Turn Off Ad Personalization
Your phone hands advertisers a unique ID by default. Two settings screens take it back.
Worth +8 to Privacy
0 / 4 steps
The steps
- Step 11 min
Stop apps asking to track you across other apps
Turning this off denies every app the cross-app identifier at once, rather than one refusal at a time.
Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking → turn Allow Apps to Request to Track off.
Apps already granted permission are revoked when you switch it off. You will stop seeing the "Ask App Not to Track" popup, because the answer is now always no.
- Step 21 min
Turn off Apple’s own personalized ads
The setting above covers other companies. This one covers Apple.
Settings → Privacy & Security → Apple Advertising → turn Personalized Ads off.
It sits at the very bottom of the Privacy & Security list, under Analytics & Improvements, which is why almost nobody finds it.
- Step 32 min
Delete your Android advertising ID
Deleting the ID is stronger than opting out: apps get nothing, rather than a flag asking them politely.
Settings → Privacy → Ads → Delete advertising ID.
Some manufacturers file it under Settings → Google → All services → Ads instead. Both land in the same place.
- Step 42 min
Turn off personalized ads on your Google account
This one follows your account rather than your phone, so it covers every device you sign in on.
First: Sign in to the Google account you actually use.
Open My Ad CenterTurn Personalized ads off. While you are there, the "Your data in Ad Center" section shows what it thinks it knows about you, which is usually the more persuasive part.