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Samsung’s One UI 8.5 could finally give you relief from spammy app ads

A smart, system-level ad blocker in Device Care aims to silence spammy apps and restore a cleaner, smoother Android experience.

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Notifications on the lock screen in Samsung's One UI 7.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

What’s happened? Leaked builds of One UI 8.5, Samsung’s upcoming user interface, now include a new setting in the “Device Care” section.

  • The new feature is called “Block apps with excessive ads.”
  • This tool automatically identifies apps that send frequent ad notifications.
  • The feature can put such apps into deep sleep mode or block their ad notifications altogether.
  • The feature offers two modes: a “Basic blocking” mode and an “Intelligent blocking” mode.

One UI 8.5: Device care has added a new feature, ‘Block apps with excessive ads.’ pic.twitter.com/BS1PNrG6a1

— Tarun Vats (@tarunvats33) December 1, 2025

Why is this important? The “Basic blocking” mode targets known ad-heavy apps, while the “Intelligent blocking” mode uses on-device analysis of notifications to detect and block ads dynamically.

  • Many low-quality or ad-supported apps, including video games, show too many advertisements and spammy notifications.
  • A system-level tool that can automatically curb and dramatically improve user experience.
  • Samsung does have a similar feature, but it only allows blocking per app. However, the new tool doesn’t depend on whether the developer enables users to block ad notifications.
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Why should I care? By integrating ad-blocking into Device Care, Samsung is minimizing spammy and intrusive app behavior.

  • If you use too many free apps, One UI 8.5’s “Block apps with excessive ads” feature could dramatically reduce annoying ad notification spam.
  • Apps in deep sleep won’t wake frequently to push ads or run background tasks, improving overall battery life and performance stability.
  • Instead of manually going through each app’s notification settings, One UI 8.5’s new ad-blocking feature could save you a lot of time.

OK, what’s next? The first public beta of One UI 8.5 is rumored to roll out soon, from December 8 in selected regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Korea, and Germany.

  • As the feature matures, Samsung could expand the detection algorithm or refine the intelligent blocking system to better differentiate between harmless notifications and actual advertisements.
  • The new feature could reshape how app developers design ad-supported apps.
  • Other Android OEMs could follow, pushing ad-notification blocking as a standard operating system feature.
Shikhar Mehrotra
For more than five years, Shikhar has consistently simplified developments in the field of consumer tech and presented them…
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