How to block ads on Android

Pop-up ads used to be the bane of the Web. Click a random website? Get hit with pop-ups. Accidentally follow the wrong link? You guessed it: More pop-ups.

Thankfully, Web browsers and ad blockers have gotten more sophisticated, and the problem’s not as bad as it used to be. But pop-ups haven’t gone away entirely. They can still slip through the cracks on your desktop. Or, worse, your mobile browser, where they block more of the screen and can be harder to dismiss.

In this short primer, we’ll cover the basic tools you can use to block ads and pop-ups on Android phones.

How to stop pop-up ads in Chrome on your Android

Unlike the desktop version of Chrome, mobile Chrome does not support plug-ins. This means you’re left only with Chrome’s native pop-up blocker:

1. Open Chrome.
2. Tap the “⋮” menu.
3. Tap Settings.
4. Tap Site settings.
5. Tap Pop-ups blocked, and ensure the block filter is on.

How to get rid of pop-up ads on Samsung phones

If you use the default Chrome browser on a Samsung mobile phone, you can easily set up the native pop-up blocker. This should at least limit the number of pop-ups you see while browsing Chrome on your Samsung.

1. Open Chrome.
2. Tap the “⋮” menu.
3. Tap Settings.
4. Tap Site settings.
5. Tap Pop-ups and Redirects, and ensure the setting is off.
6. Return to Site settings, then tap Ads. This setting must also be turned off.

If you use the Samsung Internet browser, there’s a slightly different way to turn off pop-ups.

1. Open the Samsung Internet menu.
2. Tap More.
3. Tap Settings.
4. Tap Sites and Download.
5. Toggle on the Block Pop-ups setting.
6. Return to the Samsung Internet menu, then tap Ad blockers. From here, you can select an ad blocker that Samsung has approved for your browser.

Brave browser: a simple solution to block ads and pop-ups

Instead of fiddling with ad-block settings and plug-ins, there’s another option: Use a browser (like Brave) that blocks third-party ads and trackers (and pop-ups) by default. The Brave browser, for example, has a feature called Shields that blocks unwanted ads, pop-ups, and trackers automatically. With Brave, there’s no need to download a third-party ad blocker. Try it today.