Are you seeing more ads on Instagram and X than posts from your favorite creators? You’re not alone. With one handy trick, you can remove ads on Instagram and X for free, albeit with a few cons.
Issues With Ads on Instagram and X
Over the last few years, I’ve noticed my feeds becoming more inundated with ads. Some days, at least a third of my feed is ads. I know these platforms need to make money, but that’s a bit overkill.
Of course, many users are also starting to have a hard time distinguishing between ads and actual posts. Then, you also have to deal with some ads being malicious or just outright spam.
With numerous ads, you have one more major issue – you’re not seeing as many posts from the creators you chose to follow.
For X, you have the option to pay to remove ads. The first tier doesn’t remove ads at all, and the second removes some ads. You’ll need to cough up $40/month in the US to remove all ads. Of course, you can always use X alternatives if you prefer to avoid ads that way.
For Instagram, only users in the EU have access to premium versions of Facebook and Instagram for €7.99/month on the app or €5.99/month on the web. For users in other countries, you’re just stuck with ads.
Remove Ads on Instagram and X on Desktop
Many users opt for ad blocking extensions to eliminate ads on X and Instagram, but that doesn’t work so well on mobile. That’s why I opted for Brave. The free browser blocks ads by default, though you can choose to allow reduced ads. The best part is it works on both desktop and mobile.
For desktop users, the process is simple. Install Brave and login to Instagram and/or X. Enjoy an ad-free experience. The browser even lets you jump back in to the last tab you were on. No more having to deal with the “For You” tab filled with random content you’re not interested in.
Bookmark Instagram and X to quickly open them whenever you fill like scrolling or posting your own content. For me, I prefer installing the desktop web app, which is essentially a desktop shortcut.
With either Instagram or X opened in a tab, click the Install button (a small laptop) at the end of the address bar. Click Install when prompted.
Then, just click the desktop shortcut to bring up the desktop app, sans ads.
Remove Mobile Ads on X and Instagram
Brave doesn’t block ads in the mobile apps themselves. You’ll have to install the web app versions of Instagram and X to go ad-free. I know this might make it less convenient, but it could save you valuable scrolling time going past numerous ads.
Install the Brave mobile browser. Then, open either X or Instagram in Brave and log in in the browser. Don’t use the Instagram or X apps. Once again, I’m using X as an example.
Tap the three dots at the bottom right and tap Add to Home screen. Tap Install. This installs the web app. If you just want a shortcut that opens in a new Brave tab, tap Create shortcut.
Tap Add to add the shortcut to your home screen. You can long-tap and move it wherever you want it later.
Dealing With the Compromises
Remember how I said there were some cons to this ad-free trick? You’ll have to decide if these compromises are worth it to remove ads on Instagram and X.
The biggest issue is you’ll have to sign back in to X and Instagram anytime you clear your cookies and/or history on Brave. For me, it’s quicker to log back in than scroll past the increasing number of ads.
The second problem is only with Instagram on mobile devices. I’m not sure why it doesn’t happen with X. But, if you tap a post to comment or scroll through the comments, when you go back, you jump all the way back to the top of your feed. It doesn’t refresh it, and it’s incredibly annoying.
One other issue I encountered was trouble zooming in on mobile. When you install a web app, sometimes the web app disables the zoom function. Brave lets you override this.
Open Brave (not the X or Instagram web app you installed), tap the three vertical dot menu at the bottom right, and tap Settings. Scroll down and tap Accessibility. Enable Force enable zoom. You can also use the Default zoom slider to make text and images a little larger by default if you want.
There is one more benefit, though. Brave blocks trackers by default, so whatever you do on X and Instagram stays on those networks versus following you on all the other sites and apps you use. You can check to see if any websites are sharing your activities with Instagram. Brave doesn’t make you anonymous, so if you want to view someone’s Instagram Stories anonymously, you’ll need to use these methods.
