cleanyour.tv  ·  Privacy

Stop your TV tracking you

For Samsung, LG, Roku, Vizio and any other smart TV. No root, nothing that can break the TV, about 15 minutes, and every step can be undone.

  1. Turn off the tracking settings
  2. Give the TV its own network
  3. Block what’s left with DNS

What’s going on

Most smart TVs can recognise what’s on screen, including live TV and whatever comes in over HDMI, and report it back for advertising and measurement. It’s called automatic content recognition, or ACR.

  • A peer-reviewed study at ACM IMC 2024 found ACR on Samsung and LG TVs works even when the TV is only a screen for an HDMI device. It also found that opting out stopped the traffic to ACR servers.
  • In December 2025 Texas sued five TV makers over ACR, Samsung and LG among them. Samsung and LG have since agreed to ask Texans for consent. That covers Texas only; everywhere else, the settings below are how you say no.
  • In 2017 Vizio paid $2.2 million to the FTC and New Jersey for collecting viewing data from about 11 million TVs without consent.

This month a security researcher, @log4j, reported further findings from a 2025 Samsung TV. Nobody has reproduced them yet, the full write-up isn’t out, and Samsung hasn’t responded (Notebookcheck). We’ll update this page when the report is published.

Step 1Turn off the tracking settings

This does the most. Consumer Reports puts it plainly: “you can’t stop all the data collection, but you can reduce the snooping”. The Markup counted between 10 and 37 clicks to opt out, so here are the paths. Pick your TV:

Samsung

ACR is called Viewing Information Services. Samsung says it only runs if you agreed to it, and you probably did, on the “Agree to all” screen during setup.

Turn it off

2025
Settings, then All Settings, then General & Privacy, then Terms & PrivacyUntick Viewing Information Services. Some earlier models say “Terms and Policy”.
2022–2024
Settings, then All Settings, then General & Privacy, then Terms & Privacy, then Privacy Choices, then Terms & Conditions, Privacy PolicyOpt out of Viewing Information Services and the Interest-Based Advertisements Service Privacy Notice.
2019–2020
Settings, then Support, then Terms & Privacy, then Privacy Choices, then Viewing Information Services
Before 2019
Smart Hub, then Settings, then Support, then Terms & Policy, then SyncPlus and Marketing
Any year
Home, then Privacy ChoicesAn app in the home screen’s side bar that opens the same agreements.

While you’re there

  • Everything else on that screen. Untick Interest-Based Advertisements, Customization Service, Improve personalized ads and Get news and special offers, and turn on Do not track. This is the full set the IMC 2024 study switched off before the TVs stopped contacting ACR servers.
  • Ad ID. Settings › All Settings › General & Privacy › Terms & Privacy › Reset PSID gives the TV a new ad ID. On its own it does not turn off personalised ads.
  • Voice. Turn off Bixby’s wake word: Settings › All Settings › Advanced Features › Voice › Bixby Settings › Voice Wake-Up (on sets before 2025, the same path under General & Privacy). Bixby itself can’t be turned off, only its wake-up.
  • Mic switch. Some models have a microphone switch on the lower edge of the TV, in the middle or towards the right. Off means no voice commands. The remote’s mic only listens while you hold its button.
  • Pet Care. The barking sensor on Q8F and above uses the TV’s mic while the TV is off. It is switched on from the SmartThings app, so leave it off unless you want it.

What changes: Recommendations get less personal and voice control stops if you turn the mic off. Apps and HDMI work as before. Some owners report ad settings switching back after a firmware update, so look again after one.

Sources: Consumer Reports, Oct 2025 · Samsung: ACR · SamMobile, Feb 2025 · Consumer Reports, 2021 · Samsung: mic switch · Samsung: Bixby · Samsung: Pet Care

LG

ACR is called Live Plus, and it is also covered by the Viewing Information agreement. LG says it is off by default and works by audio fingerprinting; Pocket-lint reports it on by default, so check either way.

