How to turn off smart TV snooping features

(JESHOOTS.com / Pexels.com)

You may not be aware of it, but your TV knows—and shares—a lot of information about you.

Nearly all new sets are smart TVs, which connect to the internet, making it easy to stream videos from services such as Hulu and Netflix. The streaming apps on your set may collect data on you, even if you don’t ever sign in. And your smart TV will also collect information for its manufacturer, possibly including your location, which apps you open, and more.

These companies can also capture voice data when you use the mic on a smart TV remote, and they can combine all the info they’ve gathered with data they collect about you from outside companies.

Consumer Reports started reporting on this kind of data collection back in 2015. We’ve been analyzing smart TV data practices in our labs since 2018.

We’ve found that you can’t stop all the data collection, but you can reduce the snooping by turning off a technology called automatic content recognition, or ACR. This smart TV technology attempts to identify every show you watch—including programs and movies you get via cable, over-the-air broadcasts, streaming services, and even Blu-ray discs.

ACR, which goes by a variety of names, can help your set recommend shows. But the data can also be used for targeting ads to you and your family, and for other purposes. And it isn’t always easy to review or delete this data later.

Vizio got in trouble with federal and state regulators back in 2017 for collecting such data without users’ knowledge or consent. Since then, TV companies have been more careful to ask for permission before collecting viewing data.

You can say no to some data collection, but it’s tricky to do this when you first set up a new TV, and even harder to pull off later.

But, for many of us, it’s worth doing. You’ve already paid hundreds or thousands of dollars for your TV. There’s no need to give the company your personal data, too. Below are instructions for turning off ACR in the major smart TV platforms, including webOs from LG; Tizen from Samsung; and the Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, and Roku operating systems, which are all used by multiple TV brands.

You can also reset something called the advertiser ID, which companies use to compile information on you. Changing the ID periodically can reduce tracking.

Amazon Fire TV

The Amazon Fire TV Edition platform is built into TV models from companies, including Amazon itself, plus Hisense, Insignia, Panasonic, Pioneer, and Toshiba; all are sold mainly through Amazon and Best Buy. Unlike many other companies with smart TV platforms, Amazon says that it doesn’t use ACR technology to track all the shows you watch and that it doesn’t collect data through a cable set-top box or any other non-Amazon device connected to TVs.

However, the system does collect information on programs you watch using an antenna and through streaming apps, such as Netflix, that are available through the Fire TV platform. (Of course, if you watch anything from Amazon Prime video, the company also knows those details.)

We did our 2025 tests using a Hisense TV. During setup, you’re initially prompted to choose either Continue or Store Use. Either way, you agree to Amazon’s privacy policy. You can then choose a Full or Basic Experience. If you choose the Basic Experience you only have access to live TV, plus five big streaming services. Choosing Full Experience gets you hundreds more channels and apps, the use of the Alexa voice service, and the ability to sign into (or create) an Amazon account. With either option, you have to agree to Amazon’s privacy policies and terms and conditions during the initial setup.

To turn off programming data collection, go to Settings through either the home screen or the button on the remote > Preferences > Privacy Settings.

Under Privacy Settings there are options for Device Usage Data, Collect App and Over-the-Air Usage, and Interest-Based Ads. All are on by default, but you can turn them off. There’s also an option that lets you reset the advertising ID, which can reduce tracking. New for 2025 is an option called Manage Sharing From Apps. This lets you stop third-party apps from sending viewing and content info to Amazon.

Device Usage Data collects information on how you use the TV, for advertising and marketing purposes.

Collect App and Over-the-Air Usage Data collects info on what you watch if you use an antenna, and the frequency and duration of your use of third-party apps. (Note: Turning it off won’t affect data related to your use of Amazon services, such as Amazon Prime Video, or data collection by Fire TV Recast devices—Amazon’s over-the-air DVR—if you’re using one.)

