Learn how to disable personalized ads in the Play Store and take back control of your browsing experience. Say goodbye to invasive advertising with these simple steps.Take advantage of the new privacy options offered by the Google Play Store to disable personalized ads.
Imagine this situation: one day you decide to install a dating app from the Play Store. You happen to be a very nice guy and you end up finding a girlfriend, so you uninstall the app. But, lo and behold! Now every time you go to the Play Store you can’t stop seeing suggestions for you to try other dating apps.
This is just one example, but it can happen to you with any type of app. This is because the Google Play Store also collects your data and uses it to show you personalized ads within the app store.
But it doesn’t end there, because later when you visit a website, go to YouTube or use some other app, Google will use that personal information to continue showing you personalized advertising. In other words, the aforementioned dating app will follow you for life wherever you go if you don’t do something about it.
Disable personalized ads in the Google Play Store
The easiest way to avoid this type of targeted advertising is to disable a couple of options in the Google Play settings menu.
- Open the Google Play Store app and tap on your profile picture, located in the upper right corner of the screen.
- Go to “ Personalization in Play ” and go to “ Personalization and Play history ”.
- You will see that the “ Web & App Activity ” option is in the “ On ” state. Open the drop-down menu and select “ Disable ”.
- If instead of just disabling personalization you also want to delete your activity history, instead of clicking “Disable” choose the “ Disable and delete activity ” option.
Google should no longer show you ads related to your activity on the Play Store from now on. However, it can still use other data, such as the make and model of your smartphone or tablet, to continue showing you personalized ads.
For example, if you have a Xiaomi phone, you will probably continue to see Xiaomi ads. If you do not want Google to use this information in its advertising campaigns, follow these steps:
- Open the Google Play Store app, tap on your profile picture and go to “ Personalization on Play ”.
- Go to “ Other Play customization options ”.
- Turn off the “ Details of your device ” tab.
Finally, if we want Google Play to not take into account a certain app or game when showing us advertising, we can also manage it in the following way:
- Go back to the Play Store, tap on your profile picture and go to “Personalization on Play.”
- Go to “Other Play customization options” and in the “ Your Play content ” section, tap “Manage.”
- Here you’ll see a list of all the apps and games you’ve purchased or downloaded with your Google account. Turn off the switch for any apps you don’t want to be used as a reference for suggestions and personalized ads.
Now you know how to have greater control over the data that is collected while browsing the Google Play Store. Although it is a fairly basic system, the truth is that Google has only recently implemented it, and it has only become available since last August 2024. Take advantage of it and get the most out of it!