Xiaomi is one of the biggest smartphone manufacturers in the world. The made it big by selling quality products at affordable prices. One of the ways Xiaomi manages to keep the price low is though the use of advertisements built in to their customized Android user interface, MIUI. With consumer’s increasingly aware of targeted ads, Xiaomi’s decision to push ads on their MIUI interface is annoying to say the least. Xiaomi’s apps seem to be littered with them. While there isn’t a way to opt out of them completely, there are ways to minimize the amount of ads you see while using your Xiaomi device. Additionally, disabling some of these will ensure that some personal information, such as browsing history, isn’t collected.

Xiaomi Devices Running MIUI 11

The latest update to Xiaomi’s MIUI software has made disabling ads a lot easier. To check whether or not your Xiaomi phone or tablet is running MIUI 11, open your Settings app and tap on “My device”. On the next screen, find “MIUI version”. If it says MIUI 11, then you’re running the latest version of MIUI. If it doesn’t say MIUI 11, you can always try to upgrade your software. To see if an update is available for your device, simply tap on “System Update” at the top of the screen.

If your Xiaomi device is running MIUI 11, simply launch the Settings app. From there, select on “Mi Account -> Privacy”. On the next screen you should see a toggle button labelled “System Ads”. Tap the toggle to turn off system advertisements in MIUI 11.

Xiaomi Devices Running MIUI 10 and Under

Disabling ads in Xiaomi devices running MIUI 10 and under will require a little more elbow grease, but it will deliver the same results. Instead of a one click fix, you’ll have to manually disable advertising in various individual software packages.

Disable MSA App

MSA stands for “MIUI System Ads”, which is an application pre-installed on Xiaomi devices. Its sole function is to push advertisements into various aspects of Xiaomi’s MIUI software. Unfortunately, end users cannot simply uninstall this app. However, users can still disable it. To do so, launch the Settings app and head to “Additional Settings -> Authorization and Revocation” and set the options labelled “MSA” to off. It’s worth noting that Xiaomi really doesn’t want you to disable this app. Don’t be discouraged if you get a message saying it can’t be disabled, you’ll probably have to do this a few times before it works.

Disable Personal Ad Recommendations

Next, you’ll need to turn off the personalized “recommendations” that Xiaomi is keen on bombarding you with. By disabling personal ad recommendations, you are effectively stopping Xiaomi from collecting your usage data, such as your browsing history. Open up the Settings app and tap on “Additonal Settings”. Select “Privacy” and look for “Ad Services”. Tapping on that will give you the option to toggle “Personalized Ad Recommendations” off.

Disable Ads in Mi Security

Launch the Mi Security app and tap on the cog icon in the top right of the screen. Find the toggle switch labelled “Recommendations” and flick it off.

Disable Ads in Mi Video

Open the Mi Video app and head to the “Account” menu. From here, select “Settings”. On the next screen, you’ll want to toggle off both “Recommendations” and “Push Notifications”. Alternatively, you can always install a different video player app, such as VLC Media Player or MX Player.

Disable Ads in Mi Music App

Launch the Mi Music app and tap on the menu button on the top-left of the screen (it looks like three lines stacked on top of one another). From here select “Settings -> Advanced Settings”. Then simply toggle off “Recommendations”. As with your video app, you can always install a third party music player that isn’t ad supported like Musicolet.

Disable Ads in Mi Web Browser

MIUI’s default browser is fine, however we recommend that you use a more feature rich web browser like Chrome. However, if you are planning on using Mi Web Browser, you’re going to want to limit those ads. To do so, open the Mi Browser app. Next, open the app’s menu by tapping on the three stacked lines icon in the bottom-right of the screen. Once you’re in the app’s menu, select “Settings -> Advanced -> Top Sites Order” and toggle off “Recommendations”.

Disable Ads in Mi File Manager & Downloads

Launch the Mi File Manager app and tap on the menu icon (three stacked lines) in the top-left of the screen. From there, select “Settings” and toggle off “Show Recommended Content”. Follow the same steps for the Downloads app.

Do you have a Xiaomi device? How do you feel about integrated system advertisements? Would you like other manufacturers to adopt this practice if it meant cheaper prices? Let us know in the comments!

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Cameron Summerson is ex-Editor-in-Chief of Review Geek and served as an Editorial Advisor for How-To Geek and LifeSavvy. He covered technology for a decade and wrote over 4,000 articles and hundreds of product reviews in that time. He’s been published in print magazines and quoted as a smartphone expert in the New York Times. Read more.

Ads are an unfortunate necessity on the internet—they’re how sites like this one are able to operate. But if you find personalized ads a little too creepy, you can tell Google (one of the internet’s biggest ad networks) to stop showing you personalized ads.

That way, instead of getting ads for things that you’ve recently searched for (or similar items), you could see completely unrelated, unpersonalized ads that aren’t based on your search and browser history. This way, you can still support the sites you love without feeling like Google’s stalking your every move.

If you’re an Android user, there are actually two steps to opting out: one in your Google account (which is the main opt-out method), and one on your Android device, which instructs apps not to personalize your ad experience. If you’re not an Android user, one step is all it takes.

We’ll cover both here, starting with the former.

