How to Stop Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok From Tracking You

Stop social media tracking on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok by changing the settings that control cross-app activity, ad personalisation, location, contacts, and other permissions. Want to stop Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok from collecting more information than they need? Start with the settings that affect tracking, not just the permissions that are easiest to find. Turn off cross-app tracking on your phone, remove unnecessary access to contacts and location, then change each platform’s ad and off-platform activity controls.

For the platform rules behind these controls, compare the Apple tracking explanation, Meta’s activity-from-other-businesses guide, and TikTok’s off-TikTok data controls. These official pages explain what each switch changes. This will not make you invisible online. The apps can still use information you give them directly, activity inside their services, and data allowed by their privacy policies. It will, however, reduce several common routes used for personalized advertising and background data sharing.

What we verified before writing these steps

There is no single “stop social media tracking” switch for every service. Tracking can mean different things:

• an app reading your location, contacts, photos, camera, or microphone;
• an app linking activity on your phone with activity on other apps and websites;
• advertisers sending customer or browsing information to Meta or TikTok;
• the platform using your searches, views, follows, and clicks inside its own service;
• information already attached to your account or stored in a company database.

Changing a permission usually affects future access. It does not automatically erase information collected earlier. Use the account controls below when you want to review or clear existing activity.

1. Turn off cross-app tracking on iPhone

Apple’s App Tracking Transparency setting controls whether an app can track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites for advertising or data sharing. Apple says that choosing Ask App Not to Track still lets you use the app’s normal features.[1]

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Privacy & Security.
3. Tap Tracking.
4. Turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track.

You can also leave the main switch on and deny individual apps. If you have already allowed an app, open this screen and turn that app off. The setting can be unavailable on some child, managed, or recently created Apple accounts, so do not treat a missing switch as proof that an app has no tracking capability.[1]

2. Review Facebook and Instagram activity from other businesses

Facebook and Instagram are both Meta services, so many privacy controls appear in Accounts Center. Names and locations can differ by account, region, or app version.

Stop using off-platform activity for ad personalisation

1. Open Facebook or Instagram and go to your profile.
2. Open Settings and privacy, then Accounts Center.
3. Open Your information and permissions.
4. Choose Activity from other businesses or the similarly named off-Meta activity control.
5. Review the setting that allows activity from other businesses to be used for ads, then choose the less personalised option or turn the control off when offered.

Meta explains that businesses can send information about activity on their websites, apps, or in stores. Changing this preference can stop Meta from using that activity for more relevant content or ads, but it does not stop businesses from sending information or remove every type of data already held by Meta.[2]

For a more complete walkthrough, see our guide to Instagram privacy settings. It covers account-level choices that are separate from phone permissions.

Adjust the ads you see

1. Open Accounts Center.
2. Tap Ad preferences.
3. Review Ad experience, ad topics, and information used to show you ads.
4. Choose less personalised ads if that option is available for your account.

This changes how ads are selected, not whether ads appear. Facebook says that ad preferences can influence the ads shown to you without reducing the total number of ads.[3] Instagram also uses activity on Meta technologies and information from ad partners when deciding which ads to show.[4]

3. Stop social media tracking on TikTok

TikTok has a separate control for activity outside TikTok. In the app:

1. Tap Profile.
2. Tap the menu button.
3. Open Settings and privacy.
4. Tap Ads.
5. Turn off Targeted ads.

In some regions, the same setting is called Using Off-TikTok activity for ad targeting. TikTok notes that you will still see ads based on activity inside TikTok and other data described in its privacy policy.[5]

TikTok also provides a way to disconnect advertisers and clear off-TikTok activity:

1. Open Profile > Menu > Settings and privacy > Ads.
2. Tap Disconnect advertisers and switch off advertisers you do not want connected.
3. Return to the Ads screen and use Clear activity when available.

TikTok says off-TikTok activity can be cleared every 24 hours, and disconnection may take up to 30 days to complete.[6] That delay is one reason not to assume the change took effect immediately.

4. Use phone permissions to reduce social media tracking

Permissions are not the same as advertising tracking, but they determine what an app can access directly. Review them after changing the platform settings.

On iPhone

Go to Settings > Privacy & Security, then check Location Services, Contacts, Photos, Microphone, and Camera. Give an app access only when its feature needs it. For photos, use selected photos instead of the entire library when that option is available. Apple also provides App Privacy Report, which shows permission use and network activity over time.[7]

On Android

Open Settings > Apps > See all apps, choose Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, and open Permissions. Set location to Allow only while using the app or Don’t allow unless you need location features. Remove Contacts, Microphone, Camera, and Photos and videos access when you do not use those features. Menu names vary between Samsung, Pixel, OnePlus, and other Android phones.

Do not grant contacts access just to make account suggestions more convenient. If you need contact discovery once, consider turning the permission off afterward and review whether the service has a separate uploaded-contacts setting.

5. Change Android settings for social media tracking

Android has its own ad privacy controls in addition to settings inside each social app:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Google, then All services.
3. Under Privacy & security, tap Ads, then Ads privacy.
4. Review Ad topics, App-suggested ads, and related controls.

Google says these controls can reduce some ad personalisation, but the ads you see may still depend on app policies, other identifiers, and information you shared directly with an app.[8] Older Android versions may show advertising ID controls under Settings > Privacy > Ads.

If you want to check an Android phone for unusual access as well as tracking, use our Android app privacy checks guide.

6. Turn off background location and review usage

Location access deserves a separate check because an app may not need your exact location for its main purpose. On both platforms, prefer while-using access over always-on access. If a social app does not need location at all, deny it.

Look at your phone’s privacy dashboard or app privacy report a few days later. A permission change is useful only if it matches how you use the app. For example, removing camera access may stop in-app camera capture but will not prevent you from uploading a photo selected through the system picker.

7. Clear old activity and remove connections you no longer use

After changing future permissions, review the account controls for stored activity. Remove connected websites, advertisers, contact uploads, and linked accounts that you no longer recognise. Download your information first if you want a record of what the service associates with your account.

Uninstalling an app is not an account deletion request. It can stop that installation from accessing the phone, but it does not automatically delete account records, messages, uploaded media, advertiser matches, or data previously sent by other businesses. Use the platform’s account centre or privacy request process for deletion questions.

What changes after you turn these settings off?

After you stop social media tracking through these controls, you should still expect to see ads. You may still receive recommendations based on what you watch, search, like, follow, or share inside the platform. A phone can also expose broad signals such as an IP address or device information while you use an online service. The realistic goal is to reduce unnecessary access and cross-service personalisation, not to promise total anonymity.

Social media tracking privacy checklist

• Deny cross-app tracking requests on iPhone.
• Turn off or review Meta activity from other businesses.
• Choose less personalised ads in Meta Accounts Center when available.
• Turn off TikTok Targeted ads or its regional equivalent.
• Clear TikTok off-TikTok activity and disconnect advertisers.
• Remove contacts, microphone, camera, photos, and location permissions that you do not use.
• Review Android Ads privacy controls.
• Check again after a major app or phone update.

Frequently asked questions