Turn it off

2026
Hold the Settings button, then System, then Additional settings, then Live Plus
2025 (webOS 25)
All Settings, then Support, then Privacy & Terms, then User AgreementsOpt out of Viewing Information.
2021–2024 (webOS 6 to 24)
All Settings, then General, then System, then Additional Settings, then Live Plus
2020 (webOS 5)
Settings, then General, then Additional Settings, then Live Plus

While you’re there

  • User Agreements. Settings › Privacy & Terms › User Agreements (older sets: All Settings › Support › Privacy & Terms). Only the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy are required. Untick Viewing information, Voice information, Interest-based & Cross-device advertising and Who.Where.What?, and turn Do Not Sell My Personal Information on.
  • Ad tracking. All Settings › General › System › Additional Settings › Advertisement: turn Limit AD Tracking on.
  • Home screen. Additional Settings › Home Settings: untick Home Promotion and Content Recommendation. On 2026 sets also turn off Screen Saver Promotion, and under General › AI Service › LG AI Settings turn off AI Recommendations.
  • Mic. Voice recognition is off by default. Leave Hands-free Voice (“Hi LG”) off, because with it on the TV listens for the wake word in standby. Some models have a hardware mic switch. The Magic Remote’s mic only listens while you hold its button.

What changes: Recommendations get less targeted and voice control stops if you decline Voice information. Apps keep working; every optional agreement can be accepted again in User Agreements.

Sources: Consumer Reports, Oct 2025 · LG statement, Sep 2026 · LG: User Agreements · The Markup · XDA, Aug 2026 · Pocket-lint · Consumer Reports, 2021

Roku

ACR is called Automatic Content Recognition (ACR); older guides call it Use info from TV inputs. It is only on Roku TVs (including TCL Roku TVs), not on Roku sticks.

Turn it off

Roku TVs
Home, then Settings, then Privacy, then Smart TV ExperienceUntick Automatic Content Recognition (ACR).
On the web
my.roku.com, then Privacy Settings, then Smart TV Experience

While you’re there

  • Ads. Settings › Privacy › Advertising: untick Personalize ads (on older software it was Limit ad tracking). Resetting the advertising ID on its own does not opt you out.
  • Mic. Settings › Privacy › Microphone lets you take mic access away from each channel, or block it for all. The Voice Remote Pro has a switch for hands-free “Hey Roku”; push-to-talk still works with it off.

What changes: With ACR off you lose the “More Ways to Watch” suggestions from live TV. Tick the box again to undo.

Sources: Roku support · NAI · Roku: Voice Remote Pro · Roku: microphone · The Markup

Vizio

ACR is called Viewing Data (before 2017, “Smart Interactivity”).

Turn it off

Current
All Settings, then Privacy & Legal, then Viewing Data
Older
All Settings, then Admin & Privacy, then Viewing Data
Before 2020
System, then Reset & Admin, then Viewing Data

While you’re there

  • Ads. Menu › Privacy & Legal › Advertising: turn Limited Ad Tracking on and use Reset TV Advertiser ID (before 2024 under Admin & Privacy; before 2020, System › Reset & Admin › Advertising). Ads still show.
  • Walmart. Walmart owns Vizio now. The Viewing Data page lets you choose whether Walmart may link your viewing to your Walmart account: say no. Some new Vizio OS TVs need a Walmart account for smart features, but not for basic TV.

What changes: Recommendations may get less personal. Turn Viewing Data back on in the same menu to undo.

Sources: Vizio: Viewing Data · Vizio: ads FAQ · TechSpot, 2026 · FTC, 2017

Fire TV

Fire TV smart TVs call it Over-the-air Viewing Data. Fire TV sticks and TVs also share app and device usage. CleanYourTV’s cleanup works on Fire TV too.

Turn it off

All Fire TV
Settings, then Preferences, then Privacy SettingsTurn off Device Usage Data, Collect App Usage Data and Interest-based Ads, and on Fire TV smart TVs, Over-the-air Viewing Data.

What changes: Ads become less targeted. Turn each one back on in the same menu.

