How to completely remove advertising on the Xiaomi smartphone: step-by-step instructions 2026

Advertising in Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones has become one of the most annoying features of MIUI firmware. Even after buying the device, users encounter banners in the settings menu, notifications from system applications and advertising inserts in standard utilities like Browser or Music. The manufacturer explains this by the need for monetization, but for most owners, such a “pay for cheapness” of the smartphone seems unjustified.

In this article, we will look at all the current ways to remove ads on Xiaomi, from basic MIUI settings to advanced methods using ADB and third-party tools. It is important to understand that some methods require unlocking the bootloader or superuser rights, which can affect the warranty. We will specify the risks and alternatives for each option so that you can choose the best path.

If you are using a smartphone based on Android One (for example, Xiaomi Mi). A1/A2/A3), advertising in the system is not by default - the problem is characteristic only for devices with firmware MIUI (Before starting, we recommend backing up your data through Settings. → Google → Backup.

1. disable personalized advertising in MIUI settings

The easiest and safest way to reduce the amount of ads is to deactivate personalized ads in the system menu, which will not remove banners completely, but will reduce their number by 30-50%, suitable for all Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO models on MIUI 12-14 and HyperOS.

Instructions:

• 📱 Open the Settings. → Google → Advertising.
• 🔄 Switch the slider "Disable personalized advertising" in the active position.
• 🔍 Return to the main settings menu and go to Settings → Annexes → Application management → All applications.
• 🔍 Find the "Msa" app (or "MIUI System Ads in newer versions, open it and click Disable (if the button is active).

After these actions, the ads in the system notifications and some standard applications (such as Weather or Themes) should disappear.However, banners in the Browser, Music and Downloads will remain - additional steps will be required to remove them.

⚠️ Note: Some models (e.g. Redmi Note 10 Pro) POCO X3 Pro) the application “Msa” may not be listed, in which case proceed to the following method.

2 Manual disabling of advertising in standard applications

Many Xiaomi system utilities have built-in ad modules that can be manually deactivated, and below is a list of apps with instructions for disabling banners, a method that does not require root rights and is suitable for most devices.

If your app does not have menu items, then the MIUI version does not support manually disabling ads, in which case only removing the application through ADB or installing alternative programs from Google Play will help.

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You can use alternatives like Google Chrome or Firefox for the Browser app, where there are no default ads, and YouTube Music or Spotify will do the same for Music.

3. Removal of Advertising through ADB (without root rights)

The Android Debug Bridge (ADB) method allows you to disable system advertising services without obtaining root rights.This is an official tool from Google, but its application can cause malfunctions in some MIUI functions. Before you start, make sure that your PC has drivers for Xiaomi and USB debugging enabled.

Step-by-step:

1. 🖥️ Connect your smartphone to your computer through USB-cable.
2. 🔧 Enable Developer Mode: Go to Settings → About the phone and 7 times click on the version MIUI.
3. 🔧 Back to Settings → Additionally. → For developers and activate the "Debugging by" USB".
4. 💻 On PC, open the command line (Win) + R → cmd and enter:

adb devices

(Your device name should appear. If not, install the drivers.)

adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.miui.systemAdSolution

adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.xiaomi.midrop

adb shell pm hide com.android.browser

These commands will remove the main ad modules and hide the standard browser (if not in use). Once executed, restart the smartphone. Advertising in the settings and notifications should disappear.

⚠️ Note: Some models (e.g. Xiaomi) 12T or Redmi K50) In this case, use pm uninstall, but this will completely remove the application, which can affect the stability of the system.

4. Use of third-party utilities (with root rights)

If the previous methods didn't work, and you already have root rights, you can use specialized utilities to deep clean the system.

• 🛠️ AdAway is a host-level ad blocker that requires Magisk or root.
• 🧹 MIUI Hidden Settings – reveals hidden settings MIUI, including options to disable advertising.
• 🔍 App Inspector – Helps you find and remove advertising packages manually.

Example of working with AdAway:

1. Install Magisk (if not already installed).
2. Download AdAway from the official F-Droid repository.
3. Open the application and click Download files and apply.
4. Reset the device.

Important: Using AdAway may disrupt some Xiaomi system services, such as Air Updates (OTA) or cloud backup. Check compatibility with your model before using it.

5. Switch to custom firmware (for experienced users)

If you’re willing to take drastic measures, installing custom firmware (like LineageOS, Pixel Experience, or ArrowOS) will completely remove ads and unnecessary Xiaomi services.

• ⚠️ Requires unlocking the bootloader, which resets the device to factory settings.
• ⚠️ It may disrupt some functions, for example, NFC or IR-blaster).
• ⚠️ It is not guaranteed (if it is still valid).

Step-by-step process:

1. Unlock the bootloader through the official Xiaomi tool (Mi Unlock Tool).
2. Install custom Recovery (TWRP or OrangeFox).
3. Download the right firmware for your model from the XDA Developers or 4PDA forum.
4. Sweep the firmware through the recovery, first making a full wipe (cleaning the Dalvik, Cache, System, Data partitions).

After installing custom firmware, there will be no advertising in principle, but you will have to manually configure many of the features that work out of the box in MIUI (for example, Double Apps or Read Mode).

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Custom firmware gives you full control of the device, but requires technical skills. For beginners, it is recommended to start with root-free methods (ADB or MIUI settings).

Alternative methods: VPN and DNS-filtering

If you don't want to interfere with system files, you can block Xiaomi's ad servers at the network level.

• 🌐 DNS-Filtering with NextDNS or AdGuard DNS.
• 🔒 VPN Ad-blocking (e.g. ProtonVPN or AdGuard) VPN).

Instructions for NextDNS:

1. Register on the NextDNS website.
2. Create a configuration with enabled blocks for the domains miui.com, ad.xiaomi.com and tracker.xiaomi.com.
3. On your phone, go to Settings → Wi-Fi → Additional → DNS settings and specify the address 45.90.28.167.

This method blocks the loading of banner ads at the Internet connection level, but does not affect local notifications (for example, in Topics or Cleanup).

7. Frequent mistakes and how to avoid them

When removing ads, users often face some common problems, and here are the most common ones and ways to solve them:

If after using any of the methods, the smartphone began to work unstable (for example, applications began to fly out or the Internet disappeared), reset the settings through Settings → System → Resetting. This will return the device to its original state without losing data (if system partitions were not affected).

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Before any manipulation of the system, check the compatibility of the methods with your Xiaomi model. POCO F3 Redmi Note 11 and some of them ADB-Teams work differently than Xiaomi 13.

FAQ: Answers to popular questions