How to Stop Facebook Ad Tracking on iPhone
Seeing an ad for something you just talked about can feel unsettling, and it's a reminder of how much of our online activity is tracked. If you're an iPhone user, you have powerful tools to stop Facebook from tracking you across other apps and websites. This tutorial will walk you through exactly how to use your iPhone's built-in privacy settings and Facebook's own preferences to take back control of your data.
First, Why Does Facebook Track You Anyway?
Facebook's business model is built on advertising. To deliver ads that are relevant to you - and therefore more effective for advertisers - the platform collects data about your interests and behavior. This isn't just limited to what you do on Facebook itself.
By using tracking technologies like the Facebook Pixel (a small piece of code on websites), Facebook can learn about your activity on other apps and websites. For example, if you browse a pair of sneakers on a retail website, that retailer can tell Facebook to show you ads for those same sneakers later in your feed. This is known as "retargeting."
This tracking helps advertisers:
Show personalized ads: Finding people who are more likely to be interested in their products.
Measure ad performance: Understanding if their ads actually lead to a purchase or sign-up.
Build lookalike audiences: Finding new people who share similar characteristics with their existing customers.
While this is valuable for advertisers, it comes at the cost of your privacy. That's why Apple introduced App Tracking Transparency (ATT), a framework designed to give you the final say over whether apps like Facebook can monitor your activity across the digital world.
Using Apple’s App Tracking Transparency to Stop Facebook
Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) is your first and most powerful line of defense. It forces every app, including Facebook, to ask for your permission before tracking you across other companies' apps and websites. Here’s how to use it.
Disabling App Tracking for All Apps at Once
If you want to take a hard-line stance against tracking for all apps, not just Facebook, you can turn off tracking requests entirely. This is the simplest and most comprehensive approach.
Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
Scroll down and tap on Privacy & Security.
Tap on Tracking at the top of the screen.
Toggle off the switch for Allow Apps to Request to Track. The switch will turn gray.
When you do this, all apps are automatically blocked from ever asking to track you. It's like putting up a permanent "no soliciting" sign. For Facebook and other apps that try to track you, it's as if you answered no - but they can never bother you for permission again.
Managing Tracking for Individual Apps (Like Facebook)
Maybe you declined tracking for Facebook when you first saw the pop-up but now you want to double-check or change your mind. Or perhaps you want to allow certain apps to track you while blocking others. You can manage this on a per-app basis.
To ensure Facebook is not allowed to track you:
Open the Settings app.
Go to Privacy & Security, then tap Tracking.
Make sure the main Allow Apps to Request to Track toggle is turned on (green). You will not be able to see the per-app list if this main toggle is off.
Find Facebook in the list of apps.
Make sure the toggle next to Facebook is turned off (gray).
Doing this specifically tells Facebook that it does not have your permission to track your activity on other apps and websites. If you previously gave Facebook permission, this action will revoke it.
Fine-Tuning Your Ad Preferences Inside the Facebook App
Stopping tracking through your iPhone's settings is a huge step, but it doesn't stop Facebook from collecting data about what you do within the Facebook and Instagram apps. The platform still logs the posts you like, the pages you follow, the videos you watch, and the profile information you provide. It uses all this "on-platform" data to serve you ads.
The good news is you can influence what Facebook does with this information. Here’s how to get to your internal ad settings.
How to Find Your Ad Preferences
Open the Facebook app and tap the Menu icon (your profile picture and three lines) in the bottom-right corner.
Scroll down and tap Settings & Privacy, then tap Settings.
Scroll down to the 'Permissions' section and tap Ad Preferences.
This will take you to the Ads Privacy Center where you can manage everything.
Here are the key settings to review within the Ads Privacy Center:
Ad Topics
This setting lets you tell Facebook you want to see fewer ads about specific sensitive topics. For example, if you prefer not to see ads related to alcohol, parenting, pets, or social issues, you can add them to your exclusion list here. Tap Ad Topics, click "See fewer," search a topic, and add it to your list.
Ad Settings
This is the most important area for controlling how your data is used for ads on Facebook's platforms. Tap on Ad Settings and review these two sections carefully:
1. Data from partners about your activity
This section is directly related to off-Facebook activity, but also applies to the other apps owned by Meta, like Instagram. It controls whether your activity on their partners' apps and websites can be used to show you ads. While Apple ATT will prevent a lot of this from working altogether, it's a good place for a second line of defense.
Tap on this section, scroll to the bottom, and tap Review a setting where you control what is logged for you.
Here, you can turn off activity-logging for your activity from all individual partners that previously had permission, so it won’t be used for targeted ads. Tap "review your settings and choose" and turn off anything you wish. Your changes will automatically save.
2. Categories used to reach you
Advertisers can target you based on categories generated from your profile information, like your employer, job title, or education level. This section allows you to review and remove these categories so advertisers can't use them.
Tap on Interest Categories. You'll see a list of interests Facebook thinks you have based on your activity. You can go through this list and remove any you don't feel are accurate.
Go to Profile information to see if profile details have been shared with advertisers directly. Turn off everything you don't want used to advertise.
Bonus: Other Privacy Tips for iPhone and Facebook
For even more control, here are a few extra steps you can take to lock down your privacy on your iPhone.
Limit Location Services for Facebook
Facebook can use your location to target ads for local businesses. You can control its access to this data.
Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services.
Find Facebook in the list and tap on it.
Choose While Using the App or Never. Selecting "Never" provides the most privacy.
You should also turn off Precise Location. This prevents Facebook from knowing your exact GPS coordinates, giving it only a general idea of your location.
Use Safari's Built-in Privacy Features
When you browse the web outside of the Facebook app, you can limit tracking there, too. Safari has built-in features to help with this, including Intelligent Tracking Prevention, which automatically makes it harder for sites to follow you across the web. Using Private Browsing mode for sensitive searches is also a great habit, as it keeps that activity from being saved in your history.
Review Other App Permissions
Finally, it's a good practice to periodically review all the permissions you've given the Facebook app, such as access to your Photos, Camera, or Microphone. Go to Settings, scroll down to the bottom where all of your apps are listed, find Facebook, and look over the permissions you have granted. Only allow access to what is absolutely necessary for you to use the app the way you want to.
Final Thoughts
Taking control of your digital privacy on your iPhone is entirely possible by using Apple's straightforward privacy settings and digging into Facebook's own ad preferences. By disabling app tracking and fine-tuning what information Facebook can use "on-platform," you can significantly reduce the number of tailored and sometimes unnerving ads you see.
For brands and advertisers adjusting to a world with less tracking data, the focus shifts to understanding performance with the data they can collect ethically. Instead of getting bogged down by complicated platform reports, we use Graphed to connect our ad performance data from Facebook, Google, and other platforms into one consolidated view. It allows us to analyze what’s really working in seconds with natural language, helping us build smarter campaigns without relying on invasive cross-app tracking.