Step One (Everyone): Opt Out Within Your Google Account

For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to focus on how to do this on your browser, though the setting exists on some Android phones as well. Open your browser and head to Google’s “My Account” page while signed in. If it’s been a while since you’ve logged in, you may have to enter your password here.

On this page, you’re looking for one setting in particular: Ad Settings. You’ll find it in the center section—should be the third option from the top. Click it.

This will open the Ads Settings page for your account, but there’s one more hoop to jump through here—click “Manage Ad Settings” to get into the real meat and potatoes.

This page is pretty straightforward. For more information on what exactly you’re opting out of, read through the page—it should give you a pretty good feel for what will change when you opt out. If you’re committed to the idea of a non-personalized ad experience, hit that little toggle on the right side. You can also de-select the checkbox that allows Google to store said ad data.

This will bring up one more popup to let you know exactly what’s going to happen, and if you’re okay with that go ahead and tap “Turn off.” Boom, personalized settings are off.

After you’ve turned off Ads Personalization, a popup will appear with some options to check out Google Contributor and control other ads with AdChoices. Just click “Got it.”

There’s one more thing you’ll probably want to do here: install the DoubleClick opt out extension. This is basically an add-on for Chrome (it’s also available for IE and Firefox) that permanently opts you out of the DoubleClick cookie that Google uses for ads. Basically, this ensures you still retain the “opt-out” status even after clearing history and cookies.

To download the extension, either click this link or head to the bottom of the Ads Personalization page and click the “DoubleClick opt out extension” link. Once installed, it’s active—you don’t have to do anything.

If you’d rather leave personalized ad settings on, but want better control over what you see, you can do that in the “Your topics” section just below where you opt-out of ads altogether. Keep in mind these settings are personalized for you according to your search history, so your options will likely look very different than mine.

If you’re an Android user and prefer not to get in front of a computer to tweak your settings, you can find the same thing in Settings > Google > Personal info & Privacy > Ads Settings. This is basically just a quick link to the Ads Settings page under My Account on the web, so the same results should show up here as highlighted above—thus, just follow the above-listed instructions.

Step Two (Android Users Only): Opt Out of Personalized App Ads

If you use Android, there’s another tweak that needs to be made—fortunately, this one’s quick and simple.

First, head into the Settings menu—pull down the notification shade and tap the cog icon to get there.

Scroll down until you see the “Google” entry in the Personal section. Tap that.

From here, find the “Ads” entry, which is listed under the Services subhead.

There are a few options here, but you want to click the toggle beside “Opt out of Ads Personalization.” Basically, we’re all opted-in by default, and you must do this to opt out.

That’s it—instead of seeing personalized ads in apps, you’ll either see generic placements or something related to the app itself.

While this won’t prevent you from seeing AdSense Ads, it will keep those ads from appearing to “watch” what you’re doing. This is enough peace of mind for some users, and provides additional feelings of privacy, which is important.

Chris Hoffman is Editor-in-Chief of How-To Geek. He’s written about technology for over a decade and was a PCWorld columnist for two years. Chris has written for The New York Times and Reader’s Digest, been interviewed as a technology expert on TV stations like Miami’s NBC 6, and had his work covered by news outlets like the BBC. Since 2011, Chris has written over 2,000 articles that have been read nearly one billion times—and that’s just here at How-To Geek. Read more.

Modern mobile operating systems — Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, and Microsoft’s Windows 10 — all provide a unique advertising identifier to apps you use. Apps use this identifier to track your interests and provide personalized ads.

If you’d rather not see personalized ads in apps, all operating systems provide a way to disable — or just reset — your identifier. You’ll still see ads, they just won’t be personalized. These settings are just for apps, not websites in your browser.

What This Does (and What This Doesn’t Do)

This doesn’t disable in-app ads, or reduce the number of ads you’ll see. Instead, it disables access to a tracking feature that normally allows ad networks to track your usage across apps. This is used to build up a personalized ad profile about you and serve targeted ads.

With this feature disabled, you won’t see ads specifically targeted to you based on other apps you were using. For example, if you’re shopping for a product in App A, you won’t see ads for that type of product in App B. You will see ads for that type of product in App A, however — this just prevents cross-app ad-tracking.

iPhone & iPad

Apple introduced this option in iOS 6. Previously, ads relied on a unique device identifier to track your device — always. Now, they rely on an ad-tracking identifier you can disable or reset. This affects the in-app ads provided by Apple’s iAd network.

To change this setting, open the Settings app, select the Privacy category, and tap the Advertising option at the bottom of the screen. Activate the “Limit Ad Tracking” option to disable interest-based ads or tap “Reset Advertising Identifier” if you’d like to continue seeing interest-based ads in the future but wipe your existing profile.

You can also disable location-based ads, if you like. Open the Settings screen, select the Privacy category, and tap Location Services. Tap the “System Services” option at the bottom of the list and disable “Location-based iAds.”

Android

There’s a setting that does the same thing on Android phones and tablets, too. It works similarly to the feature on iOS. Rather than using a unique, unchangeable identifier to identify your device, it uses an “anonymous” ID that can be reset or disabled.

This option is found in the Google Settings app Google quietly added to devices via Google Play Services back in 2013, so you should have it on your device.

Open your app drawer and launch the Google Setting app. Tap “Ads” under Services and enable the “Opt out of interest-based ads” option. You can also reset your advertising ID from here by tapping “Reset advertising ID”.

