How to Stop Pop-Up Ads on Your Phone?

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Is your Android phone playing ads randomly?

Encountering frequent pop-ups on your phone can be extremely annoying. Not only are they a distraction, but they ultimately slow your device down and can cause unwanted sites to open automatically in Android devices. Nobody wants pop-ups on their phone, but it’s an issue that Android users keep facing.

The good news is you can prevent those random ads popping up. And in this article, we will show you how to locate apps causing pop-ups and how you can fix them. At the same time, we will also teach you how you can eliminate those random full-screen ads on Android once and for all.

How do You Find Apps Causing Pop-Ups?

The first thing to keep in mind when considering how to remove pop up ads on Samsung S8 or other smartphones is that there isn’t one specific way to do this. You need to be a little clever with your phone; try all the methods discussed below, and at least one of these methods will help you locate the offender.

Do a Manual Check

The first thing is to ask yourself is when did you first realise “I’m getting ads on my phone”. Remember the app(s) you recently downloaded? They could be the culprit.

You can also open the recent apps tab (double click on the home button on most phones) and then see the applications you have been using. If random ads keep popping up on Samsung Galaxy S7/S8/S9, there would be a square icon alongside the home button to see the recent apps opened. In other devices, you will need to touch and drag the home button halfway up the screen to reveal the list of recent apps.

Check the reviews of the main suspects in the Google Playstore. Most of the time, you will find the apps causing you annoyance.

Image Credit: xda-cdn.com

Use Notifications to Lead You to the App

If you are getting unwanted notifications along with pop-ups, it will be easier for you to find the problem. When you get a notification, long press on it, until you see the ‘i’ (information sign) option.

When you tap on it, it will take you to the App Settings screen, where you can see which application is causing the ad. There, you will be able to see the app’s permission, which notifications and contacts. You can tap and turn off these notifications.

In some cases, pop-ups may also have an overview button next to them. Sometimes, the overview button would be fake – rather than taking you to the settings tab, they lead you to a malicious website that the pop-up generators so badly want you to visit.

Image Credit: gadgethacks.com

Check Which Apps are Currently Running

If your recent tab is empty and the pop-ups still don’t stop, you need to check for apps running in the background. There are two ways of doing it:

Using App Settings

Open Settings on your phone. Then, go to Apps (Apps & Notifications) > All Apps > Running. You will see a list of apps currently running on your phone. If you are uncertain if a specific application is causing these pop-ups, tap on it and Force Stop it. If the pop-ups stop, then the app is the culprit, and you can decide what to do with it.

While stopping apps, make sure you don’t stop system applications, as it may cause your phone to crash.

Image Credit: howtogeek.com

Using Developer Options

Activating Developer Options is a little advanced. Instead of viewing running apps, you can see the services that the applications have been running. Pop-ups are also services, and sometimes their suspicious names can help you to detect and address them.

For this way to work, you first need to enable the Developer Options. The process is different for every device, and the best way for you would be to Google your phone model or go through your device’s manual.

In most cases, you need to go to Settings > About Phone and tap on the build number several times. You will get a notification saying that the Developer Options have been enabled.

After enabling Developer Options, again, go to Settings on your phone. Then, touch on Developer Options. Scroll until you see Process Statistics or Settings, and select System > Advanced > Developer Options > Running Services. Instead of Running Services, you may also find Processes and Processes Stats.

There, you will see a list of processes. If something resembles or seems to resemble a pop-up service, you may stop it.

Image Credit: fonpit.de

To find out more about viewing and stopping background apps for various software, click on How to Stop Apps from Running in the Background.

Download Third-Party Applications

If you have tried all the above steps and still get irritating ads, you may find some luck by downloading relevant third-party applications. These tools can tell you which apps are showing advertisements on your device, and some can also block them.

An excellent place to start would be Pop Up Ad Detector, which can detect the origin of Lock screen ads, Home screen ads, and Notification bar ads. It can also tell where ads over other apps originate.

Other decent tools for detecting pop-ups include Goclean, AppWatch, and Popup ADs Detector.

Check for Malware and Adware

Malware is a program intentionally designed to hamper the normal functioning of a device to benefit the malware creator. They make their way into various devices without the owner knowing, and then slow down or upset the system they are in. In some cases, malware is intended for illegal activities like stealing credit cards, or blocking phones and asking for ransoms.

In the case of ads, people with malicious intent can inject adware onto your phone, which will force your device to show ads that you are not interested in. The malware creator makes money every time you are “forced” to view these ads.

Image Credit: spyware.com

You can check for malware in your device by checking the app list or installing anti-virus programs. We have another article dedicated to this: How to Remove Malware from Android.

