How to Stop Pop-Up Ads on Android and Find the Culprit

To stop pop-up ads on Android, first find out where they come from. If they show up while you browse, turn off notifications for the website in Chrome's Site settings. If they cover your home screen or other apps, open the Recents screen the moment an ad appears, see which app it belongs to, and uninstall that app. Most full-screen ads come from one downloaded app, often a recent install, and Android gives you several ways to name it before you start deleting things.

Also in this topic: Android Guides hub.

Jump to: what kind of pop-up it is · find the app · display over other apps · remove the app · Chrome and Samsung Internet · lock screen ads · block ads with Private DNS · scan and report · when nothing works · FAQ

Quick answer: Pop-ups inside Chrome are almost never true pop-up windows, because Chrome blocks those by default. They're usually website notifications you allowed at some point, and you can turn them off per site. Ads that appear over other apps or on your home screen come from an installed app. Google Play's own rules say an app may only show ads inside itself, so an ad that shows up outside the app that sent it means the app is breaking those rules, and you should remove it.

What Kind of Pop-Up Ad Are You Seeing?

Where the ad appears tells you what's causing it, so start here. Most guides jump straight to "uninstall suspicious apps," but a spammy website and a bad app need different fixes, and the first two rows below don't need you to delete anything.

Where the ad shows up	Most likely cause	Fix
A notification that names Chrome, Samsung Internet, or a website	A site you allowed to send notifications	Block that site's notifications
A new tab or redirect while you browse	The website, or a "fake virus" scam page	Close the tab and check Pop-ups and redirects
A notification that names an app	That app's promotional notifications	Long-press it and turn off that category
Full-screen, over other apps or the home screen	An installed app breaking Play's ad rules	Find and uninstall the app
After you hang up a call or unlock the phone	An app with "Appear on top" access	Turn off the overlay permission
On the lock screen (news, games, offers)	A lock screen service such as Motorola's Glance, or a carrier app	Turn off the lock screen content
Ads inside a game or free app you opened	Normal in-app ads	See our game ad blocker guide

Ads inside an app you chose to open are normal, and they're allowed. Google Play's ads policy does set limits, though. Full-screen ads that appear "unexpectedly, typically when the user has chosen to do something else" aren't allowed, and any full-screen ad has to be closeable within 15 seconds unless you opted into it (like a rewarded ad).

How to Find Which App Is Showing Pop-Up Ads

The fastest way to name the app is to catch it in the act. Android has three places that show you which app put something on your screen.

Check the Recents screen while the ad is showing

When a full-screen ad appears, don't tap it. Swipe up from the bottom and hold (or tap the square Recents button on older phones). The ad sits in its own card, and the card is labeled with the app that owns it. Adware sometimes disguises its label, so don't trust the name alone. Tap or long-press the app icon at the top of the card and choose App info. That opens the real app's settings page, with its real name and an Uninstall button.

Long-press an ad notification

If the ad arrives as a notification, touch and hold it. Android shows the app that sent it and gives you options to silence it or open its notification settings. Many apps sort their notifications into categories, so you can often turn off only the "promotions" or "offers" category and keep the useful alerts. Google's notification help page covers these controls.

Look through notification history

If the ad vanished before you could check it, your phone may have a record:

• Pixel and most other phones: Settings > Notifications > Notification history. It only lists notifications from after you turn it on, so turn it on now if it's off.
• Samsung Galaxy: Settings > Notifications > Advanced settings > Notification history. A Samsung moderator on the Samsung US Community recommends this exact path for tracking down lock screen ads, then touching and holding the app in the list to manage its notifications.

Still no name? Open Settings > Apps and sort the list by most recently installed or updated. Ads that started suddenly usually line up with a new install. Samsung's pop-up ads help page says to tap the filter icon next to "Your apps" to sort this way on a Galaxy.

Turn Off "Display Over Other Apps" for Suspicious Apps

Ads that appear on top of whatever you're doing, including right after a phone call ends, use a permission that lets an app draw over other apps. Very few apps need it. Chat heads, screen dimmers, and some accessibility tools do, but a flashlight, wallpaper, or "cleaner" app doesn't.

