How to Delete Your Android Advertising ID

Think of your Android Advertising ID as a unique digital barcode that follows you everywhere you go on your phone. Every time you open a shopping app, a game, or even a news site, that app scans your barcode and adds a little note to your file. "This person likes sports," "This person is looking for a new car," "This person is currently at a Starbucks." On my old phone, I didn't even realize this was happening until I started getting ads for products I’d only looked at in a physically separate store. It was the "barcode" connecting the dots. The good news is that Google finally lets us just throw that barcode away.

What the ad ID is

The Advertising ID (or AAID) is a string of letters and numbers created by Google Play Services. It's not your name or your email, but for a marketer, it’s just as good. Because it’s unique to your device, it allows different apps—owned by different companies—to recognize you as the same person. This is how "cross-app tracking" works.

Apps don't need to know your name to sell your attention. They just need to know that ID 7e9b-44c1-92... recently spent ten minutes looking at expensive watches. When you open a different app ten minutes later, that app says "Hey, 7e9b-44c1-92... is here, show them a watch ad!" It's a persistent tracker that resides at the system level, meaning individual app settings often don't affect it.

Reset vs delete

For a long time, Google only let us "Reset" the Advertising ID. It was like getting a new license plate for your car. It felt better for a week, but the tracking just started over from scratch on the new ID. It didn't solve the problem; it just hit the refresh button on your data profile.

A few years ago, they introduced a better option: "Delete advertising ID." This doesn't just give you a new number; it tells the system to report a string of zeros to any app that asks for it. Imagine an app trying to scan your barcode and finding only a blank white sticker. That’s the goal. When you delete the ID, you’re opting out of the tracking ecosystem entirely at the hardware level. This is the "nuclear option" for privacy, and I highly recommend it over just resetting.

Deleting it: the exact steps

Google has moved this setting around a few times, which is typical and more than a little annoying. On most modern phones running Android 12, 13, or 14, here is exactly how I did it on my own device.

1. Open Settings.
2. Scroll down and tap Google.
3. Tap on Ads (it’s usually near the top of the list).
4. You’ll see two options: "Reset advertising ID" and "Delete advertising ID." Tap on Delete advertising ID.
5. A confirmation screen will pop up warning you that you’ll still see ads, but they might not be as "relevant." Tap the button to confirm.

Once you’ve done this, the "Ads" menu will change. It will now say "Advertising ID deleted," and you'll only have an option to "Get new advertising ID" if you ever change your mind. If you see that screen, you’ve successfully blocked that tracking vector.

Samsung, Pixel, Xiaomi paths

Depending on which phone you bought, the manufacturer might have added their own "flair" to the menu. It's consistent across Android because it's a Google Play Services feature, but getting there can feel different.

• On a Pixel: Follow the steps above exactly. It’s the "purest" path.
• On a Samsung Galaxy: You can go to Settings > Security and privacy > More privacy settings > Ads. This gets you to the same Google menu but through Samsung's own privacy portal.
• On a Xiaomi (HyperOS/MIUI): They have a separate "Ad Services" toggle in their own settings, but you still need to find the Google menu in Settings to delete the specific AAID. Xiaomi loves to add their own "MSA" service, so travelers beware—deleting the Google ID only solves half the problem on those phones.

What apps see after deletion

When an app tries to call the Google Play Services API to get your ID after you've deleted it, it receives a string of zeros: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000. Most modern apps are programmed to recognize this as a "user opted out" signal. Instead of showing you an ad for that specific pair of boots you looked at Tuesday, the app might just show you a generic ad for a local soft drink or a movie trailer.

One concrete example: I noticed that my Instagram ads became much more "random" about 48 hours after I deleted my ID. I started seeing ads for things I had zero interest in, which is actually a great sign. It meant the algorithm had "lost the scent." However, some older or shadier apps might still try to track you using your IP address or your device’s "fingerprint" (a combination of your screen resolution, battery level, and hardware specs). This fix isn't 100% perfect, but it cuts off the easiest, most common way apps stalk you.

Re-enabling if you must

Why would you ever want this back? Some people actually prefer targeted ads. They’d rather see an ad for a tool they might buy than a random commercial for something they’ll never use. Or, sometimes, a very specific type of "rewarded video" in a game might glitch if it can't find an ID to tag the reward to.

If you find that a favorite app is broken, you can go back to Settings > Google > Ads and tap Get new advertising ID. It will instantly generate a fresh "barcode" and the tracking will begin again starting from zero. No judgment here—your phone should work the way you want it to—but for most of us, the privacy "win" of having those zeros is much more satisfying than seeing a "relevant" ad for a blender.