Advertising virus on Xiaomi: how to remove forever and disable annoying advertising

Xiaomi smartphone owners often face the problem of suddenly appearing ads — banners on the menu, pop-ups in the browser or even advertising notifications in the curtain. In most cases, this is not a virus in the classical sense, but aggressive monetization of the branded shell MIUI or the consequences of installing dubious applications.

In this article, we will analyze all possible reasons for the appearance of advertising on Xiaomi – from built-in MIUI functions to real viruses, as well as give step-by-step instructions for removing it, taking into account the firmware version and device model.

Why Xiaomi Advertising: Virus or MIUI Feature?

Before you start to “treat,” it’s important to understand the source of the problem, and Xiaomi ads can appear for three main reasons:

• 📱 Systemic advertising MIUI — embedded monetization (especially in regional versions for China, India, Russia) is shown in the settings menu, file manager, Mi Browser browser and even on the lock screen.
• 🦠 Adware viruses – malware that penetrates the device through pirated APK, Unofficial firmware or vulnerabilities in the system, such advertising can open a browser with fraudulent sites or display banners on top of all windows.
• 🎯 Mi Account settings – sometimes ads are activated after linking the device to a Xiaomi account or synchronizing data, for example, on Mi Video or Mi Music services.

How do you tell a virus from a system ad? Viral banners are usually:

• ⚠️ Appears on top of all windows, even in games or instant messengers.
• ⚠️ Redirected to suspicious sites (gambling, “you won an iPhone,” porn ads).
• ⚠️ They do not disappear after resetting advertising in MIUI.
• ⚠️ Can arbitrarily install applications or change settings.

If one of these signs matches, your device is infected, and if the ads only appear in standard applications (Mi Browser, Security, Cleaner) it is built-in MIUI monetization, and it can be turned off without drastic measures.

How to remove the ad virus on Xiaomi: step-by-step instructions

If you're sure that the device is malware, then you can follow this algorithm, and the methods range from the safest to the radical (reset to factory settings).

1. Verification of installed applications

Many adware viruses disguise themselves as harmless utilities (optimizers, launchers, games).

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Sort the list by installation date (Recently installed).
3. Check out apps with suspicious names: 🔍 Clean Master, DU Speed Booster, Battery Doctor – well-known advertising distributors. 🔍 Applications with Chinese or random letter sets (e.g. com.abc.xyz). 🔍 Games or utilities you have not installed.

Remove suspicious programs and restart your phone.

Some viruses block the removal through the standard menu.

⚠️ Note: If you try to remove the application, you see an error "failed to delete" or it is restored after a reboot, the virus has received administrator rights.

2. Clearing the cache and browser data

Often, ads are caused by infected extensions or scripts in your browser, and even if you don't use Mi Browser, some viruses are replacing the settings:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management → Mi Browser.
2. Click Warehouse → Clear the cache and Clear the data.
3. Return to the main browser menu, open ⋮ → Settings → Additionally. → Reset the settings.
4. If the browser has been updated through Google Play, delete the updates (⋮ → Remove updates).

If the ads disappeared after that, the problem was in the browser. If not, move on to the next step.

3. Verification of administrator rights and special features

Some viruses gain device administrator rights, which prevents them from being removed, and they can use special features (for example, to display ads on top of other windows).

How to check:

1. Administrator rights: Go to Settings → Passwords and Security → Device Administrator rights. In the list, find suspicious applications (e.g. Device Test, System Update with the gear icon). Uncheck the boxes and click Disable.
2. Special features: Open Settings → Special features → Installed services. Disable all unknown services (especially those with names like Accessibility Service or Auto Click).

If you have an app on your admin list called com.android.system.update or something like that, it's 100% a virus. Uninstall it via ADB (instruction below).

Removal of the virus via ADB (for advanced users)

If the virus is not removed by standard methods, you can use Android Debug Bridge (ADB), which requires connecting the phone to your computer.

Instructions:

1. Download and install ADB Tools on PC.
2. On your phone, activate Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (click 7 times to turn on Developer Mode).
3. Return to Settings → Additional → For developers and enable USB debugging.
4. Connect your phone to your PC and type in the command line: adb devices (your device should appear).
5. To remove the virus application, type: adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 name.packet (e.g. adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.virus.app).