Sources: Amazon help · NAI

Google TV, Sony, TCL

On Google TV the switches are about ads; Sony and TCL add their own data settings on top. These TVs run Android TV or Google TV, so CleanYourTV works on them and goes further than the settings below.

Turn it off

Google TV
Settings, then Privacy, then AdsChoose Delete advertising ID (stronger than a reset) or Opt out of Ads Personalization.
Older Android TV
Settings, then About, then Legal Information, then Ads
Sony Bravia
Settings, then All Settings, then PrivacyACR here is Samba Interactive TV: turn it off. Older sets keep it under System or Device Preferences.
TCL Google TV
Settings, then Privacy, then User AgreementsWithdraw the optional agreements, and opt out of the User Experience Improvement Program.

While you’re there

  • Sony's own options. Smart TV Features, Program Recommendations, Product Improvements and Share TV Data are off by default, per Consumer Reports. Worth a look in case setup turned them on.

What changes: Ads stay, just untargeted. You can’t decline Google’s own terms and keep the smart features, so leave those.

Sources: Consumer Reports, Oct 2025 · NAI · Google: ads

Menus move with firmware updates, so the names on your TV may differ slightly. Spotted a wrong path? Open an issue.

Step 2Give the TV its own network

Put the TV on your router’s guest network, or an IoT network if it has one. The NSA’s home-network advice is to keep guests on a separate network from your more trusted devices, and a TV fits that well: it doesn’t need to see your laptop or phone. Researchers at Gamers Nexus found an LG TV listing 38 devices on one home network (LG says device discovery is a standard function).

  1. Turn on the guest network in your router’s app or admin page.
  2. On the TV, forget your main Wi-Fi and join the guest one. If it’s wired, use Wi-Fi instead, or a port your router assigns to guests.

The catch: casting from a phone on your main Wi-Fi stops working across the two networks, unless your router can pass mDNS between them. Join your phone to the guest network to cast, or move the TV back.

Step 3Block what’s left with DNS

Settings cover what the TV maker lets you switch off. A DNS blocker goes further: the TV can’t find the tracking servers at all. In 2019, Princeton researchers found Roku’s privacy options stopped its ad ID leaking, but not the number of trackers it contacted.

NextDNSNothing to install: point your router’s DNS at it. Free for 300,000 queries a month; past that it stops blocking without telling you, and a TV plus a household can get there.
Pi-holeRuns on a Raspberry Pi or any always-on computer. Install it, then set your router’s DHCP DNS to its address.
AdGuard HomeThe same idea, as a script or Docker. Use Adblock-format lists: its plain-domain rules don’t cover subdomains.

Then add HaGeZi’s native tracker list for your brand: native.samsung, native.lgwebos, native.roku or native.amazon for Fire TV. For Pi-hole and AdGuard Home the address is:

https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/hagezi/dns-blocklists@latest/adblock/native.samsung.txt

Swap native.samsung for your brand’s list. HaGeZi’s standard lists (Light, Multi, Pro and up) already include all the native trackers, so if you use one of those, you’re covered. HaGeZi warns they “can occasionally limit functionality”; the table below shows what not to block.

On NextDNS, “Native Tracking Protection” isn’t enough for a TV. It covers eight vendors. Its Samsung entry is phone and Knox telemetry, not the TV’s ACR or ad servers, and there is no LG or Vizio entry at all. Add a HaGeZi list from the Blocklists tab instead.
Which domains to block, and which to keep

From HaGeZi’s lists, the comments in Perflyst’s SmartTV list and the IMC 2024 study. Keep update domains open: an up-to-date TV is safer.

