TrueTo Data Settings

Stop apps from tracking and selling your data

5 settings across 3 apps that stop the collecting and sharing behind targeted ads: location scanning, diagnostics reporting, third-party cookies, targeted ads. Each one is buried in a different menu, under a different name. TrueTo is built to turn them off together, and one-tap automation for this profile is rolling out. Another 10, including the Google account controls behind YouTube and Maps, are listed below with accurate manual paths.

You went looking for the switch that turns off targeted ads. Android Settings has an Ads screen, and what it offers you there is to delete your advertising ID. The personalization switch isn't on it. That one lives in your Google account, and it governs the ads Google itself serves you.

Below the account level, every app keeps its own switches. Chrome decides on its own whether to accept third-party cookies. TikTok has a Targeted ads toggle no Google setting reaches. Instagram keeps a list of the businesses that have sent it your purchases. They all default to on, and turning off one of them gives you the feeling of having handled it.

The selling happens downstream, between companies you never see. What you can reach is the source: the settings that let each app collect and share in the first place.

The switch that isn't where you think it is

  • There's no Android-wide ad personalization switch. The Ads screen in Android Settings offers to delete your advertising ID. The personalization control sits in your Google account, and it covers the ads Google serves: Search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps.
  • Your phone scans for location with Wi-Fi off. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning let apps collect nearby networks and devices to place you, whether or not the radios are on.
  • The advertiser lists have new names. Instagram files its list under Activity from other businesses, inside Accounts Center. TikTok calls the same idea Disconnect advertisers. Facebook's Off-Facebook activity was renamed and then retired outright.
  • Chrome's third-party cookies follow your browsing from site to site and share it with ad networks. Still on by default.

Android files the Ads screen under Settings → Google → All services → Ads. Pixel also reaches it from Settings → Security & Privacy → Privacy controls → Ads, and Samsung One UI 7 from Settings → Security & Privacy → More privacy settings → Ads.

Doing the 5 settings in TrueTo's verified catalog by hand takes 20+ taps across Android, Chrome, and TikTok, each in a different menu under a different name. TrueTo is built to do them together.

You choose what to turn off. TrueTo shows each setting with an explanation. Want YouTube recommendations but not targeted ads? Your call. Every setting is individually reversible.

Get TrueTo on Google Play

No ads · No third-party tracking · Account optional

What's in the data settings profile

5 settings across 3 apps in TrueTo's verified catalog, with one-tap automation for them rolling out. Another 10 are listed below and marked Manual: the path is accurate, but they're not part of the automated profile yet, so you apply them yourself.

Categories: A Ad targeting (ads aimed using your behavior) · D Data sharing (what's sent to or sold to third parties) · H History (stored activity that feeds targeting) · L Location (scanning and location data collection)

Android System

  • counterintuitive: Delete advertising ID D Manual

    Your advertising ID (AAID) is a unique identifier that lets ad networks follow you across apps. Deleting it makes cross-app profiling significantly harder. Google added this option in Android 12 and most people don't know it exists.

  • Usage & diagnostics D

    Sends anonymized usage data and crash reports to Google. "Anonymized" still includes device info, app usage patterns, and battery/performance data. Off stops the transmission.

  • counterintuitive: Wi-Fi scanning L

    Lets apps and services scan for nearby Wi-Fi networks at any time, even when Wi-Fi is off. Nearby networks pinpoint where you are, so the scans keep feeding location data while the Wi-Fi toggle sits off. Off stops the scanning.

  • counterintuitive: Bluetooth scanning L

    The same pattern: apps and services can scan for nearby Bluetooth devices even when Bluetooth is off. Beacons in stores and public spaces use those scans to log where you've been. Off stops the scanning.

Chrome

  • Third-party cookies D

    Cookies set by sites other than the one you're on. They follow your browsing from site to site and share it with ad networks, and Chrome still allows them by default. "Block third-party cookies" cuts off the cross-site collection in the browser.

  • Preload pages D Manual

    Chrome preloads pages it thinks you'll visit next — sending requests to servers before you click. This means sites you never visit receive your IP address and cookies. "No preloading" stops speculative connections.

Instagram

  • Activity from other businesses D Manual

    Lists the businesses that have sent Instagram your purchases, site visits, and app activity for ad targeting. Meta moved it into Accounts Center and removed the per-partner disconnect in June 2026, so guides describing how to cut off individual advertisers here no longer apply.

YouTube

  • Ad personalization A Manual

    This opens your Google account's ad settings rather than a YouTube-only switch. It is the same My Ad Center control that governs the ads Google serves, so turning it off here turns it off for Search and Maps too. What it does not reach is TikTok, Instagram, or the cookies Chrome accepts. It is not part of the automated profile: the account-level control is a link-out, and no check in youtube.yaml reaches it.

