Samsung discontinues preinstalled app; what’s happening to users’ data

By
FOX Local
Published October 31, 2026 12:55 PM EDT

A display of Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 smartphones at a preview event in London, UK, on Tuesday, July 21, 2026.  (Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Brief

    • Samsung plans to discontinue the News app that comes pre-installed on its phones.
    • The shutdown will also affect the News widget, which will also not receive content updates.
    • Samsung indicated that it will delete personal data collected through the app "without delay," or when local laws and regulations allow.

If no news is good news, then here’s some good news for owners of Samsung phones. 

The backstory:

The Samsung News app will be officially discontinued on Dec. 21 and will no longer receive updates after that date, the South Korea-based corporation stated. The related headlines widget will not receive new content either, Samsung added while recommending users remove it from their home screens too.

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Dig deeper:

Samsung told users that all personal information that was collected about Samsung News users would be "deleted without delay." However, it indicated local laws and regulations in some of the locations where Samsung News was used might mean that the data will not be erased until the mandated period ends. 

The Source: Information for this article was taken from a Samsung notice to users. This story was reported from Orlando.


 

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