What Are Pop-Up Ads? (And How To Block Them)

Pop-up ads are the ads you see that appear in a new window while you’re browsing online. Online stores use pop-up ads to advertise promos, new products, last-minute airfares, or gain email subscribers. And, unfortunately, some pop-up ads also contain malware and links from hackers to download ransomware.

Thankfully, it’s incredibly easy to block pop-ups by updating your web browser settings. (Most browsers already come configured to block pop-up ads.) We’ll show you how one of the best ad blockers can get rid of them for you.

Featured ad blockers to consider

How do pop-up ads work?

On our end, pop-up ads seem to suddenly appear, usually disrupting whatever we’re doing on the web page we’re visiting. Behind the curtain, pop-ups mainly use JavaScript to pop up in a new window.

Advertisers use pop-ups to draw in new customers. Done right, pop-up ads can successfully get us to sign up for emails and subscribe to site updates.

But pop-up ads can also be used by hackers who exploit vulnerabilities in a web browser’s security. This means clicking on a pop-up ad can be dangerous because it could download malware to your device.

When hackers create fake website pop-up ads to try and infect your device with malware, it’s called malvertising. Some malicious pop-up ads are easy to avoid. You don’t click the link or call the phone number.

But thanks to the science of steganography, hackers could embed malicious code directly into the pop-up ad. The malicious code could automatically redirect your browser to a phishing site or try to spread ransomware to your machine.

On a more serious note, emergency broadcast systems, organizational security departments, and local and state governments use pop-ups to notify you in case of an emergency. For example, California uses AMBER Alerts that pop up over whatever you’re currently doing on your cell phone to help with child abduction emergencies.

Why do ads keep popping up on my phone?

If you’re seeing pop-up ads on your cell phone, it could be just another case of a website using them to advertise. But, on the other hand, your phone could be infected with malware.

If your phone keeps getting cluttered with pop-ups, take these steps to protect your phone from scams, adware, and ransomware:

1. Install and run a trustworthy antivirus program. 
2. Don’t click on any links or call any numbers in pop-up ads.
3. If you’re asked to pay a ransom in exchange for access to your phone’s files, don’t pay. Instead, report it to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Types of pop-up ads

They might all seem the same at first glance, but there are several different types of pop-up ads. They can appear almost anywhere on a web page, from the top to the center to the bottom. Some pop-up ads are full-screen, while others try to hide the Close buttons or links.

Most pop-up ads appear based on your actions, such as moving your mouse to a certain area or reading a web page for a certain length of time. They may even appear when you leave items in your shopping cart, which is what marketers call cart abandonment.

Here are some of the most common types of pop-up ads:

• Click pop-ups: If you click on a specific link, image, or even a word on a site, that could activate a pop-up ad.
• Entry pop-ups: You’ll see these ads pop up a few seconds after you visit a site — sometimes before the page’s content loads.
• Exit pop-ups: If you move your mouse off of the web page you’re browsing, it may activate an exit pop-up ad designed to keep you there. These usually promote special discounts or offers.
• Scroll pop-ups: These ads usually pop up as you scroll down a web page.
• Timed pop-ups: If you’ve been browsing a web page for a certain length of time, a timed pop-up might appear.

Pop-up ad prevention

Whether you find them annoying or are worried about malicious ads, there are several things you can do to protect yourself from pop-ups.

iPhone or iPad

If you use an iOS device and Safari web browser, there’s no need to pay for an ad blocker since one’s already built in. To block ads in Safari, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings and tap Safari.
2. Toggle Block Pop-ups on.

Mac

If you use Safari on your macOS device, blocking pop-up ads is easy to do.

1. Open Safari and choose Preferences from the top menu bar.

2. Open the Websites tab and scroll down to find the Pop-up Windows option, then click to open it.

3. Here you can add websites to a list of sites that are allowed to send you pop-up ads. Below the list, you’ll see the option to change the settings for any website not listed. You can choose Allow, Block, or Block and Notify.

