Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face the intrusive feature of automatically changing images on a locked screen, an option known as “Wallpaper Carousel” or in Western versions of Glance, designed to diversify the visual perception, but in practice it often becomes a source of irritation.
The main problem is not so much the frequent change of picture, but rather intrusive advertising and unwanted news notifications that appear along with the images. Users notice that the system begins to consume more traffic, and the battery is discharged a little faster due to the constant background load of content.
Fortunately, the developers of MIUI and HyperOS have provided tools to fully control this process, and in this article we will discuss all the current ways to forget about spontaneous background changes forever and return the device to its usual staticity.
What is a wallpaper carousel and why it is needed
The automatic image change feature is a service built into the MIUI shell or the new HyperOS. The original idea was to make the lock screen always look fresh and up-to-date, uploading high-quality photos of nature, architecture or abstractions from cloud storage.
But over time, the mechanics of the service have changed, and it's now a powerful monetization tool that shows the user banner ads, offers to install games or click on links, which is why many people tend to turn off this mechanism immediately after buying a smartphone.
It's important to understand that this service is system-level, not just a regular application that can be simply removed, and it's deeply integrated into the locking process, which requires a more careful approach to deactivating it.
Disconnection through lock screen settings
The easiest and most obvious way to remove intrusive image changes is through the standard settings menu, which works on most current models, including the Redmi Note and POCO series, and you need to access the lock settings.
To start, unlock the device and find the Settings icon. In the settings list that opens, scroll down to the look section. It may be called differently on different versions of the firmware, but the logic remains the same.
Find Always on the screen and lock or just lock screen. Inside this menu, there's a switch that's responsible for the wallpaper carousel function. That's the one that needs to be put inactive.
☑️ Shutdown algorithm
Once the switch is turned off, the system can request confirmation of action. Often a pop-up will appear saying "try again" or "stay with the current settings." You must select the option of confirming the disconnect, otherwise the process will not end.
Management through the Topics app
If the standard path didn’t work, or you didn’t find the right switch in the basic settings, you should go to the Theme system application, which is often used to control advanced personalization features, including the carousel.
Start the Themes app on your desktop. Pay attention to the user profile, which is usually located in the lower right corner of the screen. Click on the avatar and you will be taken to the account and additional services management menu.
In the options list, look for the Wallpaper Carousel, which hides more detailed service management, and even if the switch is off in the basic settings, you can still have Wi-Fi or mobile download mode active.
What to do if the item is not on the menu?
Inside this menu, you need to find a switch to turn on the wallpaper carousel and deactivate it. It is also recommended to uncheck the boxes "Update over Wi-Fi" and "Update over mobile" to fully stream data.
Specifics of settings in MIUI 13, 14 and HyperOS
Xiaomi’s shell interface is constantly changing, and the location of the right switches may vary depending on the software version. Owners of fresh devices with HyperOS or MIUI 14 should be more careful about the names of the partitions.
In newer firmware versions, lock screens are often combined with the Always On screen settings. So if you don't see a separate menu, look for a combined section. The logic of the work remains the same, but the visual design can be confusing.
Below is a table that helps you navigate the differences in shell versions:
| Shell version | Location of settings | Name of function | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| MIUI 12 | Settings → Lock screen | Wallpaper carousel | Classic menu |
| MIUI 13/14 | Settings → Always on screen... | Glance/Carousel | Combined with AOD |
| HyperOS | Settings → Personalization | Screen locking | New menu design |
| Global ROM | Settings → Wallpaper and personalization | Lock screen wallpaper | Often called Glance. |
Note that on global firmware versions (Global ROM), the feature is often labeled with the Glance logo. It's the same service, but under a different branding, focused on the international market.
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If you upgraded to HyperOS and the settings are gone, search by settings by entering the word "Carousel" or "Lock screen".
How to remove advertising and news in the carousel
Even if you can't completely disable wallpaper change (for example, on some corporate versions of software), you can minimize its negative impact, and the main goal is to remove advertising content and news feeds.
In the carousel settings (via the Themes app or system menu), find the Content Settings or Receive Recommendations section, and disabling this option will stop downloading ad units and news widgets.
⚠️ Warning: Turning off ads completely won't take away the image change function unless the main service switch is turned off".
Also worth checking for permissions for system applications: Find the app list for "Carousel Services" or "Wallpaper Carousel" and deny them access to the Internet, which will physically prevent the phone from downloading new images or ads.
Problem Solving: If the function is not disabled
Sometimes users are faced with a situation where after turning off all the switches, the wallpaper continues to change, this can be caused by caching old data or conflicting system processes.
The first step in that case is to clean the app data. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps. Find Wallpaper Carousel or Wallpaper Carousel on the list.
Click on Memory and select Clean (or Reset) and don’t worry, it won’t delete your personal photos, it will only reset your system service settings.
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Resetting application data is the most effective way to fix bugs when settings are not saved after a reboot.
Once cleaned, check the main feature switch again. If persists is a problem, try just restarting the device. In rare cases, a temporary change in region in the phone settings helps.
Static wallpaper setting instead of carousel
Once the automatic change is disabled, the last image uploaded or the standard background will remain on the lock screen, and you can replace it with any photo you have.
To do this, go to Settings → Wallpaper. Here you can select an image from the gallery, download a new one from the online catalog, or use live wallpaper (if performance allows).
It's important to distinguish between lock screen wallpaper and desktop wallpaper, so you can set different images for those two zones, and make sure that when you select a photo, you click Apply for the lock screen.
⚠️ Attention: When installing too heavy images (e.g, 4K Photos) on weak devices may have a slight delay when unlocking.
Using a static background not only eliminates advertising, but also saves battery power, since the processor does not need to constantly decode new images and download data from the network.