Why is your Galaxy phone getting Nearby Device notifications with Bluetooth turned off?

TL;DR

Galaxy phones can still scan for nearby devices and show notifications even when Bluetooth is turned off.

Samsung designed this to make connecting to nearby devices easier and to support its smart home ecosystem.

You can stop the notifications by turning off Nearby device scanning in Settings without changing Bluetooth itself.

Has your Samsung Galaxy phone ever received notifications about nearby devices, even when Bluetooth is turned off? Don't worry, your phone is neither broken nor possessed by a ghost. There's a logical explanation.

This happens because your Galaxy phone can — and will — scan for nearby devices, regardless of your Bluetooth settings. Even if Bluetooth is off.

It's not a bug but a conscious design choice meant to improve the smart home and device ecosystem experience. Samsung wants Galaxy phone users to be able to easily connect to nearby devices through a pop-up notification, even when they forget to turn Bluetooth on.

So, what if you don't want to get any nearby device notifications at all? Are there any options?Thankfully, yes.

You can turn this feature off, and you don't even have to change any Bluetooth settings to stop receiving nearby device notifications. Here's what you need to do:

Go to Settings > Connections > More connection settings > Nearby device scanning.

Tap the toggle ON/OFF or tap the ‘Nearby device scanning‘ text for more information about how the feature works.

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Mihai Matei - Senior Editor

[email protected]

First Samsung device: SGH-A800

Mihai is a blogger and column writer at SamMobile. His first Samsung phone was an A800 which took a lot of beating, and a part of him still misses the novelty of the clamshell design. In his free time, he enjoys watching shows, documentaries, and stand-up comedy; listening to music, taking walks, and occasionally playing old(er) video games.

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