How do you know the name of the virus packet? Use the command:

adb shell pm list packages | grep "suspicious word"

(e.g. grep "clean" or grep "system").

⚠️ Note: Do not remove Xiaomi system packages (starting with com.miui. or com.xiaomi.) – this may cause your phone to fail.

5. Reset to factory settings (last resort)

If none of these things work, you have to reset completely.

• 📱 Backup important data (photos, contacts, messages).
• 🔋 Charge your phone at least 50%.
• 🔑 Remember the username and password from the Mi Account (required after resetting).

Instructions:

1. Go to Settings → About the phone → Reset settings.
2. Choose to erase all data.
3. Confirm the action and wait for the reboot.

After reset, do not restore data from the backup, the virus can come back. Install applications only from official sources (Google Play, Mi App Store).

💡

Resetting to factory settings deletes ALL data, including viruses, but does not guarantee protection against re-infection. MIUI last-minute!

How to disable system advertising in MIUI (without viruses)

If the ads only appear in standard applications (Mi Browser, Security, Download Manager) it is not a virus, but an embedded monetization of MIUI. It can be turned off without drastic measures.

1. Disabling personalized advertising

MIUI collects your preferences to show “relevant” ads to stop you from:

1. Open Settings → Google → Advertising.
2. Activate the option to disable personalized advertising.
3. Return to Settings → Additional → Privacy → Advertising and disable Personalized Recommendations.

2. Disabling Advertising in Mi Browser

Mi Browser is one of the main sources of advertising, to remove banners:

1. Open the browser, press. ⋮ → Settings.
2. Go to the Supplementary → Recommendations and turn off: 🔘 «Recommend news» 🔘 «Showing quick news» 🔘 «Show recommendations on the main page»

Confidentiality

Collection of data on use

3. Disabling Advertising in the MIUI Menu

In the latest versions of MIUI (13/14), you can disable advertising in the settings through hidden settings:

1. Open the Security app (Security).
2. Move to the ⚙ → Advertising.
3. Turn off the option to show recommendations.
4. For MIUI 12 and older, type ad in your settings search and disable all advertising options found.

If these items are not available, your version of MIUI does not support disabling ads through the menu, and changing the firmware region will help.

4. Change of the firmware region (for advanced)

The Chinese and Indian versions of MIUI have more ads than the global ones (EEA, Global).

Method 1: Through Update (without unlocking the bootloader)

1. Download the official firmware for your model with the EEA region (Europe).
2. Rename the file to update.zip and place it in the root of the phone’s memory.
3. Open the Settings. → The phone. → Updating the system → ⋮ → Select a firmware file.
4. Select update.zip and wait for the installation.

Method 2: Through Fastboot (requires unlocking the bootloader)

This method is more complex and only suitable for power users, and detailed instructions can be found on the 4PDA or XDA-Developers forums.

⚠️ Warning: Changes in region may result in loss of warranty and unstable performance of certain functions (e.g, NFC or 5G in some countries).

How to protect Xiaomi from re-infection

Removing the virus is half the battle, so that the ads don't come back, follow these rules:

• 🛡️ Install apps only from official sources (Google Play, Mi App Store). APK from torrents and third-party sites.
• 🔍 Check reviews and ratings before installing.Apps rated below 4.0 and few reviews often contain ads.
• 📱 Update regularly MIUI. New versions close vulnerabilities that use viruses.
• 🔒 Use an antivirus. Xiaomi will do Malwarebytes or built-in Security Scan (but don't trust it at 100%).
• 🚫 Disable the installation from unknown sources: Go to Settings → Annexes → Special access → Install unknown applications. Disable permission for all browsers and file manager.

We also recommend:

• 🔄 Clean the cache regularly (once a month through Settings) → Warehouse → Clean up).
• 📵 Do not connect to public Wi-Fi without VPN — It is one of the channels of spread of viruses.
• 🔐 Use an ad blocker (such as AdGuard or Blokada).

💡

If you frequently install APKs from the Internet, create an individual user on Android (Settings → System → Multiple users) and test questionable apps there.

Table: Comparison of Ad Removal Methods on Xiaomi

Frequent questions about advertising on Xiaomi