Samsung Customization Service and Location: What to Disable

If you've ever felt like your Samsung phone "knows" you a little too well—maybe suggesting a certain app the moment you walk into the gym or showing you a specific weather alert for a park you visited once—you're likely seeing the Samsung Customization Service in action. This is a layer of software that runs on Galaxy devices, separate from Google's own data collection. While it's marketed as a way to make your phone "smarter," it's essentially a massive data-gathering engine. I found it quite annoying how many places I had to go to actually shut this thing down on my Galaxy S23.

Customization Service explained

Samsung calls this service a tool that "personalizes" your experience. It looks at your search history, your location, and even your "app usage patterns" to figure out what you want before you ask for it. For example, if it notices you use the Spotify app every time you reach a specific GPS coordinate (like your local park), Bixby might start suggesting music the second you get there.

The problem is that this data isn't just staying on your phone. To "customize" your experience, Samsung often syncs this profile with your Samsung Account. This creates a shadow profile of your habits that exists alongside your Google profile. It’s one of those features that sounds cool in a marketing brochure but feels a lot like 24/7 surveillance when you actually see the data categories it's tracking.

Samsung account location data

The core of this customization is your location. Samsung wants to know where you live, where you work, and where you hang out. They use this to tell you about "relevant" local events or to remind you to pick up milk when you're near a grocery store. But your Samsung account location data is also a gold mine for their marketing partners.

When you first set up your phone, you probably clicked "Agree to all" on those legal screens just to get to the home screen. By doing that, you gave Samsung permission to track your "Location History" within their own ecosystem. This is separate from Google Location History. Even if you turn off Google's tracking, Samsung might still be logging your movements if you haven't specifically told them to stop in the Samsung-branded settings.

Disabling each pipeline

To really kill this off, you have to follow a specific path. Samsung hasn't made it a single button (of course). Here is the workflow I used on One UI 6 to stop the data flow.

Step 1: The Main Switch

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap on your name/Samsung Account at the very top.
3. Scroll down to Privacy.
4. Tap on Customization Service.
5. Toggle off Customization Service entirely. Usually, a pop-up will appear trying to convince you to keep it on. Tap "Stop."

Step 2: Scrubber the Data Categories

Even if you turn the service off, Samsung might still hold onto what they’ve already collected. In the same Customization Service menu, look for Data categories. I went in and manually unticked "Location," "Messages," and "Call history." It’s an extra step, but it ensures that if you ever accidentally turn the service back on, it doesn't immediately regain access to your sensitive logs.

Step 3: Stop the Cloud Sync

Go back to the Samsung Account menu, tap Samsung Cloud, and make sure that "Customization Service" isn't one of the apps syncing data. This cuts the link between your phone and Samsung's servers.

Bixby and location

Bixby is the voice of the Customization Service. If you use "Bixby Routines" (now called "Modes and Routines"), you might have actually requested some of this tracking without realizing it. For example, if you have a routine that says "When I arrive at [Work], turn on silent mode," Bixby is constantly checking your location in the background to see if you've arrived.

If you want total privacy, you have to trade off some of that automation. I personally stopped using location-based routines and switched to time-based ones (e.g., "Silence my phone at 9 AM"). This allows you to revoke Bixby's location permissions without breaking your workflows. To check Bixby's specific permissions, go to Settings > Apps > Bixby Voice > Permissions > Location and set it to Don't allow. Just be aware that this will break things like "Hey Bixby, what's the weather?"

Dual disable: Samsung + Google

One of the biggest mistakes I made early on was thinking that because I'd "Hardened" my Google privacy, my Samsung was safe. It’s like having two sets of eyes watching you. You need to do a "dual disable."

After you've handled the Samsung side, you still need to check Settings > Google > Manage your Google Account > Data & privacy > Location History. This is because your Samsung phone runs on Android, and Google is the foundation. If you disable it on Samsung but leave it on for Google, you're still being tracked. If you disable it on Google but leave it on for Samsung, you're still being tracked. You have to shut both doors to actually have a private device. It’s a lot of maintenance, but it’s the only way to be sure.

Verifying with the dashboard

How do you know if it actually worked? Samsung includes a "Privacy Dashboard" that is actually pretty good. Go to Settings > Security and privacy > Privacy. Here, you'll see a chart showing which apps have used your location, camera, or microphone in the last 24 hours.

A concrete example: before I disabled the Customization Service, "Samsung Account" was show up as having accessed my location hundreds of times a day. After I went through these steps, it vanished from the list completely. If you still see "Samsung Account" or "Customization Service" popping up in that 24-hour log, it means one of the toggles didn't stick, or you have a "Mode" active that is requesting data. One small caveat: if you use "Find My Mobile" (Samsung's version of finding a lost phone), that service will still need location access, but it shouldn't be "Customizing" your ads because of it.