How to Disable Ad Tracking on iPhone and iOS Browsers
About Ad Tracking on Your iPhone
Apple prides itself on protecting your privacy, but it still collects data about how you use your iPhone. Although Apple uses this data to show you targeted ads, it doesn’t share anything with third parties and keeps your data anonymous by removing any personal identifiers.
After analyzing your data, Apple places you in a group with at least 5,000 similar people. Apple then delivers the same targeted ads to everyone in that group. Third-party advertisers, such as Criteo services, can partner with Apple to target their tracked ads at particular groups of users.
How to Turn Off Ad Tracking on Your iPhone
After turning off ad tracking on your iPhone, you’ll still see the same number of ads as you saw before. However, you’ll now see generic ads instead of targeted ones. The settings below affect the ads you see in the App Store, Apple News, and Stocks apps.
Disabling ad tracking on your iPhone also stops other advertising services such as Criteo from using Apple’s data to target you. Apple achieves this by replacing your unique identifier with all zeros. That way, it’s impossible to distinguish your data from anyone else with ad tracking turned off.
To disable ad tracking in iOS, change each of the settings below. You may also want to limit tracking in your internet browsers, which we’ll explain how to do after.
Limit Ad Tracking
To disable ad tracking on your iPhone, open the Settings app, and tap on the Privacy option. At the bottom of the page, go to Advertising, then turn on the Limit Ad Tracking option.
This is also how you disable third-party advertisers, like Criteo services, from sending you targeted ads.
Limit Location-Based Ads
Apple may still use your iPhone’s location data to target you with location-based ads. You can disable this feature from the Location Services settings.
Open the Settings app and tap on the Privacy option. Go to Location Services, then scroll down and open System Services. Turn off the option for Location-Based Apple Ads.
Reset Advertising Identifier
You may want to reset your advertising identifier in addition to disabling ad tracking. This doesn’t delete the data Apple collected about you, but it makes it so that no one can link that data with you again. Apple achieves this by giving you a new identifying number with no link to your previous identifier.
Open the Settings app and go to Privacy > Advertising. Then tap the Reset Advertising Identifier button and confirm you want to Reset the Identifier.
Turn Off Background App Refresh
Background App Refresh allows apps to keep running even when you aren’t using them. This is incredibly useful for some apps, as it allows them to back up data or receive new messages. But other apps take advantage of this access to track your data and send it to advertisers.
Reduce ad tracking on your iPhone by disabling Background App Refresh for untrustworthy apps.
Open the Settings app and go to General > Background App Refresh. Turn it off entirely or use the toggles to disable it for specific apps.
Open the Settings app and tap Safari. Under the Privacy & Security section, turn on the options to Prevent Cross-Site Tracking and to Block All Cookies.
