TLDR
If you care more about privacy and security than webOS convenience, yes: keeping an LG Smart TV offline is one of the cleanest ways to use it.
An offline LG TV still works perfectly well as a display for HDMI devices such as an Apple TV, Roku, game console, cable box, Blu-ray player, or PC. Its built-in tuner can still receive over-the-air television. LG itself documents HDMI input and antenna use independently of internet services, while its support pages make clear that online apps, LG Channels, the Content Store, and other webOS services require a network connection.
The tradeoff is obvious: you lose the convenience of LG’s built-in streaming apps, cloud-connected features, automatic updates, LG Channels, web browsing, some voice functions, and other webOS services. But you also stop the television from having a permanent internet connection through which viewing data, advertising systems, telemetry, device information, or future software features can communicate with LG.
You do not even have to give up firmware updates. LG officially supports offline firmware updates by USB, which means a privacy-conscious owner can keep the television disconnected from the network while still installing important security and stability updates manually.
For someone who bought an LG OLED because it is a great display rather than because they wanted to join LG’s advertising ecosystem, this is a very reasonable way to use it.
The Best Part of an LG OLED Does Not Need the Internet
LG makes excellent displays. The OLED panel does not need an LG account to produce perfect blacks. HDMI 2.1 does not need LG Ad Solutions. Dolby Vision does not require the television to report to a cloud service. Your PlayStation does not need webOS advertising in order to produce a 4K image.
This is the basic reason taking the television offline is so appealing. It separates the thing you actually bought, the display, from the software platform LG wants you to keep using.
LG’s support documentation treats HDMI devices as external sources. A cable box or other source connects to the television through HDMI and can be selected directly as the active input. Over-the-air television likewise works through the built-in tuner and antenna connection.
The TV does not suddenly forget how to be a television because Wi-Fi is off.
It mostly forgets how to be an advertising and internet platform.
That is not a terrible loss.
What Stops Working When You Disconnect webOS
The obvious casualty is LG’s built-in online functionality.
LG’s Content Store requires an internet connection to download apps, and some apps also require an LG Account and accepted user agreements. LG Channels is explicitly an internet streaming service and requires a wired or wireless network connection. The built-in browser is also an online service.
So if you disconnect the television, do not expect Netflix, Disney+, YouTube, Prime Video, LG Channels, cloud voice services, app downloads, online recommendations, or webOS content discovery to keep behaving like a connected Smart TV.
That is the price.
For many people, however, those services are easily replaced by a $50 to $150 external streamer or by a game console they already own.
And once that happens, webOS becomes far less important.
The External Streamer Model Is Cleaner
An Apple TV, Roku, game console, or other external streamer changes the architecture in an important way.
Instead of letting the display itself be the internet-connected operating system, the television becomes the display and another device becomes the smart platform.
That does not eliminate data collection. Roku is an advertising company as well as a hardware company. Its own SEC filings say its business model is based on growing scale, engagement, and monetization through advertising and subscriptions. Roku specifically talks about monetizing activity on its platform and selling advertising integrated into its user interface.
Apple is not data-free either. Apple’s TV app privacy notice says Apple collects information about playback, searches, purchases, device use, and viewing activity in the Apple TV app and connected apps for recommendations and service improvement. Apple TV 4K does, however, expose privacy controls for tracking, analytics, location, microphone access, and other permissions directly in tvOS.
The advantage is not that the external device is magically private.
The advantage is separation.
The display no longer needs its own constant internet connection. The smart layer becomes a replaceable box sitting on HDMI. If you stop trusting Roku, replace the Roku. If Apple changes in a way you dislike, replace the Apple TV. If you prefer a console, use the console.
You do not have to replace the 77-inch OLED attached to the wall.
Offline Use Cuts LG Out of the Data Path
This is the biggest reason to disconnect the TV.
LG’s current Smart TV privacy statement says ACR, interest-based advertising, and voice recognition are optional and off by default. It also says ACR-related information can, when enabled and permitted, support audience segmentation, viewing analysis, and advertising.
Those current defaults are better than LG’s previous privacy architecture.
But an offline television gives the owner a much simpler guarantee: the television cannot send anything to LG over the internet while it has no internet connection.
You are no longer relying solely on whether a setting is correctly configured, whether an agreement was changed, whether a new firmware version introduced another feature, or whether LG’s servers interpret your consent correctly.
There is no network route.
That is much easier to understand.
It Also Removes LG From Your Home Network
Recent testing made this point much more important.
Researchers working with Gamers Nexus and Level1Techs observed LG TVs scanning local networks and discovering other devices. LG says device discovery exists for legitimate features such as identifying compatible hardware and smart-home devices.
If the television is not connected to Wi-Fi or Ethernet, it is not sitting on your LAN performing network discovery in the first place.
That is a much cleaner security model.
The television can still accept HDMI signals from a console or streaming box without being a network peer alongside your computers, NAS, phones, cameras, and smart-home devices.
For someone who has no use for webOS, that is exactly where I would want the TV.