Windows 10

Windows 10 has a similar setting for its apps and their ads. You’ll find this particular setting in the Settings app. Open the Start menu, click Settings, and select the Privacy category. At the top of the General pane, you’ll see a “Let apps use my advertising ID for experiences across apps (turning this off will reset your ID)” option. Disable this setting to disable those personalized ads. To reset your ID, just disable the setting and reenable it.

This setting only affects those new “universal apps” you get from the Windows Store. It won’t affect any traditional Windows desktop apps that use advertising — Microsoft’s own Skype desktop program, for example. This setting should be in the same place on Windows 10 phones.

The Web

There’s no similar setting for traditional Windows desktop programs, Mac software, or Linux applications. Instead, you’ll generally get those interest-based ads from within your web browser.

Advertising networks track you in a variety of ways, including by asking your web browser to store cookies and tying your activity to an account you stay logged in with on different services.

A variety of websites and ad networks do provide some control over whether you see those interest-based ads on the web. For example, Google offers pages where you can control interest-based ads when signed into Google, and when not signed into Google. There are other opt-out tools, like the Digital Advertising Alliance Consumer Choice page and the Ad Choices page for European users. Other ad networks and services may have their own options for controlling this.

This is a scattershot approach necessitated because the “Do Not Track” option integrated into modern browsers is largely ignored. You could also just clear your cookies every time you close your web browser. You’d have to log into websites you use over and over, but no data would be built up over time — unless it’s account-based data and you always log back into the same websites.

Of course, whether personalized, interest-based ads are actually a problem is a matter of some disagreement. This does ensure you’ll see ads that are targeted to you, at least theoretically — you won’t see ads for diapers if you’re not a parent, for example. In practice, some people do find them “creepy” — whether you want to see them is up to you.

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Pro tip: How to opt out of interest-based ads on your Android phone

Pro tip: How to opt out of interest-based ads on your Android phone

Jack Wallen shows you how to opt out of interest-based advertising on your Android device to improve anonymity on your smartphone or tablet.

With Google, there’s always a tie-in with searching and advertising. If you’re on your Android device, and you have a Google account tied to that device (which you most likely do), Google uses a specific advertising ID to help apps refine the ads they display on your phone or tablet. This means, with the help of that unique ID, those apps track your searching to better refine their ads just for you.

Some users don’t like this concept. The very act of tracking a search history means they are “watching.” Fortunately, this is Android, so you can prevent it from happening. What’s nice is that you don’t have to install a third-party app to do so — you just have to know where to look to disable the settings.

As you might expect, it’s a bit hidden. I was digging around on one of my devices the other day and just happened to come across the setting, and I thought “That’s interesting.” And so, I bring this to you. Here’s how you opt-out of those interest-based ads.

  1. On the Android device, open Settings
  2. Tap Accounts & sync (this may vary, depending on your device)
  3. Locate and tap on the Google listing
  4. Tap Ads
  5. Tap the check box for Opt out of interest-based ads (Figure A)
  6. If you’re extra paranoid, you can also tap Reset advertising ID to reset the ID

That’s it. Your Google account (on that device) will not longer be tracked for interest-based ads.

Figure A

Opting out on a Verizon-branded HTC M8.

If you have more than one device, you’ll notice those IDs are not synced across devices.

If you prefer to remain a bit more anonymity than what the Android out-of-the-box experience allows, give yourself a hand and opt out of interest-based ads on your device. Even though these advertising IDs are anonymous, they are used to track your interests. You can now opt out and know your interests aren’t tracked for advertising.

What do you think of using such IDs to help focus advertising on devices and browsers? Share your thoughts in the discussion thread below.

Your online behavior is tracked, without cookies, across multiple devices to form a single profile, but are you proactive about protecting your privacy by opting out?

If you don’t use the online anonymity network Tor, then you might not have more than a passing interest in the fact that the NSA sometimes uses ads, and cookies, to track and identify Tor users. To the NSA, you and your life may likely be yawnsville; you may be too “boring” to be a “person of interest” who is important enough to track (or maybe not). To an online advertiser, there is nothing too boring about your online browsing activity to track.

The marketing practice of tracking online behavior with cookies is certainly not new, but do you even see, nevertheless click on, ads? Many people haven’t seen ads while browsing for years and years thanks to extensions like Adblock Plus. Even if you don’t see those targeted ads, they can still be tracking you; so can social networks, something easily proved by using browser extensions like Abine’s DoNotTrackMe, Ghostery or Collusion.

While there is a chance a person could be tracked online via something like evercookie, created by Samy Kamkar, that persistent tracking cookie has been around for about three years. Much has changed in the last year alone and tracking people online via cookies is old school. Being able to identify your online behavior to track you across all your devices, without using cookies, is where it’s at now. Some people have suggested that cross-device tracking reached a “tipping point” in 2013.

Google is working on replacing traditional third-party cookies in Chrome with an “anonymous identifier for advertising, or AdID,” to deliver targeted ads based on browsing history. Although Chrome is currently the most popular browser, it might not be your mobile web browser of choice.

