Android Phone Popup Blocker

Android Phone Popup Blocker: a reader asks…

Is there a good and trusted popup blocker popup blocker for my Android smartphone? I use Chrome to browse the web and everywhere I go I see ads and popups.

Yes, and it’s built right into Chrome. It’s easy to turn on, here’s how. On your Android phone or tablet, open the Chrome app and:

1. tap the three vertical dots at the top-right to open your Settings, then
2. Tap Permissions, > Pop-ups and Redirects, then
3. Slide the slider to turn on Pop-ups and redirects which starts blocking them.

Please note that some websites use popups as a necessary part of their operation, such as for logins, acceptance of cookies or GDPR, etc. If you are at a website and see the notification that popups are blocked and you want to allow them for that site, scroll to the bottom and tap “Always show”. That will disable the popup blocker for just that website.

Please note that popups are different than embedded ads in web pages, and also that some websites are constructed to bypass the Chrome popup blocker. In step 2 above, directly underneath the Pop-ups and redirects control is the one for ads, and you can set that to not show any ads. Please note that these controls aren’t perfect and may not block every popup or ad from showing, as the developers of such advertising are always finding ways to get around the blocking mechanisms.

That said, you need to recognize that these ads are a primary method of generating revenue so that the website can show you its content without charging you money. Many websites you go to do not require you to create an account or pay a subscription fee to view their content (such our own website). They use advertising, as we do, to generate revenue that helps to offset the cost of producing the website and its content and delivering it to you without a monetary cost.

If you use a popup or ad blocker, you are denying that website even the miniscule amount of revenue they get from your visit, which costs you nothing except a small bit of annoyance. You should consider that annoyance as the cost of getting the content you’re reading. Ok, enough of my soapbox…

• If you have a Samsung Android phone and are using the Samsung Internet app, tap Menu > Settings > Sites and downloads > slide the slider to turn on Block pop-ups.
• For iPhones (using Chrome), the three dots are horizontal and at the bottom-right of the screen. From there, tap Settings, then Content Settings > Block Pop-ups and slide the slider to on.
• For iPhones (using Safari), from the Home screen, tap Settings>scroll down and tap Safari>scroll down and slide the slider to ON for Block Pop-ups.
• If you use a different web browser, leave a comment and I’ll add instructions for that as a reply.

About those 3rd party blockers: I’m not going to recommend any ad or popup blocker for the reasons stated above. That said, there are other organizations that do review and recommend these tools, such as https://allaboutcookies.org/best-ad-blockers-for-android. I will give you general advice which is “you get what you pay for” – free popup and ad blocker software developers have to make money somehow, so don’t expect them to work without any issues. Scammers and spammers are constantly working to bypass these tools, and it costs money to keep revising an app. Those free app developers may not have the resources to keep up with the popup and ad landscape changes.