Xiaomi smartphone owners, including the popular Mi 8, often face intrusive ads that appear in standard applications and the system interface, driven by pricing practices that make up for the cost of equipment through service and advertising.
Fortunately, MIUI provides flexible customization tools to minimize or completely remove advertising content without the need for super-user rights (root). The deactivation process does not require deep technical knowledge, but involves sequential execution of a number of actions in different sections of the menu. Ignoring some hidden settings can lead to the fact that some notifications will continue to appear, so it is important to go through all the steps comprehensively.
In this article, we will take a detailed look at every step you need to clear your Xiaomi Mi 8 from unwanted marketing content. We will touch on system service settings, standard application configuration, browser operation and specific security features. Following the instructions, you can turn your smartphone into a clean tool for work and entertainment, free from intrusive banners.
Disabling the MSA system advertising service
The central element in the display of ads in the MIUI interface is the system process msa (MIUI System Ads), which collects data about user preferences and broadcasts the corresponding ads in folders, when you boot the system and elsewhere. The first and most important step is to disable this component through the authorization and advertising menus.
To start, you need to go to the main settings of the device. Find the Password and Security section and select Access to Personal Data. In the list of applications and services that opens, find msa and switch the slider to an inactive position. The system will warn you about the consequences of a shutdown and suggest waiting 10 seconds before confirming the action.
⚠️ Note: When you turn off the msa service, the confirmation button may not be active immediately. If the "Disable" button is not pressed after the timer has expired, try repeating the procedure. 2-3 Once the system is complete, the.
Once you've successfully disabled, you also recommend that you stop the app from accessing the Internet. Go to Settings, select Apps, search msa, and go to Other Permits, and uncheck the boxes that allow you to connect to the network via Wi-Fi and mobile data, which ensures that even if you accidentally reactivate the service, it won't be able to download advertising content.
In addition, check your personalization settings. In the same menu, find the Advertising Services or Advertising section, and you should turn off the option “Receive recommendations” or “Personalized advertising” here, which will break the link between your device ID and the company’s ad servers.
It is important to understand that completely removing the system component of msa without root rights is impossible, as it is part of the firmware, but its deactivation and restriction of network activity make it completely useless for collecting data and displaying banners, which is a sufficient measure for most users.
Configuring standard MIUI applications
Beyond the system service, ad integrations are built directly into Xiaomi’s standard apps, each with its own settings that need to be configured separately, starting with the Security app, which is often used to clean up memory and check for viruses, but also serves as a channel for notifications.
Open the Security app, click on the gear icon at the top right of the screen to enter the settings. Find Receive recommendations and turn it off. It's also recommended to go to Clean up inside the app's settings and remove the tick from the "Show ads after cleaning" option, which will save you from pop-ups every time you free up RAM.
Next in line is the standard file manager. Launch the Explorer app, go to the menu (three bars or dots) and select Settings. Under About or Information, find the Recommendation switch and deactivate it. In some versions of MIUI, this item may be called "Receive Content."
Also, remember the Themes app, which is the main source of visual content, but also the main aggressor in terms of marketing: Open Themes, go to the user profile (human icon) and select Settings. You need to disable the items “Show ads”, “Personal recommendations” and “Auto-Update” (if you do not want themes to change without your knowledge).
☑️ Verification of standard applications
To fix the result, it is also useful to check the settings of the Downloads application. Often this is where advertising junk is downloaded, which is then displayed as notifications. In the bootloader settings, turn off the option “Show recommended content”.
Cleaning the browser and news feed
The standard Mi Browser browser and Glance News Feed (or Mi Video) are separate traffic sources that are often ignored in the general setting.These apps can display news and ads on the lock screen and in desktop widgets even if system advertising is disabled.
To set up your browser, launch the application, go to the menu and select Settings. In the Privacy and Security section or Find Receive recommendations and disable it. It is also worth clearing the browser cache through the Clear data menu to remove already downloaded advertising scripts and cookies.
The desktop news feed (often to the left of the home screen) is managed separately. Press your finger on the empty desktop space to go into edit mode, and select Settings (cogs). Find the Widget Ribbon or Glance for Mi section and disable the Auto Update feature or remove the widget from the desktop entirely.
