Samsung TVs without mics may be listening through your soundbars

A researcher claims that Samsung TVs without a built-in microphone may use a connected soundbar or Bluetooth microphone to listen to the room instead.

It's pertinent to note that these claims haven't been independently verified, and some align with features that Samsung has itself disclosed.

Malwarebytes reports that the researcher, who goes by log4j, shared the findings in a thread on X, after becoming curious when their 2025 Samsung TV starting showing ads that seemed suspiciously relevant to them.

The researcher claims to have found a package in the TV's software called “always on voice” that uses the TV's built-in microphone to pick up sounds from the room. It reportedly logs events like a dog barking or a baby crying, counts them, and reports the numbers back to Samsung.

If a particular TV doesn't have a built-in microphone, the researcher claims the software searches for connected devices like soundbars that have them and listens through those devices instead.

It's worth noting that this behavior isn't different from the Pet Care and Family Care features Samsung introduced. These features use on-device AI to detect a dog barking or a baby crying and alerts the user.

It's further claimed by the researcher that the software uses a region-specific neural network to analyze users' viewing habits, such as the kind of videos they watch, ads they skip, progress in a video, etc.

None of these claims have been independently verified, and Samsung hasn't commented on the matter as yet. For anyone who is paranoid about this kind of stuff, disconnecting your TV from Wi-Fi is a solid option, but then you lose all functionality that makes a smart TV smart in the first place.