How many digital devices do you use per day to get online? A laptop, smartphone, tablet, work PC? One recent report found that “the average American consumer uses more than three devices to access the Web.” Studies suggest we share social media differently on mobile than we do on a desktop. We research retail products and shop differently on each device. Cross-devise advertising, tracking consumers across multiple screens, multiple devices, was a hot topic at the 10th Annual Advertising Week held in September. In fact, it’s been called the “hottest marketing topic of the year” [pdf].

“Drawbridge is one of several start-ups that have figured out how to follow people without cookies, and to determine that a cellphone, work computer, home computer and tablet belong to the same person, even if the devices are in no way connected,” reported the New York Times in an article titled “Selling secrets of phone users to advertisers.” If you want to see something creepy, watch the numbers fly by on the Drawbridge counter. It won’t be long before it rolls over to 800 million “devices bridged for precision audience targeting.”

“We’re observing your behaviors and connecting your profile to mobile devices,” said Eric Rosenblum, chief operating officer at Drawbridge. But don’t call it tracking. “Tracking is a dirty word,” he said.

Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan, founder of Drawbridge, added that “its pinpointing was so accurate that it could show spouses different, personalized ads on a tablet they share. Before, she said, ‘ad targeting was about devices, not users, but it’s more important to understand who the user is’.”

Besides Drawbridge, numerous other companies like Greystripe, Tactads, Tapad can track and profile users across devices. But if you don’t know about it, then how can you opt-out to help protect your privacy?

Since privacy is important to consumers, Drawbridge reached out to Data Privacy Management company TRUSTe to offer “privacy-safe ads.” It doesn’t happen automatically. If you don’t want your online behavior to be profiled and tracked across multiple screens for targeted advertising, then it’s up to you to take action. How it works:

TRUSTe enabled mobile ads served by Drawbridge carry an AdChoices Icon. If a user clicks on the icon, they will have the option to avoid any interest-based ad targeting from TRUSTe partners, or to avoid any Drawbridge ads. Once opted out, that choice will apply across all the devices that Drawbridge connects to that unique user.

While it’s nice to have some choices about protecting your privacy across multiple devices, you must be proactive about it. Sadly, most folks are not. According to TRUSTe, “During July 2013, out of nearly 15 1⁄2 million impressions of Drawbridge mobile ads, just under 11,000 users chose to click on the AdChoices Icon. Of these impressions, just 8 users chose to opt out, representing 1 opt-out for every 1.9 million mobile ad impressions.”

It’s a world of big data and predictive analytics; you have to do some work if you want to protect your privacy.

Ms. Smith (not her real name) is a freelance writer and programmer with a special and somewhat personal interest in IT privacy and security issues.

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Is this just a coincidence? If you recently looked at cameras online, you’ll see ads for cameras. If you browsed new outfits, shirts and trousers emerge in the margins of your browser.

Not long ago, “interest-based advertising” creeped out many people. They couldn’t understand why (for example) Facebook knew what they had just shopped for on Amazon. The truth is that personalized ads are the result of a very impersonal process.

Your details are crunched bits of data that make marketing more efficient. Interest-based advertising uses information gathered through your browser. Special algorithms analyze your visits over time and across different websites. This helps predict your preferences and shows you ads that are more likely to be of interest to you.

Sometimes, all this tracking can overwhelm the average customer. While the process is basically automatic and unmanned, such ads can feel like an invasion of privacy. This is why many people look for ways to throw them off your scent.

Here are three simple ways you can do just that.

1. Wipe out history, turn off cookies

To start, you’ll want a clean slate. Eliminate any trace of your past searches. Clear all your browsing data, history, cache and cookies from your web browsers.

Next, disable or limit tracking on your gadget. This includes favorite services like Facebook. If you’re not sure exactly how to do this, click here for the steps to wipe out where you’ve been and what you’ve done.

Afterwards, take a moment and test your browser with an online security and privacy checker. I like the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s tool that shows you the information about the browser you’re using and your risk level. Click here for the free download and more details.

2. Opt out of ads

You may only notice a handful of culprits, but many companies use algorithms to track your behavior and send you targeted ads.

Thankfully, there’s a way for you to opt out of interest-based, or “behavioral,” ads. The Digital Advertising Alliance lets you review its participating partners. When you first visit the DAA, the websites will scan your computer. Once the scan is complete, you’ll be shown a list of partners advertising directly to you.

From there, you can learn more about the practices these companies use for interest-based ads. You can opt out using “opt-out cookies” that are stored in your browser with your preferences.

3. Go incognito

Every major web browser – Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera – has private, or incognito, browsing. Turning this feature on means your browser will ignore cookies, including ad-tracking cookies. Your computer won’t record your browsing history, almost like you were never online.

When your browser is in private browsing mode, it will show a special icon. In Firefox, it’s a mask; in Chrome it’s a little spy; and in Edge it’s “InPrivate.” These all indicate that you’re in incognito or private mode.

Private browsing will keep your computer safe from casual snoopers. Someone who jumps on your computer won’t see where you’ve been.

Keep in mind that online ads aren’t necessarily a bad thing. Yes, they can annoy us, but they’re also the reason most online content is free. Without them, media outlets and content creators would have to find a different source of revenue. For most of us, seeing a few presumptuous ads is a tiny price to pay.

