Modern Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones are famous for their price-performance ratio, but for the affordable cost, manufacturers often pay the price of introducing aggressive advertising. Users are faced with the fact that the system regularly offers to download new applications or play popular projects directly on the desktop or in folders. This is not just annoying, but also consumes traffic and CPU resources. You can remove these intrusive notifications, but the settings are scattered across different menus.
In this article, we will discuss how to completely clean the interface of intrusive sentences. We will touch not only on standard system settings, but also on specific applications like Mi Video and Cleaner, which are often sources of spam. You do not need to be an expert in Android to perform these actions.
It's worth noting that depending on the version of the MIUI shell or the new HyperOS, the item names may vary slightly. However, the logic of the system remains the same. We'll look at the universal methods that work on most of the current devices of the brand. Follow the instructions consistently for maximum effect.
Set up system advertising in MSA
At the heart of Xiaomi’s advertising ecosystem is the MSA (MIUI System Ads) service, which is the process that collects your preferences and displays the relevant banners. Disabling this service is the first and most important step to a clean interface. Without this action, other settings may not be fully effective.
To start, you need to go to the device settings menu, find the section that handles passwords and security, some versions of the firmware may simply call it "Security" or have a shield icon, and you can find "Access to Personal Data" or "Authorization and Security" inside this menu.
In the list of system services, find the msa line. The switch next to it must be activated by default. You need to click on it to turn it off. The system will warn you that some features may stop working correctly. Don't pay attention to warnings, because for the basic functionality of the phone, this service is not critical.
⚠️ Note: After the msa is turned off, a countdown timer (usually 10 seconds) will appear. Only after this time will the confirmation button be active.
After a shutdown, it is recommended to wait about a minute before proceeding to the next steps, so that the background processes have time to complete the work and stop asking for advertising identifiers. Sometimes the system may try to turn the service back on after a reboot, so check the status after a while.
If you use a global firmware device, the process may take longer because of server delays. In rare cases, you need to repeat the procedure 2-3 times, since the server may not accept the request the first time, a well-known feature of Xiaomi algorithms.
Management of recommendations in the Security app
The standard Security app is another powerful source of intrusive offers, often offering to speed up the phone and then showing ads for games or unnecessary utilities, and to stop this flow, you need to fine-tune the built-in scanning and cleaning modules.
Open the Security app (green shield icon). In the upper right corner, click on the gear icon to enter the settings. Here you are interested in the "Get recommendations" or "Recommendations" section. Uncheck this item. This action will turn off the common ad units in the scanner interface.
☑️ Checking security settings
Next, you should clean up the garbage. Inside the Security app, go to Clean up. Click on the gear in the top right corner inside this section. Find "Get recommendations" and also turn it off. That will remove the ads from the scan results window.
The Antivirus module, while useful, also has ad switches in its settings, go to the antivirus settings and make sure that the Receive Recommendations option is deactivated, which will prevent banners from appearing after the system check is completed.
It's important to understand that the Security app is deeply integrated into the system. It can't be removed by standard methods without root rights, but the right setup makes it virtually invisible to the user. Check these settings regularly after major system updates, as they may be reset.
Disabling Advertising in Mi Videos and Other Apps
Xiaomi’s multimedia apps, such as Mi Video and Mi Music, often behave like ad-rich content aggregators, and even if you don’t use them, they can run background processes, and customizing these apps requires a customized approach for each of them.
To start, run the Mi Video app. Go to the "Mine" section (usually the person icon at the bottom or in the menu). Click on the settings (cogwheel). Here you need to find and disable a few items: "Receive recommendations", "Return video" and "Online recommendations." Only a comprehensive shutdown of all these functions guarantees silence.
A similar procedure is used for the Mi Music app. Open it, go to settings and find the Advanced Settings section. There you should also deactivate Show Ads and Recommendations. If you don't use these players, you can simply delete or disable them through the app menu.
What to do if the settings are reset?
