Your smartphone contains a trove of information advertisers utilize to build a custom profile of your daily phone usage. Your profile contains information on where you’ve been, what you’ve been looking at, and what you’ve been clicking on. Advertisers then push targeted ads based on your perceived interests.
Do you want advertisers collecting this information about you? If not, you have the ability to reset what’s called your “Advertising Identifier,” which will cause advertisers to “forget” who you are. While you can’t completely turn off the Ad ID, both Android and iOS phones give you the option to reset it as often as you’d like.
Here’s how to do it:
On your iOS device, go to Settings > Privacy, then scroll to the bottom to Advertising > Reset Advertising Identifier > Reset Identifier. You can also turn on the option to limit ad tracking.
The steps for resetting the Ad ID on Android devices may vary slightly. Go to Settings > Google > Ads > Reset Advertising ID. You may also see an option to “Opt-out of Ads Personalization,” or it may say “Opt-out of Interest-Based Ads,” depending on your phone model. Look for a toggle switch or checkbox to enable opting out.
If you use a smartphone, there isn’t much you can do to completely prevent ad tracking of some sort, but you can limit it. Even if you aren’t concerned about advertisers building a custom profile on you, it can be useful to reset your Ad ID occasionally if you’re seeing too many of the same ads over and over.
For security purposes, we advise resetting the Advertising Identifier on your phone monthly.
If you have any questions, we’re here to help… send us an e-mail or give us a call!