The short answer: install a Safari content blocker, then switch it on in Settings › Apps › Safari › Extensions. It takes about 20 seconds, and it works in Safari and in apps that open web pages using Safari.
Why iPhone doesn't block ads on its own
Safari already limits some tracking, and it can hide distracting parts of a page by hand. But it doesn't block ads. Apple leaves that to content blockers: apps that hand Safari a list of ad and tracker addresses, which Safari then refuses to load. Because Safari does the checking on your iPhone, a good content blocker never sees what you browse.
Step by step
- Download a Safari content blocker such as HUSH from the App Store.
- Open Settings, tap Apps, then Safari, then Extensions.
- Switch on the blocker and each of its lists. For HUSH, that's HUSH plus its four blockers.
- Tap HUSH and allow it on every website, so it can also remove YouTube ads and cookie pop-ups.
- Open Safari. Ads are gone.
On older versions of iOS, the path is Settings › Safari › Extensions (or Content Blockers). The idea is the same.
What a good ad blocker should also handle
- Trackers, not just visible ads, so companies can't follow you from site to site.
- YouTube ads, which need more than a simple block list. See how to watch YouTube without ads.
- Cookie pop-ups and "turn off your ad blocker" walls. See how to stop cookie pop-ups.
- Leftovers: empty ad boxes and sticky banners that make pages look broken.
Can you block ads inside other apps?
Not from the App Store. Apple doesn't allow one app to remove ads inside another, so ads inside games and social apps stay. Many of those services have websites, though, and on the web in Safari a blocker works normally.
Ads, trackers, cookie pop-ups and YouTube ads, gone. Set up in 20 seconds on iPhone and iPad.
Try HUSH free for a week