How-to · Updated October 11, 2026
Stop your Google ads showing in mobile apps and games
Updated October 11, 2026
20 minutes
To stop Google ads showing in mobile apps and games, open Where ads showed (or the Performance Max placement report), list the apps, and exclude them as placements. Display campaigns take exclusions per campaign; Performance Max takes them only at account level, under Content suitability. No single exclusion blocks every app.
Before you start
- Standard or Admin access to the Google Ads account. Google lists those two levels as the ones that can edit campaigns.
- A campaign that can reach apps. The Display Network covers websites and apps, so this applies to Display campaigns, Performance Max, and Search campaigns that also serve on the Display Network.
- A list of the apps' IDs or names, which the first part below produces.
Find the apps your ads showed in
The placement reports name each app your ads appeared in, so start there rather than guessing.
- For Display campaigns and Search campaigns on the Display Network, click Campaigns, then Insights and reports, then When and where ads showed, and open the Where ads showed tab. Set the date range to the last 30 days or longer.
- For Performance Max, click Campaigns, then Insights and reports, then Report editor, then Performance Max campaigns placement. Add the Performance Max placement type column; rows marked Mobile App are apps.
- Write down each app you want gone. App placements are written as mobileapp::2- followed by the Android package name, or mobileapp::1- followed by the iPhone app's numeric ID.
Google says neither report is a complete list: placements with only a few impressions may be left out, and the Performance Max report covers only the channels where placements apply.
Exclude them from a Display campaign
Campaign-level exclusions block the apps in one campaign and leave the rest of the account alone.
- Click Campaigns, then open the Audiences, keywords, and content drop-down and click Content.
- Click Exclusions, then the drop-down arrow beside Exclusions, and select Placements.
- Click the pencil icon, then Add placement exclusion. Under Exclude from, choose Campaign and select the campaign.
- Click Enter multiple placements, paste your app IDs one per line, and click Save.
For a Search campaign, the cleaner fix is usually to stop it serving on the Display Network at all, which a separate page covers: stop your Search campaign showing on websites and apps.
Exclude them across the account, including Performance Max
Google says Performance Max placement exclusions are managed at the account level, so this list applies to every campaign in the account.
- Click the Tools icon, then Content suitability, then Advanced settings.
- Under Excluded placements, search for each app or click Enter multiple placements and paste the list.
- Click Save. Google says new account-level exclusions typically take effect within 12 hours.
Check it worked
Open Change history at the account level the same day: Google says that is where an account-level exclusion shows up. A campaign-level exclusion appears in the campaign's Exclusions list.
After a week, run the same placement report with a date range that starts the day after you saved. The excluded apps should be gone. New apps can appear in their place, so repeat the check monthly until the list settles.
Is there one setting that blocks every app?
Not as a placement exclusion. Google's mobile apps page says the old app content exclusion was replaced by device targeting for computers, tablets and mobile, and that Google Ads no longer supports targeting app inventory through device settings or the adsenseformobileapps.com placement. That placement can still appear in reports for ads shown in apps through keywords, topics or audiences, but Google does not describe excluding it as a way to block apps.
Google's device targeting page lists four device types: computers, mobile phones, tablets and TV screens. Google's mobile apps page says Google Ads no longer supports targeting app inventory through device settings, so turning off mobile phones drops phone websites along with apps, and phone websites are where many customers browse.
Should every app with no leads be excluded?
Google warns that performance figures per placement in the Where ads showed report are generally not statistically significant, and that excluding too much can limit the inventory your campaigns can reach. A judgment that follows from that: exclude apps that spend money with clicks and no leads over a long range, and apps that do not fit your business, rather than every row with zero conversions.
Google also says the Where ads showed report may still include invalid clicks that other reports remove. If an app's clicks look like accidents or bots, see the page on getting credit for invalid clicks.