TVs from TCL, Philips, Sharp and some other brands use Roku as their built-in smart software. On these TVs, you can disable Automatic Content Recognition by opening the home screen heading to Settings > Privacy > Smart TV Experience and disabling “Use Information for TV Inputs”. You may also want to head to Settings > Privacy > Advertising and turn on “Limit Ad Tracking”.

Disable Ad Tracking on Your Other Set-Top Boxes

Your TV isn’t the only thing tracking your usage. Independent set-top boxes like the Roku and Apple TV don’t use Automatic Content Recognition — the feature that scans everything from your screen — but they do still have certain tracking features built-in, usually logging which apps you use and when. If you’re interested in increasing your privacy, you may want to disable these features as well. Here’s where you’ll find them:

Roku : Go to Settings > Privacy > Advertising and enable “Limit Ad Tracking.”

Amazon Fire TV : Head to Settings > Preferences > Advertising ID and turn “Interest-Based Ads” off. Older Fire TVs may have this option under Settings > System instead.

Google Chromecast : From the Home app on your phone or tablet, tap the three dots in the corner to open the menu and go to Devices. Choose your Chromecast, select the three dots menu, and tap Settings. Uncheck the “Send Chromecast device usage data and crash reports to Google” box.

Apple TV: Jump to Settings > Privacy > Limit Ad Tracking and turn it on. If you have an older device, head to Settings > General and set “Send Data to Apple” to No.

There’s no way to escape all tracking, of course, especially if you’re streaming. These settings may limit some data collection, but even they won’t stop the streaming services themselves: apps like Netflix will always track what you watch to provide recommendations, and there’s no getting around that. So if you want true privacy, you’ll need to divorce yourself from streaming services entirely. You’ll just need to decide how much you really care.