If you don’t use a standard browser, you can simply turn it off in your system settings. Go to Settings → Applications → All apps, find Mi Browser and click on the Disable or Remove Updates button, then select Deletion. This will free up space in memory and guaranteed to stop any background processes associated with it.
⚠️ Warning: After disabling the news feed, the widget may disappear from the desktop. To return it, you will need to re-add the widget through the screen editing menu, but with recommendations disabled.
An alternative to standard solutions is to install a third-party browser such as Chrome, Firefox or Brave, which is not integrated by default into the Xiaomi advertising ecosystem. Installing such a browser and assigning it by default in the system settings (Applications → Application settings → Default → Browser) will completely eliminate the appearance of advertising in web surfing.
Managing notifications and push-mailing
Even after the main services are disabled, some applications can continue to send push notifications of an advertising nature. MIUI has a powerful tool for monitoring notifications that allows you to fine-tune in detail which applications are entitled to disturb the user.
Go to Settings → Notifications and Status bar → Notification Center. Here you will see a list of all applications that have permission to send notifications. Go through the list to pay attention to Xiaomi system applications (eg GetApps, Mi Video, Mi Music). For each suspicious application, you can turn off the category of Ads or Recommendations, leaving only important system messages.
Special attention should be paid to the GetApps app store. This is the analogue of Xiaomi's Google Play, which actively promotes its products. Open the app, go to My profile → Settings and disable all options related to notifications, auto-update and recommendations. In the notification system settings for this application, it is also recommended to disable display on the lock screen.
There is also a Notification Filter feature that can be useful for automatic sorting. However, it is better to manually ban ads than rely on filters that can skip the types of promotional materials.
For advanced users, it is useful to know that you can limit the background activity of applications. → All applications select the application, go to Battery and set the No restrictions mode only for the desired programs, and for the rest, select Activity Limitation.
Table: Comparison of blocking methods
To systematize the knowledge gained and choose the optimal strategy for combating advertising on Xiaomi Mi 8, we suggest you to familiarize yourself with a comparative table of methods. It will help you understand what actions have the greatest effect and what risks carry.
| Locking method | Efficiency | Difficulty | Impact on the system |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSA shutdown | High (80-90%) | Low. | Minimal, possible delay at first start-up |
| Set-up of applications | Medium (50-60%) | Medium | Absent, requires manual adjustment of each application |
| DNS lock (AdGuard) | Very high (95-99%) | Medium | Can slow down the opening of websites with a bad server |
| Root rights and removal | Maximum (100%) | Tall. | The risk of loss of warranty and possible system failure (bootloop) |
From the table, it is seen that the combination of disconnection MSA And manually configuring apps gives you an excellent result without risking the stability of the smartphone. DNS-filters are a great addition that blocks ads at the network level, but requires additional software installation or customization. DNS.
While the root-right method is listed as the most effective, it is not recommended for ordinary users. Interference with MIUI system files can lead to malfunction of banking applications (due to loss of security), updates failures and loss of warranty.
Additional measures and blocking through DNS
If standard methods are not enough, or you want to ensure that there is no advertising in third-party apps and games, you should resort to using the same method. DNS-This method works at the network request level: when an application tries to download an ad banner, DNS-The server blocks this request and the ads simply don’t show up.
The most popular and reliable solution is to use AdGuard DNS. On Xiaomi Mi 8 with Android 9 and above, you can configure this without installing apps. Go to Settings → Connection and Sharing → DNS (or Private DNS). Select Manual or Host Name mode and enter the address: dns.adguard.com. Save settings.
⚠️ Attention: When in use DNS Some apps or sites may stop working correctly if they use the same domains as ad networks. DNS auto-mode».
The alternative is to install the AdGuard app from the developer's official website (Google Play has a trimmed version). VPN-It's a more powerful tool, allowing you to customize your own filters and rules, but it consumes a little more battery.
Also worth mentioning is GetApps, which often goes unnoticed. Even if you don't use it, it can work in the background. In addition to turning off notifications, it's recommended to go to the settings of the app itself and turn off auto-start. In some versions of MIUI, you can even remove updates to the app, returning it to the factory version, which reduces functionality, but also reduces intrusiveness.
An integrated approach including disabling msa, configuring applications and using DNS-Your Xiaomi Mi 8 will work faster, as it will stop wasting resources on downloading advertising content, and battery consumption will decrease.