How to Get Rid of Ad Tracking on iPhone and iPad

Ever felt like there is a detective hidden somewhere within your iPhone or iPad? One who is constantly tracking your every move on the net?

If that doesn’t sound familiar, this should.

Have you ever been surfing the net for your favorite TV show and then boom! An ad about that show suddenly pops up when you are playing a video game that has nothing to do with the show?

If you have recently noticed an advertisement oddly like something you just checked out on the net, you should know that this isn’t happening because your iPhone got smarter or Siri picked up little details about your favorites- rather, your iPhone is watching you!

It is because you have the ad tracking feature on your iPhone/ iPad.

 

So…what is Ad tracking?

 

Apple, being the owner of the product you own, keeps track of your every move. Through this, they gather information about your age, location, and the apple products you own. They also gather information about the TV shows you love to watch, your eBook preferences, and a couple of other data they consider interesting.  

In other words, while you were downloading those video games, Apple knew. While you were reading some new stories on the News app, they jotted it down.

Although this might sound mind-boggling, Apple is doing this for a single reason: its iAds platform.

You might be asking- What on earth is iAds, and why is it enough reason for Apple to barge in on my privacy?

Good question.

In simple terms, iAds is that platform responsible for the inline banners and full-page pop-ups you notice whenever you use apps on your iPhone and iPad.

What Apple does is to collect your information- your age, location, gender, and preferences- and then, assign you to a group with members who have similar data such as you do. All of these are to ensure you receive a specific type of Ad- from a specific advertiser.

This is what results in the generation of iAds- they are customized based on your device activities. In the marketing world, this kind of advertising is known as targeted advertising.

However, to not violate their privacy contract with you, they would never share your sensitive data with third parties.

Although this might not be amongst the common iPhone glitches– or might not even be a glitch- having an ad pop-up while you are sucked into a video game is annoying.

 

How can you turn it off?

 

Although you can’t stop Apple from gathering your info, you can cut the rope between your device and the advertisers.

There are two ways through which you can block iPhone Ads:

• By turning off location-based ads
• By enabling the ‘Limit Ad Tracking’ feature on your phone.

How to turn off location-based iAds

 

Location-based iAds depend on your location to serve you Ads. If you turn this feature off, you can limit Ad tracking IOS.On your iPhone, limit ad tracking with these simple steps:

•       Open the Settings App
•       Go to Privacy
•       Tap Location services
•       Scroll down and hit System services
•       Toggle the Location-based iAds off.

 

How to stop Ad tracking via the ‘Limit Ad Tracking’ feature

 

Regardless of whether this feature is on or off, Apple would still have access to your data. However, the advertisers would find it useless because they won’t be able to send you targeted Ads.

•       Go to the Settings App
•       Tap Privacy
•       Scroll down and hit Advertising
•       Toggle the Limit Ad tracking switch on

 

Conclusion

 

That’s how to get rid of ads on iPhone or iPad. All you have to do is follow these steps. This way, those annoying Pop-ups would be extinct from your iPhone/iPad.