Weird iPad pop-up… should I be worried?

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So I was browsing Time.com on Safari on my iPad, and out of nowhere, this pop-up appears asking, “Do you want to download ‘occ’?” No explanation, just a blue link to download this file. I didn’t click on anything weird before it popped up.

The link came from the Time website, which I accessed through their newsletter, so I’m not sure how or why it happened. Should I be concerned? I couldn’t find anything online when I searched ‘Safari occ’ and I’m running the latest iPadOS 18. I’ve only ever downloaded apps from the official App Store, so I thought I’d ask for some advice here.

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Here’s a screenshot of the pop-up.

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Joss said:
Here’s a screenshot of the pop-up.

This seems like a browser glitch or error. I’d just cancel it and not download anything.

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Nico said:

Joss said:
Here’s a screenshot of the pop-up.

This seems like a browser glitch or error. I’d just cancel it and not download anything.

Cancelling it doesn’t stop it from coming back. It’s been popping up multiple times a day.

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Erie said:

Nico said:
Joss said:
Here’s a screenshot of the pop-up.

This seems like a browser glitch or error. I’d just cancel it and not download anything.

Cancelling it doesn’t stop it from coming back. It’s been popping up multiple times a day.

It’ll probably keep happening until they fix something on their end. I doubt it’s anything dangerous, though.

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Joss said:
Here’s a screenshot of the pop-up.

I think it might be something coming from Yahoo ads. I googled it and found that occ is related to Yahoo Analytics.

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I found a similar issue on another post. Looks like it’s happening on news websites, maybe something to do with how the new OS manages cookies or ads.

Here’s a post I found talking about it.

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Joss said:
I found a similar issue on another post. Looks like it’s happening on news websites, maybe something to do with how the new OS manages cookies or ads.

Here’s a post I found talking about it.

Same thing happened to me. It started while I was browsing news sites on Safari. Even after restarting Safari, the pop-up kept coming back every few minutes.

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I had the same pop-up today on ESPN’s website.

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Asa said:
I had the same pop-up today on ESPN’s website.

That’s actually what brought me here.

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Hollis said:

Asa said:
I had the same pop-up today on ESPN’s website.

That’s actually what brought me here.

Same.

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I was on Time.com when the pop-up showed up for me too, along with another site.

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Lane said:
I was on Time.com when the pop-up showed up for me too, along with another site.

Yep, just had it pop up on Time as well!

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Happened to me while browsing NBC’s site.

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Joss said:
So I was browsing Time.com on Safari on my iPad, and out of nowhere, this pop-up appears asking, “Do you want to download ‘occ’?” No explanation, just a blue link to download this file. I didn’t click on anything weird before it popped up.

The link came from the Time website, which I accessed through their newsletter, so I’m not sure how or why it happened. Should I be concerned? I couldn’t find anything online when I searched ‘Safari occ’ and I’m running the latest iPadOS 18. I’ve only ever downloaded apps from the official App Store, so I thought I’d ask for some advice here.

I’ve seen this on multiple sites since upgrading to iOS 18. Seems like it’s not specific to any one site. It’s happened on ESPN, CBS Sports, and more.

My guess is that it’s related to ads or trackers being loaded. Reloading the page doesn’t trigger the pop-up again, so it could be from changing media or ads between loads.

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Joss said:
So I was browsing Time.com on Safari on my iPad, and out of nowhere, this pop-up appears asking, “Do you want to download ‘occ’?” No explanation, just a blue link to download this file. I didn’t click on anything weird before it popped up.

The link came from the Time website, which I accessed through their newsletter, so I’m not sure how or why it happened. Should I be concerned? I couldn’t find anything online when I searched ‘Safari occ’ and I’m running the latest iPadOS 18. I’ve only ever downloaded apps from the official App Store, so I thought I’d ask for some advice here.

Just saw it again today on Twitter after clicking a news link that opened in the Twitter browser.

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Joss said:
So I was browsing Time.com on Safari on my iPad, and out of nowhere, this pop-up appears asking, “Do you want to download ‘occ’?” No explanation, just a blue link to download this file. I didn’t click on anything weird before it popped up.

The link came from the Time website, which I accessed through their newsletter, so I’m not sure how or why it happened. Should I be concerned? I couldn’t find anything online when I searched ‘Safari occ’ and I’m running the latest iPadOS 18. I’ve only ever downloaded apps from the official App Store, so I thought I’d ask for some advice here.

I’ve been getting it off and on since upgrading to iOS 18 as well.

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Joss said:
So I was browsing Time.com on Safari on my iPad, and out of nowhere, this pop-up appears asking, “Do you want to download ‘occ’?” No explanation, just a blue link to download this file. I didn’t click on anything weird before it popped up.

The link came from the Time website, which I accessed through their newsletter, so I’m not sure how or why it happened. Should I be concerned? I couldn’t find anything online when I searched ‘Safari occ’ and I’m running the latest iPadOS 18. I’ve only ever downloaded apps from the official App Store, so I thought I’d ask for some advice here.

I’m getting the same pop-up. It’s happened multiple times today, both on my iPhone and iPad while browsing in Safari.

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Joss said:
So I was browsing Time.com on Safari on my iPad, and out of nowhere, this pop-up appears asking, “Do you want to download ‘occ’?” No explanation, just a blue link to download this file. I didn’t click on anything weird before it popped up.

The link came from the Time website, which I accessed through their newsletter, so I’m not sure how or why it happened. Should I be concerned? I couldn’t find anything online when I searched ‘Safari occ’ and I’m running the latest iPadOS 18. I’ve only ever downloaded apps from the official App Store, so I thought I’d ask for some advice here.

Just got the pop-up on the Associated Press website. Does anyone know what’s causing it?

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Joss said:
So I was browsing Time.com on Safari on my iPad, and out of nowhere, this pop-up appears asking, “Do you want to download ‘occ’?” No explanation, just a blue link to download this file. I didn’t click on anything weird before it popped up.

The link came from the Time website, which I accessed through their newsletter, so I’m not sure how or why it happened. Should I be concerned? I couldn’t find anything online when I searched ‘Safari occ’ and I’m running the latest iPadOS 18. I’ve only ever downloaded apps from the official App Store, so I thought I’d ask for some advice here.

Just had this happen. Currently texting Apple Support to see what’s up.