How to Remove Recommended Videos from Xiaomi Gallery: The Complete Guide

The built-in MIUI gallery on Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones automatically uploads “recommended videos” — content from YouTube, TikTok or local sources that appears in a separate tab or is mixed with your personal files. For many users, this feature is intrusive: it consumes traffic, slows down the application and distracts from viewing your own photos. Worse, recommendations can not be disabled in the standard way through the gallery settings.

In this article, we will discuss 5 working methods to completely remove recommended videos from the Xiaomi gallery, including hidden MIUI settings, disabling through ADB, and even radical solutions for stubborn firmware. All instructions have been tested on Xiaomi 13/14, Redmi Note 12 and POCO F5 models, but will also work for older devices (starting with MIUI 12).

The feature of integrating recommended content appeared in MIUI 12 as part of the Smart Gallery, which Xiaomi officially positioned as a convenient way to open popular videos without switching between applications.

  • 📉 Increased mobile traffic consumption (up to 50–100 MB per month for preview loading).
  • 🐢 Slowing down gallery work, especially on budget models (Redmi) 9A, POCO M4).
  • 👁️ Privacy breach: the system analyzes your preferences for targeted advertising.
  • 🎭 Mixing personal files with advertising (in some versions) MIUI 14).

The worst part is that Xiaomi deliberately hides the shutdown option in the latest firmware versions. In MIUI 13/14, the menu items responsible for recommendations are either renamed or hidden deep in the system settings. Even resetting the gallery to factory settings doesn't always help.

📊 How do you feel about the recommended videos in the Xiaomi Gallery?
Useful function, I use it.
Whatever, they don't.
I'm annoyed, I want to turn it off.
I already turned it off.

In most cases, recommended videos can be removed through a hidden gallery menu that Xiaomi does not advertise, which works on MIUI 12-14 without the need to use ADB or third-party utilities.

  1. Open the standard gallery (Photos).
  2. Slip on the three dots in the upper right corner → select Settings.
  3. Scroll down to About (or About) and click on it 5 times in a row.
  4. There will be a hidden menu Labs.
  5. Inside, look for the Recommended Content (or Recommended Content) option and turn off the slider.
  6. Reboot the gallery.

⚠️ Attention: On some firmware (MIUI 14 for global version) Lab item may not be available. In this case, try an alternative path:

Gallery settings → General → Show recommended videos (disable)

☑️ Preparation for deletion of recommendations

Done: 0 / 4

Method 2: Use of the ADB-Teams (for experienced users)

If the hidden settings don't work, you'll have to debug through ADB. This method requires you to connect your smartphone to your PC, but it's guaranteed to remove system-level recommendations. It's suitable for MIUI 13/14, including Chinese firmware.

You'll need:

  • 🖥️ Computer with installed ADB Tools.
  • 📱 Included debugging by USB on a smartphone (Settings) → The phone. → Version. MIUI → 7 times to tap → return to additional settings → For developers → Debugging by USB).
  • 🔌 USB-cable (preferably original).

Steps:

  1. Connect the phone to the PC and confirm the debugging permission.
  2. Open the command prompt (cmd) in the folder with ADB.
  3. Enter the commands in turn: adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.gallery.recommendation If the first command doesn't work, try: adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.gallery.recommendation
  4. Reboot your smartphone.

⚠️ Attention: On some firmware (MIUI 14 for Europa ROM) The packet may be called something else. To find out the exact identifier:

adb shell pm list packages | grep -i gallery
What if the ADB can’t see the device?
1. Make sure that Xiaomi drivers are installed (download from [official website](https://new.c.mi.com/global/miuidownload/index)). 2. Try another one. USB-cable (not all support data transmission). 3. Include in the developer settings the option "Debugging by" USB (security parameters)" and "Allow debugging (factory unlocking) OEM)". 4. Restart your PC and smartphone.

In some cases, recommended videos appear after automatically updating the gallery through Google Play. You can manually return the old version of the app:

  1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
  2. Find the gallery and tap it.
  3. In the upper right corner, click on the three-point → Remove updates.
  4. Confirm the action and restart the application.

🔹 Important: After that, stop automatically updating the gallery in Google Play:

  1. Open Play Market → Find the Xiaomi Gallery.
  2. Slip on three points → uncheck the checkmark with Auto Update.

⚠️ Attention: New firmware (MIUI 14) after resetting updates, it may be necessary to clean the gallery cache (Settings) → Annexes → gallery → Memory. → Clear the cache. Otherwise, recommendations may return after restarting.

