How to remove ads from the gallery Xiaomi Redmi 9

Owners of budget and mid-budget smartphones of the Chinese brand often face intrusive ads that appear in system applications. Especially annoying is the situation when you open the Gallery to view photos, and instead of pictures see pop-up banners or news recommendations. This is not a bug, but part of the monetization embedded in the shell of MIUI, but users of Redmi 9 have every right to disable these functions for comfortable use of the device.

Advertising on Xiaomi is broadcast through a special service MSA (MIUI System Ads), which collects data about your actions and selects content. Complete disabling of advertising requires a comprehensive approach: it is not enough to close one window, you need to change several parameters in hidden menus and system settings. In this article, we will discuss all the proven ways that will help you clean the interface of visual noise without obtaining root rights.

It is worth noting that the procedure may vary slightly depending on the version of the firmware installed, whether it is a global version or a Chinese build. Before you start manipulating, make sure that your Redmi 9 is connected to the Internet, as some settings require synchronization with the server to take effect. If you want to return a pure Android-like experience, follow each step carefully.

Disabling recommendations in the Gallery

The first and most obvious step is to set up the internal menu of the Gallery app, which is where most cards appear with suggestions to download games or watch news. First, open the app and go to the Albums section, where the main tape is usually based.

In the upper right corner of the screen, you'll see a three-dot or gear icon that opens the settings menu, and you'll need to find the "Receiving Recommendations" or "Recommendation Carousel" item, and the Tumbler next to this item should be put in an inactive state, which will turn off the download of advertising content directly inside the photo viewing interface.

Also worth noting is the About section inside the gallery settings, which sometimes hides a separate switch called Get Recommendations. If you want to be sure, check all the menu tabs, including the hidden subsections that are available at long press.

After changing these settings, the interface may become a little empty, but this is exactly what you need for a fast work. MIUI will stop loading heavy advertising modules, which will positively affect the speed of opening the application and battery consumption.

Global MSA Service Shutdown

MSA (MIUI System Ads) is the main source of advertising throughout Xiaomi’s system, including Gallery, Explorer and Menu. To effectively combat advertising, you need to deactivate this system component.

Inside this section, scroll through the list to Access to Personal Data or Authorization and Security. In the list of system services that opens, find msa. You need to turn off the slider opposite this name. The system will alert you that some features may stop working correctly, and ask you to wait 10 seconds before confirming.

⚠️ Attention: When disconnected MSA The system may show errors several times in a row or try to automatically turn the service back on. Do not give up, repeat the shutdown until the timer expires and the switch is fixed in the "Off" position».

After successful MSA disabling, the ads should disappear not only in the Gallery, but also in other standard applications, but if after a while you notice the return of banners, the procedure will have to be repeated, since some firmware versions have the property of reactivating this service after a reboot.

It is important to understand that disabling MIUI System Ads does not affect the operation of the basic functions of the phone, such as calls or messages.This is only an advertising module, and deactivating it is safe for the stability of your Redmi 9 operating system.

Set up personalized advertising

Even after the main services are disabled, Xiaomi continues to collect your interests through the personalization service. To stop this process, you need to go to the privacy settings. Go to Settings → Password and Security → Privacy.

At the bottom of the screen, look for Advertising Services or Advertising Services, and inside you'll see a Personalized Advertising switch that needs to be turned off, which prevents the system from using your data to target ads.

Then, in the same menu, a button is often available, "Reset Ad ID," and clicking on it generates a new random ID, breaking the link to a previously collected user profile. Although this does not remove the ads completely, it becomes less intrusive and more random.

Don’t ignore this step, as it is an important part of protecting your digital privacy, and in today’s world, collecting location and preference data is becoming more aggressive, and manually locking those channels is the best way to control it.

Using DNS to block

One of the most effective methods of combating advertising at the system level is the use of private DNS (Private DNS), which does not require the installation of third-party applications and works at the network connection level, blocking requests to known ad servers.

To set up, go to Settings → Connection and Sharing → Private DNS. The default value is “Auto.” Select “DNS Provider Host Name” (or “Manual”) and enter the trusted blocker address. AdGuard is the most popular and proven solution.

In the field for input, the following line must be entered:

dns.adguard.com

Once you enter the address, save the settings. The system can interrupt the Internet connection for a second, then restore it with new parameters. If the address is entered correctly, a key icon or the words "Private DNS" may appear in the status bar.

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Using Private DNS is a “silver bullet” to block ads that works in all apps at once, including those where you can’t turn off banners with settings.

It is worth considering that this method may conflict with some public Wi-Fi networks that require authorization through a browser, and in such situations (for example, in a cafe or airport), the DNS will have to be temporarily returned to Auto mode.

Cleaning cache and system application data

Sometimes changes to your settings don't take effect immediately because of cached data. To ensure that you remove the ad residue from the Gallery, you have to force the system components to clear, which is especially true if you've tried to change something before, but the result was incomplete.

Go to Settings → Apps → All Apps. Search the Gallery app in the list. Click on it and select Memory. Here you click Clear and select Clear All (or Clear Data).

⚠️ Note: Cleaning up the Gallery app data will not delete your photos and videos, as they are stored in a separate memory folder, but you may reset your album design settings or sorting order.

Then go back to the list of all the apps and find the Service and Feedback (or "Mi Credit", "Mi Video" if any). They also want to clean the cache, which will delete temporary files that may have saved the ad scripts.

After all the cleanups are done, be sure to restart your smartphone. The reboot is necessary to re-initialize services without the old ad modules. On Redmi 9, this process takes about a minute.

Alternative solutions and application replacement

If Xiaomi’s built-in Gallery continues to annoy you with its functionality or hidden interface elements, the most radical and effective solution is to replace the standard application with a third-party counterpart. There are many great galleries in the Google Play Store that are devoid of advertising and work faster.

Popular options are Google Photos, Simple Gallery (or its forks, as the original was absorbed by the corporation), and AGallery.These apps are open source or have a strict privacy policy, which excludes pop-ups.

• 📸 Google Photos – deep integration with Android, cloud storage, smart object search.
• 🎨 Simple Gallery Pro – minimalist design, built-in editor, password protection.
• ⚡ QuickPic – legendary lightness, instant launch, support for all formats.

After installing a new gallery, the system may ask what to open the default images. Select a new app and click "Always." The standard Xiaomi gallery will remain in the system as a backup, but will only be used on your direct request.

Using alternative software often solves the problem once and for all, as you are completely out of the MIUI advertising services ecosystem in a particular usage segment, giving you complete control over your viewing of media files.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)