Owning a modern smartphone, especially from the affordable segment, often involves tradeoffs, and the most notable of them is intrusive advertising. Redmi 10 users often encounter banner ads in standard applications, pop-ups after unlocking the screen and recommendations in folders. This is not just an annoyance, but also a serious load on the system resources and battery of the device. Understanding how to effectively limit this data flow becomes a critical skill for comfortable use of the gadget.
Advertising integration into the MIUI shell (and now HyperOS) is one way for companies to monetize their device to keep the price low. However, most of these features can be safely deactivated without losing warranty or disrupting the system. In this article, we’ll look at all the known ways to block unwanted content, from simple switches in settings to deeper manipulation of system services.
Before you start setting up, it is important to realize that advertising in the system is divided into several types: system (in Mi applications), recommendation (in folders and on the desktop), and personalized (based on behavior analysis). There is a different method for each type of advertising. A comprehensive approach will remove up to 99% of all advertising materials. Don’t be afraid to change the security or access settings if you follow proven instructions. Your phone will work faster and charge will be spent more efficiently.
MSA Disconnection: The Main Source of Advertising
At the heart of Xiaomi’s advertising ecosystem is the MSA (MIUI System Ads) service, which is responsible for loading and displaying most banners in system applications. Disabling this service is the first and most important step in the struggle for cleanliness of the interface. It is worth noting that the company intentionally complicated this process by adding delay and reconfirmations to the user to abandon the idea.
To start, go to the settings menu of your Redmi 10. Find the Passwords and Security section and select Access to Personal Data (or Authorization and Review in new versions of MIUI). In the list that opens, find the msa service and put the switch into an inactive state. The system will warn you that some features may stop working correctly, but for basic phone use this is not critical.
When you turn off the switch, you'll have a 10 second countdown timer. You'll press the recall button after the time goes by. And here's the important thing: the first time you turn off the switch, the system will fail, or it will close the window. Statistics show that in 70 percent of cases, you have to repeat the procedure 3-5 times in a row until you have a final confirmation of a successful license revocation. Don't give up after the first failure.
☑️ Checking the shutdown MSA
⚠️ Note: After the license is revoked, Msa will no longer receive new advertising data, but cached advertising may still be displayed in apps for some time.
In parallel with MSA, you should check other system services that can stream content. In the same authorization menu, find and disable GetApps (if you do not use the Xiaomi app store) and Mi Video or Mi Music if you prefer third-party counterparts, which will reduce the number of background processes and reduce traffic spent on updating recommendations.
Set up standard Xiaomi applications
Even after the main service is disabled, individual apps can continue to show recommendations if their internal settings activate the appropriate options. Each standard application on Redmi 10 has its own Receive Recommendations switch.
Start with the Security app, which is often used to clean up memory and antivirus checks. Open the app, click on the settings gear in the top right corner. Find Receive recommendations and deaktivate it. Also, go to Clean up inside the settings and remove the tick from Show ads after cleaning.
- 📱 Explorer: Open the application, go to settings and turn off the option "Recommendations».
- 🎵 Mi Music: In the profile menu, select settings, find the Advanced Settings section and remove the tick from Show Ads».
- 🎬 Mi Video: Similarly, in the app settings, you need to find the item responsible for online recommendations and advertising integrations and disable it.
- 🌤️ Weather: In the weather widget settings, turn off "Receive recommendations" and "Translate video».
Special attention should be paid to the Downloads app. This is where you often see ads after downloading files from the Internet. Go to the download settings (three dots in the corner) and make sure that Show recommended content is off, which will prevent pop-ups with suggestions to install games or other applications.
What to do if the settings are reset?
Managing personalization and recommendations
Xiaomi is actively using machine learning algorithms to analyze your actions to offer “relevant” advertising, and this data is collected through the MAD (MIUI Advertising Services) service, which does not block ads completely, but makes it less personalized and intrusive, and also prohibits the transfer of data about your preferences to the company’s servers.
To limit data collection, go to Settings → Passwords & Security → Access to Personal Data. Find the mad service on the list and revoke the license using the same method as for Msa (with a wait of 10 seconds and possible repetition of the procedure), this action will break the link between your behavior in the system and advertising profiles.
