Samsung Smart Hub Is Being Updated: 7 Quick Fixes [2023]

Smart Hub updates are a normal part of your Samsung TV’s operation. However, they should happen quickly and infrequently.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through some simple troubleshooting steps for when your Samsung Smart Hub is being updated continuously, or errors appear during the updates.

Causes of Samsung Smart Hub Update Problems

The “Smart Hub is being updated. Please try again later.” message doesn’t give you a lot of info to work with. Fortunately, there are only four major reasons this error occurs:

• Failure to accept terms and policies
• Low system memory
• Software glitch
• Broken or defective hardware

Most of the fixes below deal with software glitches, but I’ll offer at least 1 to 2 options to fix each of the above problems. These solutions are presented in order from easiest to hardest (or most expensive), so I’d suggest starting from the top and working your way down.

1. Go to the Samsung Apps Screen

I would love to explain why this fix works, but nobody has been able to explain it to me yet. For whatever reason, the smart hub update bug can be bypassed through the Samsung Apps screen.

We’ll start with this fix because it’s fast, easy, and seems to work more often than anything else.

1. Press the Smart Hub button on your Samsung remote.
2. Navigate to the Samsung Apps icon and select it by pressing the enter button on your remote.
3. Wait for the update progress bar to reach 100 percent.

Now, try using one of your apps again. If all went well, you should have your smart TV back.

2. Verify You’ve Accepted the Terms and Conditions

When you were first setting up your TV, it would have asked you to accept Samsung’s terms and conditions. We’ve all clicked through those pages without thinking, but failing to accept the terms could cause smart hub updates to crash.

After initial setup, you can still accept the terms using the following steps:

1. Open the Settings menu on your Samsung TV.
2. Go to Support.
3. Select Terms & Policy.
4. Make sure that the “I agree to all” checkbox is selected and confirm it when prompted.

3. Power Cycle Your TV

Power cycling can fix several software issues, so we’ll try that next. Simply turning your TV on and off using the remote won’t work. Instead, do the following:

1. Unplug your TV from the wall.
2. Wait two minutes.
3. Plug your TV back in and turn it on.

4. Reset the Smart Hub

Resetting the TV may not fix some smart hub-specific problems. Fortunately, Samsung TVs have an option to reset the Smart Hub itself.

Note that this process will delete all of your Smart Hub apps and all of the information related to your Samsung account.

1. Go to the Settings menu.
2. Open the Support tab.
3. Select Self Diagnostics. (Or Device Care on some TVs.)
4. Click Reset Smart Hub. You may be asked for a pin. By default, it’s set to 0000.

5. Factory Reset Your Samsung TV

This is a more extreme option than anything we’ve tried so far. It will reset all of your settings to their factory defaults, so you’ll have to set your TV up from scratch. On the bright side, though, it should take care of most software issues.

1. Go to the Settings menu.
2. Open the General tab. (Or Support -> Self Diagnosis on some TVs.)
3. Select Reset. If you’re asked for a pin, enter your pin or the default of 0000.
4. Confirm the reset process by clicking OK.

6. Do an EEPROM Reset

Samsung TVs have several electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) chips in them. Most importantly for our purposes, one of these chips controls the TV’s menu settings.

If that means nothing to you, just know that the EEPROM chip won’t reset when you do a standard factory reset. The following steps are the easiest way to reset the chip, which fixes Smart Hub update problems caused by low available memory.

1. Press the power button on the TV itself (not the remote) and hold it for 3 seconds.
2. Press the remote’s power button and hold it for at least 3 seconds. This needs to be completed within 10 seconds of the first step.
3. Wait for your TV to restart two times. If this doesn’t happen, try the first two steps again.

7. Contact Samsung Support

When all else fails, it’s time to call for help. The fixes we’ve tried so far should have solved most software, memory, and user error problems. They won’t fix hardware issues and defects, though.

Samsung support can help you figure out whether your TV is still under warranty, and they’ll guide you to what repair or replacement options you have available.

What’s Next?

Samsung TVs are reliable most of the time, but Smart Hub issues and the notorious Samsung TV horizontal lines can ruin your viewing experience. These problems are usually fixable, but if they’re caused by physical damage, replacement is usually your cheapest option.

If it comes to that, I’d suggest checking out my guide to ONN TVs, a surprisingly versatile budget smart TV that has been rising in popularity recently. Of course, you could also look at Android TVs and other Smart TVs that provide alternatives in case you don’t like the interface or features of Samsung’s Tizen OS.