You Can Still Update the Firmware Without Putting the TV Online
The strongest argument against disconnecting a Smart TV is security updates.
A permanently offline television avoids many network threats, but firmware can still fix bugs affecting HDMI, picture processing, device compatibility, and the television’s own software. You do not necessarily want a premium OLED frozen forever on launch firmware.
Fortunately, LG officially supports USB firmware updates.
LG’s current instructions say owners of televisions without an internet connection can download the correct firmware on a PC, place the update file in an LG_DTV folder on a USB flash drive, connect it to the television, and install the update locally.
That creates a very sensible privacy-conscious workflow: keep the television offline, periodically check LG’s support site for firmware, install important updates manually, and never give webOS a persistent network connection.
It requires a little more effort.
So does locking your front door.
An External Streamer Does Not Need to Know What Happens on Other HDMI Inputs
There is also an architectural privacy advantage to moving streaming onto an external device.
A Roku box or Apple TV connected to HDMI knows what happens inside its own platform. It does not sit at the display layer underneath your PlayStation, cable box, PC, and every other source connected to the television.
That is fundamentally different from TV-level content recognition.
LG Ad Solutions markets ACR precisely because the television occupies that privileged position at the glass. LG calls its data “glass-level” viewing information because the TV is the common endpoint where content arrives.
If the TV itself is offline and ACR is not operating as a connected service, you remove that powerful observation layer from the network entirely.
The external box can still know what you do on the external box.
It does not become the eyes behind every HDMI port.
What About Using a Roku?
A Roku is convenient and inexpensive, but it is not the privacy purist’s choice.
Roku’s own financial filings are exceptionally honest about its economics. The company says its model is to grow scale, grow engagement, and grow monetization. It generates revenue from advertising, subscriptions, home-screen placements, and other platform activity.
That does not mean a Roku is automatically worse than leaving LG online.
It means the decision becomes explicit.
You are choosing one streaming platform instead of allowing both the streamer and the display manufacturer to maintain separate connected relationships with your household.
If you want Roku, use Roku. Just understand what Roku is.
Apple TV Is Cleaner, Not Invisible
Apple TV 4K is a better fit for people who want granular privacy controls and a business model less dependent on home-screen advertising than Roku’s. Apple provides explicit controls over analytics, location, app tracking, microphone permissions, and other data access.
But Apple still collects information about purchases, searches, downloads, and viewing activity within the Apple TV app and connected apps.
There is no need to pretend otherwise.
The point is that an external streamer creates a cleaner division of responsibility. Your display displays. Your streamer streams.
I prefer that architecture to letting the television manufacturer own both layers.
A Game Console Can Do the Job Too
If you already have an Xbox or PlayStation connected to the television, you may not need another box at all.
Modern consoles support major streaming applications, and the console already needs internet access for games, updates, and online services.
Using it for streaming has tradeoffs. Power consumption can be higher, remote-control convenience can be worse, and the app experience may be less polished than a dedicated streaming box.
But from the TV’s perspective, the arrangement remains simple.
HDMI comes in.
Pixels go on screen.
That is exactly what I want the LG to do.
The Ideal Setup for a Privacy-Conscious LG Owner
For someone who wants maximum control, I would use the LG as close to a dumb display as possible.
Keep Wi-Fi disconnected. Do not plug in Ethernet. Use HDMI sources for streaming, gaming, and cable. Use an antenna directly if you watch local broadcasts. Update firmware manually by USB when LG releases important updates. Keep optional ACR, advertising, and voice agreements disabled even if you temporarily reconnect the television for maintenance.
That setup gives up some convenience, but it eliminates an enormous amount of unnecessary complexity.
No webOS advertising relationship.
No LG Channels.
No built-in app ecosystem.
No constant network presence.
No need to wonder whether the television is scanning other devices.
The panel still looks exactly as good.
So Should You Keep Your LG TV Offline?
If you actually enjoy webOS and use its apps every day, there is a legitimate convenience tradeoff. LG’s current privacy controls are much better than they used to be, and you can disable optional ACR and advertising functionality while keeping the television online.
But if you already use an external streamer or console, there is very little reason to give the TV itself permanent internet access.
The strongest feature of an LG OLED is the display.
The weakest part of the relationship is everything LG tries to build around that display once it connects to the network.
So yes: for a privacy-conscious owner, I would seriously consider leaving the television offline.
Let the LG be a screen.
It is very good at that.
References
LG explains that internet connectivity is required for online content, apps, and other network services.
LG: webOS network setup
LG documents use of HDMI external devices and antenna-based television independently of online services.
LG: Connect a set-top box by HDMI
LG officially supports offline firmware updates using USB.
LG: Update TV software by internet or USB
LG’s current privacy statement covers optional ACR, voice recognition, and advertising functionality.
LG: Understanding Privacy on LG Smart TVs
Apple documents Apple TV 4K privacy controls and the viewing information collected by the Apple TV app.
Apple: Apple TV privacy controls
Roku’s SEC filings describe its advertising- and subscription-driven platform monetization model.
Roku 2025 annual filing