What questions do you have? Call my national radio show and click here to find it on your local radio station. You can listen to the Kim Komando Show on your phone, tablet or computer. From buying advice to digital life issues, click here for my free podcasts.

Lock screen ads on the new Fire HD 10 and 8 tablets are getting more complex with videos and animations. Here’s how to remove them for a price.

One way Amazon keeps the prices of its Fire tablet and Kindle devices low is by displaying ads on the device’s lock screen. Each day there is a crop of “special offers” that display on the lock screen. Amazon does offer you the option to remove the ads on the lock screen and throughout Fire OS on the tablet, but you’ll have to pay extra. Here’s a look at how to disable the ads on Fire HD 8 or 10 tablets, as well as how to deregister old devices while you’re at it.

Since the release of Show Mode and Dock for Fire HD 8 and 10 tablets, your tablet becomes a completely new device. At the same time, ads don’t display while the tablet is docked, and in Show Mode, ads are displayed again on the lock screen when you remove it from the dock.

Remove Ads on Fire HD

It’s not obvious how to get rid of ads—there’s no “opt-out” button. Instead, you need to head to Amazon.com and log into the Manage Your Content and Devices page. Find your Fire HD tablet and click the Actions button next to it; from the menu that pops up under “Special Offers and Ads,” click Edit.

Next, click the “Unsubscribe now with the 1-Click button” and then OK to the verification message box. Your account will be charged $15 plus applicable tax. Amazon will send you an email notification, too.

That’s it! The lock screen will only display random high-quality stock backgrounds like the one shown below and no ads.

Remove Old Devices

While you’re in this section, you might be surprised to see the number of devices listed. For every device you’ve used, an Amazon app like the Kindle, Audible, or Music app will be on the list. For example, I found old Android tablets and iPod touch I haven’t used in years – even a Windows Phone. So, while you’re there, you might want to do some cleanup and deregister your old devices. Again, click the device you no longer use or even have and click on Deregister.

When the Fire tablet was first introduced several years ago, the ads were relatively unobtrusive. However, there are videos for ads playing on the screen and live animations for games they want you to buy. In all, it can be quite distracting. There is no auto-playing audio for the ads yet, but you know that could certainly be the next step. Amazon isn’t shy when it comes to its advertising. But it’s good to know that if the ads annoy you, it’s easy to get rid of them for good, but it will cost you.

It says it will give other companies plenty of time to adapt to changes to its Android software. Similar changes made by Apple affected big internet companies.

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  • Feb. 16, 2022

Google said on Wednesday that it was working on privacy measures meant to limit the sharing of data on smartphones running its Android software. But the company promised those changes would not be as disruptive as a similar move by Apple last year.

Apple’s changes to its iOS software on iPhones asked users for permission before allowing advertisers to track them. Apple’s permission controls — and, ultimately, the decision by users to block tracking — have had a profound impact on internet companies that built businesses on so-called targeted advertising.

Google did not provide an exact timeline for its changes, but said it would support existing technologies for at least two more years.

This month, Meta, the company founded as Facebook, said Apple’s privacy changes would cost it $10 billion this year in lost advertising revenue. The revelation weighed on Meta’s stock price and led to concerns about other companies reliant on digital advertising.

Anthony Chavez, a vice president at Google’s Android division, said in an interview before the announcement that it was too early to gauge the potential impact from Google’s changes, which are meant to limit the sharing of data across apps and with third parties. But he emphasized that the company’s goal was to find a more private option for users while also allowing developers to continue to make advertising revenue.

As the world’s two biggest smartphone software providers, Google and Apple hold significant sway over what mobile apps can do on billions of devices. Changes to increase privacy or provide users with greater control over their data — a growing demand from customers, regulators and politicians — come at a cost for companies collecting data to sell ads personalized to a user’s interests and demographics.

Mr. Chavez said that if Google and Apple did not offer a privacy-minded alternative, advertisers might turn to more surreptitious options that could lead to fewer protections for users. He also argued that Apple’s “blunt approach” was proving “ineffective,” citing a study that said the changes in iOS had not had a meaningful impact in stopping third-party tracking.

An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

The changes from Google and Apple are significant because digital advertising based on the accumulation of data about users has underpinned the internet for the last 20 years. But that business model is facing more challenges as users have grown more suspicious about far-reaching data collection amid a general distrust of technology giants.

The difference in approaches between Apple and Google also speaks to how each company makes the bulk of its money. Apple generates most of its revenue from selling devices, while Google makes its money largely from selling digital advertising and may be more open to considering the needs of advertisers.

Wayne Coburn, a product director at Iterable, a marketing software company, said it was not surprising that Google was taking these steps when Apple was aggressively pitching privacy as a selling point over products running Android. Still, he said Google’s approach felt like a “weak gesture” by providing a two-year timeline. He expects the company will be pressured to “do more, faster.”

“This is a reaction to what Apple has done,” Mr. Coburn said. “Google wouldn’t be doing this on their own.”

Google said it planned to bring its privacy initiative, Privacy Sandbox, which had been limited mainly to reducing tracking on the company’s Chrome browser, to Android — the world’s most widely used software for mobile devices. Google has been forced to revamp its approach to eliminating so-called cookies, a tracking tool, on Chrome while facing resistance from privacy groups and advertisers.

