Annoying ads are a major drawback to uTorrent’s free version. You have both free and paid options for disabling ads, but the free method only works on the desktop client. We’ll show you how to remove ads from uTorrent using both ways and offer some tips for safe torrenting — including how to get the most out of the best VPNs for torrenting.
Though torrenting is legal, downloading copyrighted materials is not. Cloudwards and its team don’t condone the use of torrenting or any other means to download copyrighted materials. We recommend that you check your country’s laws and regulations before torrenting.
How to Remove Ads From uTorrent Manually: Step-by-Step Guide
While writing our uTorrent review, we thoroughly tested uTorrent and found that it’s one of the best torrenting clients for P2P sharing — especially for those who want a simple tool.
There are two versions of uTorrent: the classic one that runs on Windows and Mac (not compatible with macOS Catalina Version 10.15 and above), and uTorrent Web, which you can access in your web browser once it’s installed. There’s also a mobile version for Android phones.
Every free version of uTorrent displays ads. You can manually remove ads only from the desktop clients. Follow this step-by-step guide to block ads manually in the Windows uTorrent desktop application. Since uTorrent hasn’t worked on macOS since Catalina (10.15) in 2019, we haven’t included Mac-specific instructions.
- Open the Advanced Settings
Open the uTorrent app on your desktop. Go to Options > Preferences and click “advanced” in the left-hand drop-down menu bar.
- Edit the Flags to Block Ads
The “advanced settings” menu contains various flags and a filter box for finding a particular flag. In the filter box, search for gui.show_plus_upsell. Select the “false” button to set the value as “false” and then click “OK.”
Now, follow the same process to edit the following flags and set their values as “false.”
- offers.left_rail_offer_enabled
- offers.sponsored_torrent
- bt.enable_pulse
- gui.show_notorrents_node
- offers.content_offer_autoexec
Once you’ve set the value to “false” for all the above flags, restart your uTorrent app. It should stop showing ads.
The uTorrent desktop version doesn’t support the latest version of macOS. Mac users can install the uTorrent web version for torrenting.
Can You Use Ad Blockers to Disable Ads in uTorrent?
Unfortunately, ad blockers aren’t a reliable option for getting ads off uTorrent. We tested several of them on the web and mobile versions, and no ad-blocking app was able to remove ads in uTorrent. While Adblock Plus did manage to remove ads from the desktop app, the placeholders remained, so the experience was still cluttered and nearly unusable.
For an ad-free uTorrent experience on the Android or web version, your only option is to get a paid uTorrent plan.
How to Disable uTorrent Ads by How to Disable uTorrent Ads by Getting the Ad-Free Version
To pay for an ad-free version of uTorrent, open your uTorrent application and click “upgrade to pro.” This will open a web page with upgrade options. At present, uTorrent offers three premium plans: the Pro + VPN plan, the Pro plan and the Ad-Free plan.
Features like premium support won’t be available on the Ad-Free plan as they’re limited to the Pro version and above. Select a paid plan based on your requirements and complete the checkout process. Close uTorrent and open it again. uTorrent should now be free of intrusive ads.
The Pro + VPN plan includes a subscription to CyberGhost VPN. When reviewing CyberGhost, we found that it was good for torrenting. It includes NoSpy servers for more reliable privacy, and it has automation rules to set how and when CyberGhost should connect.
Why Does uTorrent Display Sponsored Advertisements?
uTorrent displays advertisements to monetize its free torrent client and generate revenue. It requires money to develop and maintain the free version. Rainberry, Inc. — the company that owns uTorrent — aims to cover the operational and developmental costs of the free uTorrent client by running sponsored ads.
Extra Tips for Safe Torrenting
Torrent sites aren’t moderated, which makes them ideal for hackers to plant malware, adware and viruses. There’s no way to tell if the torrent file you want to download is infected, so it’s important to be careful when torrenting. The following are some quick tips to stay safe when navigating the murky world of torrents.
Final Thoughts
If you want a simple tool for torrenting, uTorrent is a good option. However, its intrusive ads kill the user experience. Though you can manually tweak the settings or opt for a premium version to block ads, many uTorrent alternatives offer better performance and more features. If you don’t have any special preference for uTorrent, you should explore these alternatives.
Which uTorrent version do you use? Do you find uTorrent ads intrusive? We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section. As always, thanks for reading.
FAQ: Disable Ads in uTorrent
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uTorrent has ads to generate revenue. Earnings from sponsored ads also help uTorrent develop and maintain the free version. All the uTorrent Pro versions are ad-free. You can also manually change uTorrent’s settings to block ads in the desktop app.
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All uTorrent Pro versions have no ads. You can also configure your desktop torrent client not to show sponsored ads by tweaking some advanced settings. However, there’s no such option in the uTorrent web version.
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The easiest way to get rid of ads in BitTorrent is to subscribe to a premium version. You can subscribe to the BitTorrent Pro + VPN plan, the Pro plan or the Ad-Free version. The BitTorrent Pro + VPN version uses CyberGhost’s premium VPN to offer security and privacy.
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Open your uTorrent client on your device and go to Options > Preferences > Advanced. Then, click on “UI extras” and empty the “search engines” box to remove smart search from uTorrent.
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qBittorrent is better than uTorrent because it’s free and open-source, and it doesn’t show ads. qBittorrent also offers torrent streaming, which is a paid feature in uTorrent. However, uTorrent beats out qBittorrent when you need an Android app since qBittorrent doesn’t provide one.
The post How to Completely Remove Ads From uTorrent in 2024 appeared first on Cloudwards.
