Samsung News app is shutting down on December 21: what Galaxy owners should do
Web StoryWatch this story in 15 seconds →Key takeaways
- Samsung News stops working on December 21, 2026, at 00:00 UTC, on Galaxy phones and tablets.
- The shutdown covers the app, the home-screen widget and the leftmost home-screen news page.
- Samsung posted the notice in India and South Korea so far. Other countries are expected to follow.
Samsung is shutting down its built-in news app. Samsung News will stop working on December 21, 2026. Galaxy phone and tablet owners should check the app now.
What happened
Samsung posted a shutdown notice inside the Samsung News app. The notice has appeared for users in India and South Korea. It says the service ends on December 21, 2026, at 00:00 UTC.
The shutdown covers three things. The standalone Samsung News app stops working, and the home-screen widget stops getting new content. The dedicated media page on the leftmost home screen goes away too.
Here is what the notice says, word for word:
> Thank you for using Samsung News. We would like to inform you that Samsung News will be discontinued as of December 21, 2026, 00:00 (UTC). Following the discontinuation of the service, the Samsung News widget will no longer receive content updates. We kindly recommend removing the widget from your Home screen.
Samsung has not given a reason. The notice is short and formal. It states the date and the changes, and nothing more.
The story broke on October 29, 2026. SamMobile reported it first. PhoneArena, Android Headlines and Android Authority covered it the same day.
Why it matters
Samsung News is the news feed built into Galaxy phones and tablets. It shows headlines, sports scores and stock updates. It sits on the leftmost panel of the home screen, one swipe to the right.
The app was more than headlines: it showed live sports scores and stock prices. It also worked as a home-screen widget and a full-screen media page. All three go away on the same date.
Samsung News launched in April 2023. It replaced Samsung Free. The company has now built four feeds in that same spot since 2017:
- Bixby Home: April 2017
- Samsung Daily: October 2019
- Samsung Free: late 2020
- Samsung News: April 2023
Your personal data is part of the story: Samsung will delete user data, profiles and personalization information after the shutdown. It will only keep data that local law forces it to keep. Even that data gets deleted once the legal period ends.
This looks like a wider cleanup at Samsung. The company recently shut down its Daily+ service on TVs and smart monitors, according to SamMobile. Android Authority frames the move as Samsung trimming its smaller services, and it recently overhauled Samsung Community as well.
PhoneArena suggests the reason is simple. Samsung News never beat Google Discover, and most people already use Google for news on Android. The same Samsung that just posted record AI-chip profits is growing fast in chips while cutting small apps like this one.
What happens next
Google Discover, Google's own news feed for Android phones, is the likely replacement. It already shares that leftmost panel with Samsung News on many Galaxy devices. Samsung lets users choose it there today.
Android Authority expects the panel to show Google Discover only after the shutdown. Samsung has not announced this officially. It has not announced any replacement at all.
For countries outside India and South Korea, the picture is less clear. Samsung has published no country list, but SamMobile considers a wider shutdown highly likely. Watch for the notice inside your own app.
What you should do before December 21
First, open Samsung News on your Galaxy device. Look for the shutdown notice inside the app. That notice is the clearest sign the shutdown affects you.
Second, save anything you want to keep. Samsung will delete app data after the cutoff. Nothing moves to another app on its own.
Third, remove the Samsung News widget from your home screen once updates stop. Samsung recommends this itself. Then open your home screen settings and pick Google Discover for the leftmost panel.
Samsung has now built and killed four news feeds in nine years. After December 21, the swipe-right panel on Galaxy phones will most likely belong to Google. Meanwhile rival iPhones sold out their launch stock in minutes, so check your Galaxy phone today and do not wait.
Related stories
Apple plans two October launches: smart home hub, OLED MacBook Pro
Apple set October 13 for a smart home launch with a new hub, Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini, then October 27 for OLED MacBook Pro models
How to Check If Your Phone Supports eSIM in 30 Seconds
Dial *#06# and look for an EID number to confirm eSIM support in under 30 seconds. This guide also walks through the iPhone and Android
eSIM vs iSIM: what is the difference?
An eSIM is a dedicated chip on the phone's board, while an iSIM lives inside the processor itself. Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen