Samsung’s smart fridges now come with ads – and people aren’t happy

Samsung has just given its smart fridge freezers a software upgrade, and people aren’t happy. The new update adds advertisements to your fridge’s screen door from select partners, and this has caused a huge debate and backlash regarding ads and smart home devices.

Samsung was one of the first brands to launch smart fridge freezers, and its door screens became a standout feature. Dubbed the Family Hub, the screens display calendars, weather, shopping lists, and even play music.

My favourite part of the Samsung AI screen is it works with the fridge’s internal camera to identify different foods in your fridge and their expiration dates. The screen also generates recipes depending on what’s in your fridge, and the software recognises family member’s voices to cater to different allergies and dietary needs.

This latest update has been met with a lot of disappointment and anger – your Samsung Family Hub fridge freezer will now start showing ads. When not in use, the fridge’s 21.5-inch screen shows a Cover Screen which is typically a slideshow of backgrounds, but now, it'll display ad placements from select brands and partners.

Some Samsung fridge owners have already reported seeing ads on the tiles and panels on their fridge’s Cover Screen following the update. The ads are being tested in a ‘pilot program’ for the time being, and are being tested with a limited set of advertising partners.

Many people are annoyed about this update, as they’ve spent thousands of pounds or dollars on an appliance, and didn’t expect to have to see ads following their purchase – completely understandable if you ask me. It’s been suggested in reports and statements from Samsung that the ads will be tailored to individual households but this hasn’t been confirmed.

Despite the ads already appearing on some fridge freezers, there isn’t a full list of which models will get the advertisements just yet. As users with 21.5-inch screens have been reported on ads, those with the new, smaller 9-inch screens might not be affected but it’s fairly unlikely that they’ll miss out on ads.

It’s been stated that ads won’t appear when the screen’s Cover Screen is in Art Mode or displaying picture albums. But this seems to be the only way to ‘disable’ ads on the fridge’s displays.

I’m not surprised that people aren’t happy about this Samsung fridge upgrade. If the ads are going to be personalised and from select partners, I imagine they’ll be food and diet-related which could be helpful for some households. In general, having a fridge that shows ads isn’t something I or many people are excited about, so I hope Samsung introduces a way to disable them but we’ll have to wait to find out.