Budget smartphone owners often encounter intrusive content that appears in the most unexpected places on the interface. Especially annoying is the ads on the lock screen that pop up every time the device is turned on. The Redmi 8, despite its popularity and availability, was no exception to the company's policy of monetizing users through advertising integrations.
Fortunately, the modern MIUI shell allows you to flexibly configure the system, removing the extra one without having to get super-user rights. You don't have to be an Android expert to clean the interface. You just need to go through multiple settings menus consistently and disable specific services responsible for (push) advertising materials.
In this article, we will take a closer look at how content-generating system services work, and provide a step-by-step algorithm for how to do it, learn how to distinguish between system notifications and marketing offers, and understand what parameters are responsible for personalizing recommendations, which will allow you to make Xiaomi comfortable and visually noise-free.
The nature of the appearance of banner ads on Redmi 8
The main source of annoying banners is the MSA (MIUI System Ads) system application, which analyzes your actions and selects the relevant content for display. However, not all notifications are direct advertising; some of them are system recommendations that can be classified as spam.
In addition to MSA, the Wallpaper Carousel feature is often responsible for images and sentences on a locked screen, which is designed to change the background image and show news, but in practice it often turns into a distribution channel for commercial offers, and turning this feature off is the first step to a clean screen.
⚠️ Note: Complete removal of system applications through ADB It is recommended to use standard methods of disabling through the settings described in the instructions.
Also, some pre-installed applications, such as Security or Explorer, have their own recommendation modules. They may not display full-screen banners, but will generate notifications in the curtain.
Disabling the MSA service, the main source of advertising
MSA is the central node of the shell advertising system, and it requires a sequence of actions to be taken off the shell, as it tries to keep the user in the advertising ecosystem, and you first need to find the appropriate item in the authorization and account menu.
Go to Settings → Passwords & Security → Authorization & Restore. Here you will find the msa switch. Once it is turned off, the system will start a countdown timer (usually 10 seconds) and require confirmation of action. If you accidentally hit Cancel, the process will have to start again.
☑️ Shutdown algorithm MSA
In some versions of MIUI firmware, the path may be slightly different. If you don't find a paragraph in a specified place, try searching for it in Settings → Advanced Settings → Privacy. It is important to perform this procedure first, as this will cut off the main stream of targeted offers.
Setting up the wallpaper carousel and lock screen
Wallpaper carousel is the second most important source of visual noise, and it replaces the static image of the lock with a slideshow with news and advertising, and to remove this, you need to go to the lock screen settings.
Go to Settings → Lock screen. Find wallpaper carousel and switch to inactive. After that, the system will stop downloading new images and related content. The lock screen will return to the standard view with hours and notifications.
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If after turning off the wallpaper carousel, advertising remained, check if there is a third-party app installed to lock the screen from Google Play, which could have taken control.
It’s worth noting that in some firmware regions, this item may be called “Glance” or “Screen Lock,” the bottom line remains the same: disabling dynamic background change eliminates the channel for the supply of advertising materials, which is especially true for the Redmi 8 model, where the amount of RAM is limited, and unnecessary processes are better not to start.
| Parameter | Status before setup | Status after setup | Impact on the system |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSA Service | Active. | Disconnected. | Ending Targeted Advertising |
| Wallpaper carousel | On. | Off. | Static background of locking |
| MIUI Recommendations | Included | Disabled. | Clean desk |
| Personalization | Active. | Limited. | Decreasing data collection |
Removing recommendations in system applications
Even after the basic services are disabled, individual applications can continue to show offers, most often the standard browser, Explorer, and Security app, each with hidden settings that require manual intervention.
In the Safety app, click on the gear in the top right corner. Find the "Receive recommendations" section and turn it off. You can do the same thing in the Explorer app: go to the settings and remove the tick from "Receive recommendations" or "Show news."
⚠️ Note: System application interface may be updated. If you do not find the specified item, carefully examine all tabs in the About or Settings section within the application itself.
It's also worth checking the folder settings on your desktop, and sometimes when you open the application folder at the bottom, you see a tape of recommended programs, and to fix that, open any folder, click on its name, and turn off the Recommended Apps feature, which will return the folders to their original, minimalist appearance.
Personalization and Data Collection: What to Disable
To effectively combat advertising, it is not enough to close specific windows; you need to limit the collection of data on which it is formed. MIUI actively uses telemetry, disabling these functions will not only increase privacy, but also reduce the frequency of relevant sentences.
Go to Settings → Passwords & Security → Privacy → Special Permissions → Ad Personalization. This action will reset your advertising ID and stop profiling based on your interests.
What is an advertising identifier?
In addition, you can go to the Mi Account settings, where you can revoke consent to use data to improve the user experience, and while this does not directly block banners, it reduces the activity of background processes that send reports to the company's servers.
Verification of results and additional measures
After all the above steps are done, it is recommended to restart the device, which is necessary to ensure that all changes to the registry and configuration files take effect, and the reboot will also clear the cache of temporary files that may contain elements of advertising content.
If you still see ads after a reboot, check the list of installed applications. Often users install programs themselves that masquerade as system utilities (memory cleanup, flashlights, batteries), but contain aggressive ad modulation, and removing such suspicious applications can completely solve the problem.
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Comprehensive disabling of advertising requires action in three directions: system services (MSA), lock screen settings and individual application settings.
As a preventive measure, you can use the Do Not Disturb feature at certain hours, although this affects notifications rather than system banners. Also watch for firmware updates: sometimes newer versions of MIUI will have additional switches to control advertising that were not in previous builds.