Xiaomi and Redmi smartphone owners often face intrusive banner ads that appear in system applications, which are a fee for the affordable cost of the device, but many users prefer the comfort and cleanliness of the interface. Fortunately, the modern shell of MIUI allows you to significantly reduce the amount of visual noise without obtaining superuser rights.
The process of disabling ads does not require deep technical knowledge, but it requires attention to detail. You will have to go through several settings menus, since there is no single “Switch off all” button in the system.
In this article, we will take a detailed look at every step you need to clean your smartphone. We will touch not only on standard settings, but also on hidden features available through the engineering menu and DNS. Disabling the MSA service is a critical step, without which the rest of the settings may not have a full effect.
Disabling the MSA System Advertising Service
The primary source of pop-ups and banners in the interface is MSA (MIUI System Ads), which collects data about your actions and selects content for display, and to block it, you need to find the appropriate item in the authorization and advertising menu.
Go to your phone's settings and find the password and security section. The path may vary slightly depending on the MIUI version, but the logic remains the same. You need to find the "Ad Services" or "Ad Services" subsection.
In the menu that opens, you'll see the "Get recommendations" switch, which needs to be put inactive, the system can ask you several times about confirming an action, claiming that it will improve your experience, do not follow the tricks of the interface and safely agree to the shutdown.
⚠️ Attention: When you press the shutdown button, you get a 10 second countdown timer, which is an artificial delay designed to scare the user away. Just wait until the time ends and confirm the action again.
In some cases, the service may not shut down the first time because of network connection or cache issues. If the switch returns to its original position, try repeating the procedure by pre-switching off the Internet for a couple of seconds, which will cause the application to issue an authorization error and accept your request to disconnect.
☑️ Checking the shutdown MSA
Setup of system applications: Security and Explorer
Even after the main service is disabled, some embedded snails may continue to show offers, most often this is the Security application, which is the control center of the system, where ads may appear in the section of cleaning memory or scanning viruses.
Open the Security app and click on the gear icon in the top right corner, and you'll need to find the "Receive References" item and deactivate it, and it's also worth checking the About app section, which sometimes hides an additional switchboard called "Show Ads."
A similar situation is seen in standard Explorer. The file manager often offers to download games or applications at launch. To remove these banners, open the Explorer menu, go to settings and find "About the application".
Inside this menu, you have a "Get recommendations" switch, and when you turn it off, it's cleaner, and remember, system updates can reset those settings, so it makes sense to check them out after a major MIUI update.
- 📱 Open the Security app and click on the Settings gear.
- 🔍 Find the “Get recommendations” item and turn it off.
- 📂 In the Explorer app, go to the menu → About the annex → Turn off the recommendations.
- 🧹 In the Cleanup app, also check for the presence of advertising switches in the settings.
It is worth noting that in different regions of the firmware (Global, Chinese, Indian) the names of items may differ. If you do not find an exact match, look for the words "Recommendations", "Ads" or "Promotions".
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If you can’t find settings in the Security app, try clearing its cache through Settings → Apps → All Apps → Security → Clear the data.
Cleaning from advertising in the Themes and Browser app
Themes is one of the most aggressive sources of visual noise, and when you run an app, you get full-screen banners, and you have to go inside the app to get rid of them.
Click on the human icon in the lower right corner, then go to settings, and you need to find and disable the "Receive recommendations," "Show ads," and "Personal recommendations," and just a comprehensive disabling of all three parameters guarantees a clean interface.
The standard Mi Browser also requires a separate setup, which is often used as a source for news feeds and push notifications. Go to your browser settings, select Privacy & Security.
In this section, you need to disable Personal Recommendations and Site Notifications, and remove the tick from Get News if you don't use the built-in feed, which will significantly reduce the load on the processor and battery.
⚠️ Note: Third-party browsers like Chrome or Firefox don’t have built-in ads by default MIUI. Consider installing them if the standard browser seems too overloaded.
For users who are actively using widgets on the desktop, it is worth checking the settings of the Wallpaper Carousel widget, which can automatically change wallpaper and show advertising images, and you can turn it off in the lock screen settings or through the Themes app.
Blocking Advertising through Private DNS
One of the most effective ways to combat intrusive content is to use personal DNS, which blocks requests to known ad servers at the network level without requiring additional applications.
In modern versions of Android and MIUI, Private DNS is built into the system. You do not need root rights or complex manipulations with ADB. It is enough to enter the address of a special server in the appropriate settings field.
Go to the phone's settings menu, select Connect and Share or Wi-Fi. Find Private DNS-server (Private) DNS). Select the mode "Host Name of the provider" DNS» Enter the address dns.adguard.com.
dns.adguard.comOnce you save the settings, the phone may need to reboot or reconnect to the network, a method that not only removes banners in the interface, but also blocks ads in many free apps and games.
However, there are possible side effects: some applications that exist solely through advertising may stop working or run, and in rare cases, there may be problems connecting to public Wi-Fi networks that require authorization through a browser.
| Parameter | Meaning | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Regime. | Manual (Host Name) | Custom DNS entry mode |
| Server address | dns.adguard.com | Ad-blocking service |
| Impact on the battery | Minimum | It works at the network level. |
| Compatibility | Android 9.0+ | Support for Private DNS is required |
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Use of the DNS-filtering is the only way to remove ads from third-party apps without modifying them.
Personalization and advertising identifier
MIUI uses a unique advertising identifier to track your interests, and resetting or disabling this identifier helps break the link between your actions and the ads you show, an important step to increase privacy.
Find the Passwords and Security or Privacy section in the settings. Inside the Privacy menu, scroll down to Advertising Services. Here you will see the option to Reset Advertising ID.
Regularly resetting this setting prevents advertisers from building a full user profile, but for maximum effect, it is also recommended to disable the personalization of advertising in the Google account.
Go to Google’s settings on your phone, select Ads, and activate “Disable Ad Personalization,” which applies to all apps that use Google’s targeting services.
- 🔐 Go to Settings. → Passwords and security → Confidentiality.
- 🆔 Click on “Advertising Services” and select “Reset Advertising ID».
- 📉 In Google settings, enable the option to opt out of personalized advertising.
- 🔄 Repeat the reset procedure once a month for better protection.
You don't expect ads to disappear completely after these actions, they'll become less intrusive and less relevant to your interests, but you can only completely remove them using the complex methods described above.
Why do you need an advertising ID?
Additional settings and frequently asked questions
There are a few other places in the system where ads may be hiding, such as the Downloads app often shows recommendations at the bottom of the screen, go to its settings and turn off the Receive Recommendations option.
Also worth checking is the Music app, which in the player's settings, in the Advanced Settings section, often activates the "Show Ads" item, which will make listening to music more enjoyable.
If you use the App Vault widget to the left of the home screen, go to its settings and turn off "Receive References" and "Cards," which will remove news junk that is often downloaded from Chinese sources.
Remember that after each major update to the MIUI firmware, some settings may return to factory values.