My girlfriend got a S20 Verizon a couple weeks ago and she just got a data usage alert. This was odd because she hasn't been leaving home and our wifi. When I took a look at the phone it showed that 1.8GB of mobile data had been used, 1.75GB by a app called Samsung Free. When I search for apps I can not find a Samsung Free to even see what it does. I was able to find it under settings and I disabled all its permissions.
Does anyone know what this app is and why it used so much data while the phone has been on WiFi?
This is a major issue that I am surprised that more people aren't upset about it. How can Samsung get away with using so much data without telling you about it? My gf was only out of wifi for about 4 hours in the 2 weeks she had the phone and yet this app used 90% of the data she had for the month. It seems the app overrides the system to only use mobile data even when on wifi. W
Samsung free is actively and rapidly under work to release a newer version of the application. The newer version will include a patch to reduce current data usage. Users can download it as it becomes available in the Galaxy Store or by Notice of Samsung free app.
UPDATE: An update for this has been released that should resolve this issue, we expect another update in the future, the address this concern even more, but in the meantime the latest update should resolve the majority of the trouble with this.
If the update is not working for you, and you're still experiencing a large amount of data usage, please force turn off the data, by going through the Sfree settings.
I don't want this terrible app that used almost all my monthly data in less than a day and cost me a $15 overage charge that Verizon won't credit! Samsung also cost me a day of work because when I disabled a silent notification from the bar at the top of my screen it didn't tell me it would cause my alarm to not go off. I've never had so many issues with a phone costing me several hundred dollars in damages but also is affecting my livelihood since I'm on the radar to be fired from my job now and it's damaging my professional reputation.
I regret changing to galaxy s20. I hate this phone. It's heavy and has caused me so many issues in the 3 weeks I've had it. I opened this stupid samsung free app for less than a minute and I don't know how it kept burning through my data. I'm so upset! I hate samsung smart TV with all its issues since it was brand new. I will never again purchase anything samsung!
I completely agree. The same thing happened to me and Verizon is charging me for going over. Frustrating and unfair. Not to mention I already have the latest app available and it looks like the patch is not available to fix the problem. How can this be legal that we hemorrhage money on an app we can't delete?
Thanks for the information. We just experienced the same thing. My wife went through 3 GB of data on her s10 while she was NOT actively using her phone. Using the steps above, I turned Samsung Free off. For some reason, it was off when I checked my phone (s10+). They should call it Samsung Not-Free.
This just happened to me, too. I routinely check my data each and every morning. And low and behold, this morning, I became a victim of the "Samsung Free" unsolicited data download. Overnight, my data usage sky rocketed from 93% remaining to 34% remaining. This while my phone was under 100% WIFI coverage at home!!!! I guess I consider myself "lucky" in that it occurred at the beginning of my data cycle so my usager didn't go over. However, it is 2/2/2021 and now I'm forced to keep my SAMSUNG NOTE-20 mobile data switched off for the next 24 days.
THIS IS REALLY BAD AND SAMSUNG SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE AND REACH OUR TO OUR PROVIDERS (mine is Verizon) AND PAY DOWN THIS UNAUTHORIZED AND UNCONTROLLED OVERNIGHT DATA BREACH.
