Had enough of personalized ads on your Android device? Google uses your browsing history to determine what you might be interested in, in order to display targeted ads on your smartphone or tablet.
But most Android users find these ads extremely annoying, especially if they are sharing said the device with someone else. Fortunately, there’s a way to opt-out of these interest-based ads, so that Google won’t use your activity for advertising anymore. You can disable it from your phone with a few simple taps. Here’s how to do it:
Disable personalized ads on your Android device
- Turn on your Android phone and go to Settings
- When in Settings, scroll down and tap on the Google option
Note: depending on your smartphone model, you might find the Google entry on the main page or hidden away somewhere else. The best thing to do is use the search bar in Settings to find it.
- From there select Ads
- Enable the “Opt out of Ads Personalization” option
- You will get this message: “You will still see ads, but they may not be based on your interests. Note that if you clear your cache, you will lose your opt-out setting.” Tap OK to continue and implement the change.
Now your advertising ID won’t be used by Google for its advertising purposes. Yes, you will still be tracked by Google, but you will see random ads instead. At least it will be less creepy.
So is that it? Well, not exactly. You can take one extra step to make sure you won’t see personalized ads on your phone anytime soon.
Reset your Advertising ID
Notice the Reset Advertising ID option which sits above the opting out toggle. Tap it to remove all the data which has been already collected from your apps and Internet usage.
The database will be cleared, and the new data will be collected under a new advertising ID (which you can see at the bottom). So if you want to minimize the amount of data collected, you could try resetting your advertising ID at least one time a week.
As a side note, Google lets you report adverts, but you need to tell Google why. Feedback options include: Ad was inappropriate, Seen this ad multiple times, Not interested in this ad and Ad covered content.
