How do I turn off Samba Interactive TV on the Google TV Streamer and Chromecast?

Sony, Hisense, TCL, Philips Google TV sets: Open Settings, then Apps, then "See all apps". Find "Samba Interactive TV", or "Samba TV". Turn on "Show system apps" if you cannot see it. Open it and choose Disable. If Uninstall is offered, choose that instead. If it is not installed, ACR was never accepted. You are telemetry-only.

Does the Google TV Streamer and Chromecast have ACR?

Yes.

Yes. It runs Google TV and the fingerprinting is on unless you turned it off. The toggle is "Samba Interactive TV" and "Samba TV".

Google TV itself does app-level tracking, not screen fingerprinting. But Sony, Hisense, TCL, and Philips sets ship a Samba TV app that is offered as "Samba Interactive TV" during setup and does full ACR if you accepted it. If Samba is disabled or was never accepted, this set is telemetry-only.

How to turn it off

Verdict: Fingerprinting your screen
Brand: Google
Series: Google TV Streamer and Chromecast
Model years: 2020–2025
Software: Google TV
Who runs the tracking: Samba TV (OEM opt-in) plus Google telemetry
What the menu calls it: "Samba Interactive TV", "Samba TV"
Confidence: medium

How to turn it off

Paths are listed newest firmware first. The year on the box is the fastest guide. If a menu is missing, try the next path down.

Applies to Sony, Hisense, TCL, Philips Google TV sets

Google TV fills the screen with two panes: the list on the left, and what the highlighted row does on the right.

Samba is a system app on the sets that carry it, so it stays hidden until you ask for system apps.

Google TV asks “Do you want to disable this app?”. Say yes.

This is what the list looks like when nobody ever accepted it. Nothing on this set is fingerprinting your screen.

Our drawing of that screen, not a photograph.

Open Settings, then Apps, then "See all apps"
Find "Samba Interactive TV", or "Samba TV". Turn on "Show system apps" if you cannot see it.
Open it and choose Disable. If Uninstall is offered, choose that instead.
If it is not installed, ACR was never accepted. You are telemetry-only.

Other switches

Ads, recommendations and voice each have their own toggle. None of them are covered by the main switch.

Applies to All Google TV devices

Settings > Privacy > Usage & diagnostics: off
Settings > Privacy > Ads: turn off ads personalization and reset the advertising ID
Settings > Privacy > Google Assistant: turn off if unused

What the switch does not cover

Sony's own "Sony Bravia" privacy settings under Settings > System > About > Legal also contain a viewing-data consent on some years.
Verdict shown as ACR because we cannot tell from the network whether Samba is enabled. Check the Apps list.

Servers this platform talks to

samba.tv
sambatv.com

Known fingerprinting and ad endpoints for Google TV. These are what the Box blocks. Streaming services are not on the list.

Make sure it stays off

The free app scans your Wi-Fi and confirms the verdict for every set in the house. The Box blocks the servers above at the network level and tells you if a firmware update turns tracking back on.

Look up another TV