Android: advertising ID and ad settings
Last checked: 28 Sep 2026
Android apps can use your phone's advertising ID to personalise ads. Deleting it is the main setting. You'll still see ads; they're just not tied to that ID.
Advertising ID
- Delete advertising IDAds continue, less personalised
Settings → Google → All services → Ads → Delete advertising IDRemoves your advertising ID; apps that ask for it get a string of zeros. Available on Android 12 and later, and on all Google Play devices since April 2022.
Google's Android help puts Ads under "Privacy and security" in Settings → Google → All services; Google's developer page describes it as Settings → Privacy → Ads. Apps may use other identifiers of their own, and you still see ads.
- Reset advertising IDAds continue, less personalised
Settings → Google → All services → Ads → Reset advertising IDReplaces your advertising ID with a new one. Google says apps can still show personalised ads, but they may be less relevant for a while.
- Older Android versionsAds continue, less personalised
Settings → Privacy → Advanced → Ads → Opt out of Ad PersonalisationAsks apps not to use your advertising ID for personalised ads. Older versions only; newer ones have Delete advertising ID instead.
Ad privacy switches
- Ad privacyAds continue, less personalised
Settings → Google → All services → Ads → Ads privacyThree switches: Ad topics (Android infers topics from your apps and may share up to three with an app), App-suggested ads, and Ad measurement. Turn any of them off.
Removing a topic doesn't stop ads on that topic. Google's status page lists these Android features as scheduled for phaseout, so the switches may disappear in future; deleting your advertising ID remains the main step.
Samsung
- Samsung phonesAds continue, less personalised
Settings → Security and privacy → More privacy settings → AdsOn Samsung phones, the Google Ads setting (reset or delete your advertising ID) is listed here.
From Samsung's US support page, which doesn't state a One UI version.
Your Google account has its own ad settings, separate from the phone's. See Google ad settings.
Sources
- Google Play Console help: Advertising ID
- Android help: Ads settings (Google Play services)
- Android help: Ad privacy
- Google: My Ad Center help (on your devices)
- Privacy Sandbox status page (updated 14 Aug 2026)
- Samsung US: privacy settings
This page describes your options and how organisations say they handle requests. It isn't legal advice. See About & sourcing to report a correction.