How to Opt Out of Kochava

To opt out of Kochava, email privacy@kochava.com requesting deletion and suppression of all data tied to you, then reset and limit your mobile advertising ID on every device. Under the FTC's 2026 settlement, Kochava must honor consumer opt-outs and add you to a permanent no-collection list.

Who Kochava Is and Why It Has Your Location

Kochava is an Idaho-based mobile measurement and data company. You have almost certainly never created a Kochava account, and that is the point: its data arrives through software development kits embedded inside ordinary phone apps, and through purchases from other data suppliers.

The records at issue are not names and addresses. They are precise geolocation timestamps tied to your device's advertising identifier — a persistent ID that follows your phone until you reset it. Chained together, those pings describe where a device sleeps at night, where it works, and which buildings it visits.

What the 2026 FTC Settlement Gives You

The settlement is unusual because it creates consumer-facing rights rather than just a fine. Under its terms Kochava must:

• Stop selling, sharing or disclosing sensitive location data without affirmative express consent
• Operate a "privacy block" that filters location data associated with sensitive locations
• Provide an opt-out mechanism that deletes your data and places you on a list barring future collection and sharing
• Let consumers request who received their data
• Permanently delete legacy data collected through its SDK and restrict use of the data for machine learning

That "list barring future collection" is the important part. Most broker opt-outs suppress a record that gets rebuilt later; this one is meant to be durable.

Step 1: Send a Deletion and Suppression Request

Email privacy@kochava.com. Keep it short and specific:

• State that you are a consumer exercising your right to deletion and opt-out
• Ask for deletion of all personal information associated with you, including geolocation data and any mobile advertising identifiers linked to your devices
• Ask to be added to the opt-out and no-further-collection list established under the FTC settlement
• Ask for a list of third parties that received your data
• Include your device advertising IDs (see Step 2) and your state of residence, and cite your state privacy law if you have one

Kochava also publishes opt-out instructions at kochava.com/privacy/opt-out/ and lists a legal department phone line at 855-562-4282 for privacy requests.

Step 2: Find Your Advertising ID Before You Send It

Your request is far more effective if it names the identifiers to delete.

• iPhone: there is no user-visible IDFA string to copy. Instead, go to Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Tracking, and turn off "Allow Apps to Request to Track." Say in your email that app tracking is disabled and ask for deletion of any IDFA previously associated with your device.
• Android: open Settings, then Google, then "Ads." Your Advertising ID appears there and can be copied and deleted from the same screen.

Step 3: Reset and Delete the Advertising ID

On Android, use "Delete advertising ID" rather than "Reset." Deleting it means apps receive a string of zeros instead of a fresh identifier, which breaks the link between your future activity and your past profile. On iPhone, turning off app tracking requests achieves the equivalent result.

Do this on every phone and tablet in the household, including devices used by children.

Step 4: Cut Off the Supply at the App Layer

Deleting today's data does nothing about tomorrow's collection if the same apps keep transmitting. Work through your phone:

1. Open your location permissions list and change every app that does not need your position to "Ask Next Time" or "Never"
2. For apps that genuinely need location — maps, ride-hailing, weather — choose "While Using the App" rather than "Always"
3. Turn off precise location for apps that only need your general area
4. Delete free apps you no longer use, particularly flashlight, weather, coupon and prayer-time style apps, which historically funded themselves through location SDKs

Step 5: Repeat With the Rest of the Location Industry

Kochava is one company in a large market. The same phone data flows to other adtech and location brokers, each with its own request address. If you are going to spend an afternoon on this, send the same email template to the other location and identity brokers rather than stopping at one.

Where PrivacyOn Fits

An advertising ID is only half of your exposure. The other half is the people-search layer — your name, home address, phone number, relatives and property records sitting on 100+ sites where anyone can look them up without a court order or an SDK.

PrivacyOn handles that layer continuously: removal requests across 100+ data brokers and people-search sites, 24/7 monitoring that catches re-listings, dark web monitoring for breached credentials, and family plans covering up to 5 people from $8.33 per month. Run a free scan to see what is currently published about you. See PrivacyOn plans.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Kochava have my name and address?

Kochava's core business is device-level data — advertising identifiers paired with precise location pings — rather than name-and-address directories. That data is still personal information, because a device that spends every night at one address and every weekday at another is straightforward to attribute to a person.

How do I opt out of Kochava?

Email privacy@kochava.com asking for deletion of all personal information associated with you and for placement on the opt-out list required by the FTC settlement, include your device advertising identifiers, then delete or reset those identifiers on each device. Kochava also publishes opt-out instructions at kochava.com/privacy/opt-out/.

Will opting out of Kochava stop location tracking on my phone?

No. It addresses one company. Location data leaves your phone through app SDKs and gets resold across an entire industry, so the durable fix is tightening app location permissions and deleting your advertising ID, then sending deletion requests to the other location brokers.

What did the FTC require Kochava to change?

The May 2026 proposed settlement bars Kochava and its subsidiary from selling sensitive location data without affirmative express consent, requires a privacy block filtering data tied to sensitive locations, mandates a consumer opt-out and no-further-collection list, requires deletion of legacy SDK data, and limits use of the data for machine learning.

Is deleting my advertising ID enough on its own?

It is the single most effective phone-level step, because it breaks the identifier linking your future activity to your existing profile. It does not delete data already collected, which is what the email request is for, and it does not stop apps from collecting location under other identifiers if you keep granting "Always" permission.

Does a data removal service cover location brokers like Kochava?

Coverage varies, and no service can reach inside an adtech pipeline to delete pings it cannot see. What a service like PrivacyOn does cover is the exposure most people can actually be found through: your name, address, phone number and relatives on 100+ people-search and data broker sites, removed continuously and re-filed when they reappear, with a free scan to show you the current state.