Budget smartphone owners often face intrusive banners and system notifications that prevent the full use of the device. Redmi 7A, despite its popularity and reliability, is no exception to the company's policy of monetization through advertising integrations. Many users perceive this as an inevitable evil, but there are proven methods to completely clean the interface of unnecessary visual noise.
The process of deactivating marketing modules requires care, as the settings are scattered across different menus of the system. MIUI, the shell installed on your gadget, contains many hidden switches responsible for collecting data and displaying content. Ignoring these settings leads not only to irritation, but also to increased traffic consumption and battery power, which is critical for devices with a battery capacity of 4000 mAh.
In this guide, we will take a detailed look at each step of cleaning up your system, learn how to disable msa, which is the main source of advertising, and learn how to block notifications in standard applications. Following the instructions, you will return your Xiaomi to the original cleanliness of the interface and improve the speed of work.
Preparation for system setup
Before you start a deep modification of the settings, you need to make sure that the device is stable. It is recommended to check the availability of memory space and battery level. Any changes in system processes should be made with confidence that the smartphone will not turn off at a critical moment.
Also, you should enable the display of hidden files and folders in advance if you plan to manually clean the cache later, and to do this, the MIUI file manager needs to activate the appropriate switch in the Explorer settings menu, which will allow you to see the system directories, which are usually hidden from the user's eyes.
It is important to understand that disabling some services can affect the performance of certain features related to content personalization. However, for most users, these features are not critical. System advertising is often masqueraded as useful recommendations, but its main purpose is to generate revenue for the manufacturer, not to help the owner.
📊 How much you are annoyed by advertising in MIUI?
Very much, infuriating every day.
Irritating, but tolerant.
I don't know, I'm used to it.
I like it, sometimes I find useful things.
Disconnection of MSA (MIUI System Ads)
The centerpiece of Xiaomi’s smartphone advertising ecosystem is the msa process, which is responsible for loading and displaying banners in system applications and on the desktop. Without deactivating it, other settings may be ineffective as the service will constantly try to regain its rights to display content.
To start, you need to go to the phone's settings menu. Find the Password and Security section and select Data Access. From the app list that opens, find msa and switch the slider to "Switched Off," the system will alert you that the service will stop and suggest that you wait 10 seconds before confirming the action.
⚠️ Note: If you try to disable the msa service, the confirmation button may not be active immediately. You need to wait for the countdown timer to expire in 10 seconds. If you press OK earlier, the action will be canceled and the service will continue to work.
After a successful shutdown, it is recommended to restart the device, which is necessary for the changes to take effect at the kernel level of the system. If after the restart you see an advertisement again, the procedure should be repeated, as some firmware versions try to automatically reactivate this process when the system starts.
Managing personalization and recommendations
In addition to explicit advertising, the system actively collects data about your behavior to generate personalized offers, a feature called “Receive recommendations” and is often enabled by default. Disabling this option makes the content in GetApps, Mi Video and Mi Music less intrusive and more neutral.
To find this setting, go back to the main settings menu and select Password and Security. Go to Privacy. You'll need to scroll to the bottom of the "Receive recommendations" switch. It needs to be deactivated. In some versions of MIUI, this item may be called "Personal recommendations."
It’s worth noting that disabling personalization doesn’t remove already installed ad apps, but stops them from actively promoting through system notifications.This is an important step for those who value their digital privacy. Xiaomi positions this as an improvement in the user experience, although technically it’s just disabling targeted ads.
Why is the ad coming back?
Sometimes, after a major firmware update, privacy settings can reset to factory values. In this case, the procedure for disabling recommendations and msa services will have to be repeated manually. This is the standard behavior of the system aimed at maximum coverage of the advertiser audience. System application configuration Advertising integrations are deeply embedded in standard utilities such as Explorer, Downloads, Cleanup and Security. Each of these components has its own content display settings that need to be disabled separately. Ignoring this stage will leave banners in the interface even after disabling the main application, you need to look at the right point of attention to the main application. In Explorer, you have a similar setting in the menu called by the three bars on the left, and in Download Manager, you have to open the menu and select Settings, where you also have a recommendation switch hidden. For ease of understanding where to look for settings in different versions of shells, below is a summary table that will help you quickly navigate if the names of items slightly differ in your version of firmware. Appendix Path to Settings Switch Name Status Security Settings (cogs) Receive recommendations Off Explorer Menu → Settings About recommendations Off Downloads Menu → Settings Show content Off Mi Music Menu → Settings Get recommendations Off Topics Profile → Settings Show ads Off Pay special attention to the Topic app. It is through it that notifications about new promotions and paid wallpaper often come. Go to the user profile (human icon), then to the settings and find items related to auto-update and impressions. Disabling here will also reduce the load on the device’s RAM. Blocking notifications in the browser Often the source of irritation is not so much the system banners as the notifications from sites visited through the built-in Mi Browser or Chrome. Advertising networks have learned to mask their mailings as system messages, which confuses inexperienced users. Blocking such notifications is a critical step of cleaning. In the Mi Browser browser, you need to open the menu, go to settings and find the section "This is necessary to prevent the notification from showing suspicious sites by default." If you use Google Chrome, the process is similar: Settings → Site settings → Notifications. Check the list of permitted sites and remove all unknown domains. Often, the ads come from sites with news or entertainment content that you have visited by accident. ⚠️ Note: Do not confuse messaging system notifications (WhatsApp, Telegram) with advertising spam. By disabling notifications entirely for the browser, you will not lose messages from other applications, but you will stop seeing promotional offers from web resources. DNS For advanced users who want to achieve maximum effect, there is a method of blocking advertising at the network connection level. DNS It allows you to filter traffic and block requests to known ad servers before they reach your device. It's a universal method that works for all applications at once. In modern versions of Android, which is the basis of which Redmi runs. 7A, This is a feature built into the system. Go to Settings. → Connection and sharing → Private DNS. Select the mode "Host Name of the provider" DNS" And you can type in the address dns.adguard.com. Once you save it, check the Internet connection. This method is especially effective in browsers and games where ads are broadcast from external domains. DNS It can slightly increase ping in online games or slow down the loading of some specific resources. DNS auto-mode. 💡Use of the DNS-filtering (e.g. AdGuard) DNS) — This is the most effective way to remove ads in games and applications where there are no internal settings to disable banners. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Is it safe to disable msa? Yes, disabling msa is completely safe for the device. This process is solely responsible for displaying ads and collecting statistics for marketing. It does not affect the operation of calls, messages, cameras or basic smartphone functions. Once it is turned off, the phone will even work more stable. Will ads disappear after resetting? Resetting to factory settings (Wipe Data) will return the phone to the state "out of the box." Since in new firmware, advertising is turned on by default, after reset, all advertising services are activated again. You will have to go through the procedure again with root tools, without using the correct applications. Attempting to remove them through ADB can lead to unstable system operation or cyclical reboot. It is safer to simply disable their settings, as described in the instructions above. Why did the ads appear again after the MIUI update? When you update the operating system, some user settings can be overwritten with standard developer values. This is normal practice for Xiaomi. After each major update, it is recommended to check the status of the msa service and the recommendation switch. Does the ad turn off affect the speed of the Redmi 7A? Yes, the effect is positive. Blocking advertising modules frees and reduces the load on the processor, as the system does not need to significantly improve the graphics of the 7A device.