Xiaomi smartphones, including the popular Redmi 9A model, are known for their excellent value for money, but users are often annoyed by intrusive advertising built into the shell of MIUI. This is a systemic phenomenon designed to compensate for the low cost of the device, but it can significantly reduce the comfort of using the gadget. Fortunately, most advertising mechanisms can be manually deactivated without resorting to complex technical manipulation or installing third-party software.
In this article, we will discuss in detail all the available ways to eliminate advertising debris, from simple settings in the menu to disabling system services. Complete removal of advertising will not only speed up the interface, but also save mobile Internet traffic. It is important to perform actions consistently, since some settings can be hidden in different parts of the system.
MSA Disconnection: The Main Source of Advertising
The main tool for displaying ads in the system is the system application MIUI System Ads (msa), which is the process that collects data about your actions and generates personalized offers. To get started, you need to go to the basic settings of the smartphone and find the section responsible for passwords and security, and here is the key switch that you need to deactivate.
Find Authorization and Security and go to Advertising Services or MSA. In the window that opens, you will see a slider that is active by default. Click on it to turn it off and wait 10 seconds until the confirmation button is active. Disabling MSA is the first and most important step that blocks the main channel of receiving banners.
⚠️ Warning: If after the first press the system gives an error or writes “failed to disable”, repeat the attempt. 2-3 Xiaomi servers sometimes temporarily block the request to disconnect, but with repeated attempts, the operation usually goes well.
After a successful shutdown, it is recommended to restart the device so that the changes take effect at the level of all system processes. This action does not remove the components necessary for the phone to work, but only prevents them from showing commercial content. In some versions of the firmware, the path may be slightly different, but the keyword for searching in the settings will always remain msa or advertising.
☑️ Checking the shutdown MSA
Setup of system applications and folders
Even after the main service is disabled, individual embedded apps can continue to show ad units, primarily for standard Explorer, Music and Video. To remove banners from the explorer, open the app, click on the menu (three bars) and select Settings. Find the About or Advanced Settings section and turn off the Receive Recommendations option.
The same is true of the MIUI Music system player and video player, and go to the settings of each of these apps, find Receive References or Online content, and put the switch inactive, which will prevent apps from downloading news feeds and promotional offers, making the interface clean and functional.
Desktop folders deserve special attention. When creating folders with applications, MIUI often adds a "Recommended Apps" block at the bottom. To get rid of it, open the folder, click on its name to make the input bar appear, and just disable the "Recommendations" slider under the search bar. Now the folders will only contain shortcuts of your programs.
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If you don’t use Xiaomi’s standard apps (Music, Video, Explorer), you can simply remove or disable them through your app settings, replacing them with analogues from Google Play.
Notifications from System Security Tools
Security is another powerful source of intrusive notifications that are often disguised as important system messages. There are a lot of marketing activities hidden inside the app. Open Security, click on the top-right gear and find the General Settings section.
Next, in the same security settings menu, look for Notifications, and check the “Important Warnings” and “Recommendations” boxes if they are active, and users often ignore this section, thinking that these are system virus alerts, but in fact they are just distribution channels for content from Xiaomi partners.
It’s also worth checking the memory cleaner settings inside the Security app. Sometimes, after the scan is completed, an ad banner may appear. Make sure that the scan settings turn off downloading updates to virus definitions over the mobile network if you want to save traffic, even though this is not direct advertising.
| MIUI component | Where to look for settings | What to turn off |
|---|---|---|
| Systemic advertising | Settings -> Passwords and Security -> MSA | The Advertising Services slider |
| Conductor | Explorer -> Settings -> About the application | Receive recommendations |
| Security | Security -> Settings -> General | Receive recommendations |
| Downloads. | Downloads -> Settings (three points) | Receive recommendations |
Personalization and recommendations in topics
Themes is one of the most visually ad-packed parts of the shell. Here banners can appear on the store's home screen, in recommendations, and even in notifications. To turn off, open the Themes app, go to profile (a person's icon) and select Settings. Find and disable the Personal Recommendations and Show Ads options.
In addition, the theme settings often include Auto Update, which is also best turned off so that the phone does not load new designs without your knowledge, which is especially true when using mobile Internet, not only removes advertising, but also reduces the battery load of the Redmi 9A device.
Also, be sure to check the lock screen settings. The wallpaper carousel section (if active) can display advertising images. Go to Settings -> Lock screen and turn off the wallpaper carousel or adjust its frequency so that it does not interfere with smartphone use.
What if the store does not open without advertising?
Mi browser and notifications from sites
The standard Mi Browser browser is often a source of pop-ups and push notifications from visited sites. Even if you have disabled system advertising, the browser itself can continue to show news feeds and offers. Go to the browser settings (three dots), select Settings -> Privacy and security, and disable all items related to personalization and recommendations.
Pay special attention to notifications from sites. Many resources request permission to display notifications, and users often agree without reading. To prevent this, in the browser settings, find the Site Notifications section and clear the list of permissions or ban them completely, this will prevent pop-ups even when the browser is turned off.
If you don’t use Mi Browser, you can simply uninstall or disable it by installing an alternative, such as Chrome or Firefox, where the privacy settings are more transparent. However, if deletion is not possible, careful adjustment of the browser’s internal settings is necessary for comfortable operation.
Additional measures: DNS and special facilities
For those who want to guarantee ad blocking at the network level, you can use DNS (Private DNS).This method allows you to filter traffic and block requests to known ad servers. To do this, go to Settings -> Connection and Sharing -> Private DNS. Select the option "Host Name of the DNS provider" and enter the address of a reliable blocker, for example, dns.adguard.com.
Using Private DNS is not only effective in the browser, but also in many applications that try to load advertising modules, but it is worth remembering that if the selected DNS server stops working, the Internet on the phone may disappear.
Also worth checking is the Accessibility section, where sometimes after installing third-party apps, permissions for suspicious services appear, which can inject ads into other windows, and go through the list and turn off all apps you don't understand or need.
⚠️ Attention: When entering an address DNS A single letter error (e.g. dns.adguad.com) will cause the Internet to stop working on the device.
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The combination of disabling MSA, setting up system applications and using Private DNS gives almost 100% guarantee of no advertising in the Xiaomi Redmi 9A.