How to Stop Seeing Ads on Pinterest (Desktop and Phone)

On a computer, the only way to stop seeing ads on Pinterest is a browser extension that removes promoted pins before they show up. Pinterest itself has no off switch: its help center says plainly that “you can’t turn off ads completely”. In the iPhone and Android apps, you can’t block ads, but you can hide individual ads, block advertisers and limit how your data is used for ad targeting.

Below are the steps for each, plus what every Pinterest setting really does.

How do you remove ads from Pinterest on desktop?

Generic advice tells you to “install an ad blocker”. That half works. General-purpose blockers such as uBlock Origin are built to stop ad network requests and known ad elements across the whole web. Pinterest ads are different: they are ordinary pins served from Pinterest’s own servers and mixed into the same grid as the pins you want, so a blocker needs Pinterest-specific rules to catch them. We compare the two approaches in detail in uBlock Origin vs a Pinterest ad blocker.

We built Feed Cleaner for Pinterest for exactly this. (Feed Cleaner is our extension. It’s free, needs no account and doesn’t track you.) It removes promoted pins from your home feed, search results and the “More to explore” section on pin pages.

Steps

1. Install the extension from the Chrome Web Store or addons.mozilla.org. It works in Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave, Opera and Vivaldi.
2. Open Pinterest (or reload any Pinterest tab you already had open).
3. That’s it. Ads are hidden with CSS before they render, so you don’t see them flash in and disappear. The toolbar badge counts how many items were cleaned on the page.

It works on 22 Pinterest country domains (pinterest.com, .de, .fr, .co.uk, .jp and more) and in 25+ languages, so the ad label is recognized whether it’s in English, German or Japanese.

Pick a mode that suits your grid

Removing a pin from a masonry grid leaves a hole, so the extension gives you three ways to handle it:

Mode	What happens to the ad	Best for
Remove	Hidden, and the gap closes as the grid reflows	The cleanest feed
Blank	Replaced by an empty card, grid stays put	People who hate pins jumping around while scrolling
Swap	Covered by a similar-shaped pin from your own feed	A full grid with no gaps or blanks

Go further: shopping pins and suggestion blocks

Promoted pins aren’t the only commercial clutter. It can also hide shopping pins, video pins and suggestion blocks like “Popular on Pinterest” and “Shop the look”. Each one is a separate switch, so you can turn any of them back on. If you mostly want shopping content gone, see our guide to turning off shopping pins on Pinterest.

When an ad slips through

Pinterest changes its page code from time to time. Our filter lists update on their own without you reinstalling anything, and there’s a “Report a missed ad” button in the extension if you spot one we missed.

What can you do inside Pinterest itself?

These options work on desktop and in the apps. None of them reduces the number of ads, but they do change which ads you see.

Hide a specific ad

Pinterest says you can hide an ad that doesn’t interest you and that it uses this feedback to show you more relevant ads.

1. Find the ad in your feed or search results.
2. Click or tap the … (ellipsis) menu on the pin.
3. Choose the option to hide the ad.

This removes that one ad and nudges future targeting. It doesn’t free up the slot: another ad takes its place.

Block an advertiser

According to the same help page, you can block an advertiser’s profile, up to 1,000 advertisers. Blocking works the same way as blocking any account:

1. Open the advertiser’s profile.
2. Click or tap the … icon (for business accounts it’s in the top-right corner).
3. Choose Block, then confirm.

This is the most useful native tool if one brand keeps showing up. For the big repeat offenders, our post on stopping Temu and Amazon ads on Pinterest goes deeper.

Change your ad personalization settings

Pinterest’s privacy and data settings control how your data is used for ads, not how many ads you get.

On desktop:

1. Click the more options icon at the bottom left of the screen.
2. Click Settings, then Privacy and data.
3. Uncheck the ad personalization boxes you don’t want, then click Save.

In the app:

1. Tap your profile picture at the bottom right, then your profile photo at the top left.
2. Tap Privacy and data.
3. Switch off the toggles you don’t want.

What the main switches do, per Pinterest’s help page (availability depends on your country):

Setting	What it controls
Use info from sites you visit	Whether data collected through Pinterest widgets on other sites and apps is used to improve your ads
Use of partner info	Whether info from Pinterest’s partners is used for personalized ads
Activity for ads reporting	Whether advertisers get info about your activity to measure their ads
Sharing info with partners	Whether your info can be shared with partners to improve third-party ads
Ads off Pinterest	Whether advertisers can use your info to show you ads on other sites and apps

Turning these off makes ads less personal. Some people find that more annoying, because the ads become more random. It’s still worth doing for privacy.

“Refine your recommendations” doesn’t touch ads

Pinterest’s Refine your recommendations page lets you turn down AI content and activity-based suggestions, but Pinterest states that changing these settings doesn’t affect the ads in your home feed. The same goes for “See fewer like this” on regular pins.

How do you stop ads on the Pinterest app (iPhone and Android)?

Here’s the honest version: the Pinterest apps don’t support extensions, and there’s no in-app setting that removes ads. Our extension doesn’t work in the phone apps either. On a phone you can:

1. Hide ads and block advertisers using the steps above. Blocking repeat advertisers is the biggest lever you have.
2. Turn off ad personalization under Privacy and data.
3. On iPhone, deny app tracking. Pinterest’s personalization page notes that if you choose “Ask App Not to Track”, your ads will be less personalized. You can change this for Pinterest in the iOS Settings app under Privacy & Security > Tracking.
4. Save heavy browsing for the computer. If you do your long scroll sessions on desktop, an extension can strip the ads there while the app stays as it is.

Be careful with third-party “ad-free Pinterest” apps that ask you to log in with your Pinterest password. Check reviews and permissions before handing over your account.

Which method should you use?

Where you browse	What actually removes ads	What only changes ads
Desktop browser	A Pinterest-aware extension	Hide ad, block advertiser, privacy settings
iPhone app	Nothing currently	Hide ad, block advertiser, privacy settings, App Tracking
Android app	Nothing currently	Hide ad, block advertiser, privacy settings

If you’re wondering whether Pinterest will ever add a real off switch or a paid ad-free plan, we cover that in can you turn off Pinterest ads?

FAQ

Can you block ads on Pinterest for free?

Yes, in a browser. Feed Cleaner is free and removes promoted pins in Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave, Opera and Vivaldi. The native hide and block options are free too, but they don’t reduce the number of ads.

Why do I still see ads after turning off personalization?

Because those settings only control how your data is used for targeting. Pinterest says you can’t turn off ads completely, so ads keep coming, just less tailored to you.

Is there a way to remove ads from the Pinterest app?

Not with an extension, since the apps don’t support them. Use hide, block and privacy settings on your phone, and an extension when you browse on a computer.

Wrapping up

Pinterest’s own settings only steer which ads you get. On desktop, a Pinterest-specific extension removes them outright in a minute of setup. On your phone, block the advertisers that bug you most and switch off personalization. Pinterest menus change now and then, so if a step looks different, check the pin’s … menu or Settings.