One UI 4.0: How to disable Ads and promotional services on your Samsung smartphone?

Samsung displays ads to promote its own services on its smartphones and sends promotional notifications. While this may make sense on some low-cost devices, there is no valid reason to run ads on high-end smartphones like the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy S21 Ultra.

The worst part is that there is no way to turn off the mentioned ads. Thankfully, Samsung has noticed this and allows users to disable ads in its apps. This can be avoided by removing any option that asks for your permission to display promotional material.

Such checkboxes are easy to ignore when setting up the phone, but the general rule is to blindly accept and select every option shown to you on the screen. Make sure you go through the options on the screen and select only the ones that are absolutely necessary to use the phone.

How to Disable Ads/Promotions in OneUI 4.0

When you set up your Samsung account, you will be asked to agree to various terms and conditions, some of which are mandatory and some are optional. You must tick the Terms and Conditions, the Special Terms, and the Samsung Account Privacy Notice to proceed. Select only these options. Do not select the ‘I have read and agree with all of the above options.

After you enter your details, you will see a screen that says Review additional apps. Uncheck All the following apps and select only the apps that are important to you. If you do not use any of the listed apps, you can skip this step altogether.

Samsung will also ask you to get the recommended apps from Samsung, they are essentially first-party apps from Samsung, and we can see no way to skip them.

How to Disable Ads/Promotions in One UI 3.0

It is absolutely necessary to agree to the End User License Agreement and Privacy Policy, without which you cannot use the device. However, Sending of Diagnostic Data, Information Linking, and Receipt of Marketing Info are optional and we urge you to remove these checkboxes, especially the last checkbox option.

In general, consumers choose to accept all of the above options amid the urge to use the phone. Some budget and mid-range Samsung phones also come with a lock screen stories option that displays unwanted content on the lock screen.

The other thing to keep in mind while setting up the phone is not to install unwanted apps from the list of recommended apps. Samsung will try and prompt you to install the apps they partner with, but it is best to uncheck the apps you do not need or use.

You can then install the specific apps you need through the Play Store or restore the backup/transfer data from the old phone, which will restore all the apps you did not use.