New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….
Original story (published on June 01, 2020) follows:
Most Android smartphone users rely heavily on free Google services. But we all know that nothing is totally free in the 21st century, including the “free” Gmail, YouTube, Messages, Drive, and many other Google services that make Android devices tick.
Unless you just came from a cave, you should know that Google’s biggest source of income is selling ads. The big G collects lots of your data in order to serve you with ads that cater to your interests.
Google promises to keep your data safe and secure by not sharing personal information with any third-parties. Sure, the search giant may never share your data with anyone, but vendors using Google software may not guarantee this promise.
Android (Google) allows device vendors to make significant tweaks to the base software and system-level apps. Some OEMs use this opportunity to add new layers of code aimed at making an extra coin off the same info that is expected to remain secure.
Some owners of Samsung Galaxy smartphones think that this could be the case with Samsung and the Samsung Health app. Apparently, the Health app has been showing ads on some Galaxy sets, something that is causing concern among device owners.
We all know how expensive Samsung phones have become, but it seems the company is still looking for extra ways to rip you off. However, Samsung has been quick to deny these claims, at least according to a Redditor who shared a screenshot of a statement from devs.
Even though Samsung has denied any wrongdoing, it seems Samsung Health ads are still showing up.
It remains to be seen how Samsung will fix this issue, but from the look of things, not all users of the Samsung Health app are affected. Hopefully, a software update to the app (system) will fix the issue.
It appears that Samsung’s ads problem is bigger than initially thought. In fresh developments, multiple Redditors are now reporting that pop-up ads are showing up in Samsung Music, Samsung Daily, and likely other stock apps.
Update (June 16, 2020)
This is obviously becoming a major concern for device owners and most certainly for Samsung. The sooner it gets addressed the better, especially since some users have resolved to leave negative reviews on affected products until Samsung does something about it.
Samsung’s moving further with its intrusive ads and now a fresh report from 9to5Google on Samsung’s ads has highlighted a few ways users can get rid of most of the advertisement notifications.
Update (February 12, 2021)
For starters, while setting up your device, make sure to toggle off the “Use the Customization Service” option. If not, you can go to Settings > Samsung Account > Privacy > Customization service > Privacy settings and toggle off the Customized ads and direct marketing option.
You can also choose to mute notifications from the Samsung apps from which the advertisements pop-up in the notification tray. This won’t really solve the in-app ads issue, however, would give you some peace of mind from other forms of ads.
Samsung is reportedly working to remove ads from its stock apps in future builds. To know more about this, head here.
Update (August 17, 2021)
Samsung has removed ads from the Health app. The Samsung Health Operation Manager officially stated that the banner on the top of the Samsung Health app won’t show after October 01. For more info, head here.
Update (October 02, 2021)
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