Ad-blocking has become a huge issue over the recent months, with even the government taking an interest in how damaging it could be for online news providers, like ourselves. As with many sites we make most of our money through display advertising and without it there simply wouldn't be anyone here to write the article you're reading. That said, there are times when a site is delivering pop-up adverts to you like a fully automatic weapon and that's just not on. Our primary advice would be to take your clicks elsewhere, but especially on a mobile device you can be short of time and working with limited speeds, so a pop-up blocker for your Android handset does make sense.
Yes, while many people block ads on their desktop PC, they often don’t bother doing the same for their Android smartphone, even when a pop-up ad can dominate your whole phone screen. Worse still, those ads use up your preciuos data allowance, so blocking them is a sensible move.
The mobile Android operating system doesn’t make it as easy to block ads as a desktop machine does. But there is a way.
Here we tell you exactly how to stop pop-ups from appearing on your Android device, whether that’s a phone or a tablet. There is more than one way to do it depending on your phone’s configurations, but most can be done via your built-in browser settings. And all while still seeing the usual display ads that keeps this site, and many others, ticking over.
Android browser
Those using Android’s stock browser can block pop-ups by simply clicking the three dots button (top right) while using the app and tapping settings. Select the advanced option and check the Block Pop-ups box. This straightforward operation will block most pop-ups from appearing in the Android browser.
Chrome
It's just as easy for Chrome browser users to do the same. Open the Settings menu in Chrome (three dots, then choose Settings) and select Site Settings. Scroll down to the Pop-ups option and then turn the slider to the off position to block those irksome ads.
Firefox for Android
There are no official Pop-up Blocker Options in Firefox for Android as the app claims to do this automatically. However, if you wish to disable Pop-ups, you need to type about:config in the Firefox address bar and search dom.disable_open_during_load and toggle it from true to false.
