How to Remove Ads From News Articles and Read Without Ads

The fastest way to remove ads from a news article is your browser's built-in reader mode. It's one click in Safari, Firefox, Edge, and Chrome, and it strips the page down to the headline, text, and main images. If you want ads gone on every page automatically, install an ad blocker such as uBlock Origin.

This guide covers each option, when it works, and when it doesn't, so you can pick the right way to read articles without ads.

Method	Removes ads	Works on every site	Setup
Reader mode	Yes, on article pages	No, only pages that look like articles	None
Ad blocker	Yes, site-wide	Mostly	Install an extension
Print view	Often	Varies by site	None
Text extraction tool	You choose what to keep	Yes, including JavaScript-heavy pages	None for one page

1. Use reader mode in your browser

Reader mode is the closest thing to a built-in "remove ads from article" button. It pulls out the main story and drops the sidebars, ad slots, autoplay videos, and pop-ups.

Safari (Mac, iPhone, iPad)

Mac: click the Reader icon at the left of the address bar, or press Cmd + Shift + R.
iPhone and iPad: tap the page menu icon in the address bar and choose Show Reader.

Safari can also open Reader automatically for a site you visit often. Look for the website settings option in the same menu.

Firefox

Click the Reader View icon (a small page) in the address bar. On Windows you can also press F9. On Mac, use Cmd + Option + R, and on Linux, Ctrl + Alt + R.

Microsoft Edge

Edge calls it Immersive Reader. Click the book icon in the address bar or press F9. It also offers read-aloud and line focus.

Google Chrome

Chrome's Reading mode opens in the side panel next to the page instead of replacing it. Right-click the page and choose Open in reading mode, or open it from the side panel menu. You read the clean text in the panel while the original page (with its ads) stays open beside it.

When reader mode fails

Reader mode guesses which part of the page is the article. It works well on standard news stories and blog posts. It often fails or shows an empty view on:

Live blogs, galleries, and pages split into many short sections.
Sites that load the article text with JavaScript after the page opens.
Pages behind a paywall, where the text was never sent to your browser in the first place.

2. Install an ad blocker

If you're tired of turning reader mode on for every story, an ad blocker removes ads across every site you visit. It blocks the requests that load ads and hides the empty boxes they leave behind.

uBlock Origin is the best-known free, open-source option. Which version you can use depends on your browser:

Firefox: the full uBlock Origin extension is still available.
Chrome: Google's move to Manifest V3 ended support for the full extension. Chrome users get uBlock Origin Lite, which the uBlock Origin team notes has fewer features in its default mode.
Safari: Safari uses its own content blocker system. Install a blocker from the App Store, then turn it on in Safari's extension settings.

Some browsers block ads by default. Brave has a built-in blocker called Shields, so you don't need an extension.

A few things to know:

Many news sites detect ad blockers and show a "please disable your ad blocker" wall. You can pause the blocker for that site, subscribe, or use reader mode instead.
An ad blocker hides ads but not every distraction. Newsletter pop-ups, cookie banners, and "recommended for you" widgets often stay. Most blockers include optional filter lists for cookie notices and annoyances that you can switch on in settings.

3. Try print view

Many news sites include a print stylesheet that hides ads, menus, and comments when you print. Press Ctrl + P (Windows and Linux) or Cmd + P (Mac) and look at the preview. If it looks clean, you can:

Save it as a PDF to read later.
Copy the text straight from the preview's saved PDF.

Results vary a lot by site. Some publishers design their print view carefully, and others print the whole cluttered page.

4. Extract the article text with a tool

Sometimes you don't just want to read without ads. You want the article text itself: to save it, quote it, translate it, or paste it into ChatGPT or Claude for a summary. That's where a text extraction tool helps.

URLtoText converts any URL into plain text, Markdown, or HTML. Paste the article link, pick a format, and click Convert.

One important detail: URLtoText gives you the text of the page as it is. It does not automatically detect and remove ads or clutter. To get just the article, you tell it which part of the page to keep:

Extract with a CSS selector. Most news sites wrap the story in an article tag or a class like .article-body or .post-content. Enter that selector and URLtoText returns only the text inside it. To find the right selector, right-click the first paragraph of the story, choose Inspect, and look at the surrounding elements.
Set an "End of article" cutoff. Enter a phrase that appears right after the story ends, such as "Related stories" or "More from", and extraction stops there. This trims the comments, newsletter boxes, and recommended links below the article.

For sites that build the page with JavaScript, turn on Render JavaScript so the text actually loads before extraction. You can also add an AI prompt, such as "summarize this article in five bullet points," and get the summary along with the text.

This approach works on pages where reader mode gives up, and it gives you text you can reuse. For more ways to do this, see our guide on how to extract text from a website.

5. Other ways to read without ads

Subscribe. Many publishers offer an ad-free or low-ad experience to paying subscribers. It's the most reliable option on sites you read daily.
Use the publisher's app or newsletter. Some outlets send the full story by email or show fewer ads in their app.
Read-later apps. Apps that save articles for offline reading usually store a clean, reader-style copy of the text.

A note on supporting publishers

Ads pay for a lot of journalism. If you remove ads from a news site you rely on, consider supporting it another way: pause your ad blocker on that site, buy a subscription, or donate if the outlet accepts it. Blocking intrusive or unsafe ads is reasonable. Just keep in mind that free news isn't free to produce.

Also, these methods are for reading content you already have access to. Don't use them to get around a paywall, and don't republish an article's text without permission.

Which method should you use?

One article, right now: reader mode.
Every site, every day: an ad blocker, or a browser with one built in.
Saving a clean copy: print view to PDF.
Reusing the text, summarizing it, or handling pages reader mode can't: a text extraction tool with a CSS selector or end-of-article cutoff.

Frequently asked questions

How do I remove ads from news articles on my phone?

Use reader mode. On iPhone, open the page menu in Safari's address bar and tap Show Reader. On Android, Chrome's reading mode and browsers with built-in blockers, such as Brave or Firefox with uBlock Origin, both work well. Firefox for Android supports add-ons, including uBlock Origin.