Blocking Popup Ads on Android
Popup ads are frustrating enough on desktop, but they’re even worse on a mobile device with limited screen size. If you’re sick of popups ruining your phone experience, we’ll explain how to stop popup ads on your Android phone.
Let’s discuss each of these in turn to help you defeat Android popup ads.
1. How to Stop Android Popups in Your Browser
If the sites you visit serve popup ads regularly, you can turn them off or disable them with a few methods.
Chrome’s Built-In Popup Blocker Options
Since Chrome is the default Android browser and you probably use it often, it makes sense to disable popups there first. Tweaking a quick setting will completely disable popups. To locate it, open Chrome and touch the three-dot Menu button. Select Settings, then navigate to Site settings.
In this menu, you’ll see a list of properties that affect how websites can interact with your device. Tap the Pop-ups and redirects entry and make sure the slider is set to the off (gray) position. Chrome will prevent popups, as well as sites redirecting you to places you don’t want to go.
While you’re here, you may also want to tap the Ads entry. Inside, make sure you have this slider turned off as well. This lets Chrome block intrusive or misleading ads on known spam sites.
If this doesn’t solve your problem for some reason, another step you can take is enabling Chrome’s data saver mode. While its primary intention is reducing the amount of mobile data you use to view websites, turning this on also strips some unnecessary elements from pages. To enable it, visit Menu > Settings > Data Saver and flip the slider On.
Popups aren’t vital to viewing a page’s content, of course. Enabling this setting may cause some websites to look strange, but you can decide whether that’s worth the better experience.
Try Another Android Browser
If you can’t get rid of popups in Chrome, you might consider using another browser. You’ll find many options on the Play Store designed for blocking malicious popups and providing an interface free of annoyances.
If you still see popups after using these settings and trying other browsers, you may want to reconsider the sites you visit. Shady websites with explicit content or pirated material are often loaded with intrusive ads that can still get around popup blockers.
2. How to Block Full-Screen Popup Ads on Android
We’ve figured out how to stop popups from appearing in your browser. But what about ads popping up on your phone when you’re using other apps or just navigating around your home screen?
Popups in a Particular App
If you see popups when you’re using a certain game or app, chances are that the current app is the culprit. In those cases, you have to decide whether the app is still worth using despite the ads. Ads help developers make money from free apps, but you might not want to put up with intrusive popups.
To stop popups ads inside an app, you can often purchase the Pro or ad-free versions of the app. You’ll usually find these as an in-app purchase, though they’re occasionally a separate download on Google Play. Unfortunately, not every developer offers these.
Aside from rooting your device, the only way to block popups inside an app is to stop using it. You can put your phone in airplane mode to stop ads in any app or game, but that won’t work if it requires internet access to play.
3. How to Stop Popups in the Notification Shade
While not technically popups, notification ads are still a problem and just as annoying. If you see spam notifications up in your notification area, a quick flip of a switch can shut them down for good. These instructions will differ slightly depending on which version of Android you use.
Pull down from the top of your screen to open your notification area and long-press on the notification in question. You should see the name of the app responsible for it. Tap the I in the circle icon to bring up that app’s info.
On any recent version of Android, you can also visit Settings > Apps & notifications > See all X apps and tap an app’s name to open those settings.
Once there, tap the Notifications entry to change settings for that app’s notifications. On Android Oreo and later, you might be able to disable certain kinds of notifications. On every Android version, you can disable all notifications for an app by turning off the slider.
If you don’t want to hide every notification from an app, but don’t have the fine-grained options in Settings, you’ll have to dive into the app’s specific settings. Look for a gear icon or a three-dot menu with a Settings entry. A Notifications header might hold an option to disable some kinds of notifications but not others.
For, For instance, to disable the IMDb app’s annoying trailer notifications, you have to tap the person icon in the top-right corner, then tap the three-dot menu followed by Settings. Choose Notifications Settings, and you can disable the trailer ads.
