Samsung Family Hub fridges will start showing adds to "Elevate" Home Ecosystem
83 comments
·November 9, 2025ksajadi
malfist
Disconnect it from the internet and use an appletv. It can't update then
mystraline
Damn good point.
Unless you have root and can do anything the hardware is capable of, it's not your device. And you shouldn't let any sort of non-owned devices on your network.
Why? Cause devices controlled by other orgs are a foothold situation. And we've had countless attacks of footholds being used as internal points of attack, DDoS, and other attacks.
That also means that all your "cloud devices" should be able to work 100% offline. If not, return them as defective.
noir_lord
I have a Samsung smart TV it's never seen the internet, I just didn't let it connect - it's a display for a box running Fedora, that is its entire job to be dumb and display whatever is sent down the wire.
Devices that do need to be on the internet but I can foresee no reason they ever need to talk to anything else on the network go on their own VLAN (down to the level of my VR headset since it had a Meta logo on the box...).
My boys gaming PC can't even see my desktop (since there isn't a scenario where it needs to).
Other than the "smart" TV I own nothing "Smart" because I don't want anything smart.
null
cyanydeez
"Give some other monopoly rulr over your attention"
lynndotpy
I'm not an Apple fan, but if someone wants a 'smart TV' (access to streaming services, etc) and doesn't want to go the Linux-box-connected-to-Jellyfin route, then Apple really is just the best option.
In my experience, they've been fine for a few years so far.
coke12
Ultimately the choice of platform is about trust rather than capability. Apple has been a much better citizen historically than any of the smart TV companies.
celeritascelery
Apple TV is much better about this. I have never had it pop up or interrupt me. When it is idle it just goes to a pleasant screen saver and then powers off after a while. It doesn’t try and promote content or display ads for shows. Granted, that could change at any time, but right now I think it is better than all the alternatives.
NoiseBert69
I'd never give a Samsung device unfiltered internet access.
edoceo
I just avoid all Samsung CE.
procaryote
I'd never buy another samsung device
roscas
"Samsung Family Hub™ for 2025 Update Elevates the Smart Home Ecosystem The software update includes a more unified user experience across connected devices, enhancements to AI Vision Inside™, expanded Knox Security and more"
In plain English now, Samgung will put advertising on your face but mostly important is that they will know and sell the data about what you buy.
They call it Smart Home. Yeah, "smart". They are the smart ones, not those who buy this **.
celeritascelery
I don’t see where it says they are adding advertising. Is something there corporate speak for ads?
oakesm9
It’s buried in the “new widgets” section:
> As part of the Family Hub™ software update, we are piloting a new widget for select Cover screens themes of Family Hub™ refrigerators. The widget will display useful day-to-day information such as news, calendar and weather forecasts, along with curated advertisements
estimator7292
"Elevating" is being used as a euphemism for "constantly advertising"
heresie-dabord
> Update Elevates the Smart Home Ecosystem
If you are not elevating the privacy of me and my family, CORPORATRON can suck it.
I will spend my money to elevate the sales of a company that respects privacy instead.
medbrane
But hey, your fridge is now more secure because blockchain (I'm not kidding, it's in the press release)
bradly
It appears to also use a peer-to-peer solution to preventing botnets. So a botnet to prevent botnets.
tormeh
I'm not fact-checking that because that's horrifying. Beyond parody. But I guess that's a trend currently.
Edit: I checked because one shouldn't be outraged without fact checking. It's true.
lostlogin
It’s not a million miles from the Silicon Valley smart fridge plot, as long as someone hacks them all.
jcalvinowens
> Family Hub™ refrigerators[4] with AI Vision Inside technology will receive upgrades to enable recognition of frequently used packaged foods and even more fresh fruits and vegetables to help families reduce food waste and save money.
This has to be one of the silliest solutions in search of a problem I've ever seen. The fridge costs $3000, by the way.
squigz
I think there's some potential here, with regards to keeping track of when things were added/might go bad. At least for me, who easily forgets things until it's too late.
robin_reala
It’s really quite impressive how much this press release turns me off from every buying any white goods from Samsung at any point in the future. It’s a vortex of “no”.
zrobotics
Just putting this out there: 4 months ago a friend's Samsung fridge (6 months old at the time, 2500USD price) failed due to a refrigerant leak. They had to spend 20 hours total on online chat and phone calls to get their warranty claim, and it took several weeks.
