how to get rid of ads on galaxy lock screen

How To Remove Ads From The Galaxy S21

Anyone with a Galaxy S21 has likely encountered advertisements in apps and in the notification tray. Here's how to get rid of them (kind of).

The Samsung Galaxy S21 is a seriously incredible Android phone, but thanks to constant advertisements from Samsung's software, the day-to-day experience of using it can get very irritating very quickly. Samsung has placed ads in its phones for its past couple of releases, but with the S21, the advertising was cranked up to 11. On any given day using the Galaxy S21, it isn't uncommon to find ads in Samsung apps and the notification tray. After spending anywhere from $800 to $1380 on a Galaxy S21, that's not exactly something a user wants to see.

What makes these ads especially frustrating is that the rest of the S21's software experience is pretty darn great. There are endless customization options, ample features for accommodating any type of user, and the Galaxy S21 is backed by three years of major OS updates + four years of security patches. Outside of the advertisements, Samsung got everything else right. So, let's change that.

There are two main types of advertising that are present on the Galaxy S21 — in-app ads and notification ads. In-app ads are advertisements found in Samsung's first-party applications, such as the default Weather app, Samsung Pay, Bixby, etc. These are often presented as large banner ads, advertising everything from Samsung's own products to random streaming services. There's no way tocompletelyturn these off, but users can adjust a few settings to limit how often they show up. To get started, open the Settings app on the Galaxy S21, scroll down the page, and tap 'Privacy.' Then tap 'Customization Service' and tap the toggle next to 'Customized ads and direct marketing.' With this done, user data can no longer be used to customize ads that S21 owners see in Samsung apps. While it doesn't remove in-app ads completely, it should reduce how often they appear.

In-App Ads & Notification Ads Are Present On The Galaxy S21

Similarly, it's worth going through those Samsung apps and disabling marketing info that they individually deliver. In apps like Samsung Pay and Bixby, tap the three lines in the upper-left corner, tap 'Settings,' and then tap the toggle next to 'Marketing information' to turn the feature off. Once this is done, those apps will no longer be able to send"marketing notifications and emails."While it can be a chore to do this over and over for different Samsung applications, it's worth the effort for combating those pesky ads users will otherwise see.

Last but certainly not least, it's time to get rid of those ads that keep showing up in the notification tray. Open the Settings app, tap 'Notifications,' tap 'More,' tap 'Most recent' at the top of the screen, and then tap 'All' from the menu that appears. This shows a full list of all apps installed on the Galaxy S21, and from here, there are a few different apps that need to be addressed. First, scroll down to the Galaxy Store, tap on it, and tap the toggle next to 'Promotions' so that it's turned off. Go back to the app list, scroll down to Samsung Pay, tap on it, scroll down again, and then tap the 'Show notifications' toggle under the Promotions header. Lastly, go back to the app list for a final time and find Samsung Push Service. Tap on it, tap the toggle next to 'Show notifications,' and that's it. Galaxy Store, Samsung Pay, and Samsung Push Service are responsible for the bulk of notification ads, so with all of these settings shut off, those should be gone for good.

While going through all of these steps can take a bit of time and patience, it's well worth the effort to make the Galaxy S21 as ad-free as possible. Constantly being asked to buy wireless earbuds or sign up for a new subscription aren't things that should happen on a flagship smartphone like the S21, but at least with these tips in mind, those things can be kept to a bare minimum.

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About The Author

Joe Maring (991 Articles Published)

Joe has been actively writing and talking about consumer tech since 2012. His biggest passion lies with smartphones, but he's happy to talk your ear off about just about anything with a CPU. He lives in Kalamazoo, MI with his wife, two cats, and pit bull/boxer mix.