Next, you need to turn off the personalization of ads in specific services. Go to Settings → Passwords and Security → Privacy → Special Permissions → Ad Personalization. Here you should turn off the Ad Personalization switch. Also in this section, you can reset the advertising ID, which is useful to do periodically.
| Service/function | Location on the menu | Action. | Impact on the system |
|---|---|---|---|
| msa | Access to personal data | Revoke the license | Removes system advertising |
| mad | Access to personal data | Revoke the license | Stops collecting data for targeting |
| GetApps | Access to personal data | Revoke the license | Disconnects the Xiaomi app store |
| Personalization | Confidentiality | Turn off the switchboard | Makes ads random |
Don't forget to also check the settings of the desktop itself. Press and hold your finger on the blank spot of the screen, select Settings (cogs). Scroll down to the Recommendations section and disable all items related to Wallpaper Carousel, Recommended Widgets and News Tape. This will free the screen from unnecessary visual debris.
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Use Second Space mode to create a clean profile without ads. Set up a new profile with only the necessary apps without logging into your Mi Account, and use it as your workspace.
Blocking ads in the browser and notifications
Advertising on a Redmi 10 phone often comes not only from the system, but also from sites you visit or from installed apps that have permission to show notifications. Mi Browser, the default browser, also has built-in locking features that need to be activated.
Open Mi Browser, click on three menu bars and go to Settings. Find the Privacy and Security section. Activate the Ad Block option. It is also recommended to enable Tracking Protection and periodically clear cookies so that sites cannot store your preferences.
As for third-party apps, they often abuse the right to send notifications. To fix this, go to Settings → Notifications and Status bar → Notification Management. Go through the list of installed apps. If you see a puzzle game or flashlight that constantly sends notifications about “news” or “promotions”, feel free to turn off notifications for them completely.
- 🚫 Pop-ups: If ads appear on top of other apps, check which apps have permission to “Map on top of other apps” in special features, and limit that access.
- 🔒 Private DNS: For advanced users, it is recommended to prescribe a private private network in the settings of Wi-Fi and mobile network DNS (This blocks network-level advertising for all applications at once.
- 📲 Third-party blockers: Installing apps like AdGuard (via the official website, not from the Play Store) allows you to filter traffic and block ad servers before they are loaded onto the device.
⚠️ Attention: Use of third-party DNS-servers VPN-Blockers can cause a slight slowdown in the Internet connection or some services to work unstable (for example, sponsored content on Spotify or YouTube.
Hiding Advertising in Folders and on the Lock Screen
One of the most annoying things about MIUI is that it advertises in folders on the desktop and on the lock screen, and when you open the app folder, you can see the "Recommended Apps" line at the bottom, which can be easily fixed.
Open any folder on your desktop. Click on the folder name (or three dots/cogs inside the open folder, depending on the version of MIUI). In the menu that appears, find the Recommended Applications switch and turn it off. Now the folder will only contain shortcuts of the programs you have installed.
The lock screen can also stream advertising content through the wallpaper carousel function. To remove this, go to Settings → Always on screen and lock screen → Wallpaper carousel. Turn off the wallpaper carousel function. If you want to leave beautiful photos but no ads, you can turn off the "Receive recommendations" option in the carousel settings, but it is easier to use a static image.
It’s also worth checking the theme settings. Some third-party themes downloaded from the Xiaomi theme store may contain built-in ads. If you notice strange banners after changing the theme, try returning a standard Classic or Default theme and see if the problem goes away.
Additional Methods and Frequent Problems
Sometimes standard methods are not enough, or the user is faced with situations where the settings are not saved, in such cases you can resort to more radical but effective methods, one of which is the use of ADB (Android Debug Bridge) to remove advertising packages, but this requires the presence of a computer and certain technical skills.
For most users, it is safer to reset your ad settings completely through the debugging menu if it is available in your firmware version. Enter the code ##6485## in the call (not working on all versions) to see the technical information. If the code doesn’t work, don’t experiment with the unknown. USSD-request.
A frequent problem is the return of ads after a system update. Xiaomi regularly updates its services, and sometimes disabled services are reactivated. Therefore, after each major MIUI update, it is recommended to review the settings described in the first sections of this article. This will take a couple of minutes, but will ensure comfort.
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Regularly checking your personal data access settings after system updates is the only way to ensure that there are no ads on the Xiaomi Redmi 10.
If you use Google Assistant, check its recommendation settings. Sometimes Google may also offer content that looks like ads. In the Google app settings, turn off news feeds and recommendations if you don't need them.