  • Pause Watch History H Manual

    Watch History feeds YouTube's recommendation algorithm and ad targeting. The control is a checkbox on your Google account's history screen labelled "Include the YouTube videos you watch." Unselecting it stops new views being recorded; existing history stays until you clear it separately.

  • Pause Search History H Manual

    Search History tells YouTube, and advertisers, what you are interested in. It sits on the same Controls screen as watch history, under "Include your searches on YouTube," and it is a separate checkbox. Unselecting one leaves the other running.

TikTok

  • Targeted ads A

    TikTok aims ads using your in-app activity and data from advertisers. No Google setting reaches this one. Turning it off still shows ads; they just stop being built from your behaviour. TikTok labels it Targeted ads in the US and Personalized ads in the EEA and Switzerland.

  • Disconnect advertisers / Clear activity D Manual

    Two entries on the same Ads screen. Disconnect advertisers cuts off the businesses that have been sending TikTok your activity; Clear activity wipes what they already sent. There is no Off-TikTok activity screen, whatever older guides call it.

Google Maps

  • Timeline H Manual

    Records the places you go, even when Maps isn't open, and that record feeds ad targeting. Google retired the name Location History for Timeline, which is why the menu item older guides send you to isn't there. Switch it off, or set it to delete itself on a schedule. The path is accurate; the catalog reaches the menu entry, not the control.

  • Web & App Activity H Manual

    Saves your searches, the sites you visit, and your app activity. Maps is only the doorway: this is a Google account setting that spans Search, Assistant, Photos, YouTube, and Chrome, and it is the broadest one on this page. Off there is off everywhere. Reaching it through Maps is a manual walk.

Spotify

  • Tailored ads A Manual

    Spotify uses your listening habits and profile data to aim ads on the free tier. Its own help lists the in-app Privacy and social screen in full and Tailored ads is not on it, so the dependable place to change this is your account privacy page at spotify.com/account/privacy in a browser.

Counterintuitive: feels harmless to leave alone, and the default benefits the platform, not you.

Manual Not yet in TrueTo's supported catalog. The path above is accurate; you make the change yourself.

Common questions

I turned off personalized ads in my Google account. Isn't that enough?

No. That control is My Ad Center, and it governs the ads Google itself serves: Search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps. Chrome's third-party cookies, TikTok's Targeted ads, Instagram's advertiser list, and your phone's Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning all sit outside it, each with its own switch. Android Settings has no equivalent all-apps toggle. What its Ads screen offers is to delete your advertising ID, which is a different thing.

Will I still see ads after turning these off?

Yes. Turning off ad personalization doesn't remove ads — it makes them generic instead of targeted. You'll see the same number of ads, but they won't be built from what the apps have collected about your browsing, searches, and behavior.

Where did Chrome's Ad topics and Ad measurement settings go?

Google retired Topics, Protected Audience, and Attribution Reporting in October 2025, and Chrome removed the Ad privacy menu that held them in M150. There is nothing left to switch off there. The same retirement covers Android, so the equivalent screen on the phone is on its way out too. What remains in Chrome is Third-party cookies and Preload pages, both listed on this page.

What's the difference between turning off personalized ads and disconnecting advertisers?

Personalized ads decides whether an app uses what it knows to aim ads at you. The advertiser lists are the supply side: they show which outside businesses have been sending the app your purchases and site visits. Instagram files that list under Activity from other businesses, TikTok under Disconnect advertisers. They are separate controls in separate menus, and turning one off leaves the other running.

Can I see whether my data is being sold?

Not directly. The selling happens between companies, off your phone. The closest visible trace is the advertiser lists: Instagram's Activity from other businesses and TikTok's Disconnect advertisers both show which businesses have sent the app your purchases and site visits. Facebook's version, Off-Facebook activity, was renamed and then retired, so there is nothing left to open there. The settings on this page can't delete what data brokers already hold, but they cut off the collecting and sharing that feed those lists.

Does TrueTo change these settings for me?

The settings marked with a category pill (not "Manual") are in TrueTo's verified catalog, and one-tap automation for them is rolling out. 10 settings below are marked "Manual" instead, meaning the path is accurate but TrueTo doesn't automate that one yet — YouTube's history controls and Google Maps Timeline are both in that group, because they live in your Google account rather than in the app. Every setting is chosen and reversed one at a time, so you can leave TikTok's Targeted ads alone and still switch off the location scanning.

The collecting doesn't stop at one toggle. It's 5 settings in 3 apps, plus 10 more you apply yourself. TrueTo is built to handle its own set together, and to reverse any of them when you change your mind.

Get TrueTo on Google Play

No ads · No third-party tracking · Account optional

You turned off personalized ads in your Google account. Everything else on this page is still collecting.