How to Off Ads in Phone: Android & Samsung Step-by-Step Guide

You can turn off most ads on your phone by adjusting your Android ad privacy settings, blocking pop-ups in your browser, and uninstalling apps that push ads to your screen. No single setting removes everything — but working through these steps covers the majority of what most people are dealing with.

Quick Reference — How to Off Ads in Phone: By Ad Type

Ad Type	Where It Appears	How to Reduce/Remove It	Fully Removable?
Personalised ads	Inside apps, Google services	Android Ad Privacy settings	No — but personalisation stops
Samsung OEM ads	Samsung apps, lock screen	Samsung Account > Customisation Service	Mostly yes
Browser pop-ups	Chrome, Samsung Internet	Site Settings > Pop-ups Off	Yes
Notification ads	Notification tray	Browser Site Settings > Notifications Off	Yes
App-served ads	Inside free apps	Uninstall app or buy paid version	Only by removing app
OPPO/ColorOS ads	Phone Manager, App Market	Per-app privacy toggles in each app	Mostly yes
Lock screen ads	Lock screen (Samsung/OPPO)	OEM account settings + app audit	Usually yes

Why Is Your Phone Showing Ads?

Ads on phones don't come from one place. That's what makes them frustrating — you turn off one thing and another one pops up somewhere else.

Most of the time, ads come from one of four sources: apps you've installed that make money by showing ads, your phone manufacturer's own apps (Samsung, OPPO, etc.) that have built-in promotional content, websites that you've allowed to send notifications, or Android's own personalised ad system running in the background.

Ads from installed apps are the most common culprit. Free apps — games, utilities, news readers — often display banner ads, full-screen interstitials, or even send ad notifications to make revenue. That's the trade-off for free software.

Manufacturer ads are slightly different. Samsung, OPPO, and other Android brands sometimes push promotional content through their own system apps — Phone Manager, App Market, even the calendar. These can be turned off, but the settings are buried.

Lock screen and home screen ads usually trace back to a specific app that has been granted display-over-screen permissions, or to OEM settings that serve promotions on the lock screen.

What's often overlooked is that these sources stack on top of each other. Turning off one doesn't stop the others. You need to work through each layer separately.

How to Turn Off Personalised Ads on Android

This is the most universally applicable step — it works on any Android phone regardless of brand.

Android's ad system tracks topics based on apps you use and shares that data with advertisers. As reported by Fortune, Google introduced the option for Android users to opt out of ad tracking so that developers can no longer see a user's unique advertising ID once that person has declined personalised ads. You can opt out of this entirely, and on Android 12 and above, you can delete your Advertising ID altogether.

Step 1 — Disable Ad Topics, App-Suggested Ads, and Ad Measurement

Open Settings on your Android phone
Tap Google > All Services
Under Privacy & Security, tap Ads Privacy
Tap Ad Topics and toggle it off
Tap App-Suggested Ads and toggle it off
Tap Ad Measurement and toggle it off

Each of these controls a different part of how ads are targeted at you. Ad Topics stops Android from categorising your interests. App-Suggested Ads stops apps from cross-referencing your behaviour. Ad Measurement limits how advertisers track whether their ads worked on you.

Step 2 — Delete Your Advertising ID (Android 12 and Above)

Beyond just disabling personalisation, you can delete your Advertising ID — the unique identifier that links your behaviour across apps.

According to Reuters, this identifier helps determine relevant ads and identify subsequent purchases, but users now have controls to limit or remove it entirely.

Go to Settings > Google > All Services > Ads Privacy
Tap Delete Advertising ID
Confirm deletion

In practice, most users don't know this option exists. It's the more thorough step. Once deleted, apps can no longer use your ID to serve targeted ads — though non-personalised ads will still appear.

What These Settings Do and Don't Do

Turning these off stops personalisation. It does not stop ads from showing up altogether. You'll still see ads in free apps — they'll just be generic rather than tailored to your interests. That distinction matters.

How to Turn Off Ads on Samsung Galaxy Phones

Samsung has its own ad layer sitting on top of Android's. Even if you've adjusted Google's settings, Samsung's customisation service may still be active.

Turn Off Personalised Ads via Samsung Account

Open Settings
Tap Samsung Account
Go to Privacy
Tap Customisation Service
Toggle it off

This stops Samsung from using your data to personalise promotions across Samsung apps. It also reduces the overall frequency of ads within Samsung's own ecosystem.

Disable Ad Notifications from Samsung Apps

If ads are arriving as notifications rather than pop-ups:

Go to Settings > Notifications
Find the app sending ad notifications under Recently Sent
Toggle notifications off for that app

Alternatively, when an ad notification arrives, long-press it directly and turn off notifications for that app on the spot. That's faster than digging through settings.

How to Stop Pop-Up Ads in Your Browser

Browser pop-ups and notification ads are separate from in-app ads. They're also among the easier ones to block completely.

Block Pop-Ups and Notifications in Google Chrome

Open Chrome and tap the three-dot menu
Go to Settings > Site Settings > Pop-ups and Redirects
Toggle Pop-ups and Redirects off
Go back to Site Settings > Notifications
Toggle Notifications off
In the Exceptions list, toggle off any sites already listed

Clear Chrome's cache after doing this — some notification permissions are stored in cached data and will continue firing until cleared. Go to Settings > Apps > Chrome > Storage > Clear Cache.