So you absolutely don't want any Samsung appliances, even the non 'smart' ones.
darth_avocado
This is what amazes me. I swore off Samsung because of their unreliability: smartphones, TVs, refrigerators are terrible despite demanding a premium price over other cheaper players that offer better quality. Instead of investing time and effort in making their products better they’re doing the exact opposite. No one has ever said “the fridge is going to show me ads now? Better throw away my old one and get this bad boy on launch day”. Just make your products better people.
foobarian
Every single Samsung appliance we had failed in sad ways. Stove knobs cracked and fell off. Fridge condensation mitigation failed leading to flooding. Fridge icemaker doesnt defrost properly and gets stuck. The worst thing is, these are not primary functions of the appliance - but as a result the whole thing gets tossed when replaced. (We inherited them from previous owners, was not by choice).
estimator7292
Samsung is forever dead to me. A couple years ago I was working with a customer, showing them something on my phone. In the middle of the interaction, actively using my phone, Samsung forced it to reboot for an update I never agreed to.
..and fucking bricked my phone. Right there on the spot in the middle of a sale.
Plus the whole Tizen situation on the Gear watches was incredibly disappointing. I paid all kinds of money for a nice watch that had zero utility outside of Samsung's tiny, tiny walled garden and their very few, very broken apps. I'll never not be mad about it.
clickety_clack
Samsung products in general I think. I was looking at computer monitors yesterday and found I have a vague feeling of distrust towards Samsung now.
vintermann
It's really to the point that I don't trust any electronics store which takes in this fridge and tries to foist it on its customers.
NetMageSCW
Sadly they have the best OLED TV this year, at a time when I am looking to buy.
sroussey
You absolutely do not want these smart tvs connected to the internet. Do it once maybe to update firmware. Then use them as a dumb tv and put an apple TV in front of it.
All tvs from all manufacturers have microphones and they do listen an sell info.
Everyone things Facebook is listening but it really is your tv.
jsheard
> You absolutely do not want these smart tvs connected to the internet.
You can refuse to give them a direct WiFi connection, but just wait until they start using IOT mesh networks like Amazon Sidewalk as fallback channels (assuming some aren't doing that already).
foobarian
I hope their OLED is better than their QLED because the latter has white splotches all over the screen from backlight bleeding through. I would throw it in the bin if I felt more strongly about it.
null
delusional
How much is "technically the best" worth compared to "convenient, secure, and good"?
stackskipton
To most, all they care about is picture quality and being able to watch the content they want.
Also, I assume you can still do what I did for my current LG TV, skip the wifi setup, plug in AppleTV and use it purely as dumb TV.
PaulRobinson
It will sell very well because it a) will be cheaper than non-advertising laden fridges, b) will make more money meaning they can spend more on marketing and c) it has an air of "living in the future" about it.
Most of us here see it for what it is, because we know what happens to the data.
I think the future is going to have more of this.
But, I can also imagine people paying more for almost everything that is ad-supported today to get non-ad supported versions in the future, not because of the data concerns, but because of the opportunity for status signalling - ad-supported devices like this will be seen as something "only poor people have" within two decades. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.
Jolter
Within two years they will launch a monthly ad-free subscription tier.
gdulli
I just got an S25 and having a Samsung account at all is optional. I never had one on my previous Galaxy phones either. I couldn't even accidentally use their AI or other intrusive crap with a misclick because I'd be taken to a screen where I have to sign up and agree to their privacy policy etc. Which obviously I don't.
I wouldn't consider buying a smart/Samsung refrigerator at all but I'm curious, is having blockchain, AI, and a Samsung account mandatory here? Or do they allow for discerning users who don't want that stuff? Is that market segment important to them?
Arainach
>Is that market segment important to them?
No, it is not. Cheaper fridges with ads sell more and make more.
game_the0ry
> "Elevates the Smart Home Ecosystem"
The type of corpo-speak that gives an mba a rock hard erection.
Vulgar jokes aside, I want to know who is buying ads on fridges and what the roas on a fridge ad is.
lambdaone
This really is a Black-Mirror-esque hellscape, and the fact that this is marketed as something to be desired is absolutely astonishing.
clickety_clack
What is the “best” fridge to get now? Like, say a standard American fridge with a stainless steel door with a freezer compartment, just for food (no tech, screens, ice making or water dispensing nonsense).
0xC0ncord
There are plenty of fridges that don't incorporate "smart" features. There's nothing really complicated about a giant box that you put food in to keep cold and maybe an integrated water dispenser.
I've been shopping for a new fridge lately, and from what I gather most "smart" fridges are still extremely expensive and that makes "non-smart" fridges still very desirable. In other words, "smart" features may not be new, but they aren't standard on a typical fridge... yet.
1970-01-01
The important question is what happens if I don't connect it to Wi-Fi? Does the compressor motor refuse to work??
null
seydor
When buying a fridge with a smartphone in it what do you expect, more fridge or more phone?
My Samsung TV keeps blocking around 20% of the display at random times to tell me their terms and conditions have changed. Of course I have the option of checking it by reading the whole thing on my TV and then running a diff to see what’s changed but I don’t have an option to opt out of the terms.
It’s way too frequent and runs at random times in the middle of a movie so I always choose Accept.
Give me a dumb TV any time of the day now