How to remove ads on Xiaomi phone: the complete guide

Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO have traditionally been a great value for money, but in recent years, one of the main complaints about the shells of MIUI and the new HyperOS has become intrusive advertising. The company’s built-in services are actively promoting content, applications and news that can annoy even experienced owners. Fortunately, in 2026 there are many proven ways to minimize or completely eliminate this digital noise, returning the device to the purity of the interface.

In this article, we will take a closer look at all the steps to disabling advertising mechanisms, from basic system settings to advanced methods through ADB. You don’t need to be a programmer to do these actions. We have prepared step-by-step instructions to help you clear the interface of banners, pop-ups and intrusive recommendations in standard applications. The process takes only 10-15 minutes, but the result is worth it.

It is worth noting that some methods require care, as they relate to system services. Before you start radical measures, make sure you understand the essence of the actions. Enabling Developer Mode or removing system packages is an effective but responsible step. Next, we will consider how to deactivate the MSA service and other advertising modules without risking the stability of your gadget.

Basic setting of advertising identifiers

The first and easiest step that every Xiaomi owner needs to do is to send statistics and advertising identifiers, which will not eliminate the ads completely, but will significantly reduce their personalization and frequency of appearance, and the system will stop tracking your interests to select targeted offers.

To start, go to Settings → Passwords & Security → Privacy → Advertising Services. Here you need to activate the “Disable Ad Personalization” switch. After that, click on the “Reset Ad ID” button. This action generates a new random ID, breaking the link to previously collected data about your preferences.

Then you should turn off the automatic sending of diagnostic data. Go to the Settings menu → Passwords and security → Use and diagnosis and turn off this item. Although this feature is formally designed to improve the system, it also transmits data about running applications that can be used to analyze user behavior.

⚠️ Note: After disabling these settings, the interface may not change instantly.The system takes time to apply the new privacy settings, so it can take up to 24 hours for personalized banners to disappear completely.

It is also important to check your settings for specific applications. In Settings → Passwords and Security → Special Options, find the “Access to Usage Data” section, where you should limit access to system services such as msa and Mi Video, if any, to prevent you from collecting information about which programs you use most.

Disabling MSA Service and System Advertising Modules

At the heart of Xiaomi’s advertising ecosystem is the MSA (MIUI System Ads) service, which is responsible for loading and displaying most banners on the system, and turning off this service is a critical step that every user who wants to get rid of ads must complete.

To disable MSA, follow Settings → Apps → All Apps. In the upper right corner, click on three dots and select Show System Processes. In the list, find the msa app. Click on it and select Disable. The system will alert you that this may affect other features, but for the average user it is safe.

There's a caveat: the Turn off button may be inactive (gray) at the first press, in which case wait 10 seconds and the button will become active. If that doesn't work, try turning off the Internet on your phone before you take action. After successfully disabling MSA, the number of ads in folders and on your desktop will be reduced by 90%.

⚠️ Note: Do not delete the msa application through third-party uninstallers unless you can restore the system. Standard shutdown through settings is the safest method that does not require root rights.

Beyond MSA, it’s worth checking out other system applications that can also stream content. Pay particular attention to MIUI Daemon and Mi Credit. For MIUI Daemon, the path is the same: Settings → Applications → All Apps → Show system processes → MIUI Daemon → Disable. This will stop background collection of user activity data.

After performing these actions, it is recommended to restart the device. Restart is necessary to ensure that all background processes associated with advertising are finally stopped, and the new settings take effect. You will immediately notice that the interface has become more responsive, as the system will no longer waste resources on downloading advertising modules.

Configuring standard applications: Browser, Explorer, Downloads

Ads in Xiaomi are often hidden inside the standard apps we use every day. Browser, Explorer and Download Manager are set up by default to show news feeds and recommendations. To remove these elements, you need to customize each application individually.

Start with Explorer. Open Explorer, click on the menu (three bars) and select Settings. Find About and quickly click on the app icon 5-6 times until the hidden settings menu appears. Turn off Receive Recommendations in the list that opens. There will be no news pop-ups in the app.

The Download Manager is similar: Open it, click three dots in the corner, select Settings, and find the Show Recommended Content switch. Disable it. This will remove the banner ads that often appear when you finish downloading files.

The most “loaded” advertising component is the standard Mi Browser. Here you need to perform several actions:

• 📱 Open the browser, go to the settings (three dots) → Settings → Confidentiality and security.
• 📱 Find the Security section and turn off Get recommendations».
• 📱 In the Home Page section, select Classic Version or disable News Feed to remove the endless stream of articles.
• 📱 In the phone notification settings, find the “Browser” and forbid him from sending push notifications.

If you don’t use a standard browser, it’s best not to open it at all after you buy your phone, so you don’t activate additional settings. Instead, install Chrome, Firefox or another alternative browser from the Play Market. This will also save battery life as the Mi Browser background processes will stop working.

