Ownership of the Xiaomi brand is often overshadowed by intrusive marketing content that appears in the most unexpected places of the interface. Users are faced with banners in standard applications, pop-ups after cleaning up memory and even advertising inserts in the settings menu, a consequence of the company's strategy to sell powerful hardware at a low price, offsetting costs through advertising integrations.
Fortunately, MIUI and its new version of HyperOS provide enough tools to minimize or eliminate ads, a process that does not require super-user rights and can be performed by any device owner. In this article, we will detail all blocking methods, from disabling system services to fine-tuning each embedded application.
Before making changes, it is important to understand that completely removing the ad module may require several steps to be taken in sequence. Some settings are reset after the system update, so you will have to periodically return to this instruction.
Disabling MSA Service is the Main Step
The main source of intrusive content in the shell is the system application MSA (MIUI System Ads), which is responsible for analyzing user data and showing the corresponding banners. Without it, the rest of the measures will have only a temporary effect. The disconnection process has one important feature: the system does not allow you to turn off the service the first time.
To start, you need to go to the smartphone settings menu, find the password and security section, and then select Access to Personal Data. From the app list that opens, find msa and put the switch inactive, and a 10-second countdown timer will appear, and then you will press Stop.
The system will try to convince you to leave the service on, showing a warning that some functions may not work correctly, and at this stage you need to be persistent: press the OK or Accept button. If the switch is activated again after that, repeat the procedure 2-3 times. Usually on the third or fourth attempt, the system is surrendered and allows you to turn off the MSA permanently.
⚠️ Attention: After the service is disconnected MSA Advertising in system applications should disappear, but in some cases it may be necessary to restart the device to apply changes.
It’s important to note that turning off this service doesn’t affect the basic functions of the phone, such as calls or messages.You just remove the layer of marketing analytics that collected data about your preferences.This can also have a positive impact on battery life, as background data collection processes will be stopped.
☑️ Checking the shutdown MSA
Customization of personalization and recommendations
Even after the main ad module is disabled, separate services are left in the system responsible for “personalized recommendations”, often masquerading as useful tips, but in essence they are the same ads, and to completely clean the interface, you need to go through several points in the privacy settings.
Go back to Passwords and Security and look for Access to Personal Data, where you need to find GetApps and turn it off, and check the app store settings: launch it, go to profile, and find the Personal Recommends switch that you should deactivate.
Next, you should look at MIUI Daemon, which is a system service that also collects usage statistics. Although it doesn't always directly show banners, turning it off increases privacy, find it on your personal data access list and prevent collection of information. In some versions of the firmware, this item may be called simply "Data Collection."
- 📱 Open "Settings» → «Passwords and security».
- 🔒 Go to “Access to Personal Data».
- 🚫 Find and turn off GetApps, MIUI Daemon, MAB.
- 📉 In the Security app, turn off "Receive recommendations».
And remember, there's a feature in MIUI that, when you open the application folder, shows you the suggestions for installing other programs at the bottom, so to remove that, open any folder, click on its name, and turn off the "Recommended Apps" option in the menu that appears.
💡
If you can’t find an item on the menu, use the search bar at the top of the settings screen by entering the service name, such as “GetApps” or “recommendations.”
Removing Advertising in Standard Apps
Xiaomi system utilities like Explorer, Music, Video and Downloads often contain built-in ad units. Each of these components has its own settings that need to be checked separately. Ignoring this phase will leave your phone vulnerable to pop-ups.
Start with the Explorer app. Open it, click on the menu (three bars) and select Settings. You need to find the About section here or see the Get Recommendations switch immediately. Disable it. Similar situation with the Downloads app: open it, click three dots in the corner, select Settings, and remove the tick from Show Recommended Content.
The topic app is a little more complicated. Go to profile (human icon), then to settings (cogs), find "Show ads" or "Personal recommendations" and turn them off. Also, look at the Music app: menus → Settings → Advanced settings → Show ads.
⚠️ Note: Interface of standard applications may vary depending on the version MIUI. If you don’t find the exact title of the item, look for synonyms like “Recommendations,” “Advertising,” or “Promotions».
The Security app requires special attention. It is through this that most often notifications about "viruses" or "junk" come, which are actually disguised ads. Open the app, click on the settings gear and find the "Get recommendations" section. Make sure the switch is turned off. Also check the "Cleanup" subsection, there may be hidden advertising integrations.
What to do if the advertisement returns?
Debugging method USB and DNS-filtering
For advanced users, there is a more radical method that blocks ads at the level of network queries, which does not require the installation of third-party software, but involves the activation of developer mode, and is especially effective against advertising that is downloaded from external sources in real time.
The first step is to activate the developer mode. Go to Settings → About Phone and quickly click 7 times on MIUI Version (or OS Version). You will receive a notification that you have become a developer. Then go back to the main settings menu, find “Additional” → “Developers”.
Inside the developer menu, find the item “Debugging by” USB» Then turn it on. Confirm the action in the dialog box that appears. Then look for "Enable monitoring." USB-compounds (or «USB Debugging (Security settings) and activate it, which will allow the system to more deeply manage network connections.
| Parameter | Default value | Required importance | The effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| USB debugging | Off | On | Allows deep settings |
| USB Monitoring | Off | On | Monitoring of network packets |
| Frequency of the survey | 500 ms. | Change | Stability of connection |
| Logistics | Off | Off | Savings in resources |
The second stage – setting up a private DNS. In the same “Developers” menu or in the “Connection and Sharing” section, find the “Private” item. DNS» (Private DNS). Select the option "Host Name of the provider" DNS» and type in the address: dns.adguard.com. Save the settings.
This method redirects all requests to known ad servers to nowhere. The phone will think it's loading ads, but it'll actually get an empty response. It's a universal solution that works not only in the system, but also in the browser and in some games.
💡
The combination of disabling MSA and setting up a private DNS gives a 99% guarantee of no ads in the system and browser without installing additional applications.
Specificity of blocking in the browser and Mi Video
The standard Mi Browser browser and the Mi Video app are some of the most ad-packed shell components, and even after general settings, they can continue to show news feeds and banners, requiring customization of each.
In Mi Browser, click on three menu bars and select Settings. Find the Privacy and Security section. You need to activate the Ad block. Also, in General, you should turn off Receive Notifications and Personal Recommendations so that the news feed doesn't horn your eyes.
The Mi Video app often shows ads before you run your videos. To fix this, open the app, go to Profile → Settings. Find the option "Online content" or "Get recommendations" and turn it off. If the option "Online content" is active, turn it off, this will remove the tab from the online video and leave only the local player, which works faster.
- 🎬 In Mi Video, turn off Online Content to speed up work.
- 🌐 In the browser, enable the built-in AdBlock in the privacy settings.
- 🔕 Disable push notifications from all system services.
- 🧹 Clear the browser cache regularly through the application settings.
It’s worth mentioning that some users prefer not to use standard Xiaomi apps at all, replacing them with analogues from Google Play, such as VLC for video or Chrome for the Internet. This is also an effective way to get rid of embedded marketing, since third-party apps do not have access to the system advertising modules MIUI.