Google said it was proposing some new privacy-minded approaches in Android to allow advertisers to gauge the performance of ad campaigns and show personalized ads based on past behavior or recent interests — as well as new tools to limit covert tracking through apps. Google did not offer much in terms of detail about how these new alternatives would work.

As part of the changes, Google said, it plans to phase out Advertising ID, a tracking feature within Android that helps advertisers know whether users clicked on an ad or bought a product as well as keep tabs on their interests and activities. Google said it already allowed users to opt out of personalized ads by removing the tracking identifier.

The company said it planned to eliminate identifiers used in advertising on Android for everyone — including Google. Mr. Chavez said Google’s own apps would not have special or privileged access to Android data or features without specifying how that would work. This echoes a pledge Google made to regulators in Britain that it would not give preferential treatment to its own products.

The company did not offer a definitive timeline for eliminating Advertising ID, but it committed to keeping the existing system in place for two years. Google said it would offer preview versions of its new proposals to advertisers, before releasing a more complete test version this year.

Mr. Chavez said Google’s move had not been prompted by Apple’s actions, adding that the company is always looking to “raise the bar” on privacy.

If you want a reasonably decent and inexpensive tablet, Amazon Fire Tablet is a fantastic choice. And here’s the thing, when buying your Fire Tablet, Amazon offers you to save $15 by opting to receive “Special Offers.”

These are just ads and recommendations for movies, music, books, and other offers. It sounds like an easy trade. But after a while, those ads might become too cumbersome. This article will show you how to get rid of them. We’ll also show you some other cool stuff you can do with your Fire Tablet.

How to Remove the Ads

In case you read or watch movies on your Fire Tablet every, you might get tired of looking at the constant ad flow on your device. Unfortunately, you can’t deal with them through the device’s settings. You have to go back to your Amazon account and manage the issue from there. Here is what you need to do:

  1. Log into your Amazon account.
  2. Hover over Accounts and Lists and click on Account.
  3. Go to Your devices and content.
  4. Choose Manage Devices.
  5. Find and then click on your registered Fire Tablet.
  6. Under the Special Offers section, select Remove offers.
  7. Click on End offers and Pay the Fee.

That is all you need to do. But here is the catch. When you unsubscribe from receiving ads, Amazon will charge you $15 plus taxes. This amount will be deducted from your Amazon account. Once you’ve unsubscribed from special offers, turn on your Fire Tablet and make sure it’s connected to Wi-Fi. Your lock screen should no longer show ads.

Now you’ll see some default HD photos or images from your gallery. You can also expect all the ads from the Home screen to disappear as well. Keep in mind that even though ads are gone now, you will still receive some recommendations from other parties.

Saving Yourself the Trouble

Saving $15 when purchasing your new Fire Tablet seems like a fantastic offer. But before going through with it, it’s probably a good idea to think twice about it. If the answer is that they won’t bother you at all, then go ahead and save the money.

But if you know deep down that you will go back and unsubscribe, you can save yourself the trouble and pay the full price straight away. For the indecisive, option one is likely preferable.

Changing the Wallpaper

On the older Fire Tablets, there is no way to change the wallpaper. So, even when you delete the ads from the background, you are only left with what Amazon gave you. Fortunately, the newer models have the option of adding custom wallpapers. So, after you’ve gotten rid of the ads, it’s time to update the wallpaper. Here is how you do it:

  1. Swipe down the Quick Actions panel on the Home screen and go to Settings.
  2. Select Display and then Select Home screen wallpaper.
  3. Then select Change your Home screen wallpaper.
  4. Select a photo from your device or one of the pre-installed images.

Now your Fire Tablet is both ad-free and more personalized.

Changing the Lock Screen

Probably one of the biggest eyesores on the Fire Tablet was the ads spreading across the lock screen. Once you’ve paid the $15 to remove them, it’s time to upgrade and customize the lock screen. Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Go to Settings and then select Lock Screen.
  2. Then tap on Select a lock screen scene.
  3. Go through the library of the available scenes.
  4. Or select the Your Photo option and choose a photo from your gallery.
  5. Confirm your selection.

If you go with the scenes option, the default Fire Tablet settings are to change them every day. But you can disable this feature. Note: if your device battery is low, the interactive scenes on your lock screen will stop moving to extend the battery life.

Issues When Removing Ads

As reported by some users, you might run into some problems when you attempt to remove the ads from your fire tablet. If that occurs, you might be forced to reset your device to factory settings, thus deleting all of your apps and preferences, etc.

In the event you do have to reset your device, remember to backup any photos, files, etc. before proceeding with the reset.

Remove the Ads, Add the Pictures

Ads are everywhere, and they mostly desensitize people. But it’s one thing to have them on a website or a billboard, and another for them to occupy your Fire Tablet screen. Unfortunately, you’ll have to pay up to get rid of them. But then a whole world of wallpapers and lock screen images and scenes opens up.

How do you feel about ads on your Fire Tablet? Let us know in the comments section below.

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It seems you can’t escape being tracked. Whether it’s a social media platform, an app or one of your smart devices, there’s a good chance a bunch of companies knows way too much about you.

Wordle is a daily word game that has taken the world by storm, and all you need to play is a smartphone and network connection. While Wordle is free to play, you may be paying with something else besides money — your privacy. Tap or click here for tips on avoiding avoid ad trackers in Wordle.

