Ads are everywhere these days, but you wouldn't normally expect to see them on your phone's keyboard, appearing every time you type a new word. That's what's happening on HTC smartphones these days, as the TouchPal keyboard, which comes by default on the majority of HTC models, has started showing banner ads right above the keyboard every time users start typing.
The issue, as we can only say as an issue that we hope HTC will fix as soon as possible, has already been confirmed on a number of phones, including the company’s flagships, the HTC 10 and HTC U11. We haven’t seen any ads on the latest device launched earlier this year, the HTC U11, but judging by the increasing number of posts on social media, they will start appearing very soon.
Although little has been officially said about how the ads appeared on the keyboard of HTC phones, it is very likely that it all happened because of an update that TouchPal released for its keyboard.
Ever since HTC devices shipped with this keyboard as the default system app, its models have also started showing ads, although it's hard to imagine that the phone manufacturer doesn't control the updates sent by its software partners.
When contacted by angry users who were receiving ads on their keyboards, HTC recommended that everyone uninstall the latest update to the TouchPal app to restore the previous version that doesn't have ads.
HTC issued a statement regarding this, explaining that the ads appearing on its devices were simply a mistake and the company is already working to remove them.
"Due to a bug, some customers are seeing ads on their phone's keyboard. We are working to fix the bug and remove it as soon as possible," the company said.
