Many Xiaomi smartphone users who are looking closely at battery consumption or traffic detail may notice a mysterious entry in the list of system processes, often called SMS or MMS, and raises questions about whether it is a virus or covert surveillance. In fact, it is a regular mechanism of the Android operating system, which is adapted by the MIUI shell to ensure the correct operation of multimedia messages.
This process is responsible for automatically determining the geographic coordinates of a device when a multimedia message is received or sent. The system uses this data to correctly display the sender's location in the message interface or to log events in system logs. Understanding the nature of this service will help you better control the privacy and power consumption of your gadget.
Redmi and Poco owners often experience this phenomenon when trying to optimize their smartphone. Background activity may seem excessive if you rarely use multimedia messages, but it is not worth ignoring its work completely, since it is associated with basic communication functions.
Technical essence of the process and its purpose
The feature, often referred to by users as “SMS positioning”, is technically part of the system component responsible for multimedia messaging (MMS). Unlike conventional text SMS, which is transmitted through signal channels of a cellular network, MMS requires packets of data. For proper routing and display of content, the system needs to know the context, including geolocation data.
When you receive an attachment message, Android initiates a request to the geo-positioning modules, not only to show the map, but also to synchronize the time and place of the event in the general notification feed. On Xiaomi devices, this process can be allocated to a separate system service that consumes the resources of the processor and the system. GPS-background-module.
⚠️ Note: If the process consumes more 5-10% battery charge per day without active correspondence, this may indicate a software failure or application conflict, and not the normal operation of the system.
It is important to distinguish between a regular system process and malware. A system service is digitally signed by the manufacturer and is located in a protected memory area; its activity is usually limited to short bursts of activity at the time of arrival of a message; constant activity indicates a problem that requires intervention in settings.
Impact on autonomy and device resources
The main reason users are looking for information about this process is because of the increased energy consumption. Geolocation is one of the most energy-intensive modules in a smartphone. GPS Or triangulation through cell towers requires a lot of energy, and if the background service isn't working properly, it can't let go» GPS-module, causing the housing to heat up.
Mobile traffic is also at risk, even when compressed, requiring a connection to Google servers or MIUI system servers. This can be a nasty surprise for users with a limited plan, especially if the process is stuck in a cycle of repeated connection attempts.
System resources are also used to process interrupts. Every time a communication module receives a data packet, the processor must switch to processing that event. If there are many such events (spam, picture mailings), the load on the CPU increases, which can lead to micro-latency in the interface.
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To quickly check the actual flow rate, open the battery settings, find the message-related process, and look at the background time. If it exceeds 1 hour a day without active correspondence, you need to set up.
Differences between system process and spyware
Users often confuse legitimate system processes with viruses, the key difference being access rights and the origin of the executable file. SMS-The positioning has system or root rights and is signed with the developer key Xiaomi or Google.
Malware masquerading as system processes usually requires installation from unknown sources (apk files from third-party sites), which often have similar names, but detailed analysis in the application manager shows that they occupy space in the user partition of memory, not in the system partition.
To check security, you can use the built-in virus scanner in the MIUI Security app, or install a trusted antivirus. If the system flags a file as dangerous or requires its removal, this is a clear sign of a threat. The regular geolocation process of messages will never be identified by the antivirus as a threat.
| Parameter | Systemic process | Malware | Failed application |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source | System section | User installation | App store |
| Access rights | Tall (System) | Requested | Standard. |
| Battery consumption | Permanent high | Depends on the use | |
| Removal | Only through ADB/Root | Standard removal | Standard removal |
Instructions for switching off and limiting background activity
If you decide you don't need a feature, or you want to eliminate the battery consumption, there are a number of ways to limit it, and the easiest way to do that is to deny the messaging app geolocation, and that doesn't remove the process, but it does prevent it from asking for coordinates.
To do this, go to Settings → Apps → All Apps. Find Messages (or Mi Messaging). Select Application Permissions and find Geolocation. Set the value to Prohibit or Only When Used if you want to keep the functionality of the maps within the messages.
☑️ Checklist for activity restriction
A more radical method is to stop the service completely. In the same app settings menu, find the Stop button. However, remember that once the device is restarted, the system will automatically start the process again. To completely shut down, you need more knowledge and use of ADB debugging tools.
⚠️ Attention: Forced shutdown of system processes may result in temporary inoperability of the reception function MMS. Recovery is possible only after restarting the smartphone.
Configure through the Engineering Menu and ADB
For advanced users who want to completely eliminate the process from the system, the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) command line method is available. This method allows you to disable system components without removing, which is safe for firmware integrity. You will need a computer and enabled USB debugging on your smartphone.
Connect the device to your PC, open the ADB console, and type a command to search for packets associated with messages:
adb shell pm list packages | grep smsFind packets that contain the words mms, location or geocode. Once you identify the exact packet name (e.g. com.android.mms or MIUI-specific), use the command to freeze:
adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.android.mms.locationWhat if the MMS disappeared after the shutdown?
Using the engineering menu (code #4636###) can also provide access to hidden testing settings, however, in modern versions of Android 11/12/13/14, access to geolocation tests through this menu is often closed by the manufacturer for security reasons.
Frequent problems and ways to solve them
Users often experience a situation where the SMS Positioning process starts consuming resources even after permissions are banned, which may be caused by an accumulated cache or an error in the MIUI shell itself.
Go to Settings → Applications → Messages → Memory. Click Clear and select All Data. Important: This action will delete your SMS and MMS history, so back up important messages first.
If the problem persists, check for system updates. Xiaomi regularly releases security patches that fix background process errors, and it’s also worth checking if there’s a third-party SMS application installed that might conflict with the system.
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The most effective way to combat high consumption is not to completely remove the process, but to competently manage permissions and regularly clean the Messages app cache.