How to Get Rid of Ads on My Phone: Android & iPhone Guide

Knowing how to get rid of ads on my phone starts with identifying where those ads are actually coming from. They may be tied to an app, a browser permission, your manufacturer's settings, or standard in-app advertising inside free apps.

Each source has a different fix. This guide covers all of them for both Android and iPhone.

Quick Reference: Ad Source and Fix at a Glance

Where the Ad Appears	Most Likely Cause	Fastest Fix
Inside an app you're using	Standard in-app advertising	Pay to remove ads or delete the app
Notification bar or lock screen	App with notification permission	Revoke notification access or uninstall app
Home screen pop-ups	Background app or adware	Boot Safe Mode, identify and uninstall
Browser pop-ups	Website notification permission	Block in browser site settings
System apps (file manager, store)	Manufacturer ad system	Disable in phone brand's own settings

How to Get Rid of Ads on My Phone: Identify the Source First

Before touching any settings, spend a moment noting exactly when and where the ads appear. That single observation tells you most of what you need to know before making any changes.

Ads Inside Apps You're Using

These are normal. Free apps, especially games, news readers, and utility tools, display ads to fund themselves. This is not a sign of infection.

The app is doing what free apps do. Your options are to live with them, pay to remove them, or delete the app.

Pop-Ups and Notifications from Websites

At some point, a website asked if it could send you notifications, and you tapped Allow. Now it pushes ads directly to your notification bar.

This is one of the most common complaints, and also one of the simplest to fix once you know where to look.

Ads on Your Home Screen or Lock Screen

These usually trace back to one of two sources: an app you recently installed that runs ads in the background, or manufacturer software on budget Android devices.

If you started seeing home screen ads shortly after installing something new, that app is almost certainly responsible.

Ads Built Into the Phone by the Manufacturer

Some Android brands include their own ad systems inside default apps, covering the file manager, built-in browser, and app store. Samsung and Xiaomi are the most common examples.

These have their own settings to disable, separate from anything else on this list.

How to Get Rid of Ads on My Phone if You Use Android

The steps below address the most common causes of unwanted ads on Android phones in order of likelihood.

Step 1: How to Get Rid of Ads on My Phone — Uninstall the Culprit App

If ads are appearing outside of any specific app, a recently installed app running in the background is the first thing to check. In practice, most people who complain about home screen or notification ads have something installed within the past few weeks that's responsible.

Boot into Safe Mode first. Safe Mode loads only the phone's core system and disables all third-party apps. If the ads disappear in Safe Mode, an installed app is confirmed as the cause.

To enter Safe Mode on most Android phones, press and hold the power button, then press and hold "Power off" on screen until you see a prompt to restart in Safe Mode. The exact steps vary by brand.

Once in Safe Mode, go to Settings > Apps > All apps and look for anything unfamiliar or recently installed. Tap it and select Uninstall. Restart normally and check whether the ads return.

If the uninstall button is greyed out, the app has granted itself device administrator access, which blocks removal.

Go to Settings > Security > Device admin apps (sometimes under "More security settings"). Find the app, disable its admin privileges, then return to Apps and uninstall it.

Step 2: Block Pop-Ups and Disable Notifications in Chrome

To stop pop-up ads and unwanted push notifications from websites, you need to adjust two separate settings inside Chrome.

Teams who manage shared Android devices commonly find that notification permissions are the most overlooked source of ongoing ad spam.

Open Chrome, tap the three-dot menu at the top right, go to Settings > Site settings > Notifications.

Toggle notifications off globally. Scroll through the Exceptions list and revoke permissions for any site you don't recognise.

While still in Site settings, tap Pop-ups and redirects and set it to Blocked.

Then clear your browser cache: go to Settings > Apps, find Chrome, tap Storage and cache, then Clear cache. This removes residual permissions that may still be triggering notifications.

For other browsers like Firefox or Samsung Internet, the notification and pop-up settings follow a similar pattern inside each browser's own settings menu.

Step 3: Turn Off Google Ad Personalization

Go to your Google account settings, select Data and Privacy, then scroll to Ad settings and turn off personalized ads. This stops Google from using your browsing and location history to target ads across apps and services.

To be clear about what this does and does not do: it reduces targeting, not volume. You will still see the same number of ads. They just won't be based on your personal data. It's a privacy improvement rather than a practical ad reduction.

Step 4: Check Manufacturer Ad Settings

This step is missing from most guides, but it matters on a large number of Android phones sold globally.

Samsung phones frequently show ads inside the Galaxy Store, weather widgets, and the lock screen through a "Magazine" style wallpaper feature.

To turn off lock screen ads, go to Settings > Lock screen > Wallpaper services and set it to None. To disable Galaxy Store recommendations, open the Store app, tap the three-dot menu, go to Settings, and turn off Personalized recommendations.

Xiaomi and MIUI phones include a dedicated ad toggle. Go to Settings > Passwords and security > Privacy > Ad services and switch it off. Also search for "Personalized ad recommendations" in the Settings search bar and turn that off separately.

