How to Remove Changing Screensavers on Xiaomi: The Complete Guide

Many Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphone owners are facing intrusive behavior when they unlock a device instead of a static image, a flashy news picture or video is displayed. This is not an operating system bug, but rather specially implemented services like Glance or Mi Video, which developers believe are designed to improve the user experience by providing content “here and now.”

Compounding the problem, the settings that control this feature are often hidden in different menu sections or disguised as “personalization.” Depending on the version of the MIUI shell or the new HyperOS, the shutdown algorithm may vary slightly, but the basic principle remains the same. Completely disabling changing wallpaper requires deactivating multiple services at once, as they can duplicate each other. In this guide, we will discuss all possible ways to regain control over the appearance of the lock screen.

Before we go deep into the system, we need to understand what causes the change in images, and most often the culprit is Glance, which is pre-installed on many global firmware versions, or Wallpaper Carousel in older versions. Sometimes the changes are caused by third-party themes that the user has identified before. Understanding the source of the problem is the first step to solving it. Further instructions will help you consistently eliminate each of the possible triggers.

Disabling Glance service on the lock screen

The most common reason for newsfeeds and changing images when you turn on the screen is Glance, a component developed by InMobi and integrated into the system at the level of deep personalization settings, and to remove it, you need to find a hidden switch in the settings menu, usually through the partition responsible for the appearance and lock screen.

You'll need to open your smartphone settings and find the item associated with the lock screen. Depending on the firmware version, it can be simply called "lock screen" or be embedded in the "Wallpaper" section. Inside you'll see an option that activates Glance. Importantly, just changing the picture here is not enough, you need to switch the slider to an inactive state to prevent downloading content from the Internet.

After the main service is disabled, the system may suggest leaving some features, such as showing notifications. Be careful when choosing, as sometimes the "Leave recommendations" checkbox will reactivate the service. If you want a fully static screen, turn off all associated options. In some cases, after that, you need to restart the device to take effect and the image cache is cleared.

• 📱 Open Settings and go to the Lock Screen section.
• 🔍 Find Glance or Wallpaper with a carousel and click on it.
• ❌ Transfer the switch to the off position (gray).
• 🔄 When a request appears, confirm the service shutdown and data cleanup.

It's worth noting that some global firmware versions for Redmi Note or POCO X may look different than the Glance settings interface, so instead of just a switch, you can open a separate menu with a news feed, so look for the Settings button right in the Glance interface or at the top of the lock screen when you have an active widget, and that's where the "Enable Glance" switch is hidden.

Managing the Wallpaper Carousel function

In older versions of the MIUI shell or on devices that have not been upgraded to new personalization standards, the Glance is analogous to the Wallpaper Carousel function, which works identically: it periodically loads high-resolution images when the screen is off. The shutdown mechanism is similar here, but the paths in the menu may differ. Often this feature is disguised as an innocuous name "Changing Wallpaper".

To access the carousel control, go to Settings → Wallpaper. Here, in the lower right or left corner (depending on the region), there is a gear icon or wallpaper carousel button. By clicking on it, you will be taken to the subscription management menu. The key is to turn off all active subscriptions, if any, and to prevent automatic updates. Without this step, the phone can continue to download pictures in the background even if the visual effect is disabled.

⚠️ Warning: Turning off the wallpaper carousel does not remove images already downloaded from the phone's memory. MIUI/wallpaper and take up space, so it is recommended to check the file manager after setting up.

If the standard path doesn't work, try searching by settings, type the word "carousel" or "Wallpaper Carousel" into the settings bar, and the system will tell you what menu item you want, especially for users who are confused in the many sections of MIUI 13 or 14, where menu structure changes frequently.

• 🖼️ Go to the Wallpaper or Wallpaper Settings and Personalization app.
• ⚙️ Click on the settings icon (cog) in the corner of the screen.
• 🚫 Find the option to Enable the wallpaper carousel and deactivate it.
• 🗑️ If necessary, clear the cache of the Wallpaper application through the application menu.

Sometimes users are faced with a situation when after turning off the carousel after a while it turns on again, this can occur after a major system update or when you install a new theme from the MIUI Themes store. Some themes take priority over system settings, in which case you need to check the settings of a particular installed theme or reset the theme to a standard ("Classic") to avoid a conflict of settings.

