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

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.

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.

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.