Table of Contents
Why Are Unwanted Ads on My Expensive Samsung Fridge, and Can I Instantly Remove Them?
Advertisements are coming to some Samsung smart refrigerators. If you own a Family Hub model, a software update will add ads to your kitchen appliance. These fridges are expensive, so this change is important to understand.
Where You Will See the Ads
The ads will not appear everywhere. They are part of specific new features. You will see them in two main places.
- A new widget will appear on the bottom of the main screen when the fridge is idle. This widget shows weather and news, but it also shows advertisements.
- The ads only show up if you use the “Weather” or “Color” screen themes. You will not see this ad widget if you use the “Art” or “Album” themes.
- A new “Daily Board” theme will also have an ad. This theme displays useful information on six tiles, and one of those tiles will be an advertisement.
How to Stop the Ads
Samsung allows you to turn off these ads. You can opt out of them in the fridge’s settings menu. However, there is a significant trade-off.
Turning off the ads completely removes the new “Daily Board” theme. You will lose the ability to see that useful, at-a-glance information. You must decide if you want the new features with ads, or neither of them.
What to Expect from the Ads
For now, the ads are for Samsung’s own products. The company says they are not personalized based on your data. The content refreshes every ten seconds, cycling through information and advertisements.
In the future, Samsung plans to let other companies place ads on the refrigerators. This means you might see ads from third-party advertisers later on.
Some technically skilled users suggest that a network-wide ad blocker, such as a Pi-hole, might block these fridge ads. This device can stop ads on other smart products like TVs and could potentially work for the refrigerators as well. This is a more advanced solution that is not guaranteed to work.