In the wasteland, watching an ad is one of the quickest ways to multiply your earnings, fast-forward progression milestones, or claim free premium goodies. When the ad button is greyed out, spinning endlessly, or throwing an error, it can seriously stall your outpost expansion.
99% of the time, this issue isn't a game bug — it happens when the third-party ad networks that supply our videos are experiencing network hiccups or running low on regional ad availability.
Follow this quick troubleshooting checklist to get your video rewards back online.
🛠️ Quick Troubleshooting Checklist
1. Wait a Minute
Ad networks can only load videos so fast. If you just watched several ads back-to-back, the provider might temporarily run out of targeted clips for your device. Sit tight for 1 to 2 minutes to give the ad network a chance to buffer a fresh video file.
2. Force Close and Relaunch the Game
Force-closing Idle Outpost completely terminates the broken process and forces a clean server handshake upon relaunch.
Unsure how to do this? Check our iOS Force Close Guide or Android Force Close Guide.
3. Switch Your Network Connection
An ad network might look like it’s connected, but a minor drop in your network's data packet stream can make videos refuse to load.
Toggle your device’s Wi-Fi off and switch entirely to mobile cellular data (or vice versa).
Avoid public networks (like those in cafes, hotels, or airports), as they often feature built-in firewalls that intentionally block video ad streams.
4. Turn Off VPNs and Ad-Blockers
Are you running a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or a system-wide ad-blocking app (like AdGuard or private DNS settings)?
VPNs confuse ad networks by masking your actual geographic location, causing them to send zero available videos.
Ad-blockers do exactly what they say — they completely sever the connection to our ad providers. Disable them temporarily while managing your game.
⚙️ Advanced Fix: Reset Your Advertising ID
If ads have been completely broken for days, your device's personalized advertising cache might be clogged. Resetting it acts like a digital detox, forcing ad providers to view your phone as a brand-new device.
For Android Users:
Open your phone's main Settings app.
Scroll down and tap Google (or Google Settings).
Select Ads.
Tap Reset advertising ID and confirm your choice.
For iOS Users:
Apple handles privacy via tracking permissions. If you completely block tracking, ad networks will severely restrict your video availability.
Open your device's main Settings.
Scroll down to Privacy & Security and select Tracking.
Locate Idle Outpost in the list and ensure the toggle switch is turned ON (Green).
Still Stuck? Let Us Know!
If you've run through this entire list and your ad buttons are still frozen after 24 hours, please reach out to us at [email protected] or open a ticket through the in-game Help menu. Make sure to include as much information about your situation as possible!