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Samsung brings ads to US fridges (i.redd.it)

submitted 23 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

249 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/37646129

Source: Reddit post— Private front-end.

Samsung Statement to Android Authority:

Samsung is committed to innovation and enhancing every day value for our home appliance customers. As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen that value, we are conducting a pilot program to offer promotions and curated advertisements on certain Samsung Family Hub refrigerator models in the U.S. market.

As a part of this pilot program, Family Hub refrigerators in the U.S. will receive an over-the-network (OTN) software update with Terms of Service (T&C) and Privacy Notice (PN). Advertising will appear on certain Family Hub refrigerator Cover Screens. The Cover Screen appears when a Family Hub screen is idle. Ad design format may change depending on Family Hub personalization options for the Cover Screen, and advertising will not appear when Cover Screen displays Art Mode or picture albums.

Advertisements can be dismissed on the Cover Screens where ads are shown, meaning that specific ads will not appear again during the campaign period.

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[-] [email protected] 12 points 58 minutes ago* (last edited 57 minutes ago)

If you have gone out of your way and intentionally purchased a fridge with an internet connection and a screen frankly you deserve this. What did you expect? Screens have advertisements on them, why else would they put a screen on there.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 9 minutes ago

There was a time when WiFi was actually useful in smart appliances, I have an LG washer/dryer about 7-8 years old, no touchscreens, but by WiFi you can get cycle done alerts, time checks, even remote start it. My matching fridge gives me energy conservation information, and allows me to choose a lower duty winter cycle

I like these features. IDK why the fuck I would want a fridge with a touchscreen. All the smart appliances I've seen in the last 5 years are just there to serve you ads and steal your data.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 6 seconds ago

Yeah. We have a smart washer. It's out in our detached garage/shop so even if the chime were on, no one in the house would ever hear it.

The only "smart" feature we use on it at all is remote notifications.

And we don't use the GE app for that either. I have it linked through our Home Assistant, so no one in the family needs their crap on our phones. Yes, HA must link into their servers, but the only real data GE gets is how much we use it, and the "city" where our internet connection says we're in.. which is 300 miles away from our actual home, in a completely different state.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 42 minutes ago

I'd still take a dumb fridge and magnets at any time of the day.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 23 minutes ago

Magnets is science...too liberal.

[-] [email protected] 20 points 3 hours ago

I hate the enshittification going on everywhere but I'd say the whole smart fridge thing was pretty shitty to begin with...

[-] [email protected] 12 points 3 hours ago

I need my fridge to maintain a cold temperature on the inside. That’s it. That’s 100% of what I need from a fridge. The last one I bought was $300 and there’s no place to put an ad. I have no idea why y’all were hooking your appliances up to the internet in the first place, but I’m sorry you’re having a bad time.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 hour ago

You could add a printed ad with adhesive tape to the front door of your fridge to have a similar experience like all those "smart" things...

In the past, the typical example for a "smart device" was a refrigerator, that would automatically buy milk online once it's empty, but I'm not sure if that really works (or makes any sense). But at least you can now see ads together with weather and news on your refrigerator door.

[-] [email protected] 20 points 5 hours ago

if people are buying 1800$ fridges, its on them if they get ads from samsung.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

lol who downvotes this? You have to be a colossal moron to buy an appliance without doing 5 minutes of research about any given model.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 4 hours ago

on the sub, where it was discusssing the same thing, it was referring to the 1800$ samsung fridges.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

and offer additional content to the user

Ads are content, yes. They know it's a disservice to the user.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 5 hours ago

If consumers stopped being stupid we would not have issues like this.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 55 minutes ago

Fortunately only the stupid people are affected by this. Everyone else can just laugh at them.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago

Explain yourself

[-] [email protected] 23 points 7 hours ago

Next model will come with a latch that won’t unlock the fridge door until you’ve watched a 30 second ad or are subscribed to SnackPass+ for 29.99$ a month.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 5 hours ago

Drink verification can to continue.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 5 hours ago

One of my favorite recent memories is someone tapping into the YouTube app on a powered display Saumsung fridge in Home Depot and blasting Caramelldansen. Happened about a year ago. It was surprisingly loud!

[-] [email protected] 26 points 9 hours ago

👏 You 👏 Don't 👏 Need 👏 A 👏 TV 👏 On 👏 Your 👏 Fridge 👏

[-] [email protected] 3 points 3 hours ago

In the 1980s, home computers were sold like this:

"Look at these awesome games, kids! And as for your parents, uh... well, you could use the computers to... uh... I dunno... keep track of the contents of the fridge? Yeah, let's go with that."

Nobody ever did that. Not then, not now.

Don't buy a smart fridge, it's a scam

[-] [email protected] 3 points 5 hours ago

I didnt know that the weather and color needed advertising. I hope they pay well.

[-] [email protected] 16 points 11 hours ago

if you bought a smart fridge, you get what you deserve

[-] [email protected] 1 points 21 minutes ago

But where can I keep my Smart Water cold? It has electrolytes!

