Google is starting to show ads on Pixel phones — here’s how to turn them off

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One of the things people love most about a Pixel is the lack of bloatware and ads. That’s still largely true, but Google has started to give in to temptation.

After the launch of the Pixel 11 series , many users, myself included, started receiving ads for the new phone on our older Pixels. It’s the sort of thing we’ve come to expect from Samsung, but not so much Google.

Ads on smartphones aren’t new. I love One UI, but even I can’t excuse how often Samsung pushes ads in front of your face . Pixels have always been free of that. A Pixel doesn’t come with a plethora of Microsoft or Meta apps because someone paid to have them preloaded, and until now, there haven’t been ads in my notification shade either.

The My Pixel app has broken the formula. The app used to be called Pixel Tips, and back then it only provided quick, easy access to tutorials on how your phone worked, notifications about new Android features, and support. Those things are still there, but last year the rebrand to My Pixel also added a Store tab so you can buy more Google hardware from your Pixel.

I’m not opposed to the store tab, but I am opposed to getting notifications and ads without signing up for them. I took the above screenshot the day I factory reset my phone to exit the QPR2 beta, and I didn’t restore a backup. I’d never opened the app, and I’d never agreed to receive any notifications, let alone ads. If you go into your phone’s settings, you can disable the My Pixel app, but doing so means losing out on the good parts.

Instead of removing the app, we can use Android’s notification controls to filter out ads while keeping everything else.

Google added notification channels, now called notification categories, to Android nine years ago, and it’s one of the best Android features. You can take granular control of the types of notifications an app can show you and make sure that you don’t see anything you don’t want to. With the My Pixel app, that includes ads. As you can see in the images above, there are categories for features and tips, account and order updates, surveys and research, and basket reminders.