Question: Is Your Phone from Xiaomi?

Redmi phones run on ads. The brand sells phones with great features and they are cheaper than its competitors. However, Redmi phone owners are shown Android ads on the home screen and notification tray to compensate for their low price points. If your concern is about ads showing in Redmi phones, you have nothing to worry about. They are a normal part of the Redmi business model.

Redmi phones only show ads when there is an internet connection, and they don’t overdo it. Ads on Redmi also don’t disturb the normal functioning of the phone or slow the device down.

How to Prevent Pop-Up Ads on Your Phone?

Once you fix the Android apps causing pop-ups on your phone, you need to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. Here are some points for you to remember to avoid too many pop-ups on your Android phone:

Only download applications from credible sources. Before downloading an app, ensure that it is not spam. There may be many alternative app download stores for Android, but it is always good to stick with Google Playstore.
Always check the reviews before installing an app from Google Playstore. In many cases, if an app shows many pop-ups, people would have mentioned it in the review section.
Sometimes, it may not be an app that is showing the pop-ups. It may be because of the websites you have visited with your browser. Make sure you only visit sites that have “HTTPS” and not just “HTTP” on the front and don’t click on unnecessary advertisements on your browser.
Download and install a proper anti-virus application on your phone. You will find plenty of them, both paid and unpaid, on Google Playstore. Download one with excellent reviews and you will be good to go.
Try downloading and using an ad blocker.

How to Stop Pop-Ups on Android From Chrome Browser

If you’re receiving pop-up ads from the Chrome browser, then it means you intentionally or accidentally allowed some website(s) to deliver ads. Here’s how to get rid of such Android chrome spam notifications.

1. Open the Chrome browser app.

2. Open Settings.

3. Scroll down and tap on Site settings followed by Pop-ups and redirects.

4. Toggle off the Pop-ups and redirects feature.

5. Go back to the Site Settings section and tap on Ads.

6. Toggle off the Ads feature as well.

How to Stop Notifications From Specific Websites

If you have the habit of allowing websites to send notifications, then your notification drawer will be crowded in no time. If you want to get rid of such notifications, follow these steps.

1. Open the Chrome browser app.
2. Visit the webpage that is causing trouble.
3. Tap on the More button (vertical three dots) and then tap on Info ( “i” enclosed in a circle).

4. You can now see the type of permissions given to the particular website. Tap on Site Settings.
5. Under Permissions, tap on Notifications.

6. Toggle off the Show notifications feature.

How to Stop Random Ads Popping up on S9 and Other Samsung Smartphones

If you’re using the browser from Samsung, you have the advantage of an inbuilt feature called Pop-up blocker. Here’s how you can enable it and get rid of those annoying notifications “forever”.

1. Open the browser.

2. Tap on the hamburger menu at the lower right corner.

3. From the pop-up menu, tap on Settings.

4. Scroll down and tap on Sites and downloads.

5. Now, toggle the Block pop-ups feature on.

How to Stop Pop-Up Ads From Unknown Sources

The Display over other apps feature can be quite annoying, especially when you are trying to perform an important task in a different app. As previously mentioned, tracing the source of pop-ups or notifications is the first step towards eliminating them.

If you see frequent pop-ups displaying over every other app, here’s how you can stop them all for good.

1. Open Settings.

2. Tap on Apps & notifications.

3. Scroll down and tap on Special app access.

4. From the list, tap on Display over other apps feature.

5. In the Display over other apps section, choose the app that delivers intrusive pop-ups.

6. Toggle off the Allow display over other apps feature.

How to Stop Pop-Ups of Notifications in the Notification Drawer

Although not as intrusive as pop-ups, notifications may still be annoying and harming your productivity. If you want to stop receiving notification pop-ups for a short period of time, you can always turn on the Do not disturb (DND) mode.

But if you want to stop notifications from specific apps, follow these steps.

1. In the Notifications drawer, swipe the notification which you want to see no more to the right.

2. Tap on the Settings icon and then tap on Stop notifications.

This might fully stop a particular category of notification from the app but may still show other types of notifications. To stop all kinds of notifications, follow these steps.

1. Tap on the information icon (represented by an enclosed “i”) which opens the App info section.

2. Tap on Notifications.

3. You can toggle off the Show notifications feature and never hear from the app again.

4. If you want to receive particular notification categories, uncheck the rest and you’re good to go.

Conclusion

Apps causing pop-ups is a prevalent issue in Android. You can address the matter quickly if you find culpable application. Go through the list of all recent apps running in your device and kill those that are making you see the advertisements that you don’t want. If you can’t manually find these disruptive apps, you can always download a third-party tool that hunts them down.