• Pixel and most Android phones: Settings > Apps > Special app access > Display over other apps.
• Samsung Galaxy: Settings > Apps, tap the three-dot More options icon, then Special access > Appear on top. That's the path in Samsung's screen overlay support page.

Turn the permission off for anything you don't recognize or don't need. A Samsung US Community moderator answering a Galaxy S25 owner who got an ad every time a call ended gave the same advice and noted that the app will ask for the permission again the next time it tries to show an ad. That request is your confirmation. Uninstall the app instead of granting it again.

Remove the App That Causes the Ads

Once you have a suspect, uninstall it: Settings > Apps, tap the app, then Uninstall. If you aren't sure which app it is, use safe mode to test.

1. Restart in safe mode. On a Pixel or Galaxy, open the power menu, then touch and hold Power off (or Restart) until the safe mode prompt appears. Safe mode turns off every app you downloaded.
2. Use the phone for a while. Google's safe mode help page says that if the problem goes away in safe mode, an app is likely the cause.
3. Uninstall recent apps one at a time. Remove the most recently installed or updated app, restart normally, and check again. Keep a list so you can reinstall the innocent ones afterward.
4. Get back to normal mode. A regular restart usually does it. If your phone gets stuck, see how to turn off safe mode on Android.

If the Uninstall button is grayed out, the app may have made itself a device administrator. Open Settings, search for Device admin apps (Google's Pixel security settings page lists it under advanced security settings), turn off admin access for the suspect app, and then uninstall it. Leave Find Hub, your work profile, and Family Link alone; those need admin access for good reasons.

Not sure which app looks suspicious? Comparitech's adware removal guide flags apps installed shortly before the ads started, apps with generic names or unfamiliar developers, apps that ask for permissions unrelated to what they do, apps that claim to clean your phone or boost its battery or speed, and anything installed from outside Google Play. If you installed a cleaner to free up space, the built-in tools in our guide to clearing the cache on Android do that job without the ads.

How to Stop Pop-Ups in Chrome and Samsung Internet

Chrome already blocks pop-up windows by default, according to Google's Chrome pop-up help page. So when people say they get "pop-ups" from Chrome, they usually mean notifications from a website that they (or a misleading "tap Allow to continue" button) gave permission to.

Block website notifications in Chrome

1. Open Chrome and tap the three-dot More menu, then Settings.
2. Tap Site settings (on some newer versions it's called Permissions), then Notifications.
3. Find the site that's spamming you and block it. You can also turn notifications off entirely, or keep sites from asking.

A shortcut: touch and hold the spam notification itself and turn off notifications for that site from there.

Chrome now does part of this cleanup for you. In an October 10, 2025 announcement, Google said Chrome on Android and desktop automatically removes notification permission from sites that send many notifications you don't interact with, and that fewer than 1% of all notifications get any interaction. Installed web apps are exempt. If Chrome has removed permissions, you'll find them under Settings > Safety Check, where you can undo the change for a site you actually want.

Check Chrome's pop-up and ad settings

• Pop-ups and redirects: In Settings > Site settings > Pop-ups and redirects, make sure the switch is off (blocked).
• Intrusive ads: In Site settings, under "Content," tap Intrusive ads and make sure it's off. Chrome's ad blocker help page says turning it on lets "any site you visit" show "any ad," including the flashing, autoplaying, and full-page ads Chrome normally strips out.

Got a "your phone is infected" warning on a website? That's a scam page, not Android. Google's Chrome malware help page lists virus alerts and redirects as signs of unwanted software. Don't tap anything on the page or install the "cleaner" it pushes. Close the tab. If it keeps reopening, tap More > Delete browsing data and clear recent cookies and site data.

Samsung Internet

Open Samsung Internet, tap the three-line Menu, then Settings > Privacy dashboard, and turn on Block pop-ups. Unlike Chrome, Samsung Internet also supports ad blocker add-ons: tap Menu > Ad blockers and install one from the list. Samsung's US support page notes that not all of them are free.