And remember, the Themes app, which is also a source of banners, so go to Themes, click on the profile icon, then click on the settings, and turn off the "Receive Notifications" and "Show Ads," and that will clear the theme store from pop-ups.
After all the manipulations are done, it is recommended to completely close the listed applications through the menu of running tasks, this ensures that the new settings will take effect immediately, in some cases, you may need to restart the device to apply changes to all system components.
Setting up the tool folder and desktop
One of the most annoying features of the shell is the Tools folder, which automatically collects system utilities and starts offering games and applications, a feature called Cover Carousel, or simply Guidelines, inside the folder, which you can turn off directly in the folder's settings.
Click the Tools folder on your desktop to open it. At the top of the screen (usually on the right or left, depending on the version of MIUI), you'll see a gear icon or a three-dot menu button. Click on it. In the menu that opens, find the Receive Recommendations or Recommended Applications switch and turn it off.
Also, check the settings of the desktop itself, press the blank space on the screen, or pinch the two fingers to open the desktop editing menu, click on the settings (cogs). Here, you need to find the "Glance" item and turn it off if it's active, which will remove the news feed and ads from the lock screen and desktop.
Also in the desktop settings, you should pay attention to the item "Search on the desktop", often it leads to a page with news and advertising, it is better to replace the search engine with Google or Yandex, if such an option is available, or simply turn off the display of the news feed.
If you have a POCO phone, it might be different from having a POCO Launcher app, and it also has a "Carousel" section in its settings that requires you to turn off, and the way it works is the same: search for switches with the word "Recommendations" or "Promote" in all corners of the launcher.
Limitation of tracking and personalization
Even by disabling explicit ads, you can continue to receive personalized offers based on your usage history.To minimize data collection and reduce the relevance of ads, you need to limit the device’s advertising ID.
Go to the basic Settings section of your phone, find the Passwords and Security section or the Advanced Settings section, and you're interested in Privacy. Inside it, find the Advertising section, and there's the Ad Personalization switch, and you need to turn it off.
Also available on this menu is the Reset Ad ID button, click on it, which will assign your device a new random ID, breaking the link to previously collected data about your preferences, which is useful to do periodically.
| Parameter | Where to find out. | Action. |
|---|---|---|
| Advertising ID | Settings → Privacy → Advertising | Drop it. |
| Personalization | Settings → Privacy → Advertising | Turn it off. |
| Access to data | Settings → Passwords and security → Access to personal data | Disable msa |
| Folder recommendations | The Tools folder → The Cog | Turn it off. |
Don’t ignore these settings, as they affect not only game advertising, but also the overall privacy level. Personalization allows algorithms to analyze your actions, which can slow down the interface due to constant computation.
After resetting the ID, it may take some time before the ads become less intrusive.The algorithms must re-learn the device, but without access to the MSA service, this process will be limited.
Using Private DNS to block ads
There is a more advanced method of combating advertising that works at the network connection level, using a private DNS (Domain Name System) that allows you to block advertising requests before they reach your device, and this method does not require the installation of additional applications.
To set up, go to "Settings» → «Connection and Sharing (or "Wi-Fi and Internet"). Find "Private" DNS» (Private DNS). The default is "Auto." Select "Host Name Provider" mode. DNS» (In the box that appears, type the address: dns.adguard.com.
dns.adguard.comSave your settings. Now all requests to known ad servers will be blocked at the network level, which will help to remove ads not only in system applications, but also in some games and browsers. DNS-The server will stop working, you may lose the Internet in some applications.
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If the Internet in individual applications has stopped working after the Private DNS is turned on, try temporarily disabling this feature or changing the address to dns.cloudflare.com, although the latter does not block advertising.
The advantage of this method is its versatility: it works independently of the version of MIUI or HyperOS, but it does not replace the need to disable internal recommendation switches, since some banners are loaded from the same domains as useful content.
If you use this method, watch the speed of the Internet. In rare cases, improper DNS settings can lead to increased ping in online games, in which case it is better to return to automatic settings.