Turning off Interest-Based Ads will affect not just your TV but also other Amazon devices, such as an Echo smart speaker. You’ll still get ads; they just won’t be personalized.

You can find out more about Amazon’s policies by going to Settings > Device and Software > Legal & Compliance. (You can also reset the TV to its factory defaults.) You can read Amazon’s privacy online at www.amazon.com/privacy, or view a privacy settings FAQ for Fire TVs and certain other Amazon devices.

On older sets, you may have to go to Applications rather than Preferences to adjust your privacy settings.

Android and Google TVs

The Google TV platform is gradually taking the place of the company’s older Android TV smart system.

Brands that use these systems include Hisense, Philips, Sony, and TCL. In terms of privacy, there isn’t much difference, and we did our latest analysis using 2025 Google TVs from TCL and Sony (also covered separately, below).

Google says the Google TV platform itself doesn’t use ACR technology to capture specific content that’s being watched. However, individual TV brands may do so, and they have their own privacy policies and user agreements. While Google might not employ ACR, it does collect data from TVs that use its smart TV platform—and there’s no opting out of Google’s policies during setup if you want smart TV functionality.

And Google’s data collection capability is vast; it includes info from all the apps, browsers, and devices you use to access Google services. That means terms you search for, videos you watch (Google owns YouTube), content and ads you watch, your purchase activity, people with whom you communicate or share content, and your activity on third-party apps and sites.

The company may also collect GPS location and IP address data, or phone call info such as your phone number, a caller’s phone number, and sender and receiver email addresses. Google may combine that data with information from publicly available sources and marketing partners.

During the initial setup, you can forgo Google TV and just set up a basic TV. Choose the latter, and you’ll only have access to live TV, movies and whatever is available on devices you connect through HDMI. If you choose Google TV, you have to sign in to or create a Google account, and then accept Google’s privacy policy and terms of service—you can’t opt out. However, you can control location services, and stop the TV from collecting diagnostic information that the company says it uses to improve the TV’s performance.

You can take some steps to limit the data Google collects for targeted advertisements. On Google TVs, click the Settings button on the remote > Privacy > Ads. There you can reset the advertising ID, or delete the advertising ID data. You can manage your ad preferences on Google and its partners —including turning off certain advertising services—by visiting My Ad Center. You can decide what types of activities you’d like saved at Activity Controls. Google says you can export a copy of the content in your Google account, and then delete specific content and items from your account.

Google says it doesn’t share your personal information with other people or organizations outside of Google unless you give consent, but it does share non-personally identifiable information publicly and with its partners, such as advertisers, publishers, and developers, and it allows specific partners to collect browser and device information for advertising and measurement purposes.

On older Android TVs, click Settings > Device Preferences. Google says it won’t share personally identifiable information with advertisers unless you request it.

On older sets that use Android TV, look for the Settings icon at the top of the home page, scroll down > About > Legal Information. There you’ll be able to opt out of receiving personalized ads.

As noted above, your Google TV may have a second set of permissions from the TV brand. For instance, on 2025 TCL sets, you’ll see that company’s Terms & Privacy agreements once you’ve set up Google TV. You have to accept the agreement, but you can opt out of participating in the User Experience Improvement Program, which collects data the company says is used to improve TCL’s products and services, and you can stop the TV from collecting diagnostic info. You can also withdraw consent later, under Settings > Privacy > User Agreements.

Under the TCL’s privacy policy, you have the right to obtain a copy of the personal data that’s been collected about you, and you can request that data be deleted. You can also limit the use of the advertising ID, though that seems to be a function of Google TV, not TCL.

LG TVs

All LG smart TVs use the company’s webOS platform.

LG’s settings menus change from year to year. On new LG sets, start by clicking the Settings button on the remote control, scroll down > All Settings > Support > Privacy & Terms. (You can also find it under Support.)

Click that and you’ll see User Agreements, as well as an option called Do Not Sell My Personal Information. You can activate that by using a toggle switch. If you do, LG will limit third parties from commercializing your info, but it will still collect info so you can use LG services such as Live Plus and LG Channels (described below).

