How to turn off tracking on a Vizio TV

TL;DR

• Difficulty: 1/5
• Time estimate: about 2 to 3 minutes for the TV toggle (the optional account step below takes a few minutes more)

Vizio TVs collect viewing data: information about what plays on the screen, gathered by the TV itself. Vizio puts the off switch in its settings and describes it in its own privacy policy, which is where the steps below come from. This is one of the quickest fixes on any TV brand.

There is history here worth knowing. In February 2017 the FTC settled with Vizio over viewing data collected on 11 million TVs without consent. More recently, Walmart bought Vizio, which makes the account settings described below matter as well.

Step-by-step

The path depends on how old your TV is. Use the first one that matches your menus.

VIZIO OS sets made after 2024:

1. Open All Settings, then Privacy & Legal.
2. Turn Viewing Data off.

Sets from 2020 to 2024:

1. Open All Settings, then Admin & Privacy.
2. Turn Viewing Data off.

Sets made before 2020:

1. Open System, then Reset & Admin.
2. Turn Viewing Data off. On the oldest sets the same feature may be called Smart Interactivity; turn that off instead.

If your Vizio account is linked to a Walmart account:

1. Set the sale and sharing opt-out on the account as well: log in at VIZIO.com/account or open the VIZIO Mobile App and use the Consent to Combine VIZIO OS Data control in the account settings. Per Vizio's stated policy, that opt-out is honored on linked TVs that have the latest firmware supporting the feature, but collection continues unless you also toggle Viewing Data off on the TV itself. Do both. On older firmware the account opt-out may not be applied to the TV automatically, which is another reason the TV toggle matters.

Traps to expect

• The account opt-out alone is not enough. Per Vizio's Viewing Data Supplement, opting out of sale and sharing through your account does not stop collection, and the promise that the opt-out carries over to a linked TV applies to sets running the latest firmware that supports the feature. The Viewing Data toggle on the TV is the step that stops Viewing Data collection.
• The menu name changed over the years. Privacy & Legal, Admin & Privacy, and Reset & Admin are all the same control in different generations of the software, and the oldest sets may call the feature Smart Interactivity instead of Viewing Data. If none of the paths above match exactly, look for Viewing Data or Smart Interactivity anywhere in the settings and turn it off there.
• The toggle does not stop everything Vizio collects. Turning Viewing Data off stops the viewing recognition (ACR) collection this guide is about. Vizio's privacy policy says it also collects Activity Data, operational information such as settings, inputs, and clicks, which in some cases can show viewing behavior similar to Viewing Data. The policy names one off switch for Activity Data: resetting the TV to factory settings.
• Some sets have no toggle, and that is expected. Viewing Data is not active in Canada, and the feature is disabled on Vizio products with the original VIA interface. If your set has neither a Viewing Data nor a Smart Interactivity setting, there is nothing to turn off.
• The scale is easy to underestimate. Vizio's own platform company, Inscape, claims 28 or more million opted-in devices. That is a Vizio vendor claim about devices that have opted in, but it gives a sense of how many TVs feed viewing data into Vizio's platform.

What you lose

You lose the features on the TV that run on viewing data, such as recommendations based on what you watch. The steps above make no promise about specific features beyond that; if a feature you use disappears, it was one of the viewing-data-driven ones.

After / re-check

• Per Vizio's Viewing Data Supplement, turning Viewing Data off triggers deletion of that TV's historical Viewing Data logs. You do not need to request deletion separately.
• A factory reset does not turn tracking back on: per the same Supplement, a reset puts Viewing Data back to OFF, and the TV offers a choice about turning it on before collecting again. After a reset or a fresh setup, it is still worth one quick check of the Viewing Data setting to confirm it stayed off and was not switched on during setup.
• For the record: the FTC case (FTC v. Vizio, February 6, 2017) ended with Vizio paying $2.2 million to the FTC and the New Jersey Attorney General, agreeing to delete viewing data collected before March 1, 2016, and adopting a comprehensive privacy program. Walmart completed its acquisition of Vizio on December 3, 2024, at about $2.3 billion in fully diluted equity value, per Walmart's own announcement.

Last verified: October 26, 2026

Sources:

• Vizio privacy policy
• FTC: Vizio to pay $2.2 million to FTC and state of New Jersey
• Walmart completes acquisition of Vizio (December 3, 2024)
• Consumer Reports: How to turn off smart TV snooping features