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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Samsung refrigerators will soon display ads, the company says.
- There’s no option to turn ads off.
- You can avoid ads by changing your cover to art or picture mode.
If you have a Samsung smart fridge, you might see more commercials in your kitchen soon.
Earlier this year, at a presentation in New York City, Samsung teased “a world where Samsung Ads brings your brand message to every screen in the connected home and beyond.”
Samsung appears to be moving forward with that goal as it’s conducting a pilot program to show “promotions and curated advertisements” on certain Samsung Family Hub refrigerator models when a screen is idle.
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In notes for a recent software update, Samsung explained, “to enhance our service and offer additional content to users, advertisements will be displayed on the Cover Screen for the Weather, Color, and Daily Board themes.”
Naturally, customers aren’t happy. Several Reddit users expressed that this addition alone would make them never purchase a Samsung smart fridge, some vowed to specifically avoid the advertisers, and others voiced frustration at how much it would change the aesthetic of their fridge.
Side note, let this serve as a reminder: screens are creeping onto more and more devices in our homes, and even though these screens can bring benefits (like adding items to your grocery order), there’s always a chance they might eventually show ads.
How to avoid ads on your Samsung fridge
You do have the option to dismiss an ad, but that just means that particular advertisement won’t show up again. From Samsung’s explanation, it doesn’t seem that there’s an option to turn off the ads entirely. There may be a workaround to avoid them, though.
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In a statement to Android Authority, Samsung said that advertising will not appear when your fridge’s cover screen displays either Art Mode or picture albums. If you want to make sure you don’t see any ads at all, it seems like you’ll need to use one of those two modes for your cover screen.
The company didn’t specify which models are getting the update, but I’ve reached out to ask and confirm details of the program.
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