Words With Friends No Ads: How to Block Them on Android, iOS & PC

If you want to play Words With Friends with no ads, you’re not alone. The game is free, but between moves you’ll hit banner ads, full-screen video interruptions, and cross-promotional pop-ups. This guide covers what actually works to block them — on Android, iPhone, iPad, and desktop — without paying for the premium version.

Why Words With Friends Shows So Many Ads

Like most free mobile games, Words With Friends funds itself through advertising. Between turns — and especially after finishing a game — you’ll typically run into a mix of:

• Banner ads along the bottom of the screen
• Full-screen interstitial ads, often video clips you have to wait out before dismissing
• Cross-promotional banners pushing other Zynga titles
• Rewarded video ads tied to in-game bonuses

Most of these are loaded from third-party ad networks at runtime, which means an ad blocker can intercept them before they ever reach your screen. A smaller set — cross-promotions for Zynga’s own products like Harry Potter Puzzles & Spells — are baked directly into the app’s interface. Those can’t be filtered by any external tool, and this is true regardless of which blocker you use. More on that below.

Words With Friends No Ads on Android

Android gives you the most flexibility here. You can run a system-wide ad blocker that intercepts ad requests from every app — including Words With Friends — without rooting your device.

Use AdLock for Android

AdLock for Android works at the network level, blocking ad requests before they load. Unlike browser extensions, it covers all apps simultaneously — games, browsers, and everything else running on the device at the same time.

1. Download AdLock from the official website — it’s not on Google Play.
2. Install the APK and open the app.
3. Grant the permissions it requests.
4. Toggle Protection on.

Once enabled, AdLock filters ad traffic across your entire device. Open Words With Friends and most banner and video ads are gone.

DNS Filtering as a Lightweight Alternative (NextDNS)

If you’d rather not install an extra app, DNS-level filtering is worth trying. NextDNS lets you block ad-serving domains before they connect to your device at all.

1. Create a free account at nextdns.io and set up a profile.
2. Enable ad-blocking filter lists in the NextDNS dashboard.
3. On Android, go to Settings > Network & internet > Private DNS and enter your NextDNS hostname.
4. Launch Words With Friends.

DNS filtering catches a solid portion of ads, but it’s less aggressive than a dedicated app. Some HTTPS-served video ads may still slip through. If you want the cleanest result, stick with AdLock.

Words With Friends No Ads on iPhone and iPad

iOS is more restrictive. Apple’s sandbox prevents true system-wide ad blocking in the same way Android allows it. But two options work well depending on how you prefer to play.

Option A: Play via Safari with AdLock Content Blocking

Words With Friends has a browser-playable version, and AdLock’s Safari content blocker filters most ads there. This is the cleaner option for iOS users.

1. Install AdLock from the App Store.
2. Go to Settings > Safari > Extensions and enable AdLock.
3. Open AdLock and activate all content-blocking categories.
4. Open the Words With Friends web version in Safari and start playing.

This reliably blocks banner and video ads within the browser session.

Option B: Full Protection for the Native App

If you prefer the native iOS app, AdLock for iPhone includes a Full Protection mode that extends filtering beyond Safari.

1. Install AdLock from the App Store.
2. Open AdLock and enable Full Protection.
3. Launch Words With Friends.

iOS sandbox restrictions mean results won’t be as thorough as on Android — some ads may still appear. Full Protection reduces trackers and a portion of ad components inside apps, but set realistic expectations for the native app experience.

Block Ads in Words With Friends on Windows and macOS

Playing on a computer — through a browser or the desktop app — is actually the easiest platform to clean up. No workarounds required.

1. Install AdLock for Windows or AdLock for macOS.
2. Enable browser filtering in the AdLock settings.
3. Open Words With Friends in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari.

AdLock works at the system level on both platforms, so you don’t need a separate extension for each browser — the same protection covers all of them at once. If you use the desktop app version of Words With Friends, AdLock’s network-level filtering intercepts its ad requests too.

The Airplane Mode Trick (Solo Play Only)

No setup required for this one. Turn on Airplane Mode before opening the game, and the app can’t reach the servers that deliver ads.

1. Open Words With Friends.
2. Enable Airplane Mode on your device.
3. Play — no ads will load.

⚠️ The trade-off is obvious: no network connection means no multiplayer. You won’t be able to sync moves, accept challenges, or play against real opponents until you reconnect. This only makes sense for single-player sessions.

What Can’t Be Blocked in Words With Friends

Not every ad in the game is removable, and it’s worth being clear about why. Zynga embeds cross-promotional banners for its own titles directly into the app’s UI layer — promotions for other Zynga games, in-game event announcements, and similar content. These aren’t loaded from an external ad network; they’re part of the app code itself.

No external tool — ad blocker, DNS filter, VPN, or anything else — can remove content that’s rendered from within the app binary. If you see the same branded banner appearing even with a blocker active, this is almost certainly what you’re looking at. It’s not a malfunction on the blocker’s part.

Conclusion

Playing Words With Friends with no ads is achievable on every major platform. On Android, a system-wide blocker like AdLock gives you the cleanest result — most banner and video ads disappear entirely. On iOS, using the Safari web version with AdLock’s content blocker is the most reliable approach; in-app filtering via Full Protection helps but has limits. On desktop, browser-level filtering is simple and effective.

The one thing no blocker eliminates: Zynga’s own cross-promotional content baked into the app’s interface. Everything else — third-party banners, interstitial videos, pop-ups — is fair game.

FAQ