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Limit Ad Tracking with Reset Advertising ID
Have you heard that every phone has a unique identifier that is a target of every advertiser? It is called an advertising ID that is used by third parties, advertisers, and giants to watch your mobile application activity. Still, there is no need to worry since you can easily care about your privacy.
What is an Advertising ID?
An advertising ID is an identifier assigned to the user by the operating system or mobile device. For example, iPhone users will get an ID from iOS, while Android owners will receive the identifier from Google Play. These IDs resemble cookies and are applied for advertising purposes. First, such identifiers can assist the developers in watching your online performance and usage of mobile apps. Next, the data is shared or even sold to different advertisers that are going to bother you with numerous targeted ads.
Reasons to Reset Advertising ID
Advertising ID doesn’t seem to be a big problem itself, but it can play into the hands of experienced advertisers. This is when ad ID personalization seems to be a reasonable step. Let’s see why:
- It watches your shopping habits. So your advertising ID knows everything about you. For example, it will tell the advertisers how often you visited Starbucks last week or how much you spent on breakfast last Saturday.
- It offends your privacy. Giants like Google have tons of data about users’ location and browsing all day round. Hence, you need to think well whether you are eager that some company collects data about you.
- It assists in spreading malvertising. Third parties can use advertising ID to provide targeted ads which misrepresent malware.
- It assists in spraying disinformation. Like with malvertising, your advertising ID may be used to profile you and then show targeted political advertisements.
Luckily, you can reset your advertising ID quickly and easily and stay almost anonymous. Mind that it will help only with apps but not with sites that you visit in a browser. If you want to be anonymous completely, then you can mask your IP with a VPN server and prevent all third parties from tracking your online actions. For instance, VeePN hides your real IP and doesn’t let any advertisers bother you with irritating ads. Ad for resetting the ID will not help you get rid of advertisements completely, but these ads will not be personalized. So, let’s see how to reset the advertising ID.
How to Reset Advertising ID: iPad and iPhone
If you are an owner of an iPad or iPhone, remember how you can limit ad tracking on your device:
- Go to “Settings” and scroll the page down until you see “Privacy.”
- Click on Advertising.
- Choose “Reset Advertising Identifier” to remove the data that was collected about you. Next, find “Limit Ad Tracking” and slide the button to the left-right. This way, you will turn it on.
How to Reset Advertising Ad: Android
Android users also can easily limit ad tracking by following these steps:
- First, go to “Settings.” Then, scroll down to “Google Services & preferences.”
- You will see a Google account. Here you need to click on “Ads.”
- Choose “Reset advertising ID.” Next, slide “Opt out of Ads personalization” to the right. This will disable the Android advertising ID.
How to Reset Advertising ID: Windows
To limit ad tracking on devices that operate on Windows, you are expected to perform only two actions:
- Choose “Privacy” in “Settings.”
- In tab “general,” you should change settings. For example, find “Let apps use advertising ID” and slide the button underneath it.
Other Options to Limit Tracking
Unluckily, the giants and third parties do not use only advertising ID to track your online activities and shopping habits. Hence, you should consider other options to limit tracking:
- Remove cookies. Usually, browsers save cookies in order to increase the quality of the user’s experience. However, this may play a bad trick on you.
- Share less information on social networking. Instead, giants sell your personal data, trying to catch you on numerous occasions.
- Use VPN. Using VeePN, you can stay safe, and nobody can track your online performance. In addition, both your location and personal information are hidden well.
All in all, resetting your advertising ID can help you prevent giants from watching you and bothering you with irritating ads. However, it is recommended to mind additional ways to ensure your safety.