Android

The steps you can take to block ads on your Android phone and in Google Chrome may change depending on which device you use. With our Samsung Galaxy S10, we used the following steps:

1. Open Google Chrome and tap the three stacked dots located in the top-right corner of the window.

2. Tap Settings, then Site settings.

3. Scroll down to Pop-ups and redirects. By default, this should be turned off, which means pop-up ads are blocked. If you tap Pop-ups and redirects, you can toggle them on, meaning you’ll see pop-up ads.

Google Chrome on desktop

If you use Chrome on your desktop, here’s how to ensure it’s set to block pop-ups:

1. Click the three stacked dots in the top-right corner of your Chrome window and choose Settings.

2. Open the Privacy & Security tab and scroll down to Site Settings.

3. Scroll down to the Content section. Click on the Pop-ups and redirects option.

4. Make sure the circle next to Don’t allow sites to send pop-ups or use redirects is filled in. You can also add specific websites to a list of sites that are absolutely prohibited from sending pop-up ads, or add a site to a list of safe websites that are allowed to send you pop-ups.

Firefox

If you prefer to use Mozilla Firefox as your browser, you can set it up to automatically block pop-up windows too.

1. Open Firefox and choose Preferences from the main menu.

2. Click the Privacy & Security tab and scroll down to the Permissions section.

3. Make sure the box next to Block pop-up windows is checked. You can also add exceptions here if you want to see pop-up windows from some sites.

How to spot a malicious pop-up ad

While most ads are harmless, some pop-up ads could also be very harmful. Hackers could use a friendly or deceptive message to redirect you to a download site containing ransomware malware.

Here’s how to spot a malicious pop-up ad and avoid it:

• Does it ask you to pay? A real antivirus software or tech support company won’t use pop-ups to ask for payment to get rid of a virus or fix a broken device.
• Does it ask you to call? You should never call a number in a pop-up ad. Instead, Google the company and pull up the official website and call from there. If you call the number in the ad, there might be a scammer on the other line.
• Does the ad try to scare you? Scareware is a type of malware that tries to get you to react without thinking. Pop-up ads that use this tactic usually try to trick you into believing you have a virus on your device.
• Are there typos? If you spot grammatical errors, incorrect web addresses, or even images that don’t look right, the ad could be malicious.

Best pop-up blockers

You can also layer on added protection from pop-up ads by using an ad blocker. Ad blockers can remove ads from web pages, YouTube videos, and other web content like streaming video services. They also stop tracking malware and other malicious code embedded in ads.

The top ad blockers on the market today include:

• Total Adblock: Made by the creators of TotalAV antivirus, Total Adblock successfully blocked ads — even YouTube ads — during our testing. Its browser extension features a clean and simple look that shows you whether the ad blocker is turned on as well as how many ads and trackers have been blocked.
  
  Get Total Adblock | Read Our Total Adblock Review
• uBlock Origin: An open-source ad blocker that comes with advanced customizations, uBlock Origin is one of the most popular options. It also scored well in our tests and cleared out YouTube ads effectively. And if you're more tech-savvy, you'll appreciate the ability to whitelist certain sites and use its optional filter lists, like EasyPrivacy and Peter Lowe's ad server list.
  
  Get uBlock Origin | Read Our uBlock Origin Review
• Ghostery: An ad blocker that also focuses on removing trackers and protecting your online privacy. We especially liked that Ghostery's free plan comes with whitelisting and blacklisting features as well as a cookie consent blocker. If you want to support Ghostery and pay for a plan, you'll get priority customer support, custom themes, and synced settings across all your devices.
  
  Get Ghostery | Read Our Ghostery Review

FAQs

Bottom line

Pop-up ads are not all bad for your device, but it’s best to err on the side of caution. We recommend blocking pop-up ads on your web browser and using ad blocker apps and extensions on your devices.

Using antivirus software on top of pop-up ad blockers is another good idea since the antivirus can protect you from malware and malicious websites even if they don’t appear in a pop-up.