How to Turn Off Ads on Your Lock Screen

Google Play's ads policy bans apps from showing ads on the lock screen "unless the exclusive purpose of the app is that of a lockscreen." In practice, lock screen ads in the US come from three places:

• Motorola's Glance lock screen. Some recent Moto G phones sold in the US ask you to turn on Glance during setup, which puts rotating content like news stories on your lock screen. Motorola's moto g (2025) lock screen help gives the off switch: Settings > Home & lock screen > Lock screen > Glance, then turn it off. Motorola notes that not every carrier and country gets Glance.
• Carrier apps. On a carrier-branded phone, a Samsung US Community moderator says lock screen ads that arrive with an update are likely one of the carrier's "bonus" apps, not Samsung's. Use notification history to find the app, then turn off its notifications or uninstall it.
• A downloaded "lock screen," wallpaper, or charging-animation app. These are allowed to take over your lock screen because that's their job, so the fix is to uninstall them.

If you'd rather nothing appear on the lock screen at all, you can hide notifications there in Settings > Notifications (on Motorola, Settings > Home & lock screen > Lock screen > Privacy).

Block Ads Across Apps With Private DNS

Private DNS is a built-in Android setting that sends your phone's address lookups to a DNS service you choose. If that service filters ad servers, many ads simply fail to load, in apps and browsers alike. It doesn't remove an app that's misbehaving, though, so do it after the steps above, not instead of them.

1. Open Settings > Network & internet (on Samsung, Connections > More connection settings) and tap Private DNS. You can also search Settings for "Private DNS."
2. Choose Private DNS provider hostname.
3. Enter dns.adguard-dns.com and tap Save.

That hostname is AdGuard's free default server, which AdGuard says blocks ads and trackers. For a family filter that also blocks adult sites, AdGuard lists family.adguard-dns.com. If a site or app stops working, set Private DNS back to Automatic. Our guide to blocking ads in Android games compares this with RethinkDNS, NetGuard, and other options.

Scan Your Phone With Play Protect and Report the App

Google Play Protect is the malware scanner built into every phone with Google Play, and it's on by default. Google's Play Protect help page says it can warn you about, disable, or automatically remove harmful apps, including ones from outside the Play Store.

1. Open the Play Store and tap your profile picture.
2. Tap Play Protect, then Scan.
3. If it flags an app, follow the prompt to uninstall it. In Play Protect Settings, keep Scan apps with Play Protect turned on.

Then report the app so it stops reaching other people. On the app's Play Store page, tap the three-dot More menu, then Flag as inappropriate, as described on Google's flag an app page. Reports work because the behavior is clearly against the rules. Play's ads policy names "ads that display outside of the app serving them," ads triggered when you press Home to leave an app, and ads that imitate system notifications as violations. It also says "it must be clear to the user which app is serving each ad." Google has acted on this before: in February 2020, its security blog said it had removed nearly 600 apps from the Play Store for disruptive and out-of-context ads, like full-screen ads that interrupt a phone call or turn-by-turn navigation.

What to Do When the Pop-Up Ads Won't Stop

Check your Google Account. Google's malware removal page says pop-up ads that won't go away are a sign of malware, and that Google may sign you out of your account to protect it. After you remove the bad app, run the Google Security Checkup.

Check whether your phone is Play Protect certified. In the Play Store, tap your profile picture, then Settings > About, and read the Play Protect certification line. This matters most for cheap, unbranded phones. Bitdefender found ad-fraud malware called Midnight Mimosa built into the firmware of budget Android phones, and it can't be removed with a normal uninstall. Our Midnight Mimosa report lists the affected models and package names.

Factory reset as the last step. A reset removes every app you installed, adware included. Set the phone up as new instead of restoring every app, because restoring the same app brings the same ads back. Follow our guide to factory resetting an Android phone without getting locked out so you don't get stuck at the Google account screen afterward.

How we put this together: We checked every menu path and policy quote in this guide against Google's Android, Pixel, Chrome, Google Account, and Google Play help pages, Google Play's developer ads policy, Samsung's US support pages and US Community moderator answers, Motorola's US help site, and AdGuard's DNS documentation on October 31, 2026. Menu names vary by phone model, Android version, and carrier, so if a path doesn't match your phone, search for the setting name in the Settings app.