Modern smartphones offer incredible functionality, but often with intrusive marketing. Owners of Redmi Note 10 S devices often face a situation when pop-ups appear after unlocking the screen or in system applications. This is not a bug, but a feature of the MIUI shell that allows the company to keep the price of iron low.
Fortunately, aggressive marketing can be eliminated completely without superuser rights, requiring the serial shutdown of multiple system services responsible for data collection and content display, and in this article, we’ll take a look at each step to make your smartphone a convenient tool again, rather than an advertising platform.
Before we get into deep settings, it's worth noting that some changes may require a stable Internet connection, and it's also a good idea to back up important data in advance, even though the methods described are standard features of the system. Let's start with the most important component, the msa service.
Disabling the MSA System Service
The main source of annoying banners is a system application called MIUI System Ads, or msa for short. This process controls the display of ads in standard utilities and on the desktop. To stop it, you need to find the appropriate item in the authorization settings menu.
The disconnection procedure has one important feature: the deactivation button may be inactive at the first press. It's not a bug, but a developer-designed mechanism that keeps the user waiting. You'll need to try to turn off the switch several times before the timer expires and the system allows you to make changes.
To do this, go to Settings → Passwords & Security → Access to Personal Data. In the list that opens, find msa and switch to Off. A window will appear with a 10 second countdown timer.
⚠️ Warning: If the "Disable" button is gray after the timer has expired, don't panic. Just press it again. Sometimes it takes 3 to 5 attempts before the system permanently shuts down the service.
After a successful shutdown, the service will stop running automatically, but to make the changes fully effective, it is recommended to restart the device, ensuring that the background processes associated with the ad module are stopped.
Advertising ID setting
In addition to explicitly displaying banners, the system collects data about your preferences to target content through a unique advertising ID, resetting and disabling personalization will help increase privacy and reduce the relevance of the imposed offers.
You don't have to be a cybersecurity expert to do this, all the tools are built into the shell interface, and you just need to go through the menu in sequence and activate the switches you want.
Open your smartphone settings and follow it to: Passwords & Security → Privacy → Advertising Services. There are two options you're interested in. First, click Reset Advertising ID, and then activate Personalized Advertising Toggle, putting it inactive.
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Repeat the reset procedure to break the link between your online behavior and your advertising profiles.
These actions will not remove ads completely, but will make them less accurate and intrusive, and by combining this with disabling msa, you create a double barrier to marketing algorithms.
Removing Advertising from Standard Applications
The MIUI shell contains many pre-installed utilities that are default-configured to receive recommendations, including Explorer, Music, Theme, Security, and other system components, and to clean the interface, you need to go to the settings of each application separately.
Consider the example of the popular "Security" app, which often shows notifications about junk files with suggestions to clean them or install third-party software. Open the app, click on the settings gear in the upper right corner and find "Receive recommendations." Disable this feature.
- 📂 Conductor: Click on three menu bars → Settings → About the annex → Disable "Receive recommendations".
- 🎵 Music: Click on three menu points → Settings → Additional settings → Disable "Receive recommendations" and "Show ads".
- 🎨 Topics: Click on profile → Settings → Disable "Receive recommendations", "Show ads" and "Autos video".
- 📄 Downloads: Press three dots → Settings → Disable "Receive recommendations".
The same procedure should be repeated for all applications where you notice extra banners. It takes a while, but the result is worth it. Your Redmi Note 10 S will be significantly cleaner and faster.
☑️ Checklist for app cleanup
Blocking Advertising in Mi Browser
Xiaomi’s standard browser is another source of noise, with news feeds and ad units often displayed on the homepage, and if you use this browser, you also need to configure it.
Go to your browser settings (three bars → Settings). In the Privacy & Security section, turn on ad blocking. You should also turn off notifications from sites that are often used to send spam.
For a deeper cleaning, go to News Feed or General (depending on the MIUI version) and turn off all the switches related to recommendations and personalization.
⚠️ Note: Completely removing a standard browser without installing an alternative (such as Chrome or Firefox) can lead to errors when opening links from other applications.
Disabling notifications from system services
Even after the main ad modules are disabled, some system services may continue to send notifications, often from Mi Credit, Mi Pay or GetApps, which may not be needed by the user in their daily lives.
To stop the notifications flow, go to Settings → Notifications and Status bar → Notification Management. Scroll down to system applications. Find services labeled with the Xiaomi logo and turn off notifications completely.
Pay special attention to GetApps, which is an app store that sends suggestions for installing games often. If you use Google Play, you don't need GetApps, you can not only turn off notifications, but you can also stop the app in the app settings.
| Service | Function | Recommendation | Safety of shutdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| GetApps | App store | Disable notifications | Safe. |
| Mi Credit | Financial services | Stop and hide | Safe. |
| Mi Pay | Payment service | Disable (if not in use) | Safe. |
| Mi Video | Video player | Disable recommendations | Safe. |
Can I remove system applications through ADB?
Using DNS to Block Advertising
The most effective method, which works at the device level, is to use a private DNS, which allows you to block advertising requests before they reach the screen of your Redmi Note 10 S.
Android 9 and above, including MIUI 12 and 13, has built-in DNS-over-TLS support. You just need to prescribe the address of a special server that filters traffic.
Go to Settings → Connection and Sharing → Private DNS. Select the option “Host Name of the DNS Provider” and enter the following entry in the field:
dns.adguard.comSave the settings. Now all traffic going through known ad servers will be cut off, which will speed up the loading of pages in the browser and clear many applications of banners that are downloaded from the network.
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AdGuard’s DNS is a “silver bullet” that blocks up to 90% of ads across the system without having to configure each application separately.
It is worth noting that this method may conflict with some local area networks or enterprise Wi-Fi, where specific configurations are required, in which case DNS can be temporarily disabled.