Cell phone ads

[whitbey]

I have a galaxy s10e cell phone.
It is playing ads for galaxy junk all the time. Very annoying. Also some apps seem to play ads without opening the app. I delete those. But you cannot delete galaxy stuff. IS this a thing?

I have a medical implant that makes using a cell phone difficult. The implant shorts out the cell. I generally use it on my trucks blue tooth or plug a headset in. But as I don't want much from a cell phone, I buy the older cheap models. Seems an older phone should not have more ads.

[JohnL]

If it's an older cheap model, you might consider rooting it. If it goes bad, you're not out much.

[mcphatty00]

S10 is getting pretty old. I'd bet it doesn't even get updates anymore. I have the S23 Ultra and it's already been replaced by the S24 line.

[RichC]

I have an s10e also and don't experience anything like that...still works very well.

[hyperbolica]

On the Google side, you can opt out of targeted ads and a lot of the data logging stuff. Also, use a browser like DuckDuckGo. Plus avoid some of the more gimmicky apps. Trim down the number of apps to the ones you use... There are some permissions that you can set to limit what kinds of data you give up to apps, but some of those definitely come with later versions of Android.

[AtomicClock]

Like all things technological, just ask the nearest teen for help

[ldmitruk]

I use Adguard, a multi-platform ad blocker. It has worked really well on all my Samsung phones over the years.
adguard.com

[Matt K]

That's one of the reasons I switched back to Apple stuff. I don't really like either ecosystem, tbh. The best experience w/ minimal effort is going to be one of the official Google phones (the Pixel lineup in particular). With a lot more effort, a rooted Android with LineageOS on it. A lot of the other models have bloat provided from carrier or the vendor....... or both.

I would also caution against using phones too old. Unfortunately, security updates are almost always stopped as soon as the phone is end of life. Sometimes you can get lucky and you go awhile without a serious security vulnerability, but after a few months or maybe years you'll inevitably be exposed to something and may have no idea about it because the manufacturer isn't supporting it anymore.

[AndrewMeronek]

If you do a bit of digging on that phone, you should be able to figure out which "app" is launching your unwanted ads and/or installs. I had to do that for my Samsung - it has nothing to do with Samsung, but with the phone provider (Verizon) having default app installs that are just terrible ideas. Fortunately, it's usually not a big deal to uninstall these apps once you track them down.

When you see an app that got installed without you specifically doing it, look for the "installed by" in the Settings.

[Posaunus]

Last year I gave up my Samsung phone and Verizon Wireless service, and switched to a Google Pixel phone and Google Fi wireless service. I don't love Google (Duck Duck Go is my ad-free search engine on my computer), but the new phone and service have been terrific. No ads to annoy me; almost always connected with good signal strength in U.S., New Zealand (except in some especially remote areas), and Europe. Seamless international connectivity.

[Matt K]

Yeah the Pixel lineup is just stock Android. I had one for awhile, was probably the best Android experienced I’ve had. Admittedly, I haven’t flashed LineageOS. If I hadn’t switched to Apple ID probably have ended up there