[-] [email protected] 9 points 10 hours ago

Lmao, agree. My friend was trying to talk me into smart wifi locks when I bought my home. I was like "dude, if I ever have a single issue with a LOCK on a DOOR because my wifi is out or a battery dies I might fully lose my mind. I'm good." I don't even get the desire for some of this stuff. What genuine problem is being solved? What new problems are you introducing? Idk if people are really thinking this through.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

What genuine problem is being solved?

In theory, your phone becomes a perfect multi-tool for every task. Unlock your door, start your car, swipe a credit card, shop for groceries, talk to your mom, book a vacation, apply for a job, show tickets for a concert, yadda yadda yadda.

In practice, it's a bunch of patch-jobs cobbled together on a grid that's over-extended and under-maintained. So, rather than a single universal digital gatekey, you get a digital janitor's keyring with 100 different apps competing for battery life and bandwidth on a platform that goes obsolete every 18 months.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 50 minutes ago

Lol you cannot apply for a job with a simple tap of your phone. You can send them your CV but they're not interested, they always want you to fill out some bespoke form which asks you all the same questions that you just answered on the CV. Then the whole thing gets fed into an AI black box and then who knows what happens.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 5 hours ago

Either that or you rely on Google for literally everything. It can be convenient but I'm growing tired of it, I don't want my data being potentially leaked in 10000 different ways just so I can open my door easier 4% of time time.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 9 hours ago

the only thing I could think of with a smart fridge is being able to check the contents from your phone while you are at the store to see if you need milk or whatever...but that's not really a problem that justifies ads and the absolute invasion of privacy and the fact that the thing is likely about as secure as a wooden fence on a bank vault

[-] [email protected] 6 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

I've fantasized a few times about having a fridge that knows its contents and adds items to a shopping list as they get low. maybe it could check prices at local stores or help combat waste by suggesting recipes based on what we already have at home.

Would I trust any company currently making smart-fridges to deliver on all that, and then willingly invite that product with its attendant surveillance apparatus into my home? Absolutely not.

If we ever have a fridge like that, I will have built it myself.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 9 hours ago

Yeah I've heard of the checking contents thing. Maybe it comes down to your habits and constraints - I just don't really ever have that problem and the solution seems worse to me than just kinda.. making a grocery list and walking to the store a couple times a week as I do now.

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[-] [email protected] 8 points 9 hours ago

News widget on the fridge! So now you have to have your mandatory propaganda slop whenever you get hungry.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 5 hours ago

[-] [email protected] 7 points 9 hours ago

You expect me to just stare into space while I'm grabbing my verification can?

[-] [email protected] 26 points 13 hours ago

I see a bright future for "low tech" tech companies soon.

"Here's our new fridge.

- What does it does?

- It cools your food.

- And?

- That's it."

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 hours ago

I've wanted to have the capital to start a company like that for a while now, but with one more selling point: repairability and promises of backwards compatibility of some degree. So the fridge not only cools your food, but you can replace the compressor yourself at home, and of a future model uses a different one, it will have the same screw placement and size for coils so you can fix/upgrade it. The washer/dryer not only wash/dry clothes, but the barrel and motor are easily replaceable, etc. Basically the framework laptop of appliances.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 5 hours ago

Similar to the only white packaging and black text marketing from the xkcd https://xkcd.com/993/

[-] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago

I used to never want a fridge with any sort of icemaker or water dispenser. The place I moved into came with a fridge that has an icemaker in the freezer and a water dispenser in the fridge. The appliance is approaching 18 years old. There are some modern luxuries that just work so long as they aren't over complicated.

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[-] [email protected] 8 points 10 hours ago

In my very limited knowledge of the household appliance market, Samsung has been a no-go for a long time. Like, the most expensive but also the most disposable.

And that's before we even get to the enshittification and ad invasion.

It's incredible to think about trying to explain the problem to my younger self 30 years ago...

"Yeah, computer hardware continued to scale pretty well so now even this refrigerator here has a computer inside it, a high resolution flat panel monitor, and even multiple ways to connect to the internet for remote control and feature updates."

"wow, that's amazing!"

"Yeah but nobody uses it. At least, nobody who understands tech and reads the news. You don't even connect it to the internet in the first place. "

"What!? That seems totally backwards. What's the problem for educated users? Are there hackers everywhere just waiting to connect to this iffy computer embedded in your home?"

"Oh no, it is much worse. The company that made the fridge could connect to it like they designed it to do!!! And to make it even more frightening, they usually have the infrastructure to be able to connect to EVERYBODY'S fridge at the same time!"

(begins playing spooky halloween music)

[-] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago

They actually have fairly cheap and somewhat reliable basic appliances now. I'm still never buying a Samsung fridge with a tablet shoved in the door.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 11 hours ago

Something's wrong with Skynet, why doesn't it just kill us?

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[-] [email protected] 9 points 11 hours ago

Just in this thread to say Fuck Samsung

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[-] [email protected] 6 points 10 hours ago

I guess samsung doesn't want me buying their garbage.

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this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2025

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