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Samsung seems to think it’s a good idea to put ads in the notification shade of your brand new smartphone, that you likely paid nearly a grand for. To put it simply, everyone hates it. However, there is a way to remove these ads, or get rid of most of them, on your Galaxy S21 smartphone.
The easiest way to turn off ads
The easiest way to turn off ads, and never see them on your Samsung Galaxy S21, is to simply not sign into your Samsung account.
I’ve been using the Galaxy S21 and S21 Ultra for almost a month, and did not sign into my Samsung account on either device, and I have not seen a single ad since powering on either phone on January 15. So that seems to be the easiest way to avoid the ads. However, that may not be the best option for everyone.
Now, by not signing into your Samsung account, you do lose some features of your Galaxy S21. Like you can’t download themes from the Galaxy Store, or apps from the Galaxy Store and so forth. So if you want to do a lot of customization, you won’t be able to without your Samsung account. But if not seeing ads is more important, then it’s worth it.
How to limit the ads on your Galaxy S21
There’s a few steps to limit the ads on your Galaxy S21, and this won’t completely remove them, unfortunately.
Firstly, go to Settings. Then tap on your account. About halfway down that page, you’ll see “Privacy”, click on that. Then tap on “Customization Service”. At the bottom of this page you’ll see “Customized Ads and direct marketing”, uncheck that check box.
Next, you will need to mute notifications from the Galaxy Store. To do this, go to settings and then tap on Apps. Find “Galaxy Store” and click on that. Then click on “Notifications”. From here, uncheck the “Promotions” notification option.
Next, you need to turn off notifications on the Samsung Push Service. So repeat the first few steps above, but look for “Samsung Push Service” in the app list. Then tap on “Notifications” and uncheck the show notifications option.
Finally, when you open other Samsung apps, you will need to look for the toggle to enable Customized ads and direct marketing, within the ToS and Privacy Policy, you agree to the first time you open them.
It’s a lot of work, but you can at least limit these ads. Though, Samsung should not be showing ads on the smartphone you paid for. That’s a rant for another day though.