Surface App Becomes an Advertising Hub: A Growing Frustration
Windows 11 is known for pushing suggestions and recommendations for new apps and features, which can often feel like ads. But the Surface app has taken it to another level, becoming a full-blown advertising space for Microsoft products and its partners, and it looks like it’s something you’ll just have to get used to.
I keep a selection of Windows laptops on hand for testing, including some Surface devices, which helps me check out new features in different channels. On my daily driver, running the Beta Channel, I noticed a nice new battery indicator feature, but I also saw that smart charging—which is supposed to protect the Surface battery—had been disabled. Most other laptop manufacturers offer smart-charging features within their utility apps like MyAsus or Lenovo Vantage, but Microsoft uses the bare-bones Surface app for this task. When I opened the app to fix the issue, I was greeted with an immediate ad for a discounted Xbox controller, along with other suggestions to buy a Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock (which I had never tested before).
These ads were presented to me without my consent, as they appeared directly in the Surface app, right next to features I’d actually use. Even though the app has a separate menu for “Discover offers & devices,” which is hidden by default, I couldn’t avoid the constant suggestions. The drop-down menu led me to buy things like an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription and two Copilot+ PCs — things I wasn’t interested in at the time. In total, Microsoft pushed me three separate Surface hardware and accessory ads.
This shift toward more aggressive ads within the Surface app seems like a deliberate decision. In recent releases, both on the Beta and Dev Channels, the Surface app now functions more like an ad portal. Even older devices, like the Surface Laptop Go 3 from 2023, are affected. When I first launched the Surface app, within seconds, ads for products like the Copilot+ PCs and other accessories popped up.
Why Is This Happening?
With previous updates, Microsoft introduced multiple ways to block Windows ads, like Start menu suggestions and File Explorer recommendations. However, these ads in the Surface app are proving much harder to block, as they behave more like traditional web ads. Even with ad-blockers turned on in Microsoft Edge, the Surface ads continue to appear.
This raises a pressing question: Why use the Surface app as a hub for these ads? After purchasing an expensive Surface device, the last thing most users want is to see more ads for what they could have bought along with it. The Microsoft Store app should ideally handle hardware recommendations, but it is still limited to only software and subscription purchases, adding more complexity to the issue.
If you’re fed up with the increasing number of ads in Windows, it might be best to steer clear of Microsoft Surface products. You’ll be met with even more reminders of what you still need to buy.