How to completely remove the widget tape on Xiaomi Redmi 9: disable, hide and remove

Xiaomi Redmi 9 is one of the most popular budget smartphones, but its MIUI shell doesn’t always suit users. One of the most annoying features is the widget tape to the left of the home screen, which takes up space, slows the system and often opens accidentally. Unlike other manufacturers, where this feature can be disabled in two clicks, in MIUI developers have hidden the settings or completely removed the ability to deactivate in new versions.

In this article, we’ll take a look at all the working ways to remove the widget tape on Redmi 9 (relevant to MIUI 12, 13 and 14), including hidden settings, ADB workarounds, and even radical methods for power users. You’ll also learn why the tape can spontaneously return after updates and how to avoid it. If you’re tired of unnecessary news, weather and recommendations, read on.

Why Widget Ribbon Gets Into Hand and Can It Be Removed Without Root

The MIUI widget tape (aka Minus One Screen or Negative Screen) was originally conceived as a convenient tool for quick access to information.

• 📱 Takes up extra space in memory – background processes of the tape consume up to 100-150 MB of RAM.
• ⏳ The interface is slowed down – especially noticeable on Redmi 9 modestly 3/4 GB RAM.
• 🎯 Opens accidentally when swiping left, which is annoying in games or apps.
• 📵 Collects data to show personalized news and advertising.

Can you remove it without root rights? Yes, but with reservations:

• ✅ V MIUI 12 and older have a hidden setting (see section below).
• ✅ Through ADB You can turn off the tape forever, but it requires a PC.
• ❌ On some firmware (for example, MIUI 14 Global) the standard method does not work - you need to use workarounds.

⚠️ Attention: After update MIUI To avoid this, disable automatic system updates in Settings → The phone. → Updating the system.

Method 1: Disable the tape through hidden MIUI settings (without PC)

The easiest method is to use the built-in shutdown feature that Xiaomi has hidden in the depths of settings, which works on most versions of MIUI 12-14, but may not be available on some regional firmware (such as Indian ROM).

Step-by-step:

1. Open your phone settings (⚙️ Settings).
2. Go to the Home section (or the desktop in some versions).
3. Switch to the option Additional settings (may be called Advanced).
4. Find the option “Negative Screen” and turn off the slider.
5. Confirm the action by pressing OK in the window that appears.

If there is no one screen, try an alternative path:

1. Click the empty seat on the home screen → select Home Screen Settings.
2. Scroll down and find Minus One Screen or Ribbon Widgets.

If you don't have the option at all, your firmware doesn't support shutting down via the menu, so go to the ADB method (Section 3).

⚠️ Attention: On some firmware (MIUI 13.5+ If you turn off the tape, the weather on the lock may disappear. To return it, restart the phone.

Method 2: Remove widgets manually (if the tape remains empty)

If you don't need the tape itself, but you don't want to remove it radically, you can clean all the widgets and leave the screen blank. This method won't take the swipe left, but it will make it useless (and less annoying).

How to remove all widgets:

1. Swipe left on the main screen to open the tape.
2. Press any widget (such as weather or news) and drag it up to the Remove (or Remove) label.
3. Repeat for all widgets, including Google Search and Mi-account.
4. If the widget is not removed, click on ⚙️ Settings in the upper right corner of the tape and turn off its display.

After that, the tape will remain, but it will be empty. MIUI The widgets can be returned automatically.

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If the widget isn’t removed in the standard way, try disabling it in Settings → Applications → Application Management, find an app (like Mi Browser) and stop it from showing widgets.

Method 3: Completely disabling the tape via ADB (for power users)

If previous methods didn't work, there's a radical way to go through ADB, which permanently removes the widget tape, but requires a computer connection and basic command line knowledge.

What you need:

• 🖥️ Computer with Windows/macOS/Linux.
• 🔌 USB Type C C Cable (original).
• 📱 Included debugging by USB phone-on.
• 🛠️ Utility. ADB (download from the official website).

Step-by-step:

1. Turn on USB debugging: Go to Settings → About Phone. Tap 7 times on MIUI to activate Developer Mode. Go back to Settings → Additional → For Developers. Activate USB debugging and confirm permission.

Connect your phone to your PC:

• Download and unpack ADB (platform-tools folder).
• Open Command Prompt (cmd) in this folder (Shift + PCM → Open PowerShell window here).
• Enter the command: Adb devices If the phone is connected correctly, you will see its serial number.
• Disable the widget tape: adb shell pm hide com.miui.miservice For MIUI 14, you may need: adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.miui.miservice
• Reboot your phone: adb reboot

After these commands are executed, the widget tape will disappear forever, but some system functions may stop working (for example, the weather on the lock screen).

⚠️ Note: pm hide and pm uninstall don't delete the app completely, they just hide it for the current user. When you reset the phone, the tape will return.

Method 4: Use of a third-party launcher (alternative)

If you don't want to mess with settings or ADB, you can just replace the standard launcher with a third-party one, which doesn't physically remove the widget tape, but it makes it unavailable because the new launchers don't support it.

The best launchers for Xiaomi Redmi 9:

• 🏆 Nova Launcher – flexible setup, no advertising, gesture support.
• 🎨 Lawnchair is lightweight, open source, similar to Pixel Launcher.
• ⚡ Hyperion Launcher – Optimized for weak smartphones (suitable for Redmi 9 with 3 GB of RAM).
• 🔄 Microsoft Launcher – Windows integration, minimalist design.

How to install and configure:

1. Download the launcher from Google Play (like Nova Launcher).
2. After installation, click Home and select the new launcher as default.
3. In the launcher settings, disable all unnecessary widgets and gestures.

Advantages of the method:

• ✅ Does not require rooting or ADB.
• ✅ You can return the standard launcher at any time.
• ✅ Many launchers save battery power by optimizing.

Disadvantages:

• ❌ Certain functions MIUI (For example, double-touch locking may not work.
• ❌ Update MIUI The launcher could drop.

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Side launcher is the safest way to remove the widget tape, but it doesn’t physically remove it, it just makes it inaccessible.

What to do if the widget tape returned after the update

One of the most common problems is that the widget tape reappears after the MIUI update, which is because the system restores the hidden default settings. Here's how to avoid this:

Ways to prevent the return of the tape:

• 🔄 Turn off automatic update: Settings → The phone. → Updating the system → ⚙️ → Auto-update (Off.).
• 📥 Block updates through ADB: adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.android.updater
• 🔧 Use Magisk modules: For root users, there are modules like MIUI Negative Screen Remover (available in the XDA Developers).
• 🔄 Reset the launcher settings: After the update, go to Settings → Annexes → Launcher and press Erase Data.

If the tape has already returned:

1. Repeat the method with ADB (Section 3).
2. Or install the side launcher (section 4).
3. In extreme cases, make a reset (Settings → Additional → Restore and Reset), but this will delete all data.

FAQ: Frequent questions about the widget tape on Redmi 9