Under User Agreements you’ll find LG’s privacy policy, plus the policies and controls for Viewing Information, Voice Information, Interest-Based Cross-Device Advertising, and “Who. Where. What?” These are all off by default during setup, and you can either opt into each individually, or click Select All at the bottom of the screen to turn them all on.

Last year there was also an option for an entry called Aspect Privacy Policy, which first appeared in 2022. It powered a separate ACR technology. So far we haven’t seen that on 2025 sets, We reached out to LG to get more information about whether Aspect is still collecting viewing info on 2025 sets, and if it can be turned off. We also asked about a data analytics company called Alphonso that’s mentioned in the privacy policy, but so far we haven’t hard back.

You can turn off LG’s ACR by clicking on Viewing Information. The technology powers LG’s Live Plus feature, which makes program recommendations based on what you watch and listen to on your TV. LG says ACR technology is only applied if the TV has Live Plus. Opting out will enhance your privacy, but you will receive less targeted program recommendations. (Last year, you could also toggle off the Aspect ACR technology, which like the other options was off by default.)

Voice Information, which lets the set access and analyze voice commands, needs to be on if you want to use voice control. It will also send that information to various third parties. To activate it, you have to agree to LG’s privacy policy and terms of use, as well as the Viewing Information agreement.

The Interest-Based & Cross-Device Advertising Agreement allows LG to collect information from your TV to generate targeted ads, not only on the TV but also on other devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops that share the same IP address.

LG Channels is LG’s free streaming service, which includes live channels, video-on-demand programming, and advertising. It’s powered by Pluto TV and Xumo. To use LG Channels, you have to agree to LG’s privacy policy and terms of use, which allows those two companies to access your viewing and device information. If you click the Do Not Sell My Information option mentioned above, it blocks these companies from selling your data to other companies. But if you consent to Cross-Device Advertising, they can still use the data for their own commercial uses.

“Who. Where. What?” lets you get information about TV content, such as the name of the band on a song you hear, or an actor and actress on a show you’re watching. It also lets you shop for products on some programming. Agreeing to this allows LG’s partner, TheTake—which provides this service—to access viewing data for this purpose.

Note: For sets from 2019 and earlier, press the Settings button on the remote, then scroll down > All Settings > click General. From there, you can get to the user agreements and setting under About This TV.

Roku TVs

A handful of TV brands use the Roku TV platform, including Element, Hisense, Insignia, JVC, Onn, Philips, Sharp, TCL, and Westinghouse. And Roku also sells TVs under its own name.

There are a few ways to limit data collection on Roku TVs. The following information was taken from a 2025 OLED TV from Philips.

On the Home screen, under Settings, scroll down to Privacy. Hover over it, and you’ll see entries for Advertising, Voice, Smart TV Experience, Privacy Policy, and Privacy Choices. There’s also a separate California Privacy Notice.

Under Advertising you can uncheck Personalize ads to stop getting targeted ads, and reset the advertising ID, which replaces the ad identifier associated with your Roku device. You may still see ads—which could appear on Roku services or third-party channels—but they shouldn’t be personalized. There’s also a heading called Sensitive Ad Content, where you can choose to see fewer ads on topics such as alcohol, smoking and gambling, mature content, medication and supplements, and politics.

Smart TV Experience is where the ACR technology resides. Click on that option, and you can uncheck Use Info from TV Inputs, which will disable the TV’s ACR technology. This will limit the tracking of programs you receive via an antenna or any other devices, such as a cable box, connected to the TV, but Roku may still collect and share data about the apps or streaming services you use.

If you disable Use Info, it automatically shuts off Enable Auto Notifications, which uses ACR technology to power Roku’s More Ways to Watch feature. That lets you watch a live show already in progress from the beginning, or see what other episodes are available.

