How to turn off the wallpaper carousel on the lock screen on Xiaomi

Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphones often face intrusive functionality that appears after system updates, one of which is a wallpaper carousel that automatically changes the background image on a locked screen and shows advertising materials.

This feature, conceived by developers for personalization, in practice often annoys users, consuming Internet traffic and battery power.

Fortunately, the MIUI shells and the new HyperOS offer the option of completely shutting down the service, and in this article we will detail all the ways available on Xiaomi to turn off the wallpaper carousel to return the device to its familiar appearance and improve performance.

What is a wallpaper carousel and why it is annoying

Wallpaper carousel is an integrated service that periodically uploads new high-resolution images from the cloud and installs them on the lock screen, which formally looks like a useful feature for those who like variety, but the mechanism of its operation raises many questions for advanced users.

The main problem is that along with beautiful landscapes, the system often loads advertising content. Even if there is no explicit advertising, the process of constant synchronization with the servers creates a background load on the processor and smartphone model.

In addition, many users notice that after turning on this feature, battery consumption increases, and free space in memory gradually decreases due to the caching of thousands of images.

Turning off the carousel is the first step to optimizing your Android device to get rid of unnecessary digital noise.

⚠️ Warning: After turning off the wallpaper carousel, only one static image will remain on the lock screen, which you choose yourself in the gallery or standard settings.

Step-by-step: disabling through screen settings

The easiest and safest way to remove an annoying feature is to use the regular system settings menu, which works on most current versions of MIUI 12, 13, 14 and HyperOS. You don’t need superuser rights or third-party software.

To start, unlock your device and find the Settings icon on your desktop. In the menu that opens, scroll through the list to a section that may be called Wallpaper or Always On and Lock, depending on the version of your operating system.

If you're using HyperOS, the path may be slightly different: go to Settings → Lock screen. Here you'll see the Wallpaper Carousel. Click on it to open the detailed service management menu.

Inside the menu, you need to find a switch called Turn on the wallpaper carousel. It will be active (lit in blue or green). Just click on it to deactivate the function. The system can request confirmation of action — agree with it.

After that, new images will no longer appear on the lock screen, and the theme change icon will disappear in the corner, and your smartphone will return to using a standard, static background.

Managing Subscriptions and Frequency of Updates

Sometimes users don’t want to completely remove the feature, but only limit its aggressive behavior. In the settings of the Xiaomi carousel, there are additional options that allow you to fine-tune the service if you are not ready to abandon it completely.

In the same menu where the main switch is located, you can find the refresh rate, and here you can choose the interval at which the system will change the picture: from 15 minutes to 12 hours or at each lock screen.

• 🔄 With each lock: the image changes every time the screen goes out (maximum traffic consumption).
• ⏱ Every one. 15-60 Minutes: moderate frequency, for those who rarely look at the lock screen.
• 📉 Wi-Fi Only: Critical setting to prevent mobile data consumption.

Also worth paying attention to is the Subscription section, which offers thematic collections (nature, technology, abstraction) and by unsubscribing unnecessary categories, you reduce the amount of data you download.

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If you leave the carousel on, be sure to activate the “Update only via Wi-Fi” restriction to avoid wasting mobile operator traffic.

However, even with minimal settings, the background process of msa (MIUI System Ads) or system services will periodically access the network.

Comparison of disconnection methods: standard and extended

There are several approaches to fixing the problem of obsessive wallpaper, which vary in complexity and depth of impact on the system, and below is a table comparing the main methods.

The standard method is 95% correct through adjustments. It's safe and reversible. ADB-commands are rarely required, only if the system bug does not allow you to save the settings or the switch returns to its original position.

Cleaning up the Themes or Carousel app data can help if the settings menu freezes, but it’s more of a bug treatment than a way to turn off.

Problem Solving: If the settings are not saved

In rare cases, users are faced with a situation where after turning off the wallpaper carousel on Xiaomi turns on again after a while, this can be caused by a malfunction in the system application Themes or a conflict of versions.

The first thing you need to do is clear the cache and data of the system application responsible for the themes. Go to Settings → Apps → All applications. Find themes (or wallpaper) in the list.

Click on Memory and select Clean → Clear Everything. Don't be afraid, your personal photos and installed themes won't be deleted, only the system component settings will reset.

After this procedure, restart the device and try to turn off the carousel again through the standard menu, which usually eliminates the software glitch.

⚠️ Attention: Cleaning up the Themes app data can reset your personalized icon settings if they were applied through the theme store.

Additional optimization: disabling advertising in the system

The wallpaper carousel is just one element of the MIUI ecosystem that can contain advertising integrations, and to completely clear the smartphone of intrusive content, it is recommended to conduct a comprehensive privacy setting.

Go to Settings → Passwords and Security → Access to personal data. Find the msa application (MIUI System Ads) and turn off the slider. The system will warn you of errors for 10 seconds - wait for the timer to end and click Disable.

• 📱 Security app: Open the app, click on the settings gear and turn off Get recommendations».
• 🎵 Music app: in the settings, find the item "Show advertising" and remove the tick.
• 📂 Explorer: in the menu of the conductor settings, it is also worth checking the presence of a paragraph about recommendations.

These actions do not affect the functionality of the device, but make using the smartphone much more comfortable and safer from the point of view of privacy.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Completely shutting down system aggregator services such as wallpaper carousel and MSA is a recommended practice to extend battery life for budget and mid-range smartphones.