Kill your ad IDs

Reset checklist

Google

• Turn personalized ads off in My Ad Center. The single most effective click on this page.

  Turn off now

• Pause or auto-delete Web & App Activity and YouTube History. Set auto-delete to 3 months if you don't want to pause entirely.

  Activity controls · My Activity

• In Chrome, open chrome://settings/adPrivacy and switch off Ad topics, Site-suggested ads and Ad measurement. Copy the address; browsers don't allow links to settings pages.

  Copy address

Android

• Settings → Security & privacy → Privacy → Ads → Delete advertising ID. On older versions: Settings → Google → Ads. Deleting (not just resetting) gives apps a string of zeros.

iPhone, iPad & Mac

• Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking → turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track. Apps now get a zeroed-out IDFA automatically.
• Settings → Privacy & Security → Apple Advertising → turn off Personalized Ads.
• On Mac: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Apple Advertising → turn off Personalized Ads.

Windows

• Settings → Privacy & security → General → turn off Let apps show me personalized ads by using my advertising ID.
• Turn off personalized ads on your Microsoft account. Covers Bing, MSN, Outlook and Xbox.

  Microsoft ad settings

Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads)

Meta builds most of your ad profile from activity outside its apps: the Meta Pixel on shopping sites, app SDKs, and customer lists that advertisers upload. One Accounts Center covers Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Threads, so you only do this once. The paths below are for the web; the apps use the same names under Settings → Accounts Center.

Reset: cut off the data

• Your information and permissions → Your activity off Meta technologies → Clear previous activity. Wipes the history of sites and apps that reported your visits and purchases to Meta.

  Your information and permissions

• Same page → Manage future activity → Disconnect future activity. This is the important half: clearing alone lets it refill. You'll be logged out of apps where you used "Log in with Facebook", so switch those to email logins.
• Ad preferences → Manage info → Activity information from ad partners → choose No, don't make my ads more relevant by using this information.

  Meta ad preferences

• Ad preferences → Manage info → Categories used to reach you: turn off employer, job title, education and relationship status, and remove every entry under Other categories. These are the inferred labels ("frequent traveler", "likely to move") that advertisers target.
• Ad preferences → Manage info → Audience-based advertising: open each advertiser and remove yourself from their lists. These businesses uploaded your email address or phone number. A long list here is a map of who sold or shared your contact details.
• Ad preferences → Manage info → Ads shown outside of Meta → turn off. Stops your profile following you into other apps through the Audience Network.
• Ad preferences → Manage info → Social interactions → Only me. Stops your likes being shown to friends inside ads.
• Your information and permissions → Upload contacts: turn off continuous upload in each app and delete what's already uploaded. Your address book feeds "People you may know" and lookalike matching.
• In the Facebook app: Settings & privacy → Settings → Location → turn off Location history and Background location. Then set the app's location permission to Never or While using in your phone's settings.
• In the EU, EEA, Switzerland or UK: Ad preferences → Ad personalization (or the consent prompt) → choose less personalized ads. These use only what you're looking at right now, not your history. You can also object to Meta using your posts for AI training from the Privacy Center.

Poison: scramble what's left

Meta keeps some signal no matter what you switch off, so feed it bad signal. A profile that matches the wrong person is worth less to advertisers than an accurate one.

• Ad preferences → Ad topics: press See less on every topic that's actually you. Leave the wrong guesses alone; they're free noise.
• On ads that match you, tap ··· → Hide ad → It's not relevant to me. On ads that are way off, click through and scroll for a bit. Engaging with the wrong ads trains the model toward the wrong person.
• Pick a decoy persona (the chaff generator has some) and spend a few minutes a week following, liking and searching for its interests on Facebook and Instagram. Keep it consistent. Random likes are easy to filter out; a coherent fake hobby isn't.
• Fence Meta off from the rest of your browsing: Firefox's Facebook Container, a separate browser profile used only for Meta, or the apps only (never logged in on the web). Then block the Meta Pixel everywhere else with the hosts builder (the Meta pixel group).

Nuke: start over

• Before deleting anything, go to Your information and permissions → Download your information. The ads and off-Meta activity folders in the archive show exactly who has been reporting on you.
• Optional: Personal details → Account ownership and control → Deactivation or deletion. Deletion is final after 30 days. Advertisers' uploaded lists still exist, so do the data broker cleanup too.

Platforms & the ad industry

• Amazon: choose Do not show me interest-based ads provided by Amazon.

  Amazon advertising preferences

• X (Twitter): Settings → Privacy and safety → Ads preferences → turn off personalized ads.
• Run the industry opt-outs in each browser you use. They work with cookies, so redo them after clearing cookies.

  DAA WebChoices (US) · NAI opt-out · Your Online Choices (EU)

• Turn on Global Privacy Control: a legally recognized "do not sell" signal in several US states. Built into Firefox (Settings → Privacy), Brave and DuckDuckGo; available as an extension elsewhere.

  About GPC

• On your smart TV, turn off ACR / Viewing information / Live Plus and interest-based ads. The menu name differs by brand: look under Privacy or Terms & Policies.

Verify

• Check how trackable your browser still is. Fingerprinting works without cookies or IDs.

  EFF Cover Your Tracks · AmIUnique

Next: your profile also lives with data brokers you never signed up with. Remove yourself from data brokers, for free.

Why delete instead of reset? A reset gives you a fresh ID, and new tracking starts immediately. Deleting (Android 12+) or blocking tracking requests (iOS) hands apps a meaningless all-zero ID, so there's nothing new to profile. Further reading: Pixel Defence's guide and NordVPN's walkthrough.