Xiaomi smartphone owners often face intrusive content that appears every time a display is turned on, a phenomenon that has become the subject of much controversy in the user community, as banner ads can override important notifications or simply annoy with their appearance. MIUI system installed on the brand’s devices is set to display promo materials by default, which is part of the monetization of budget models.
Fortunately, the company's engineers have designed a clean interface that doesn't require visual noise, and it doesn't require super-user rights or flashing, and you just need to go through a few things in the settings menu in a row to forget about pop-ups forever, and in this article, we'll go through all the ways that you can solve the problem in detail.
It’s worth noting that the location of some switches may vary slightly depending on the version of the HyperOS shell or MIUI. However, the overall algorithm of actions remains the same for most current models, whether it’s the Redmi Note or the flagship Xiaomi 13.
Disabling the MSA system service
The central element in charge of distributing advertising content to the system is the MSA (MIUI System Ads) service, which collects your preferences and broadcasts the corresponding banners, and without its active operation, the system loses the ability to show you personalized offers, which is what we need.
First, you need to find this component in the installed application list, and you can't remove it right away, because it requires you to wait 10 seconds before you confirm the action, so that you don't accidentally turn off the important service, which is unnecessary for many people.
Why can the deletion button be inactive?
Follow the following steps to stop the process:
- 📱 Open your smartphone settings and go to the App section.
- 🔍 Click on the menu button (three dots) and select All Apps.
- 📂 In the list, find the msa item (MIUI System Ads and tap it.
- 🚫 Click the Disable or Delete button and wait for the countdown to end.
After these actions, the background activity of the advertising module will be stopped, however, to consolidate the result and remove the remaining banners from the lock screen, it is recommended to perform additional personalization settings.
Customization of personalization and wallpaper carousel
Often the source of annoying images with text is the Wallpaper Carousel feature, which automatically changes the background image on the locked screen, periodically loading advertising posters, and even if the MSA is disabled, this module can continue to work independently.
To clear the lock screen, you need to find the theme and personalization settings. The interface may be called differently depending on the firmware region, but the logic remains the same. We're looking for the partition that controls the appearance of the locked state of the device.
☑️ Checking screen settings
Let’s look at the algorithm of actions in more detail:
- 🎨 Go to Settings and select Wallpaper and Personalization (or just Themes).
- 🖼️ Find the Wallpaper Carousel section (Glance/Lock screen magazine).
- 🔘 Transfer the switch to the off position or select the standard static wallpaper.
- 🗑️ Additionally, click Clear the data in the app menu to remove downloaded banners.
If you prefer dynamic wallpaper but no ads, some versions allow you to disable advertising content, leaving the feature to change images. Look for the "Recommendations" or "Get content" box inside the carousel settings and uncheck it.
Managing Notifications from System Applications
Sometimes, the ads on the lock screen don't come from the system interface, but in the form of push notifications from pre-installed Xiaomi apps: Browser, Music, Cleanup and Theme Store are the main candidates who can send spam. They need to be "pacified" individually.
You don't have to delete these programs, you just have to restrict their rights to display information on a locked screen, which will increase privacy and remove visual debris, which takes a couple of minutes, but greatly improves the user experience.
⚠️ Warning: By disabling notifications from system utilities, you may stop receiving important system messages, such as memory cleanup reports or security updates.
For fine-tuning, follow the following steps:
- 📲 Open Settings and go to the Notifications section → Management of notifications.
- 📋 In the list, find the Security, Music, Video and Mi Browser apps.
- 🔕 Inside each app, turn off the option On the Lock screen or Important Notifications.
It’s also worth looking at the settings of the Security app itself, which often hides separate switches for “Recommendations” and “Receive news” inside it, and disabling these options will prevent pop-ups with optimization tips that often contain advertising inserts.
Comparison of methods of disabling advertising
Different smartphone models may have different levels of access to ad settings, and the table below compares the effectiveness of the methods described for different use cases.
| Method | Efficiency | Difficulty | Impact on the system |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSA shutdown | Tall. | Low. | Minimum |
| Setting up the Carousel | Medium | Low. | Absent. |
| Blocking notifications | Medium | Medium | Reducing information content |
| Change of region | Tall. | Low. | Change in the list of applications |
As you can see from the table, a comprehensive approach is the best result, and using only one method may not solve the problem completely, since the advertising mechanisms in MIUI are duplicated in different layers of the system.
Change of region of the device as a method of struggle
There's an interesting hack that's linked to the geographic location of ad servers, and the amount of advertising in the interface is directly dependent on the region you're looking at, and in some countries, like India or Russia, ad support is more advanced than in Europe or Asia.
Changing the region to Singapore, the US or the EU often leads to the automatic disappearance of most ad units, the system believes that the user is in a jurisdiction with stricter data protection laws (for example, GDPR), and reduces the aggressiveness of marketing.
To implement this method:
- 🌍 Go to Settings. → Additionally. → Region.
- 🇸🇬 Select a country from the list, such as Singapore or Germany.
- ⏳ Wait for the interface to reboot and check for ads.
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If the region changes to China or India, the number of ads may increase, as these markets are the priority for monetization of MIUI.
It’s important to understand that changing your region can affect some local services, holiday calendars, and voice assistant Xiao AI (although it’s often replaced with Google Assistant in global versions).
Using DNS to Block Advertising
For advanced users who want to achieve maximum results, there is a method of blocking advertising at the network connection level, using a private DNS allows you to filter traffic and block requests to known ad servers.
The good thing about this is that it works globally for the entire smartphone, including browsers and some apps, and you don't have to go through the settings of each service. DNS-server in network settings.
dns.adguard.comInstructions for setting:
- 📡 Open Settings and find the Connection and Sharing (or Wi-Fi) section).
- 🔐 Find a private item DNS (Private DNS).
- ✍️ Select the hostname of the provider DNS and enter the address dns.adguard.com.
- 💾 Save the settings and restart the device.
⚠️ Note: If you enter the address DNS Incorrectly, you may lose access to the Internet, in which case, just return the setting to Auto or Off mode».
Use of the DNS-Not only does filtering remove ads, it can also speed up the loading of pages in the browser, as it eliminates the need to load heavy ad scripts. However, some applications may not work properly with such filters, so be sure to keep them stable.
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The combination of MSA disabling, region change and private DNS settings gives a 100% guarantee of no ads on Xiaomi’s system.