Eliminating Advertising in Folders and on the Desktop

One of the most annoying features of the shell is that the recommended apps appear in folders on the desktop, so when you create a folder and put a few icons in there, the system automatically adds "recommended" apps marked with a "rec" icon to it, which is pure advertising, and you can get rid of it.

To turn off recommendations in folders, click and hold your finger on any folder on your desktop until the folder settings menu appears. In the window that opens, find the Recommended Apps (or Promoted Apps) switch and turn it off. Now, the folders will only show the apps you installed yourself.

It’s also worth checking the settings of the theme itself. Some third-party themes may contain embedded ads or widgets that stream content.

• 🎨 Go to the "Themes" app».
• 🎨 Click on the user profile (human icon) → Settings.
• 🎨 Turn off the options “Show Ads”, “Automatic Update Widgets” and “Personal Recommendations».

Another source of visual noise is the Glance widget, which constantly changes the wallpaper on the lock screen and shows the news. To remove it, go to Settings → Lock screen and select Wallpaper Carousel. Turn off the wallpaper carousel switch. Now the lock will have a static image.

Once you clean your desktop and folders, the interface will be much cleaner, so you won't accidentally open your ad apps to find the right program, and it will also improve the ergonomics of using your smartphone with one hand.

Disabling notifications from system services

Even after the basic services are disabled, some apps may continue to send notifications about hot offers, games or news, most often Mi Music, Mi Video, Cleanup and Security apps, and manually prevent them from sending notifications.

The most effective way is to turn off notifications globally for all questionable system applications. Go to Settings → Notifications and Status bar → Notification Management. Go through the list and find apps from Xiaomi (Mi GetApps, Mi Video, Mi Music, Cleaner).

Pay special attention to GetApps, which is the main channel for distributing ads. Go to its settings inside the app itself: click on profile → Settings → and disable all items related to notifications, auto-updates and personalization. Then disable notifications through the system menu, as described above.

The Security app also likes to notify you of “viruses” (which are often just cache) and offer speed up.

• 🛡️ Open the Security app».
• 🛡️ Click on the gear in the upper right corner.
• 🛡️ Find the section "General settings».
• 🛡️ Turn off “Receive recommendations” and “Notify about new features».

⚠️ Warning: Do not disable critical notifications such as Network Monitoring or Antivirus unless you are sure of their function.

After this procedure, your phone will stop vibrating and glowing on trifles, not only saving battery life, but also reducing digital stress, allowing you to focus on important things rather than constant distractions.

Advanced Method: Disabling Advertising through ADB

For users who want to be guaranteed to remove ads and are not afraid to work with a computer, there is a method of using ADB (Android Debug Bridge), which allows you to delete or freeze system packages that cannot be disabled through a normal interface, this is the only way to completely remove MSA components without root rights.

First, you need to include the debugging of USB. Go to Settings. → About the phone and press 7 times on the "Version" MIUI» (or "Version" OS»), To activate the developer mode, then on the menu. → For developers, include “Debugging by” USB».

Connect your phone to your computer with a cable. On your computer, download and unpack Platform Tools from the official Android website. Open the command prompt (cmd) in the tool folder and enter a command to check the connection:

adb devices

On the phone screen, a request for debugging permission will appear - click "Allow".

You can now remove the advertising packages, and you can type the following commands in turn:

adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.misys


adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.msa.global




adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.analytics




adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.android.browser

The first command removes the system service, the second - MSA advertising, the third - analytics, the fourth - the browser (optional).

This is the most effective method, but it requires caution. If you remove the extra, some of the phone's functions may stop working. However, all packets deleted through ADB can be returned by resetting to factory settings or using the adb shell cmd package install-existing command.

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Use the Xiaomi ADB/Fastboot Tools for Windows – it has a graphical interface and allows you to remove ads with mouse clicks, without manually entering commands.

Once you've done the commands, reboot your phone, and you'll find that the system is faster and the ads are gone, including where they were, and that's a professional approach to customizing your device.

Comparison of methods and effectiveness table

There are many ways to combat advertising, but not all of them are equally effective, some take time, others take technical skills, and here is a table that will help you choose the best method based on your needs and level of training.

As you can see from the table, the combination of methods is the best thing to do: Start by disabling MSA and setting up apps, it will cover 90% of the needs of the average user, and leave ADB to the last resort if you are annoyed by even the smallest manifestations of marketing.

Remember that after major system updates (for example, switching from MIUI 14 to HyperOS 2.0), settings may be reset. Periodically check the status of the msa service and the availability of new advertising options in updated applications. Regular monitoring will help keep the phone clean.

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A comprehensive approach combining disabling system services and manually configuring apps is the gold standard for getting rid of ads on Xiaomi.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)