Your $2000 Samsung smart fridge now doubles as an ad screen on the door

Your $2000 Samsung smart fridge now doubles as an ad screen on the door. A US software update turns Family Hub fridges into ad displays via a rotating widget; you can disable it in settings, but doing so also removes quick panels for weather, news and calendar.

Family Hub owners in the US will soon see Samsung promos on the fridge door. Samsung is adding advertising to its smart fridges in the United States. A software update that began rolling out on October 27 places a rotating panel on Family Hub models with 21.5 inch and 32 inch screens. Starting November 3, it cycles through news, calendar, weather, and curated ads. The panel runs along the bottom of the home screen, switches every 10 seconds, and appears only on the weather and colour themes. Art and album do not show it. Daily board skips the rotating bar but can place a single ad tile in its grid.

Samsung says the first wave promotes its own products and services and that ads are contextual and non - personal, with no user tracking. The rollout is US only and excludes 9 - inch Family Hub models and other appliances with 9 - inch or 7 - inch AI home screens such as ovens, washers, and dryers. In short, the large fridge displays become another surface for promotions and bite - sized updates you actually notice in the kitchen.

The change lands hard because it arrives after the sale. Many buyers paid well over $2,000 for a quiet screen. The update adds an advertisements setting that was not there on day one and brings marketing into a shared room. Even if early messages stay within Samsung’s ecosystem, the principle shifts.

One of the four panels will display a promo, like this Samsung water filter.

How to switch them off and why does this matter?

You can turn the ads off right now. Open settings on the fridge, go to advertisements, and toggle the switch off. The ads disappear. There is a trade - off. The entire widget goes with it, so you also lose quick panes for calendar, news, and weather.

If you want to keep those panes, hide ads one at a time. Tap the x on an ad and it will not return for the rest of that promotion. A new promotion will bring a new ad. Samsung says these are contextual and non - personal ads and that the fridge is not collecting your personal information or tracking you.

This matters because the experience changed after the sale. People bought an expensive fridge without ads and now see marketing on a shared screen at home. If you prefer a clean door display, turn the toggle off on day one or be ready to dismiss ads as they rotate.