Samsung

DomainWhat it isBlock?
acr-us-prd.samsungcloud.tvacr-eu-prd.samsungcloud.tvACR fingerprintsBlockThe most traffic during live TV and HDMI.
samsungacr.comACR logging and configBlockCovers log-ingestion and log-config.
acr0.samsungcloudsolution.comACR keep-aliveBlockHaGeZi blocks it; Perflyst leaves it open.
samsungads.comsamsungtvads.comSamsung AdsBlock
lcprd1.samsungcloudsolution.netLoggingOptionalOne user had to allow it again when app downloads failed; another saw no problem.
samsungcloudsolution.comThe whole domain: many servicesDon't blockBlocking it all breaks the TV's internet connection.
time.samsungcloudsolution.comClockKeepWithout it Plex, YouTube and Prime Video stop working.
otnprd8–11.samsungcloudsolution.netsamsungotn.netFirmware updatesKeepSecurity updates come through here.
osb-ussvc.samsungqbe.comSamsung TV PlusKeepIf you watch TV Plus.
auth.samsungosp.comSamsung accountKeepSign-in fails without it.

LG

DomainWhat it isBlock?
lgsmartad.comlgads.tvad.lgappstv.comLG adsBlock
alphonso.tvACR (LG Ad Solutions)BlockThe IMC 2024 study saw LG's ACR traffic go here.
us.lgtvsdp.comClock and servicesKeepIf it is blocked, the clock resets to 2019 after a reboot and Plex, HBO Max and YouTube fail.
lgtvsdp.comlgappstv.comContent StoreKeepOnly ad.lgappstv.com goes.
ngfts.lge.comStore pictures, AI featuresKeep
snu.lge.comsu.lge.comnsu.lge.comSoftware updatesKeep

Roku

DomainWhat it isBlock?
logs.roku.com and its subdomainsLoggingBlockOne Pi-hole user's live TV guide went blank; allow it again if yours does.
ads.roku.comravm.tvRoku adsBlock
acr.roku.comcloudservices.roku.comACR and cloud servicesBlockBoth are in HaGeZi's Roku list.

Don’t block everything with “roku” in it: a broad rule like that broke one user’s Roku completely.

Vizio

DomainWhat it isBlock?
tvinteractive.tvInscape ACRBlockcontrol, control2, mcp and tvmeta-dynamic.
alphonso.tvACRBlock
api.vizio.comimages.vizio.comSmart featuresKeepPerflyst: required for the smart TV features.

HaGeZi has no Vizio list, so add these by hand.

If the blocker sees nothing from the TV: some devices, notably Google’s, ignore the DNS your router hands out and ask 8.8.8.8 directly. If your router can redirect DNS, that catches them.

Advanced: redirect hard-coded DNS at the router

The idea: a firewall rule sends every outgoing request on port 53 to your own blocker, and port 853 (DNS over TLS) is blocked so it can’t be used to go around the rule.

Most ISP routers can’t do this; then set the router’s DHCP DNS and accept that Google devices may go around it. Some devices show “no internet” once 8.8.8.8 is redirected. HaGeZi’s doh-vpn-proxy-bypass list stops devices sidestepping the blocker over DNS-over-HTTPS or VPNs.

If something breaks

Every step goes back the way it came:

You didYou might loseTo undo
ACR offLess personal “recommended for you” rows; Roku drops More Ways to WatchTick the same setting again
Ad tracking off, ad ID reset or deletedNothing; ads stay, just untargetedTurn it back on
Voice wake word or mic switch offNo voice search or assistantSwitch it back on
Optional agreements declinedSmall extras, like LG's AI recommendationsAccept them again in User Agreements or Privacy Choices
Guest networkCasting from a phone on your main Wi-FiMove the TV back to your main Wi-Fi
DNS blocklistUsually nothing; too broad a list can break the app store, guide data or the clockAllow the blocked name from the query log, or turn the list off

Two things not to do: don’t decline the TV’s required terms (most smart apps stop, Consumer Reports found), and don’t block the update domains.

The last resort: keep the TV offline

A TV that never goes online can’t send anything. Leave it off the network and plug in a separate streaming box. Apple TV is the usual pick: tvOS has no ACR, and Siri, location and analytics are opt-in at setup (9to5Mac). On it, also turn off Settings › General › Privacy & Security › Tracking › Allow Apps to Ask to Track.

An offline TV gets no security updates. That’s fine while it stays offline; just don’t connect it “once” years later.

Sources

Each brand’s own sources are listed under its settings above.

Last checked 26 Oct 2026. Spotted a wrong menu path? Open an issue.