How to remove ads on the lock screen Xiaomi Redmi Note

Owners of Redmi Note and other Xiaomi models often encounter intrusive banner ads that appear at the most inopportune moment, especially annoying ads on the lock screen that block notifications and prevent quick access to the device. It is not a virus, but a built-in shell function. MIUI, budgetary.

Fortunately, the system allows for flexible management of these settings, although manufacturers have hidden them quite deep in the menu, and getting rid of marketing content requires several actions to be performed consistently, affecting system services and applications.

In this article, we will take a look at all the known ways to help you clean the interface of unnecessary visual noise, learn how to turn off the MSA service, adjust personalization options and block third-party applications that generate banners.

Analysis of the source of advertising banners

Before you take any action, you need to understand the nature of the unwanted content. In most cases, the MIUI System Ads (msa) system service is responsible for pop-ups, which collects data about your preferences and broadcasts targeted advertising in different sections of the interface.

But it can be more than system components that cause the problem, and users often install applications that embed their widgets or full-screen ads on top of the lock screen, such as memory cleaners, accelerators, or questionable antiviruses.

It's also important to distinguish advertising from wallpaper carousel, which is Xiaomi's regular service that changes the background image and shows news or suggestions from partners every time you turn on the screen, and the mechanism for turning it off is different from blocking system advertising.

⚠️ Before making changes to system services, make sure the device is at least 30% charged to avoid accidentally resetting when the battery is discharged.

Understanding what type of advertising you are concerned about – a system banner, app recommendation or wallpaper change – will allow you to choose the most effective method of solving the problem and not disable the extra one.

Disabling MSA and system advertising

The most effective way to combat intrusive offers is to deactivate the msa service, a process that is responsible for displaying ads throughout the system, including the lock screen.The procedure requires care, as the system will try to interfere with your decision.

To start, open your smartphone settings and find the Password and Security section. In some versions of MIUI, it may simply be called "Security." Inside this menu, you need to go to Access to Personal Data or Authorization and Privacy.

In the application list that opens, find msa (MIUI System Ads). Switch the slider to "Switched Off," the system will issue a warning that some features may stop working, and start a countdown of 10 seconds.

When the timer expires, press the Disable button. If the first time fails and there is an error, try again 2-3 times. Often it takes several attempts for the server to receive the command to disable.

Next, disable ad personalization. Go back to the main settings menu, select Password and Security → Privacy → Advertising Services. Here you need to deactivate the option Ad Personalization. This will prevent the system from using your data to select ads.

Customization of personalization parameters and Carousel

Often users confuse conventional advertising with the "Wallpaper Carousel" feature, which automatically uploads beautiful images and shows short news on a locked screen, and if you change pictures and you have "Like" or "Detail" buttons, then this feature is activated.

To remove this type of content, go to Settings → Lock screen. Find Wallpaper Carousel or Glance for Xiaomi. Inside the menu, just turn off the wallpaper carousel switch.

If you want to leave the wallpaper change but remove the advertising buttons and news, go to the settings of the Carousel itself, where you can turn off the recommendation and lock screens from partners, but completely disabling the feature guarantees a clean screen.

Also worth checking the recommendations settings in the application folders. Go to Settings → Desktop and find the Receive Recommendations option. Disabling it will remove the proposed applications that often appear in the folders on the home screen.

Identification and removal of third-party viruses

If after disabling all system services, advertising on the Redmi Note lock screen continues to appear, most likely, the third-party application is to blame. Often such programs are disguised as useful utilities: flashlights, scanners. QR-code-play.

Pay attention to the behavior of the phone. If the ads pop up randomly, even when you're not using the phone, or when you unlock them, they show up on the whole screen, and that's a sign of malware, and these apps often don't have an icon on the menu to go undetected.

To identify the culprit, open the running app manager (a menu button or a swipe from the bottom up) and when an ad appears without closing it, go to the list of running processes, and find the app with a suspicious or blank name that was activated when the banner appeared.

• 🔍 Check the list of installed applications for programs without a name or with a transparent icon.
• 📉 Analyze battery consumption: ad viruses often actively use the screen and network.
• 🗑️ Remove newly installed apps, especially “cleaners” and “boosters".

Find a suspicious item? Go to Settings → Apps → All apps. Find the culprit in the list and click Delete. If the delete button is inactive, press Other permissions first and disable display over other windows.

Blocking Advertising through DNS (Advanced)

For more advanced users who want to get the most out of it, there is a way to block ads at the network level, using a private DNS allows you to filter traffic and avoid skipping requests to ad servers.

This method does not require the installation of additional applications and works for most programs. DNS-Ad-blocking servers, such as AdGuard, go to Connect and Sharing (or "More" in your phone settings").

Find a private item DNS (Private DNS). Select the mode "Host Name of the provider" DNS" and type in the address: dns.adguard.com. Save settings. Now all requests to known ad networks will be blocked at the system level.

dns.adguard.com

This method is effective against browser advertising and many applications, but it will not remove the MIUI system banners, as they come from the manufacturer’s own domains, so it is better to use this method in conjunction with disabling the msa service.

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Use flight mode to check: to make sure that the ads are networked, turn on the air mode. If the banners are missing, then the application downloads them from the Internet, and DNS-filtering will help.

If you notice problems with the operation of individual applications, DNS can be temporarily switched to Auto or Off mode.

Resetting and extreme measures

In the rare cases where advertising is caused by a deep system failure or the introduction of malicious code that cannot be removed by standard methods, a complete reset may be required, a radical measure that should be resorted to last.

Before you reset, make sure to back up all your important data: contacts, photos and documents. The Wipe Data process will completely clean up your phone’s internal memory, returning it to the “out of the box” state.

To perform the reset, go to Settings → About Phone → Settings Reset → Erase all data. The device will request an unlock password and confirmation of operation. Once rebooted, the phone will be clean, with no third-party debris.

⚠️ Warning: Do not restore applications from backup immediately after reset, install them one at a time, so as not to return the source of the ads with the data.

If, even after a complete reset and without installing third-party programs, the ad appears again, this may indicate a hardware problem or a modified firmware, in which case it is recommended to flash the device through the computer using the official Xiaomi Flash Tool utility.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Integrated approach including shutdown MSA, customization and installation DNS-The filter guarantees complete elimination of advertising on your Redmi Note.