Block Pop-Ups in Samsung Internet

Open Samsung Internet and tap the three-line menu
Go to Settings > Sites and Downloads
Toggle Block Pop-Ups on
Go back to the main menu and tap Ad Blockers
Download and enable one of the listed ad blockers

Samsung Internet natively supports ad blocker extensions — something Chrome on Android doesn't offer by default. If you use Samsung Internet regularly, installing an ad blocker here makes a noticeable difference.

How to Find and Remove Apps Causing Ads

If ads are appearing over your home screen or as overlays while using other apps, a specific installed app is almost certainly responsible.

Identify Which App Is Causing the Problem

Open the Google Play Store
Tap your profile icon > Manage Apps & Device
Tap Manage and sort by Last Used

Look for apps that were recently active that you didn't consciously open. Ad-serving apps often run in the background and show up as recently active even when you haven't touched them. That's usually your culprit.

Uninstall the App

Go to Settings > Apps > All Apps
Tap the app name
Tap Uninstall

If you're not sure which app it is, uninstall the most recently installed unknown or unused apps one at a time and see if the ads stop.

Remove Apps That Won't Uninstall

Some adware apps use device administrator privileges to block removal.

Go to Settings > Security > Device Admin Apps (Search "Device Admin Apps" in Settings if you can't find it)
Find the app and disable its admin access
Go back to Apps > All Apps and uninstall it normally

This step is less common, but if an app's uninstall button is greyed out, this is why.

A Note on In-App Banner and Interstitial Ads

If the ads are appearing inside an app you actively use — banners at the bottom of the screen, or full-page ads between levels of a game — those are built into the app intentionally. You can't disable them without either paying for the premium version or switching to a different app. That's just how ad-supported apps work.

How to Turn Off Ads on OPPO and ColorOS Phones

OPPO phones running ColorOS have ad toggles scattered across individual system apps. None of them are in one central location, which makes this more tedious than it should be.

Phone Manager

Open Phone Manager
Tap the three-dot icon (top right)
Go to Phone Manager Settings > Privacy
Turn off Personalised Recommendations

App Market

Open App Market and go to My Account
Tap the gear icon (top right)
Scroll to Privacy Settings > Ads & Recommendations
Turn off Personalised Advertising

File Manager (My Files)

Open My Files
Tap the three-dot icon > Settings > Privacy
Turn off Personalised Services

Weather and Calendar Apps

For both apps: open the app, go to settings via the gear or three-dot icon, find About or Displayed Items, and turn off Personalised Services.

Music and Video Apps — Current Limitation

At the time of writing, OPPO's Music and Videos system apps don't have a toggle to disable ads. The only workaround is to avoid updating these apps, since newer versions have been observed to reintroduce ads. Keeping auto-update off for these specific apps in both Play Store and App Market can help — though this is a temporary measure, not a permanent fix.

What to Do If Ads Keep Appearing After All Steps

If you've worked through everything above and ads are still showing up, a few things are worth checking.

Go back to the app audit. Use the "last used" method in Google Play and look more carefully — sometimes the ad-serving app isn't obvious at first glance.

Clear your browser cache and revoke all notification permissions. In Chrome, go back to Site Settings > Notifications and clear every exception. Some sites persist through earlier permission grants.

If ads appear even when no apps are open and nothing is running, that's worth taking more seriously. Adware — software that runs specifically to serve ads — occasionally disguises itself as a legitimate utility app. Running a security scan using your phone's built-in protection (Play Protect on Android, or your device's security app) is a reasonable next step.

A Note for iPhone Users

The steps above apply to Android. On an iPhone, the approach is different.

To limit ad tracking: go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking and turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track.

To turn off personalised Apple ads: go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising and toggle off Personalised Ads.

These two settings don't remove ads from free apps, but they do stop Apple and third-party apps from targeting you based on your behaviour.

Conclusion

Turning off ads on your phone is a layered process — there's no single switch. Work through your Android ad privacy settings first, then your browser, then your installed apps. For Samsung or OPPO devices, add the OEM-specific steps on top. Most ads can be reduced significantly. Not all can be removed entirely.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does turning off personalised ads stop all ads?

No. It stops ads from being targeted to your interests, but non-personalised ads will still appear in free apps and websites. The ads become generic rather than disappearing.

Can I completely remove all ads from my phone?

Not entirely. Ads inside free apps are built into those apps by design. You can block pop-ups, stop notification ads, and opt out of personalisation — but in-app ads require paying for a premium version or switching apps.

Why do ads keep appearing after I uninstall an app?

Some ad-serving apps install secondary components or grant permissions to other apps before being removed. Re-check your app list and browser notification permissions after uninstalling.

What is the Advertising ID and should I delete it?

It's a unique identifier Android assigns to your device so advertisers can track your behaviour across apps. Deleting it (available on Android 12+) prevents cross-app tracking. It's a more thorough option than just turning off personalisation.

How do I stop ads on my lock screen?

Lock screen ads usually come from a specific installed app or Samsung/OPPO OEM settings. Check your OEM account's customisation service settings first, then audit recently installed apps.