MethodDifficultyWorks for MIUI.PC requiredReversibility
Hidden gallery settings⭐12–14❌ No.✅ Yes.
ADB-team⭐⭐⭐13–14 (including China ROM)✅ Yes.✅ Yes.
Removal of updates⭐12–14 (except China ROM)❌ No.⚠️ Partially (updates will return)
Reset gallery settings⭐⭐12–14❌ No.✅ Yes.
Installation of a third-party gallery⭐Any version❌ No.✅ Yes.

If previous methods didn’t work, try a full gallery reset, which will remove all user settings (including albums and tags), but often solves the problem with intrusive recommendations.

Instructions:

  1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
  2. Find the Gallery and select it.
  3. Slip the storage → Clear the data (not just cache!).
  4. Confirm action. The app will restart with factory settings.

⚠️ Note: After reset, all local albums and categories (e.g. Favorites or Screenshots) will be deleted. However, the photos and videos will remain in place:

  • 📁 Open the album. → Edit → Highlight everything → Exports.
  • 💾 Save files to a separate folder (for example, DCIM/Exported).

💡

If the recommendations come back after the reset, try disabling sync with Mi Cloud in the gallery settings. Sometimes the content is uploaded from the cloud storage.

If none of these methods worked, it would be better to abandon the standard gallery altogether in favor of a third-party application, not only removing the recommendations, but also adding new features (such as cloud sync or an improved editor).

The best alternatives for Xiaomi:

  • 📂 Google Photos – Automatic backup, content search, but requires a Google account.
  • 🖼️ Simple Gallery – lightweight, without advertising, with support for dark theme and folder encryption.
  • 🔍 A+ Gallery – open source, no analytics, minimalist design.
  • 🎨 QuickPic – Quick, with gestures and support for cloud services.

How to install and configure:

  1. Download the selected gallery from Google Play or F-Droid.
  2. Open Settings → Applications → By default.
  3. Select Gallery → specify the new application by default.
  4. Disable or freeze the standard gallery through Settings → Apps → Gallery → Disable (if possible).

⚠️ Attention: On some firmware (MIUI 14 China) system applications cannot be disabled without root, in which case simply hide the gallery icon from your desktop and use the alternative.

💡

Installing a third-party gallery is the only method that is guaranteed to remove recommendations forever, but will require getting used to the new interface.

What if the recommendations are returned after the update?

Xiaomi regularly releases updates for the gallery that can return recommended videos even after they are turned off.

  1. Freeze the gallery with ADB: adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.gallery (Warning: this will shut down the gallery entirely!)
  2. Use App Ops (requires ADB): adb shell am start -n com.android.settings/.Settings$AppOpsSummaryActivity Find Gallery → turn off Internet permission.

🔹 Extreme option: If you are willing to take drastic measures, you can remove the gallery completely through the ADB:

adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.gallery

But remember: this will lead to loss of functionality of viewing photos through system applications (for example, in instant messengers).

❓ Why do recommendations still appear after the switch is off?
This is due to background synchronization via Mi Account. Try: Disable Gallery Sync in Settings → Accounts → Mi Account → Sync. Clear the Mi Cloud application data (Settings → Applications → Mi Cloud → Storage → Clear Data).
❓ Can I turn off recommendations without ADB?
Yeah, but not on all firmware: 🔍 Method with hidden settings (Laboratory). 📥 Removal of gallery updates. 🔄 Reset the app settings. If nothing helps, no ADB or a third-party gallery.
❓ Will there be problems after the gallery is removed? ADB?
Yes, it is possible: 🚫 Some apps (such as WhatsApp) will not be able to open photos from chats. 📷 The system camera may make an error when saving pictures. 🔄 After resetting the phone, the gallery will return, and we recommend not to delete, but only to turn off or freeze the gallery.
❓ Are these methods working on POCO redmi?
Yes, all the instructions are valid for POCO and Redmi, as they work on MIUI. Except for the POCO Launcher model (e.g. POCO F1), where the gallery may be different.
❓ How to return recommendations if you change your mind?
The function can be restored: 🔄 Through ADB (if disabled by a team: adb shell pm enable com.miui.gallery.recommendation 📥 Updating the gallery in Google Play. ⚙️ By enabling the slider in hidden settings (Laboratory).