Other brands have their own versions of this. Searching for your phone brand name plus "disable ads settings" usually surfaces the right page quickly.

Step 5: Enable Google Play Protect

Play Protect scans installed apps for known malicious or adware behavior. It runs automatically but is worth confirming is active, especially if you've installed apps from outside the Play Store.

As reported by TechCrunch, Google added real-time code-level scanning to Play Protect specifically to catch apps that try to disguise themselves to avoid detection.

Open the Google Play Store, tap your profile icon, select Play Protect, then tap the settings icon and confirm "Scan apps with Play Protect" is on. Running a manual scan takes about a minute and is worth doing after any suspicious app removal.

How to Get Rid of Ads on My Phone if You Use iPhone

iPhone users have fewer ad sources to deal with, but the fixes are also more limited in scope.

Step 1: How to Get Rid of Ads on My Phone via Apple's Privacy Settings

Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Apple Advertising and turn off Personalized Ads. Same caveat as the Android version: this is a data privacy setting, not an ad blocker.

The number of ads you see does not change, but your activity stops being used to target you across Apple's ad network.

Step 2: Block Safari Pop-Ups and Remove Notification Permissions

Go to Settings > Safari and toggle on Block Pop-ups. This handles most intrusive pop-up ads that appear while browsing.

For notification-based ads, go to Settings > Notifications and scroll through the list. Turn off notification access for any app or site you didn't intentionally approve. In practice, many iPhone users find a handful of entries they have no memory of enabling.

Step 3: Remove Any Apps You Don't Recognise

Go to Settings > Screen Time > See All Activity to review which apps have been active recently. If anything looks unfamiliar, delete it. Press and hold the app icon, then tap Remove App.

Step 4: Use an iPhone Ad Blocker in Safari

iOS allows content blockers to work inside Safari through a built-in extension system. Apps like AdGuard and 1Blocker filter ad scripts and trackers on websites. After installing one from the App Store, go to Settings > Safari > Extensions and enable it there.

These work for browser-based ads only. They have no effect on ads inside other apps like YouTube or Instagram.

How to Handle Ads in Apps You Want to Keep

Most free apps offer at least one path to removing ads: an in-app purchase to remove them, a premium subscription version, or both.

Check the app's settings or its store listing for any "Remove ads" or "Go Premium" option. It's the cleanest approach.

If the app has no paid option, a DNS-based ad blocker can filter ad traffic at the network level, which means it works across apps without any app-specific setup. AdGuard DNS and NextDNS are two well-documented options.

You configure them in your phone's network or VPN settings. They don't catch every in-app ad, but they reduce a meaningful number of them.

What's often overlooked is that browser-based content blockers have no effect on ads inside native apps. The two systems operate entirely separately, and mixing them up leads to frustration when browser tools don't fix what is actually an app-level problem.

What to Do If Ads Keep Coming Back

If you've worked through the steps above and ads reappear within a day or two, the responsible app may still be present with elevated permissions still active.

Go back to Settings > Apps > All apps and sort by install date. Look for anything added around the time the ads started. Check the Device admin apps list a second time.

If the problem persists after that, a factory reset is the most reliable resolution for removing adware from phone storage completely. Back up your photos, contacts, and files first.

On Android, go to Settings > General management > Reset > Factory data reset. On iPhone, go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Erase All Content and Settings.

Most people won't need this step. Persistent adware that survives every other fix is genuinely uncommon, but when it does happen, a reset is the correct call.

Conclusion

Start by identifying where your ads are appearing. That single step points you to the right fix faster than any checklist.

Browser ads, app ads, lock screen ads, and manufacturer ads each have their own solution. Check admin permissions if anything resists removal, and use a factory reset only if everything else has failed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why am I getting ads on my phone when I'm not using any app?

Ads appearing outside of any open app usually come from a background app with notification permissions, a website where you are allowed to send push notifications, or a manufacturer ad system. Start by checking your installed apps and notification permissions.

Does turning off personalized ads mean I will see fewer ads?

No. Turning off ad personalization stops your data from being used for targeting, but it does not reduce how many ads you see. You'll see the same volume of ads, just less targeted ones.

Is it safe to use a free ad blocker app?

Some are reliable, some are not. Ad blocker apps that route traffic through a VPN have access to your browsing data, so the developer's credibility matters. Apps from established security companies carry less risk than unknown free tools from unverified sources.

Can I block ads in YouTube on my phone?

Not through phone settings. YouTube's ads are delivered through its own systems, which standard mobile ad blockers cannot easily reach. As confirmed by The Verge, YouTube launched a global effort requiring users to either allow ads or subscribe to YouTube Premium for an ad-free experience.

Will blocking ads break the apps I use?

Browser content blockers occasionally affect website layouts. DNS-based blockers can cause some apps to load incorrectly if ad and content domains overlap. Most apps work fine. If something breaks, disabling the blocker temporarily usually identifies whether it's the cause.