Earlier this week, Google announced its Privacy Sandbox for Android. This lets you turn off advertising IDs, disable third-party cooking tracking and more. The Privacy Sandbox isn’t available yet, but we have ways to limit ad tracking on multiple platforms.

Here’s the backstory

Last year Apple rolled out App Tracking Transparency (ATT), which lets iPhone and iPad users specify which apps can track their online behavior:

  • Go to Settings > Privacy > Tracking, and check that Allow Apps to Request to Track is switched off, which it should be by default. This will automatically deny any new app tracking requests.
  • While you’re in Settings, go to Privacy and tap Location Services. From here, you can slide the toggle next to Location Services to the left to disable it. This will deny all apps from tracking your location. Or you can leave Location Services enabled and change the setting for each app individually.

Your daily dose of tech smarts

Learn the tech tips and tricks only the pros know.

Google is working on a new Privacy Sandbox for Android, which the company says “will limit sharing of user data with third parties and operate without cross-app identifiers.”

Google currently lets users remove their advertising ID when opting out of personalization using advertising ID in Android Settings. You need a device running on the Android 12 or later OS:

  • Go to Settings > Privacy > Ads > Delete advertising ID.

This feature will remain in place while Google works on the Privacy Sandbox for at least the next two years. Google says the goal is to assure users that their information is protected while also providing developers and businesses with “tools to succeed on mobile.” Companies such as Snap, Duolingo and Rovio are stating their support.

As is the case for Apple users, you can start restricting advertisers from tracking you right from your Android phone, starting with your location:

  • Open Settings >Location on your phone and tap App permission. You’ll see a list of apps that can access your location any time, only while it’s in use, or when you give permission.

You can also try this method:

  • Touch and hold the icon for the app you want to adjust.
  • Tap the Info icon and go to Permissions >Location.
  • Choose from All the time, Only while using the app,Ask every time or Deny.

To opt out of personalized ads:

  • Go to Settings >Google or open the the Google Settings app, depending on your device.
  • Under Services, select Ads.
  • Toggle on Opt out of Ads Personalization.

To help lime ad tracking on Google Chrome, you can turn Do Not Track on. Here’s how:

On your desktop computer

  • On your computer, open Chrome.
  • At the top right, click More >Settings.
  • Click Privacy and security >Cookies and other site data.
  • Turn Send a “Do not track” request with your browsing traffic on or off.

On an Android device

  • On your Android device, open the Chrome app.
  • To the right of the address bar, tap More >Settings.
  • Tap Privacy and security.
  • Tap Do Not Track.
  • Turn the setting on or off.

NOTE: Do Not Track is currently not available for Apple devices.

When you uninstall an app on iOS, there will not be redundant files sitting around, once gone everything is gone for good. Unfortunately, Android with its much more open system allows apps to make many modifications, thus there are more left over files.

All Android smartphone makers do have a file manager that comes pre-installed, unfortunately they are not very user friendly. A good file manager will allow you to browse all files based on categories, by file size, file types, date, thumbnails and more. Here, we’ve compiled a simple list of the best file managers which are rich in features and most important of all free to use with no ads or in-app purchases.

↓ 01 – HTC File Manager

HTC File Manager makes it easy to find, browse and organize files on your phone, SD card or USB storage. Heart items to add them to your favorites, search for files by name and select multiple files or folders to cut, copy, delete, rename or move. HTC File Manager is the window into your storage space.

↓ 02 – Moto File Manager

Manage your files efficiently and easily with Moto File Manager! Moto File Manager helps you handle all your files whether they are stored in your device’s main storage or microSD card. Browse files easily by category right from Moto File Manager’s home screen: picture, music, videos, archive, documents and recent files. It’s quick and easy to access files in each category. File operations allows you to copy, move, rename, delete, compress and decompress ZIP files, create encrypted ZIP files and share files.

↓ 03 – Files by Google | With File Cleaner

Save time looking for photos, videos, and documents on your phone. Files use filters rather than folders so your stuff is organized more intuitively. Files by Google is the file manager and storage browser that helps you find what you’re looking for fast. Search for your files or simply navigate to them through categories and filters. View, delete, move, rename or share any files. Sort them by file size to understand what’s taking space. Browse all the GIFs you have. Find and share that video you downloaded last week. All of this with few taps.

Use Files to see how much free space is left on your phone and SD card. Easily transfer files to an SD card to free up your phone’s storage, right from the app. Or use the integrated file cleaner to get more space on the phone.

↓ 04 – File Manager by Astro

Astro is the best file manager and memory cleaner app to make the most out of your internal and external storage and boost phone memory. Every day, hundreds of thousands of people use this handy file organizer to move, copy, delete, backup files and clean their phone. Astro has all the top-rated file organizer features.

↓ 05 – Cx File Explorer

Cx File Explorer is a powerful file manager app with a clean and intuitive interface. With this file manager app, you can quickly browse and manage the files on your mobile device, PC, and cloud storage, just like you use Windows Explorer or Finder on your PC or Mac. Also it provides a rich set of features that advanced users are looking for without feeling bloated. You can even manage the space used on your mobile device with a visualized storage analysis.

