Pi-hole and Samsung TVs: what it blocks and what slips past
Pi-hole is the first thing many people try against smart TV tracking. With a Samsung TV it helps, as long as you know two things: the TV may not ask your Pi-hole at all, and some names that look like tracking are needed by Smart Hub.
Updated
Step by step
A setup that holds
- Give the TV your Pi-hole as its DNS server, through the router’s DHCP or in the TV’s network settings.
- Add a Samsung list to Pi-hole: HaGeZi’s Samsung tracker list, or the Samsung section of Perflyst’s SmartTV list.
- On the router, redirect all outgoing DNS on port 53 to the Pi-hole and block DNS over TLS on port 853, so a resolver written into the TV cannot go around it.
- Watch the Pi-hole query log with the TV on and with it off, and allow a name back only when something you use stops working.
Menus change with TV updates: if a label does not match, look for the closest entry in the same section.
Which lists to use
HaGeZi’s DNS blocklists include a native tracker list for Samsung devices, updated regularly. Perflyst’s PiHoleBlocklist has a SmartTV list with a Samsung section; its comments show entries that were switched off after users reported connection problems. Both are better starting points than a list you build from your own logs.
Why the TV may skip your Pi-hole
Some Samsung TVs send DNS queries straight to a public resolver even when the router hands out a different DNS server. Those queries never show up in the Pi-hole log and are never blocked. Pi-hole cannot fix this from where it sits: the router has to send every DNS query to it, and block encrypted DNS, which travels as ordinary web traffic or on its own port.
What breaks when you block too much
Smart Hub and SmartThings depend on Samsung cloud names that sit right next to the tracking ones. The maintainers of the public lists have had to remove entries after reports of connection problems, and users report apps that stop playing when a Samsung service name is blocked. Blocking whole Samsung domains is the quickest way to a TV that half works.
What Pi-hole cannot do
Pi-hole sees names, not devices or screens. It does not know whether the TV is on or off, it cannot stop traffic that goes to an address without asking DNS first, and it does not keep the TV away from your computers and phones.
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Questions
Does Pi-hole block ads on a Samsung TV?
Some of them: those served from names on your list. Ads delivered inside the same stream as the programme, or from the same servers as the app, stay.
Should I block Samsung’s cloud domains entirely?
No. Smart Hub and SmartThings use them too. Maintained lists block specific names instead of whole domains, and even they have had to step back on some entries.
Why do I see no queries from my TV in Pi-hole?
The TV is probably using its own DNS server. Redirect DNS to the Pi-hole on the router and block DNS over TLS, then check again.
Sources
- DNS blocklists (native tracker lists), HaGeZi, GitHub · checked on October 21, 2026
- PiHoleBlocklist (SmartTV.txt), Perflyst, GitHub · checked on October 21, 2026
- Pi-hole won’t stop your smart TV from spying: here’s what actually works, How-To Geek · checked on October 21, 2026
- Network-level blocking with Pi-hole, Edward Angert · checked on October 21, 2026
- How to maintain privacy on a Samsung smart TV, Techlore forum · checked on October 21, 2026
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