Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face intrusive ads that appear in system applications, folders and even when unlocking the screen, a feature of the MIUI and HyperOS shell that has become the subject of much debate as the company compensates for the low cost of devices through advertising integrations, but users do not have to put up with the constant visual noise that distracts from the main work.
Fortunately, engineers have left the ability to fine-tune the system to minimize or eliminate the amount of advertising, and the process requires several actions to be performed in sequence in different sections of the menu, since there is no single “Disable Everything” button, and in this article we will discuss in detail each step necessary to clean the interface of your Xiaomi from unnecessary banners.
Before we take any drastic measures, it is important to understand the mechanism of the ad module. The main source of irritation is the MSA (MIUI System Ads), which is responsible for collecting data and displaying content. Disabling this service is the first and most important step, but it is not the only one. You will also need to check the settings of specific applications such as Explorer, Music and Security, where additional switches are often hidden.
Disabling the MSA System Service
The centerpiece of the advertising ecosystem in Redmi and Xiaomi devices is MSA, which analyzes your actions and selects targeted ads, and to block them, you need to go to the password and security settings menu, and find the Access to Personal Data or Authorization and Privacy section, which displays a list of all system processes.
In the list that opens, find msa and put the slider inactive. The system will warn you that turning off this service may affect some functions, and start a countdown of 10 seconds. It's not a bug, it's a security mechanism that you just have to wait. After the time has expired, press the "Disable" button.
⚠️ Note: If you failed to disable the service from the first time and a timer error appeared, repeat the procedure 3-5 Often, it takes a system several attempts to permanently break the connection to the server.
It's worth noting that when you turn off the MSA, some versions of the firmware may stop working with the Horizon widget or the news feed in the browser. This is normal behavior, because these components are tied to advertising modules. If you're critical widgets, you'll have to compromise or use alternative widgets from third-party developers.
Set up personalized recommendations
Even after the main service is disabled, so-called “recommendations” may remain in the system, often disguised as useful tips, but in essence are disguised advertisements for affiliate services. To remove them, go to Settings and enter the word “advertisements” or “recommendations” in the search bar at the top.
In the search results, you'll see Receive recommendations. Go to it and turn off all the switches available. Pay special attention to the sections related to desktop folders and lock screen, and that's where the most frequent suggestions are to install games or subscribe.
You should also check your Mi Account settings. Go to your profile, select Advertising and make sure that Personalized Advertising is turned off, which will prevent the system from using your preferences to generate promotional offers, although this may not save you from showing banners completely without previous steps.
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Use Flight mode for a couple of seconds after disabling the ad to reset cached connections to ad servers before rebooting.
Cleaning system applications from banners
System utilities in the MIUI shell often contain built-in advertising modules that are activated when a program is launched. To make smartphone use comfortable, you need to manually "detach" each of them. Start with the Security app, which scans the device for viruses.
Open the Security app, click on the settings gear in the top right corner. Find Receive recommendations and deactivate it. The same procedure you need to do for the Explorer app: go to the settings (three menu bars), select About or Settings, and turn off recommendations.
Don't forget the standard music and video apps. In the Music app, go to the settings, select Additional settings, and uncheck the Display Ads. In the Video (Mi Video) app, the settings are in the user profile, where you also need to find the recommendations section and disable them.
☑️ Verification of system applications
Managing Notifications and Folders
One of the most annoying things about this is that there are ad icons inside the folders on your desktop, and when you open the app folder, the names of the games or programs that the system "advises" to install can pop up at the bottom, and you can remove this from the folder's settings.
Open any folder on your desktop and click on its name. In the edit menu that opens, find the Recommended Apps or Advanced Apps switch and turn it off. Now the folders will look clean, displaying only shortcuts of the programs you have installed.
Also worth paying attention to notifications. Some system services may send push notifications with suggestions. Go to Settings → Notifications → Notifications Management Center and carefully review the sender list. Disable notifications from suspicious system services such as Mi Credit or Mi Pay if you do not use them.
| Annex | The path to adjustment | What to turn off |
|---|---|---|
| Security | Settings (cogs) | Receive recommendations |
| Conductor | Menu → Settings | Recommendations |
| Downloads. | Three points → Settings | Showing recommended |
| Topics | Profile → Settings | Personal recommendations |
Disabling Advertising in Mi Browser
Xiaomi's standard browser is known for its aggressive advertising policy, which not only displays banners on the home page, but can also embed ads in the SERPs, and if you use this browser, it is mandatory to set it up.
Open your browser, click on the menu (three bars) and go to Settings. Find the Privacy and Security section. You need to turn off the option to Receive personalized recommendations. Also, in general settings, remove the tick from the "Show news" item on the home page.
⚠️ Warning: Even after setting up, the browser can display ads on sites. For full protection, it is recommended to install a third-party ad blocker or use browsers with built-in protection, such as Brave or Firefox with extensions.
Alternatively, you can completely remove the standard browser if your firmware version allows you to do so, or simply stop using it in favor of more private counterparts, which will also free up space in memory and speed up the system, since the background processes of the browser will no longer consume resources.
Hidden DNS settings
Use of Developer Modes and ADB
For advanced users who want to get the most out of the system, there are methods to disable ads via USB debugging and ADB (Android Debug Bridge) commands, which allows you to delete or freeze system packages responsible for advertising that cannot be disabled through the standard menu.
To start, activate Developer Mode. Go to Settings → About Phone and quickly click on MIUI version number 7 times. Then, in advanced settings, enable USB Debugging. Connect the phone to your computer, install drivers and the ADB utility.
Using the command line, you can send commands to freeze packets, for example, a command to disable an advertising service looks like this:
adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.msa.globalYou can also disable the analytics and data services that transmit user information:
adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.analyticsThis method requires caution, as removing critical system components can cause the device to operate in an unstable manner. Always check the name of the package before you enter a command. If you are not sure of your actions, it is better to limit yourself to software methods of disabling through settings.
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Use of the ADB-commands give the maximum effect, but requires technical literacy and caution when entering parameters.