Samsung TV Plus is a free streaming service that comes pre-installed on many Samsung smart TVs. It provides access to over 100 news channels, sports, movies, and shows. While it can be convenient to have this content available with no subscriptions required, the automatic playing feature of TV Plus when you turn on your TV can be annoying. Fortunately, a few ways exist to disable this auto-play and stop Samsung TV Plus from launching as soon as your TV powers on.
How to Stop Samsung TV Plus Auto-Play
- When setting up your Samsung smart TV, one of the prompts during setup is to enable or disable TV Plus auto-play.
- If you enabled it, you allowed your TV to automatically open the TV Plus app and play a channel every time you turn on your TV.
- This feature is designed for convenience so users can quickly view content instead of manually opening an app.
- However, many users find it disruptive or irritating to have a random channel or video playing right away before deciding what they want to watch.
- It also means you have to take the extra step of exiting TV Plus each time you power on your TV before accessing other apps or sources. Fortunately, there are settings available to disable this auto-play.
1. Disabling Auto-Play in TV Plus Settings
The easiest way to stop TV Plus from automatically launching is to turn off auto-play in the TV Plus settings menu. Here is how to do it:
- Select the TV Plus app icon from your Samsung TV’s home screen.
- Go to the “Settings” menu in the TV Plus app.
- Select “Autorun” and set it to Off.
- Exit the TV Plus app.
With autorun disabled, your TV will no longer automatically open TV Plus each time you turn it on. The app itself will remain installed on your Samsung TV, but it won’t launch unexpectedly.
You can always open TV Plus manually if you want to browse or watch the free channels. But this simple settings tweak prevents the annoyance of channels automatically playing every time you power on your TV. It’s an easy way to stop unwanted auto-play.
2. Removing TV Plus from Your Home Screen
In addition to disabling autorun in the TV Plus settings, you can also remove the TV Plus app tile from your Samsung TV’s home screen. This makes it even less likely you’ll accidentally open the app and have to deal with automatic playing.
To remove the TV Plus shortcut:
- Use your remote to highlight the TV Plus app icon from the home screen.
- Press and hold the Select button on your remote. This will bring up an options menu.
- Choose “Remove from Home.”
- Select “Yes” to confirm removing the app from the home screen.
The TV Plus app will still be installed on your TV, but the shortcut will no longer occupy your home screen space. With autorun disabled and no icon visible, the chances of TV Plus ever automatically launching drop dramatically.
3. Disabling Automatic Updates
One other setting that can impact TV Plus auto-play is disabling automatic updates for your apps. With automatic updates enabled, the TV Plus app may occasionally receive updates from Samsung that could modify settings like autorun.
To prevent any unwanted changes:
- Go to Settings > Support > Software Update > Auto update apps.
- Set Auto-update apps to Off.
Now, your apps will remain at their current versions and won’t automatically install updates that could alter your preferences. This protects against TV Plus auto-play unexpectedly starting again against your wishes.
4. Excluding TV Plus from Universal Guide
The Universal Guide on Samsung TVs pulls in content from various apps and channels into one consolidated program guide. It’s meant for convenience but has the downside of sometimes surfacing TV Plus content even if you don’t want to access the app.
Luckily, you can customize your Universal Guide settings to exclude TV Plus:
- Go to Settings > General > Universal Guide.
- Select the option to turn off TV Plus within Universal Guide.
With this adjustment, TV Plus channels will no longer populate your Universal Guide listings. One less way for the app to impose its content when not desired.
5. Using a Different Default App
If everything fails, you can set a different video streaming app to open by default when you turn on your Samsung TV. For example, if you primarily use Netflix, you can set it as the default app instead of TV Plus.
Here’s how to change the default app:
- Go to Settings > General > System Manager.
- Select Default app settings.
- Choose Launch app and select the app you want to set as the default.
When you power your TV, your selected app will launch automatically rather than TV Plus. This workaround prevents TV Plus from auto-play as another app will open instead.
6. Using Your HDMI Device as Default
Similarly, you can set your TV to default to a connected HDMI device when powered on rather than any smart TV app.
For example, you can prioritize those inputs if you have a cable box, Blu-ray player, or game console hooked up through HDMI. Here’s how:
- Go to Settings > General > External Device Manager.
- Under Input Manager, select Auto Device Connect.
- Choose the HDMI port with your desired default device.
When you turn on your TV, it will go straight to that HDMI input rather than TV Plus or other smart apps. This, again, avoids any unwanted auto-play.
7. Factory Reset as a Last Resort
- If all else fails and you absolutely want to wipe any trace of TV Plus from your Samsung TV, you can perform a factory reset. This will erase all apps and settings, including TV Plus, and allow you to start fresh.
- Just be aware that a factory reset will remove ALL other apps and customized settings as well. You’ll have to reinstall and set up everything on your TV from scratch outside of the initial installation menus. Only use this option as a last resort if the above methods don’t work.
- Go to Settings > General > Reset and select Reset Smart Hub to factory reset. Again, reset cautiously, as you’ll delete everything on your TV!
Prefer Watching TV Plus? Enable Auto-Play
While this guide focused on disabling TV Plus auto-play, there are also options to re-enable it if you prefer to launch it automatically.
You can toggle autorun back on in the TV Plus settings. Or if you deleted the home screen shortcut, re-add the TV Plus app icon so it’s readily accessible.
If you use TV Plus frequently, having it pop up as soon as you power on your TV can be convenient. Just know the settings are there to disable auto-play if it becomes a nuisance.
Helpful Tips for Managing TV Plus
If you don’t use TV Plus at all, you can uninstall it completely through the “Apps” section of Settings. This will free up storage space.
When disabling Auto Start for TV Plus, you may need to uncheck “Run in Background” to stop fully background launching.
Auto Play may re-enable itself after Samsung TV firmware updates, so you may need to toggle it off again after an update.
You can still access TV Plus anytime by opening it normally like any other app from your Samsung TV’s home screen.
FAQs
Q: Will disabling Auto Start for TV Plus delete the app or my preferences?
A: No, turning off Auto Start will stop the app from launching on its own when you power on your TV. Your TV Plus app and settings will remain intact.
Q: Why does Samsung TV Plus play automatically?
A: Samsung enables Auto Start and Auto Play features to promote the use of their proprietary streaming service. This way, users passively consume TV Plus content.
Q: Can I remove the TV Plus app from my Samsung TV?
A: Yes, you can fully uninstall TV Plus via the Apps section of the Settings menu if you do not use the service at all. However, this is permanent, and you won’t be able to reinstall it later without performing a factory reset.
Q: Will these settings stop other auto-launching apps?
A: No, you will need to disable Auto Start for each individual app in System Manager to stop them from launching at power on. The Auto Play setting globally disables auto-play across all apps after launching.
Conclusion
Although Samsung TV Plus provides free live TV channels, many users find the automatic playing disruptive. Thankfully, it’s easy to disable this behavior. Navigating to the System Manager and Expert Settings sections of Samsung TV Settings allows you to turn off both Auto Start and Auto Play specifically for TV Plus. This provides full control over when the app launches and starts playing content. So if unwanted TV Plus interruptions annoy you, now you can enjoy your Samsung TV on your own terms!
