How to Stop Personalized Ads on iPhone SE 3 (2022)
Getting bombarded with creepy targeted ads on your iPhone SE 3? Apple gives you the tools to turn them off—or at least limit them. If you’d rather not have ads based on your App Store activity, browsing history, or purchases, here’s how to disable personalized ads and limit app tracking on your iPhone.
What Are Personalized Ads?
Personalized (aka targeted or interest-based) ads are tailored to your activity. They’re based on:
- App usage
- Location data
- App Store downloads
- Purchase history
- Browsing activity (if using Safari or linked apps)
Even Apple uses this system to serve ads in the App Store, Apple News, and Stocks. Fortunately, Apple also gives you the option to opt out of these ad profiles.
How to Turn Off Personalized Ads on iPhone SE 3
- Open the Settings app.
- Scroll down and tap Privacy & Security.
- Tap Apple Advertising.
- Toggle Personalized Ads to OFF.
This tells Apple not to use your data to serve you targeted ads. It won’t reduce the number of ads you see—but they’ll be less tailored to your behavior.
How to Stop App Tracking (Even Beyond Apple Ads)
Apps from third-party developers—like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok—can also track your activity unless you tell them not to.
To stop apps from tracking you:
- Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking.
- Toggle Allow Apps to Request to Track to OFF.
This blocks apps from even asking for permission to track.
Already gave some apps access? You can disable tracking on a per-app basis:
- In the same Tracking menu, toggle off tracking for any listed app.
Limit Ads in Safari
If you use Safari to browse, you can block a lot of ad tracking too:
- Go to Settings > Safari.
- Scroll to the Privacy & Security section.
- Turn on Prevent Cross-Site Tracking.
- Optionally, turn off Block All Cookies if it’s causing issues—but keeping it on limits even more trackers.
You’re in Control
These settings won’t stop all ads, but they significantly reduce how much data advertisers use to target you. You can change your preferences anytime—and we recommend checking after each iOS update to make sure your settings stay intact.