Table of Contents
Introduction
“Virus” has been a commonly used term ever since technology took over the world and the global markets. Mobile phones and laptops have become a necessity, and internet is now an essential part of every individual’s daily life. However, with great technology come significant threats. These threatening components are known as viruses. The intensity of threat varies from virus to virus; while some barely affect your daily activities, others can destroy your data completely.
Can Music Randomly Play on Your Android Device?
One of the less-intense viruses that is common in Android devices is the random music playing virus. There is no specific name for this virus; you might be using your phone, and after closing all apps and locking it, some random music suddenly starts playing in the background.

This can not only be annoying, but can also put you in awkward situations. For example, imagine you are sitting in a conference room with senior management and your boss, and suddenly random music starts playing on your phone, even though you turned silent mode on.
Some computer experts do not consider this bug to be a “virus” because they claim that virus is something very extreme and highly threatening. This problem is usually caused by some software malfunction that causes the device to misbehave and play random music. Another common reason behind this happening is the poor execution of advertisements in some websites that you might have accessed recently.
These paid advertisements have some tools installed that play music as the ad begins. If the tool is not a good one, it might malfunction as you close the website, and will keep on playing the music no matter how many times you try to restart your browser on which you accessed the website. This can occur during a class or a meeting, and can put you in embarassing situations.
What Can Random Music Playing on your Device Indicate?
If any such or similar activity happens on your device, you should not ignore it, because the probability of it happening again is very high. Random music playing on your device could indicate:
Software Malfunction
You might have an application or software in your android device with built-in ads. Check all such recently opened apps and delete the suspicious ones, so that this does not happen again.
Phone Vulnerable to Serious Threats
If you visit a website where an ad poses a threat to your device, you could face severe consequences if a strong virus attacks your device. For temporary safety, you can block that website on your browser, so that even if you forget which website it was, your browser will automatically prevent you from accessing the website.
More Pop-up Ads
Finally, if the music in the background is because of an ad in a website or an application, there is a possibility that more ads might pop-up now, which can be irritating while you scroll through apps in your device.

How to Get Rid of this Music?
It is not possible to predict when the music might start playing. However, considering the fact that it could be during your crucial moments at work or school, there is one instant action you could take to temporarily calm the situation: restart your phone.
To turn the music off immediately, you might end up freaking out and make the situation worse for yourself. Therefore, if random music plays, immediately restart your phone, which will take three to four seconds, but that is the fastest way of controlling the situation. However, for the long run, following are a couple of measures that can help you prevent such activity from happening in the first place:
Protect your Phone with Anti-Virus Software:
24/7 protection is essential now, as technology and data play crucial roles in our daily life.
There are numerous malware protection apps that scan your phone after every few minutes, and it can be a daunting task to choose which one is best for you, so in order to assist you in this matter, we came up of a list that what we believe are the best in the market today, and below are the names that we highly recommend for your mobile device.
Malwarebytes for Android
Malwarebytes is one of the names that can be trusted when it comes to mobile security. Their Malwarebytes for Android is a topnotch product to make sure your mobile phone is protected from from potential security threats that can harm your phone
Some of the features of Malwarebytes for Android
- It can detect ransomware before it can even lock your device
- It provides a safer browsing experience for your mobile device
- It conducts privacy audits for all the apps installed on your phone
- It can even find and remove pesky adware and malware from your device
Malwarebytes for Android comes when you purchase Malwarebytes Premium, which provides the strongest protection for all your devices courtesy of Malwarebytes.
McAfee Total Protection
As one of the trusted brands in security solutions, you can never go wrong with McAfee. The McAfee Total Protection is a multi-faceted security protection software that is comprised of antivirus, identity tools and protection features. The software also boasts its minimum impact on performance and achieved top marks in performance tests by AV-Comparatives, where it got an award 8 times in a row since 2016
Key features of McAfee Total Protection
- Provides virus protection not just for mobile devices, but also for PC, laptop, and tablets
- Options for multi-device protection
- Minimal impact on performance
- Identity theft protection
- Keep your devices secured when connected to public Wi-Fi
You can also gain access to McAfee Total Protection’s Secure VPN with bank grade encryption if you choose to enroll to its auto-renewal subscription program.
Norton Mobile Security
One of the leading antivirus software company today, Norton provides an all-around protection not just for PC’s and laptops but for your mobile device as well against threats and infections.
Some of the features of Norton Antivirus
- Protects your smartphones by proactively identifying security threats such as ransomware, malware, adware, and privacy leaks
- Helps to eliminate annoying robocalls
- Detects and alerts you of wifi connections that are dangerous or under attack
- Protects you from malicious and fraudulent websites when you are browsing thru your smartphone
- Informs you of any vulnerabilities of your mobile operating system
Norton Mobile security comes with purchase of Norton 360 Deluxe or Norton 360 premium
Some antivirus apps are highly efficient, and they do not just scan but also eliminate the viruses simultaneously like the ones we recommended above. However, there is some homework you need to do before deciding which app to go for. Reviews are available on the play store, and you can also ask for public opinion on online forums accessible by thousands of people globally.
Browser Extension
Since most of such random music viruses come from websites that have built-in ads, you can install extensions that provide protection against threatening content. Even a warning could be enough, as you can immediately shut the browser and clear cache and history to prevent anything severe from happening soon after.
Moreover, if you believe that there is an app that could be the reason behind it, immediately remove the app and find an alternative. This is more common with free apps that have ads popping up all the time.
Conclusion
While random music playing in the background, even when the device is locked, is not a threatening situation for your data or device, it could be disastrous if it happens in a formal setting where you have turned on silent mode. There could be two to three different reasons of why this could happen, but a few solutions have also been stated.
Viruses are part of the technological world, and you should be ready to restart your phone if any such or similar thing happens during a meeting or class. You do not need to freak out, because people are aware of these mishaps and they will understand what has happened.
All you have to do is take measures to keep your phone protected at all times, so that your data is not at risk because of something minor like random music playing in the background.
Hence, if music starts playing in the background when your phone is locked and no app is running, you now have both the immediate and the long-run solutions to the problem.
I deleted Pandora while it was playing and it stopped, I have not had any instances of music randomly playing in background since.
I don’t have Pandora and this is happening. It’s like a Pokemon song that suddenly plays even if my volume is set to off. It seems to over-ride the setting I think, been trying to locate the culprit to deal with it but not sure where/what it is.
Random music plays on my phone when I look at local news that is inundated with adverts. It stops when I close the page.
This is really annoying. I think maybe it’s because of castbox. Bacayse i turn its notification off,and this awful music playing stoped.