat, the contact channels on the page or the support page itself?
Regards
0 -
I have made all the prescribed adjustments and the problem persists. How do I contact customer support?
1 -
Hi @Swiderman
Support can be reached at [email protected]
Or, you can go through these steps to get a hold of Chat, email and phone support (which is not toll-free). Choose, What do you need help with?/How to's and Troubleshooting and go from there to get to the black Contact Support button at the bottom.
Kind regards,
Scott
1 -
2
-
I followed instructions that I came upon early in the process and they worked. Thanks!
Bedward
1 -
Google Pixel 7 running Android 13. Checked all steps listed above BitDefender Web Defense keeps turning off even though optimization in not taking place.
0 -
0
-
This may be of help to Web Protection issue. I was getting multiple references per day about web protection off on various devices when it was not. All settings were correct and still the issue!
After many contacts with Bitdefender I eventually received acknowledgement that it was an issue with Bitdefender -
"Thank you for your patience while waiting for my reply
This is a follow-up email regarding the bug report that you have sent us. I'd like to inform you that our development team is still working a fix and it’s taking a bit more than usual. As previously mentioned, the fix will be automatically released through Bitdefender product updates, with no other actions requested from your side.
Please let me know if you would still like to receive updates about this case in the future. In the meantime, I am here to help if you have other cyber-security questions.
Stay safe and have a great day!
Kind Regards,
Andrei M.
Senior Customer Support Engineer"
1 -
Hi @ricardoSS,
Indeed, this behavior is still under investigation. The devices are still protected by the Web Protection module in this scenario. Whenever this happens, there is actually a miscommunication between the device and the servers which leads to the At Risk notification being displayed in your Central account.
We do not have an estimated time for the release of the fix yet. Please keep in mind that all reported bugs require investigation time. Since product updates are usually released once a month, it may take at least 1 month until a fix is implemented in the product - this does not include the debugging period.
Regards
0
