How to remove / block ADS on Instagram

tl;dr: Use an ad blocker on your phone and install Instagram through your browser as a PWA.

I recently stumbled across this blog post because the Instagram ads were getting more and more aggressive.
I have been reporting every ad I see for almost a month now, but they are still appearing on a regular basis… pretty frustrating, since once you report them, you realize even more how often Instagram shows you ads.

This week I discovered a pretty easy and straightforward way to hide ALL ads completely.
First, you need to install an ad blocker for your browser on your phone. This is not as easy as installing a browser extension on your computer like uBlock Origin, but nowadays it is almost as easy.
For iPhone users, I recommend Adblock, though I am not affiliated with this app, so any other should work as well.
If you know any similar app for Android, please let me know so I can list it in this article :)

After installing the ad blocker, open instagram.com in your browser and go to your browser settings (it might also be in the share section). You should see an option called Add to Homescreen or Install to Homescreen—click this! Now you can enter any name you like; I chose Insta Adfree.
Now go to your homescreen and open the ‘new’ app called Insta Adfree. You should be presented with a login screen and some banners telling you to download the app. Just ignore them and click on the x to close them. After accepting the cookies, they won’t disturb you again.

Log in with your Instagram account and enjoy only the content you want to see!
I would recommend keeping your Instagram app installed on your phone for features that the web version is missing. The normal stuff like following, commenting, and liking works like a charm :)