Xiaomi’s smartphones have long been among the best on the market in terms of price and quality. However, many users, especially beginners, can be annoyed by the abundance of ads built into the shell of MIUI or HyperOS. These banners appear in the most unexpected places: when cleaning memory, in the settings menu, and sometimes even right on the desktop in folders.
Fortunately, Android security and shell settings allow you to significantly minimize or eliminate this visual noise. Disabling ads does not require superuser rights or complex device reflashing. You just need to go through multiple menus consistently and change standard privacy settings to regain a clean interface.
In this guide, we’ll take a look at all the available ways to deal with intrusive offers, learn how to disable the MSA system service, block personalized recommendations, and customize the apps that most often stream content.
Disabling the MSA system service is the basis of a clean interface
The main source of advertising in Xiaomi smartphones is the system application MSA (MIUI System Ads), which is responsible for collecting data about your actions and showing the corresponding banners, to stop this flow, you need to find the service in the list of applications and turn it off.
The shutdown procedure can seem a little confusing, as the system tries to keep this feature active. If you try to turn off the switch, the phone will ask you to wait 10 seconds, and then offer several options for the answer, you need to choose the "Revoke" option to prevent the application from accessing data.
The path to settings is as follows:
- 📱 Open the menu Settings of your smartphone.
- 🔍 Go to Passwords and Security (or Advanced Settings in older versions).
- 📜 Find access to personal data or special opportunities.
- 🚫 In the list, find the msa and put the slider in an inactive state.
If you fail to turn off the service the first time, try to repeat the procedure 2-3 times. Sometimes the system requires confirmation of action through a fingerprint or pin code. After successful disabling, restart the device to make the changes take effect.
⚠️ Attention: after the service is disconnected MSA The background process may remain active for 10 seconds. Don't panic, this is normal, but for full effect, it is better to reboot the smartphone immediately after manipulation.
Remove recommendations on the desktop and in folders
Even after the main service is disabled, there may still be "recommended" apps on the desktop, widgets that offer games or utilities to download based on your location or search history, and you need to change the launcher settings to remove them.
Go to the desktop settings. To do this, pinch your two fingers in the free space of the screen or press and hold your finger on an empty area. In the menu that appears, select the gear icon or Settings. Here we are interested in the Recommendations or Receive recommendations section.
Turn off all personalization and advice items, and some versions of the shell have a deeper hidden setting:
- 🗂 Open any folder on your desktop.
- 👆 Click on the folder name to call the edit menu.
- 🚫 Find the Recommended Applications Switch and Turn It Off.
Also worth checking is the settings of the Music or Video widget if they are displayed on the home screen, often with partners' banners hidden inside them, remove the standard widgets and replace them with clean app shortcuts.
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If the recommendation folders reappear after the reboot, check if sync is enabled with the Mi cloud account, which can restore the old launcher settings.
Configuring embedded applications: Security, Explorer, Downloads
Xiaomi’s system utilities may also contain ad modules, and most often users encounter banners in the Security app that run when they clear memory or check for viruses, and to fix this, you need to go to the settings of the app itself.
Open the Security app, click on the three dots in the top right corner, and select Settings. Find Receive recommendations and turn it off. This will remove the advertising cards from the scanner's main menu.
Similar situation with file manager and downloads:
- 📂 In the Explorer app, go to the menu and select Settings → About the program (sometimes the ad settings are hidden there) or just turn off the Guidelines in the general menu.
- ⬇️ In Downloads, click on three dots. → Settings → Remove the box from the item Show recommendations.
- 🎵 In the Music and Video application, you also need to go to the settings and find the Advanced Settings section, where you turn off receiving recommendations.
Remember that after the system update, the settings may reset. Periodically check these items to ensure that the ad does not return.
| Annex | The path to adjustment | Parameter for deactivation |
|---|---|---|
| Security | Three points → Settings | Receive recommendations |
| Conductor | Menu → Settings | Show recommendations |
| Downloads. | Three points → Settings | Show recommendations |
| Music. | Menu → Settings → Extended | Showing advertisements |
☑️ Verification of system applications
Blocking personalization and advertising ID
Modern operating systems use an Advertising ID to target ads. Even if you turn off specific services, this ID allows apps to show you relevant ads. MIUI has a separate section dedicated to this.
Go to Settings → Passwords & Security → Privacy. Go to Advertising Services. Inside you will see the Personalized Advertising switch. It needs to be turned off.
Also available on this menu is the Reset Ad ID button, which generates a new random number, breaking the link between your current history and future ad impressions, and it is recommended to reset regularly if you want to remain anonymous.
⚠️ Warning: Disabling personalized ads does not mean that banners disappear completely. You will still see ads, but they will no longer be tailored specifically to your interests and will become more random.
To make a full impact, it is also worth limiting applications’ access to location data unless it is navigational. Advertising is often geo-dependent, and banning it will reduce local offerings.
Using DNS to block advertising at the network level
The most effective and cleanest way to remove ads is to use protected advertising. DNS-This method blocks requests to ad servers before they even reach your screen. It works globally for all applications and browsers.
Android settings (starting with version 9 and above) have a built-in Private feature. DNS (Private DNS). To activate it, go to Settings. → Connection and Sharing (or Additional Settings) → Private DNS.
Select the DNS Host Name mode and enter the address of one of the popular blockers, for example:
dns.adguard.comOnce you save your settings, the phone can lose its Internet connection for a second and then restore it. AdGuard DNS will automatically filter requests to known ad trackers.This solution does not require installing additional apps and works even after you reboot.
What to do if the DNS is not working?
Disabling notifications from system applications
Sometimes, the ads don't come in banner form, but in the form of push notifications, which can be sent out by standard apps like Mi Video, Mi Music, or even a theme store, and these notifications are often disguised as system messages.
To get rid of them, you can pinch any notification and click on the gear icon or Details. The system will suggest disabling notifications from that particular source. Select Turn off all notifications.
You can also go a deeper way:
- 🔔 Go to Settings. → Notifications and status bar.
- 📱 Select Notification Management.
- 🔍 Find suspicious system applications (e.g. Mi Credit, Mi Video).
- 🚫 Completely ban them from showing notifications.
Notice apps with names like GetApps (formerly Mi Store), which is Xiaomi’s official app store, which sends promotional notifications often, and if you use Google Play, GetApps notifications can be blocked.
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A comprehensive approach: the combination of disabling MSA, setting up DNS and disabling notifications gives a 99% guarantee of no advertising in the system.