The redirect through a fake website and mismatched affiliate code is too bizarre to ignore.
On devices meant to serve their owners, a quiet detour has been discovered: Motorola phones appear to be intercepting the simple act of opening Amazon and routing it through an unseen affiliate chain before arriving at the intended destination. The behavior, traced to a pre-installed app called Smart Feed, raises a question as old as commerce itself — who truly benefits when a tool is placed in your hands? Whether this reflects a deliberate arrangement or an unauthorized intrusion into the relationship between user and device remains, for now, unanswered.
- Motorola phones are silently hijacking Amazon app launches, routing users through an invisible browser redirect that earns affiliate commissions for an unknown party.
- The trail leads to a fashion influencer's website — but the affiliate codes don't match anything she actually uses, suggesting someone may have built a fake storefront in her name.
- The behavior is tied to a specific version of Motorola's pre-installed Smart Feed app and a third-party ad service called devicenative.com, which has a documented relationship with Motorola hardware.
- Motorola has not responded to requests for comment, leaving open the unsettling possibility that this was never authorized by the company at all.
- Users can stop the hijacking immediately by disabling Smart Feed in device settings — and doing so appears to break nothing else on the phone.
Something strange is happening when Motorola users tap the Amazon app icon from their app drawer. For a brief, nearly invisible moment, the phone opens a browser and routes through an affiliate link before landing on Amazon — a detour most users would never notice.
The behavior was first uncovered by a Motorola Razr 60 Ultra user on Reddit, who traced the redirect through device logs back to Smart Feed, a pre-installed Motorola app. The issue appears in Smart Feed version 2.03.0070 and later, and has been confirmed on multiple devices including the $1,900 Razr Fold. The phone also makes requests to devicenative.com, an ad placement service with a known Motorola integration.
The redirect points to a site referencing fashion influencer Kira Abboud — but the affiliate code embedded in the link doesn't match any she actually uses, and she doesn't appear to promote the URL anywhere. It reads less like a partnership and more like a fabricated storefront built to quietly capture Amazon commissions from Motorola users.
Whether Motorola authorized this arrangement or whether an unauthorized third party is manipulating the system remains unclear — the company has not responded to requests for comment. The hijacking doesn't reproduce on all devices or configurations, deepening the mystery.
For affected users, the fix is straightforward: disabling Smart Feed in device settings stops the redirect immediately and appears to have no other effect on the phone. Until Motorola explains itself, that remains the only available answer.
Something strange is happening on Motorola phones. When you tap the Amazon app icon from your app drawer—not from your home screen, but specifically from the drawer—the phone opens your web browser for a split second, then redirects you to Amazon anyway. It's so fast you might miss it. But that invisible detour is the problem. Motorola's pre-installed Smart Feed app is hijacking your intent to open Amazon and routing it through an affiliate link that funnels commission to someone else.
The behavior was first spotted by a Motorola Razr 60 Ultra user on Reddit, who dug into the device logs and found the launcher was directing them to a URL instead of directly opening the app. The trail led back to Smart Feed, one of several apps Motorola bundles on its phones, including the latest Razr foldables and the $1,900 Razr Fold. Testing confirmed the issue appears in Smart Feed version 2.03.0070 and later. On an older version, 2.03.0056, the hijacking didn't occur. The phone also makes requests to devicenative.com, a service that places ads on smartphones and maintains a documented integration with Motorola.
What makes this genuinely puzzling is where the affiliate code leads. The redirect URL points to kira-abboud.com, a site referencing fashion influencer Kira Abboud. But here's where it gets murkier: Abboud doesn't appear to promote this URL anywhere on her social media accounts. More tellingly, the Amazon affiliate code embedded in Motorola's redirect—sramz-kff-008-20—doesn't match any of the codes visible in links she actually shares. It's as if someone created a fake storefront in her name to capture Amazon commissions from Motorola users.
Why would Motorola route its users through a fashion influencer's website to buy things on Amazon? The company hasn't explained. When asked for comment, Motorola hasn't yet responded. The whole setup is so bizarre that it raises a question: Did Motorola actually authorize this, or is something else happening behind the scenes? The redirect through what appears to be a fabricated website, paired with an affiliate code that doesn't match the influencer's real accounts, suggests this might not be a deliberate Motorola strategy at all. It could be an unauthorized third party manipulating the system, or a deal gone sideways, or something else entirely.
For now, there's a fix. You can disable Smart Feed in your phone's settings—go to Settings, Apps, search for Smart Feed, and disable it. Testing shows this immediately stops the redirect behavior and doesn't appear to break anything else on the device. The hijacking doesn't happen on all Motorola phones running the same app version, which adds another layer of mystery. It didn't reproduce on a Moto G Stylus (2026), for instance. And oddly, manually sideloading the updated app onto an older Razr didn't trigger the behavior either.
Motorola has a chance to clarify what's happening here. Until then, if you own a recent Motorola phone and you've noticed your Amazon app opens in a browser first, you now know why—and you know how to stop it.
Notable Quotes
Why would Motorola try to hijack Amazon affiliate revenue and pipe it through a fashion influencer? We don't know – it's all very strange and makes little sense.— 9to5Google investigation
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
So the phone is literally opening a browser window just to get you to Amazon? That seems inefficient.
Exactly. It's a redirect loop designed to inject an affiliate code into your Amazon session. The browser flash is the mechanism—it's how they insert themselves into the transaction.
And this code is tied to someone who doesn't even know about it?
That's the strangest part. The influencer's real affiliate codes don't match what Motorola's phones are using. It's like someone created a fake version of her storefront.
Could Motorola have done this intentionally?
That's what you'd assume, but the setup is too sloppy for that. A real partnership would be transparent. This feels like either a mistake, a breach, or an unauthorized third party.
What happens if you just disable the app?
The hijacking stops immediately. No side effects. Which suggests Smart Feed isn't critical to the phone's operation—it's just there.
So Motorola bundled an app that does this without telling anyone?
That's the question they need to answer. Right now, we're just seeing the behavior. The why is still missing.