The great thing about apps is that many developers release free versions of apps that are ad-supported. The ads can be somewhat distracting, especially when playing games on smartphones and tablets. The good news is that now there’s an easy way to turn them off.

LifeHacker posted a "why didn't I think of that?" kind of article on how to turn ads off on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. It's such a simple idea that makes perfect sense. The way that ads make it into apps is done by the ads being sent to the device from a remote ad server. The simplest way to stop communication from your device and an ad server is to completely turn off your connection to the outside world. The trick works by blocking ads since there is no way for the ad server to send the ads to the app, and in most cases doing this will make the ads completely disappear which comes in very handy, especially in games. I have seen a few apps display a blank banner. While the banner spot is still visible, it's definitely not as distracting as a live ad running on the spot.

To do this on iPhone and cellular iPads, just turn on Airplane Mode. Go to settings; toggle the Airplane Mode switch to on.

To do this on iPod touch and WiFi iPads just turn WiFi off. Go to settings; toggle the WiFi switch to off.

To do this on Android smartphones and tablets, depending on who your manufacturer is and if they have skinned Android the exact steps might be different. The same principle applies; turn off all connection to the outside world.

To do this on Android smartphones and cellular tablets, you'll need to go into settings and turn airplane mode on.

To do this on Android tablets, you'll need to go into setting and turn WiFi off.

Sometimes the best tricks are the simplest, and this certainly is!