How to break free from smart TV ads and tracking

Re:How to break free from smart TV ads and tracking by mrandish on Friday December 12, 2025 @09:49PM (#46251552)

If you already have a "smart TV" of some kind, one strategy is to block it from having Internet access at your router and then use an Android TV based streaming box/stick or other external source for all content (OTA tuner, 4K Blu-Ray player, game console, etc). It's pretty easy to side load apps like Kodi and SmartTube on Android TV (a YouTube client with ad blocking, other features and zillion UX improvements).

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Re:How to break free from smart TV ads and tracking by robmsmt on Friday December 12, 2025 @11:23PM (#46251963)

What’s wrong with never configuring the WiFi for it?

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Re:How to break free from smart TV ads and tracking by Grazester on Saturday December 13, 2025 @02:10AM (#46252688)

...Not a damn thing. Makes you wonder if people on here connect their smart tv to the net just to find a complicated solution to make it dumb again.

Someone is going to run in here talking about how smart TV's randomly connect themselves to wifi, which is absolutely nonsense.

HN things I guess.

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Re:How to break free from smart TV ads and tracking by gbear605 on Saturday December 13, 2025 @12:42PM (#46256340)

It depends on the manufacturer, but a lot of new ones show pop ups until you connect to a network

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Re:How to break free from smart TV ads and tracking by aprilnya on Saturday December 13, 2025 @01:39PM (#46256836)

Connecting it to Wifi means you can use Airplay, Chromecast, Miracast..

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