I, for one, swear by Samsung phones for making the best Android devices. However, even as a fan, I can’t ignore how they sneak in ads on their Galaxy phones. Of course, ads on budget phones are nothing new. You expect a few trade-offs when the price is low. What I can’t wrap my head around is how Samsung shows the same annoying ads even on its flagship models like the Ultras, Flips, and Foldables.
Instead of switching to a different phone and missing out on the features that make Samsung phones so great, I decided to turn off every ad it shows. Now that I have done it, the difference is huge, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Stop Samsung news and special offer alerts
Cut off the marketing noise
Screenshot by Pankil Shah — No attribution requiredScreenshot by Pankil Shah — No attribution requiredScreenshot by Pankil Shah — No attribution required
By default, when you sign in using a Samsung account on your Galaxy phone, you automatically allow Samsung to send promotional notifications. These show up as little pings on your phone at random times and can also make their way via email or text messages. On top of that, Samsung uses your account data and location history to show you personalized ads.
Fortunately, you don’t have to ditch your Samsung account to put a stop to all this. Head to the Settings app, tap on your Samsung account, and choose Security and privacy. Here, turn off Get news and special offers on email and mobile number and Improve personalized advertising. Once you flip these off, you’ll no longer receive alerts about new Samsung product launches or special offers.
Disable wallpaper services and Samsung’s media page
Remove ads hiding in plain sight
Another source of ads on Galaxy phones is lockscreen wallpaper services. These are common on budget Galaxy phones, which come with Samsung Glance pre-enabled. It basically turns your lock screen into a content feed, which sounds useful until you realize that the feed also includes ads.
If you prefer not to be spammed by an ad every time you pick up your phone, it’s best to turn off Samsung Glance. Head to Settings > Wallpaper and style > Wallpaper services and choose None. This will change your lock screen to a static wallpaper, and you’ll no longer see any lockscreen ads.
Next, you’ll want to remove Samsung’s media page. On most other Android phones, you get Google Discover when you swipe right on the home screen. Samsung, however, puts its own app there. Samsung News (previously Samsung Free) is a news aggregator app, which shows a mix of news, articles, and trending stories. This, of course, includes ads in between.
If you never use it, long press on an empty spot on the home screen and choose Settings. Then, turn off Add media page to Home screen option. If you want, you can also replace Samsung News with Google Discover.
Shut down spammy notifications from Samsung’s own apps
Keep Samsung’s pushy apps in check
One of the major annoyances with Samsung phones is the sheer number of pre-installed apps. Many of them come from Samsung itself. Sure, some of these are genuinely useful, while others… not so much.
What’s annoying, though, is that apps like Samsung Wallet, Galaxy Store, Samsung Themes and a few others can clutter your notification panel even if you never touch them. Some of these are “Updates you might like” while others are flat out ads disguised as suggestions.
While Samsung doesn’t allow you to remove these apps, you can revoke their notification access to get rid of such alerts. Head to Settings > Notifications > App notifications and then scroll through the list to find Samsung push service, Samsung Wallet, Samsung Members, and Themes.
Note that you won’t see Galaxy Store in this list, as Samsung doesn’t allow you to disable its notifications. There is a workaround, though. Go to Settings > Apps > Store > Notifications > Notification categories and turn off individual alert types from there. It takes an extra step, but it will stop Galaxy Store from recommending apps and games.
You Can Safely Disable or Uninstall These Pre-Installed Apps on Samsung Phones
You don’t need all the apps on your Galaxy phone.
Block ads at browser level
Browse without distractions
Screenshot by Pankil Shah — No attribution requiredScreenshot by Pankil Shah — No attribution requiredScreenshot by Pankil Shah — No attribution required
The final piece of the puzzle in making my Galaxy phone truly “ad-free” was to turn off ads that appear while browsing. Of course, Samsung has nothing to do with these banners, pop-ups, and autoplay videos that slow down browsing. In fact, in this case, Samsung has your back. The Samsung Internet browser supports add-ons, and one of the best ones available is its ad blocker.
To turn it on, open Samsung Internet, tap the menu icon in the bottom right-corner, and select Ad-blocker. Then, turn on AdBlock for Samsung Internet. What I like about this the most is that there’s an option to allow nonintrusive advertising, which is great for supporting my favorite websites and content creators. This gives me the best of both worlds and keeps my browsing experience distraction free.
Making my Samsung phone ad-free wasn’t as difficult as I imagined it to be. And trust me, it is absolutely worth it. The phone I already loved now finally feels like a premium device I paid the money for.