Under Voice, you’ll see Microphone Access and Speech Recognition. These provide various options (Prompt, Always Allow, and Never Allow) for allowing or preventing apps from accessing the microphone on your remote or a mobile device if you’re using the Roku app. There’s also an option for resetting the channel permissions.

The section called Privacy Choices lets you opt out of having your data shared or sold, and choosing to limit the use of sensitive information.

Samsung TVs

There are a few ways to get to the privacy controls on 2025 Samsung TVs, where you’ll find options for controlling Interest-Based Advertising, Viewing Information Services (Samsung’s ACR technology), and Voice Recognition Services.

All Samsung TVs use the company’s own Tizen smart TV system.

When you first set up the TV, you will see a screen called Smart Hub Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy. You can agree to all, or check the individual boxes for Terms & Conditions; Dispute Resolution Agreement, Smart Hub U.S. Policy Notice, Viewing Information Services, Interest-Based Advertisements Service U.S. Privacy Notice, and Terms and Conditions for the Samsung Art Store.

Although they do have check boxes, you can’t uncheck either Terms & Conditions or Smart Hub US Privacy Notice. You have to agree to the Art store if you want to use this service.

If you’ve already set up your TV, you can find Privacy Settings either by clicking on.

On the TV’s remote, click the Home button > Menu > Settings > All Settings. Scroll down and click on General & Privacy > Terms & Privacy, where you’ll see both Smart Hub US Privacy Notice and Viewing Information, and Interest-Based Advertising. You can then agree to or not to Viewing Info ( and Interest-Based Advertising.

On some earlier models it’s called Terms and Policy. On the TV, look for Privacy Choices at the bottom of the screen, just below Settings. On the Privacy Choices page, you’ll see Terms & Conditions, Privacy Center, and Security Center. There’s also a Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information button that tells Samsung not to sell or share your data.

On the Privacy Choices screen, you can opt out of interest-based ads on some older sets by unchecking “Enable to make content and advertising on Smart TV more interactive.” When you opt out, a “Limit ad tracking” signal is added to tell third parties to stop showing you targeted ads. You’ll still get generic ads, though. (We haven’t tested how effective this is in practice, but have found that cookie opt-outs on websites often don’t work well.)

On 2025 TVs, under Privacy Choices you’ll see Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, Privacy Center, and Security Center. If you click on Terms & Conditions, it will take you to the Smart Hub Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy screen we saw during setup, with options for turning off Viewing Information Services, Interest-Based Advertisements, and the Samsung Art store. You can agree to all or uncheck each individual box. At the bottom of the page there’s a Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information option.

The Privacy Center is where you’ll find info on all the services and how that data is collected and shared.

Viewing Information Services is where Samsung TVs use ACR technology resides. It collects information about the channels and networks you watch, the websites you visit, and the programs you view, as well as how long you spend viewing them. It will also collect information for any device you connect to the TV. This info is what powers the program recommendations you get, as well as the targeted marketing materials you receive. Leave the box unchecked to limit the data collection and sharing of this info.

By unchecking the box for Interest-Based Advertisements you’ll still get ads, but they will be less targeted to your viewing habits and interests.

That’s straightforward, but it’s trickier to turn off Voice Recognition Services, which collects data when you use voice commands to conduct searches or open apps. That’s because there isn’t a listing for Voice Recognition Services under any of the privacy policies as there was on earlier Samsung sets.

Instead, you have to go to Settings > All Settings > Advanced Features, and then choose Voice. This option is grayed out, though, unless you turn on a tiny microphone switch located on the lower right underside of the TV. (I generally knew where it was, and it still took 10 minutes to locate it.) Once the switch is on, you can click on Voice and choose a voice service—Alexa or Bixby—that you want to use. You then have to click on each one to see their privacy policy, and agree to it if you want to use it. None are turned on by default, so you can choose not to activate them to stop voice data from being collected.