Setup of Mi Video app and autoplay

Special attention should be paid to the situation when instead of a static picture on a locked screen, a video is played on a locked screen, often responsible for the Mi Video app (also known as Mi Video Player or Xiaomi Video), which has a feature activated by default that allows you to use video as a screensaver, which greatly affects the autonomy of the device, since videoodecoding requires the resources of the processor.

To eliminate video savers, you need to open the Mi Video app itself. Not through the phone's settings, but through the desktop video player icon. In the player interface, find the "My" section or profile icon, then go to the settings. There's a section that's responsible for "Online Video" or "Recommendations on the lock screen." Disabling this item will prevent the application from broadcasting content to the lock screen.

If you can't find a setting through the application interface, you can use a more radical but effective method: disabling notifications and permissions for this application. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps, find Mi Video and limit its background activity. This will not remove the player, but will stop bothering you with video content.

The Impact of Themes and Third-Party Launchers

A third common but often overlooked reason for changing screensavers is third-party themes. The MIUI Themes store offers thousands of designs, and many of them have a built-in Dynamic Lock Screen feature. Even if you disable the system carousel, the theme can override those settings with its own image-change mechanism.

Check which theme is currently installed. If it's not a standard Classic or Untitled theme, go to the theme store description or theme management menu. There may be a "Apply Dynamic Lock Screen" switch. Deactivating this item will return a static image. If you can't find that setting, the surest way is to temporarily switch to a standard theme and check the behavior of the screen.

Also worth mentioning are third-party launchers and lock-in apps that the user could install on their own (such as HiLocker or various Screen Lockers from the Play Market) that completely replace the system lock screen, and to remove the change of screensavers in them, you need to look for settings inside the locker application itself, usually under "Wallpaper settings" or "Slideshow".

• 🎨 Open the Topics app and go to profile.
• 🔍 Check the active theme for the Dynamic Lock screen option.
• 🔄 Temporarily apply a standard theme to check.
• 📱 Check the list of installed apps for the presence of extraneous screen blockers.

⚠️ Note: Third-party themes may contain advertising modules that initiate wallpaper changes. If the problem occurs after you install a specific theme, delete it completely.

Hiding widgets and news on the lock screen

Users sometimes confuse wallpaper change with active widgets that appear on the lock screen. In MIUI and HyperOS, the lock screen can display weather widgets, pedometer, calendar or news feed Google Discover (or Yandex), these elements can create visual noise that is perceived as a “changing screensaver”.

To control the widgets on the locked screen, you need to go to the lock screen settings, there will be a section "Widgets on the lock screen" or "Clock format." By switching the format of the watch (for example, from digital to analog or "Classic"), you often remove the bottom area where the widgets are located, which makes the screen clean and static.

Separately, you can configure a left screen (Google or Yandex screen) that swipes right from the lock screen, and although it's not part of the lock screen itself, it often opens by accident. You can turn it off in the settings: Settings → Desktop → Additionally (or “Search string") → Select "No" or disable "Left screen".

Use of Ad Blockers and ADB (for Advanced)

In rare cases, especially on custom builds or specific regional versions, system services can be implemented so deeply that standard switches do not work or return to their original position, in which case more powerful tools come to the rescue. One effective method is the use of DNS-level ad blockers such as AdGuard or Blokada.

By installing this blocker and turning on protection, you can block access to the servers from which they load content, so you can add filtering rules to the blocker settings or simply turn on DNS protection, which will prevent new images from loading, and the screen will remain static.

For experienced users familiar with debugging ADB (Android Debug Bridge, there is the possibility of completely removing or "freezing" system packages responsible for the carousel. --user 0 com.miui.misystem (packet set may vary) allows you to deactivate system services. ADB-commands require caution, since incorrect disabling of system packages can lead to unstable operation of the interface.

adb shell pm list packages | grep glance


adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.glance.lockscreen

Before applying ADB commands, make sure that your computer has ADB drivers installed and your phone has USB debugging enabled.This method is extreme and is recommended only if Xiaomi’s regular funds have failed. In most cases, the settings from the first sections of the article are enough.

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