{"id":42475,"date":"2013-06-03T17:33:45","date_gmt":"2013-06-03T15:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onsoftware.en.softonic.com\/?p=42475"},"modified":"2025-07-02T01:24:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T08:24:17","slug":"how-to-disable-smart-ads-in-gmail-and-yahoo-mail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/how-to-disable-smart-ads-in-gmail-and-yahoo-mail\/","title":{"rendered":"How to disable Smart ads in Gmail and Yahoo! Mail"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-42482\" title=\"Yahoo-Mail-600x347\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/06\/Yahoo-Mail-600x3471.png\" alt=\"Yahoo-Mail-600x347\" width=\"600\" height=\"347\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/06\/Yahoo-Mail-600x3471.png 600w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/06\/Yahoo-Mail-600x3471-300x173.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/yahoo-mail.en.softonic.com\/web-apps\">Yahoo! Mail<\/a> has <a href=\"http:\/\/news.en.softonic.com\/yahoo-mail-classic-shuts-down-today\">discontinued Mail Classic<\/a>, forcing users to switch to the newer version of the service. Among the updated terms of service is a clause allowing email scanning, which Yahoo! uses to provide Smart ads tailored to your emails. <a href=\"http:\/\/yahoo-mail.en.softonic.com\/web-apps\">Gmail<\/a> also has email scanning, which is also used for better personal ads but also ties into other services such as <a title=\"Google Now articles\" href=\"http:\/\/features.en.softonic.com\/b\/google-now\">Google Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The term \u201cemail scanning\u201d can be a little misleading, as users might assume that their emails are being read by human eyes, or that personal information is being sent to advertisers. In actuality email scanning is only searching for keywords. While you cannot opt out of email scanning, you can disable the end result of personalized Smart ads.<\/p>\n<h3>Disable Yahoo! Mail Smart Ads<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-42483\" title=\"Yahoo Privacy\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/06\/6-3-2013-12-13-51-PM.png\" alt=\"Yahoo Privacy\" width=\"600\" height=\"301\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/06\/6-3-2013-12-13-51-PM.png 889w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/06\/6-3-2013-12-13-51-PM-300x151.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You can disable Ad Matching within the <a href=\"http:\/\/info.yahoo.com\/privacy\/us\/yahoo\/tools\/\">Yahoo! Privacy Policy<\/a> page. Select<strong> \u201cPrivacy Tools\u201d<\/strong> from the purple bar near the top to enter the tools section. Now select the second option <strong>\u201cOpt Out of Ad Matching\u201d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-42484\" title=\"Yahoo Opt Out\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/06\/6-3-2013-12-16-00-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"588\" height=\"357\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/06\/6-3-2013-12-16-00-PM.png 588w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/06\/6-3-2013-12-16-00-PM-300x182.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 588px) 100vw, 588px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If Yahoo! has scanned your email there may be individual interest categories which you can disable one at a time. Otherwise the category list will be empty. On the right select the yellow <strong>\u201cOp Out\u201d<\/strong> button to fully stop Ad Matching on your device.<\/p>\n<h3>Disable Google tailored Ads<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-42485\" title=\"Google ad settings\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/06\/6-3-2013-12-23-13-PM.png\" alt=\"Google ad settings\" width=\"600\" height=\"248\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/06\/6-3-2013-12-23-13-PM.png 767w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/06\/6-3-2013-12-23-13-PM-300x124.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Google ads can be disabled within the Ads Settings. Scroll down to the bottom to find the <strong>\u201cOp out settings\u201d<\/strong>. You can select to opt out of Google services such as Gmail, Search, and YouTube. You can also disable tailored ads with any site that has partnered with Google.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-42486\" title=\"confirm opt out\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/06\/6-3-2013-12-24-15-PM.png\" alt=\"confirm opt out\" width=\"482\" height=\"259\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/06\/6-3-2013-12-24-15-PM.png 482w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/06\/6-3-2013-12-24-15-PM-300x161.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A second window will appear explaining what opting out does. You will still see ads, they just won\u2019t be personally tailored to you. Select the blue <strong>\u201cOp-out\u201d<\/strong> button to confirm.<\/p>\n<h3>Check over terms of service<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-42487\" title=\"tossos\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/06\/tossos.png\" alt=\"tossos\" width=\"600\" height=\"353\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/06\/tossos.png 600w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/06\/tossos-300x176.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>While email scanning is relatively harmless, for increased security you should still be aware of changes to your email\u2019s terms of service. Companies can update these at any time, and it\u2019s very common for users to just skim over the changes. If you want an easier time understanding changes in services and privacy try <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tossos.com\/\">TOSSOS<\/a>, which turns those complex terms and services into plain English.<\/p>\n<p>If you really don\u2019t care for the idea of email scanning you can also switch over to <a href=\"http:\/\/outlook-com.en.softonic.com\/web-apps\">Outlook.com<\/a>, which <a href=\"http:\/\/windows.microsoft.com\/en-us\/windows\/outlook-private#1TC=t1\">doesn\u2019t use personalized ads<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>You can also try the download version of <a href=\"https:\/\/yahoo-mail.en.softonic.com\/download\">Yahoo Mail<\/a> for Windows 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yahoo! Mail has discontinued Mail Classic, forcing users to switch to the newer version of the service. Among the updated terms of service is a clause allowing email scanning, which Yahoo! uses to provide Smart ads tailored to your emails. Gmail also has email scanning, which is also used for better personal ads but also &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/how-to-disable-smart-ads-in-gmail-and-yahoo-mail\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;How to disable Smart ads in Gmail and Yahoo! Mail&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2038,"featured_media":42485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":1},"categories":[2441],"tags":[2619],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-42475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to","tag-app-subdomain-redirectionyahoo"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2038"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42475"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":332836,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42475\/revisions\/332836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42475"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=42475"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=42475"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=42475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}