↓ 06 – Mi File Manager [ Contain Ads ] | With File Cleaner

Mi File Manager is a free, secure tool that helps you find files faster, manage files easily, and share them offline with others. It supports tons of cool features: quick search, moving, deleting, opening, and sharing files, as well as renaming, unzipping, and copy-paste. Mi File Manager also recognizes multiple file formats, including music, videos, images, documents, APKs, and zip-files. We update our app regularly to bring you the best experience. With Mi File Manager’s crisp and clear UI, file management becomes easier than ever before!

↓ 07 – Asus File Manager [ Discontinued ]

Manage your files efficiently and easily with ASUS File Manager! ASUS File Manager helps you handle all your files whether they are stored in your device’s memory, microSD card, local area network, and cloud storage accounts. By default, ASUS File Manager allows you to copy, move, rename, delete or share files to and from any of your storages. It also lets you browse and access your files by category. Supports cloud storage accounts such as ASUS WebStorage, Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive.

OPTING OUT OF PERFORMANCE-BASED ADVERTISING

Most major app platforms (e.g. iTunes and Google Play) allow developers to monetize their games and apps through advertising, and to work with advertising providers (like Vungle) to source and deliver these ads. Advertising helps to keep games and apps free to use by providing an important source of income for developers. These app platforms also allow you to control whether advertising providers can customize the ads they show you based on your past interactions with the ads you’ve seen(“performance-based advertising”), or only deliver “contextual” ads based on data about the app which is showing the ad and some basic information about your device (such as make, model, sound, language, orientation, etc.). Performance-based advertising relies on both contextual information and a history of your ad interactions, which are associated with an advertising ID. Users can reset or turn off their advertising ID at their discretion.

How we use Advertising IDs

Vungle uses this ID, along with contextual data (see above) and performance data such as which ads you have seen in the past, ads you have clicked on, and apps you have downloaded after viewing ads for those apps, to customize the ads you will see in the future. Here are just a few examples of how this makes the ads you see more relevant (and hopefully more interesting):

  • If you download a game or app from one of our ads we won’t show you ads for that app in the future.
  • If we show you an ad multiple times and you don’t click on the ad or download the app we will show you different ads going forward.

We do not have access to any personal data like your email address, browsing history, or other contact information, so we cannot associate the advertising ID with that type of data. For more details on the data Vungle collects from your device and how we use it, please see Vungle’s privacy policy ().

What happens if I opt out of performance-based advertising?

It’s important to note that this does not opt you out of seeing ads –you will still see ads in your apps. What does happen is that every time we serve an ad to you it’s like we’ve never seen you before, so we will show you our best-performing ad at that moment – which will likely be the same ad that we showed you last time, which can lead to a very repetitive and less interesting experience. We might also show you ads for apps you’ve already downloaded. If you are interested in turning off or resetting your advertising ID, here are the instructions for the major app platforms:

For iOS Devices:

  • Open “Settings.”
  • Select “Advertising.”
  • Enable “Limit Ad Tracking.”
  • To reset your advertising device identifier, click on “Reset Advertising Identifier.”

For Android Devices:

  • Open “Settings,” then select “Google”
  • Check “Opt out of Ads Personalization.”
  • To reset your advertising device identifier, click on “Reset advertising ID.”

For Windows 10 Devices:

  • Go to Start , then select Settings
  • From the Settings menu select “Privacy”
  • Under the “General” section of Privacy settings, change “Let apps use advertising ID to make ads more interesting to you” to “Off”

Effective as of March 24, 2022

Hi, and welcome to Bandsintown’s Cookie Policy.

The objective of this Policy is to provide you, as a user of Bandsintown’s services, with clear and accessible information about the cookies that we use, the role they play in helping us provide the best possible experience to you and the choices you have when it comes to your cookie settings.

1. What Are Cookies?

A cookie is a small data file that is placed on the hard drive of your computer, tablet, smartphone or other device when you visit a website. They are useful because they allow a website to recognise a user’s device.

When we refer to cookies, this includes other similar technologies such as tracking pixels (transparent graphic images placed on a web page or in an email, which indicate that a page or email has been viewed), Google Tag Manager, or web storage used in desktop software or mobile devices.

Cookies do lots of different jobs, like letting you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, and generally improving your user experience. They can also help to ensure that ads you see online are more relevant to you and your interests.

Some cookies are functional and enable additional functionality when a user accesses the website (e.g. allows users to save user preferences or language suggestions). Other cookies are non-functional and allow the website and third parties to tailor messages and advertising relevant to a user’s interests. We use cookies to keep track of how you use our website and services so we may provide a personalized service.

There are a few different categories of cookies, including:

Session and Persistent Cookies
• Session Cookies – these are cookies which expire once you close your web browser,
• Persistent Cookies – these are cookies which stay on your device for a set period of time or until you delete
them.
First and Third Party Cookies
• First-party cookies – these are cookies set by the website that you are visiting at that time, either by us, or by a third party at our request;
• Third-party cookies – these are cookies that are set by a party other than that of the website you are visiting. If you visit the Bandsintown website or use the Bandsintown Service and another party sets a cookie through that website this would be a third-party cookie.

2. What types of cookies do we use?

First, we do not place cookies until you elect to continue using our website after our cookie banner displays.
We use the following types of cookies: