Xiaomi’s current smartphones, including the Redmi and Poco series, are known for their excellent price-performance ratio. However, the user often pays for the affordable cost of their comfort when faced with intrusive banner ads in standard applications, which annoys, distracts and wastes traffic, turning the use of the device into a fight against marketing.
Fortunately, MIUI and the new HyperOS allow for a lot of flexibility in managing this process, if you know where to go. Complete removal of advertising content does not require super-user rights or flashing the device on global versions. It is enough to consistently perform a series of settings in the system menu to clear the interface of unnecessary visual noise.
In this article, we will discuss all the known ways to block advertising modules, from disabling the MSA system service to fine-tuning browsers and folders. You can make your smartphone clean and fast, returning it to its original appearance without unnecessary pop-ups.
Disabling the MSA System Service
The central element in charge of displaying ads on the system is the MSA (MIUI System Ads) service, which collects data about your actions and loads advertising blocks into various parts of the interface, the first and most important step will be the forced stop and revoke permissions from this component.
To start, go to the settings menu and find the Password and Security section. Inside this section, select the Data Access option. In the app list that opens, find msa and turn the slider to the "Off" position. The system will warn you of the consequences, but for our task, this is exactly what you need.
⚠️ Warning: When you try to shut down, the system may display a countdown timer several times or suggest you leave the service on. Don't give in to these tricks, just wait for the timer to end and confirm the action again.
Once you have disabled network access for the MSA, you also need to prevent it from starting when you start the system. Go back to the main settings menu, select Apps → All Apps. Find in the msa list, go to its properties and select AutoStart, making sure the switch is off. This will prevent the service from activating after the device is restarted.
Set up personal recommendations
The second front of the clean screen battle is to turn off personalized recommendations, and it analyzes your preferences and offers "useful" content that is essentially a disguised ad, and these settings are scattered across different menu sections and require careful attention.
Go to Settings → Password and Security → Access to data and find Get recommendations. Disable this option. This action will prevent the system from using your data to generate personalized offers in standard utilities.
Also worth checking is the security settings. Open the Security app, click on the three dots in the top right corner and select Settings. Scroll down to Receive recommendations and deactivate it. This will remove banner ads from the virus scanning and memory acceleration window.
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After disabling all recommendations, it is advisable to restart the smartphone so that the changes take effect for all system processes.
Cleaning up standard applications
Advertising modules are often built directly into standard Xiaomi apps such as Explorer, Music, Video and Themes. Even after MSA is disabled, they can still have their own content display settings that need to be manually disabled.
Let’s look at the main applications where extra banners are hidden:
- 📂 Explorer: Open the application, click on three menu bars, select Settings → About the app. Find the item Get recommendations and turn it off.
- 🎵 Music: In the app, click on the menu, go to Settings → Extra, turn off the option to show ads.
- 🎬 Video: Open My profile → Settings. Find the Online Services section and disable Receive recommendations and Autorun video.
Don’t forget to also check the Topics app. Go to Profile → Settings and turn off the Display Ads and Personal Recommendations, which will save you banners when looking for new designs.
☑️ Checking applications
Blocking Advertising in Mi Browser
The standard Mi Browser browser is known for its aggressive advertising policy, showing the news feed and banners on the homepage. If you use this browser, it must be carefully configured or replaced with a cleaner counterpart, such as Chrome or Firefox.
To minimize ads in Mi Browser, open the app and go to settings (profile icon or three bars). Select Settings → Privacy and security. Here you need to activate the ad block switch. This is a basic filter that will hide some of the intrusive banners.
Then go back to the main browser settings menu and find the Home page. Turn off Popular and News Feeds. This will make the start page empty and clean, without constant noise.
| Parameter | Recommended value | Where to find out. |
|---|---|---|
| Blocking ads | Included. | Settings → Confidentiality |
| Site notifications | Forbidden. | Settings → Notifications |
| News feed | Off. | Settings → Main page |
| Acceleration technology | Off. | Settings → Confidentiality |
It is also recommended to go to the Notifications section inside the browser settings and prevent all sites from sending push notifications, often through which advertising messages are received on the screen even when the browser is closed.
Using a Private DNS
One of the most effective methods that works at the operating system level is to configure a private DNS.This method allows you to block ad requests even before they reach your device using third-party servers.
Go to Settings. → Connection and Sharing (or Additional Settings) Find Private DNS (Private DNS). The default is "Auto." Select hostname of the provider. DNS and enter the address below: dns.adguard.com.
dns.adguard.comSave the settings. Now all your smartphone traffic will go through AdGuard filters, which will automatically screen out known advertising domains, and this will remove banners not only in the system, but also in many applications and games.
⚠️ Attention: use of third-party DNS It can cause some local services to fail or slow down the Internet if the server is overloaded. DNS auto-mode".
What if the internet is gone after the DNS change?
Removing advertising widgets from the desktop
Often users install Hot Apps widgets or news feeds on their desktop without noticing that they are the source of banners, and these widgets may appear after a system update or new applications are installed.
To remove them, just press and hold your finger on the widget on your desktop. In the menu that appears, select Delete. If the widget cannot be removed, go to Settings → Desktop and turn off the wallpaper carousel display or Recommended apps.
It's also worth checking folders. Sometimes, inside the application folders, you automatically generate a line called "Recommended Apps." To turn this off, open the folder, click on its name (to open the folder's settings), and turn off the Recommended Apps switch.
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Advertising widgets are not viruses, but regular MIUI shell features that can be turned off in desktop settings.