On some older sets, you can get to all these controls by clicking the Settings icon in the main menu or the button on the remote control, and looking for Support > Terms & Privacy or Terms and Policy > Privacy Choices. On even older Samsung smart TVs, the ACR controls are found under the Smart Hub menu. Look for the icon for Settings, click on Support, and find the submenu titled Terms & Policy. Once there, look for SyncPlus and Marketing, and you’ll find an option to disable SyncPlus. You can also turn off Voice Recognition Services, which will disable voice commands.

Sony TVs

All of Sony’s newer TVs use the Google TV platform, while older sets have Android TV.

On either platform, users have to agree to the Google privacy policy. As with the Hisense set, you can make a choice of choosing either Basic TV or Google TV. Then, you come to Sony’s own Bravia privacy policy, which covers data collection from an ACR company called Samba TV.

You can accept or decline Sony’s Bravia privacy policy as well as one for Samba TV. During the initial setup, you’ll have to scroll through the entire Bravia policy before you’ll see the options for turning off various data-gathering features, including Sony Smart TV Services, Program Recommendations, and Advertising/Marketing. (All are off by default.) Or, you can click a box to agree to all of it.

For 2022 sets, you needed to proceed through the next couple of screens until you get to the Samba TV user agreement, where you have the option of enabling or disabling ACR. You can disable Samba TV later by going to Settings > System > Samba Interactive TV.

However, we didn’t see Samba TV on the 2023 Sony set we reviewed. Two years ago, though, we also noticed that Samba TV wasn’t on all the Sony TVs at the time we tested them. A Sony spokesperson says that some models might not launch with Samba TV, but it could be added later. If so, you should receive a prompt giving you the option to opt out of the Samba TV service.

On some older Sony sets with Samba TV, the process is just a bit different. Go to Settings > System Preferences > Samba Interactive TV. You can then toggle it off. Below the toggle is a link for the Samba TV privacy policy. This is also where you can limit ad tracking and reset the device advertising ID.

Vizio TVs

Almost all Vizio TVs now use the SmartCast smart TV system, which is based on Google’s Chromecast technology. And that means you have to agree to Google’s privacy policy—there’s no opt-out.

When you first set up the TV, you have to choose a language, connect to WiFi or Ethernet, and install any available updates. You also have the option of setting up a Vizio account (this isn’t required). You then choose a room name for the TV before you see a screen entitled Terms & Conditions, which consists of four items: Vizio Terms of Service, Vizio Privacy Policy, Google Terms of Service, and Google Privacy Policy. You have the option of skipping this for now, or accepting all, but if you do skip this section you won’t be able to stream content using any of the apps on the TV.

If you accept, you’ll see options for Viewing Data, which is Vizio’s ACR technology. Vizio explains how it is used, and offers the option of declining it, viewing the policy, or accepting it. This collects info on the services, channels, third-party websites and mobile apps you visit for both program recommendations and advertising and marketing purposes.

You can also choose to accept or decline Activity Data, which monitors and sends back data on how you interact with SmartCast and apps. This is also used to make program recommendations and provide targeted ads in some of the apps. If you decline, you can’t stream audio or video with SmartCast.

According to Vizio, disabling Viewing Data won’t limit the Activity Data being collected via SmartCast. Activity Data collects actions such as clicking on an app or the search bar when using the SmartCast Home and WatchFree pages, but that data isn’t shared with third parties.

On earlier models, we saw a separate SmartCast Policy, which is a supplement to Vizio’s privacy policy. On the 2023 model we reviewed, though, we didn’t see one. There was, however, Data Supplement to the privacy policy, which provides instructions for controlling Viewing Data.

Once you’ve set up the TV, you can access the privacy settings by going to Settings, and then All Settings where you’ll see Admin & Privacy. On older sets, the controls were under System, then Reset & Admin. And instead of Viewing Data, you might need to go to Smart Interactivity for these controls.

By James K. Willcox, Consumer Reports senior home & tech editor