How to remove ads on the lock screen Xiaomi: the complete guide

Xiaomi smartphone owners often experience intrusive content that appears when the screen is activated. Instead of pure time and date, users see banner ads, news cards or suggestions to install apps. This phenomenon has become the standard for the MIUI shell and the new HyperOS, causing irritation for those who value minimalism.

Advertising integrations are built deep into system processes, but they are not critical to the operation of the device. System launcher and security services allow you to flexibly manage the display of items. If you want to regain control of your gadget, you need to change several parameters in the settings menu in a sequential manner, ignoring these steps will lead to constant unwanted notifications.

In this guide, we will look at all possible ways to clean the interface: we will touch on wallpaper settings, system advertising and third-party applications. Xiaomi regularly updates its interfaces, so the paths to settings may vary slightly depending on the firmware version. However, the general principle remains the same: find the source of content and block its access to the lock screen.

Setting up system wallpaper and Mi Pay cards

The most common source of garbage is the wallpaper carousel function, which automatically changes the background image and adds interactive widgets that often contain ads. To turn this off, go to Settings and find Always On and Lock screen, and this is where the main switch for dynamic content is hidden.

In the menu that opens, you need to find the wallpaper carousel option. Click on it to reveal additional options. You will see a switch that activates or deactivates this function. Once you turn off, the system will stop downloading new images from the network and showing advertising cards. The screen will become static, displaying only the photo you have installed.

⚠️ Warning: After the wallpaper carousel is turned off, the background images will no longer be updated automatically. If you like the feature of changing pictures, but annoying advertising, use the settings inside the carousel to filter sources.

Mi Pay and bank cards require special attention. Often they appear on a locked screen as fast payment buttons. To remove them, go to the Security app, then select Optimization. In the upper right corner, click on the settings icon (cogs) and find the Ads section. Turn off the Receive recommendations option. This action will globally reduce the number of ad integrations in all system utilities.

It's also worth checking the settings of the Security app itself. It can activate a clause that allows you to display device status notifications or offers on the lock screen. Disabling these options will make the screen cleaner. Remember that system services may require a reboot to apply changes.

Managing Notifications from Applications

Often users confuse system advertising with intrusive notifications from installed games or utilities. Some applications request permission to display information on a locked screen, which allows them to display their banners even when the phone is in their pocket, and control this process is in the notification management section.

Go to Settings → Notifications and Status bar → Notification management. This is a complete list of all installed programs. You need to analyze this list and identify suspicious applications. Usually these are free utilities, memory cleaners, flashlights or aggressive monetization games.

• 🔍 Click on the suspicious app and find the lock screen switch. If it's active, turn it off.
• 🚫 For applications you don’t use, it’s better to completely disable notifications by moving the slider to the off position.
• 📱 Look at apps with names like Clear Master, Battery Saver, or unknown launchers, which are often the source of spam.

There's also a hidden setting for advertising identifiers. In the Passwords and Security section, look for Privacy. Here you can reset your advertising ID or restrict its use. While this won't remove banners that have already appeared, it will make it harder to target ads in the future. Android's MIUI-based system allows you to adjust these settings flexibly, but requires care.

If you notice that the ad appears immediately after you install a particular program, this is a sure sign of its malware, in which case it is better to remove the application completely.

Disabling recommendations in system applications

Advertising content is often integrated into standard Xiaomi applications, such as Explorer, Downloads or Themes, which can offer “recommended” files or apps on the home screen or when unlocked, and to remove ads from the wallpaper and interface, you need to disable personalization in each of them.

Start with Explorer. Open it, click on the menu (three bars) and select Settings. Find the About app or Recommendations section. You need to turn off all the switches related to getting recommendations and showing ads. Similar actions need to be repeated for the Downloads and Themes application.

The Themes app is a little more complicated. Go to Profile → Settings. Turn off Personal Recommendations and Show Ads. This will prevent banners from appearing in the store interface in ways that can also affect the overall experience and pop-ups.

Don't forget to check the Music and Video app. They also have built-in content promotion mechanisms. Although they are less likely to affect the lock screen directly, their background processes can generate notifications that are rendered on the locked screen. Complete cleaning requires disabling ads across all MIUI system components.

After making changes to each application, it is recommended to close them completely through the menu of running tasks, this ensures that the old settings will no longer apply. If the advertising continues, it is possible that one of the applications was missed or has hidden permissions.

Use of Do Not Disturb and Focus Mode

Sometimes banner ads are the result of active notifications that the system prioritizes. Do not disturb can be a temporary or permanent solution to suppression of visual noise. However, to work effectively, you need to properly configure exceptions.

Turn on Do Not Disturb through Control Center or in the Sound and Vibration settings. Make sure that the mode settings are chosen to hide all visual notifications. This will prevent the screen from catching fire when receiving advertising fluffs. However, this method does not remove static advertising on the wallpaper itself, it only blocks pop-ups.

A more advanced tool is Digital Wellbeing, where you can create a profile that blocks certain apps or categories of apps from running at a given time, and if the ads come from a particular garbage-picking app, blocking it from running will fix the problem.

Also worth paying attention to the screen settings. In Settings → Screen, check if the Extended Lock Screen is activated. In some firmware versions, it is a separate module that needs to be turned off regardless of the Wallpaper Carousel, and it can load weather or news widgets that look like ads.

Checking for malware and viruses

If standard methods did not help and the advertising is aggressive (pop up on top of all windows, changes the search engine, does not allow you to use the phone), most likely, malware hit the device. This is not a system function of Xiaomi, but the result of installing an infected application from an unreliable source.

The first step is to check with the built-in antivirus. Open the Security app and run the scan. The system will check all installed programs for known threats. Often viruses are disguised as system processes, for example, called "System Service" or "Update Service" without an icon.

• 🛡️ Go to Settings. → Annexes → All applications. Study the list carefully.
• 👀 Look for apps without a name or with a transparent icon, and they are often at the bottom or top of the list.
• 🗑️ If you find a suspicious object, delete it immediately. If the delete button is inactive, then the application has administrator rights.

To remove viruses with administrator rights, go to Settings → Passwords & Security → Privacy → Special features (or Device Search) and find a suspicious application and take away its rights.

⚠️ Warning: Never grant administrator rights to flashlight applications, scanners QR-It's a major feature of malware that wants to get a foothold in the system.

In extreme cases, if the virus cannot be removed, it may be necessary to reset to factory settings.Be sure to back up important data before that, as everything will be deleted, this is guaranteed to clear the system of any third-party code.

Radical methods: ADB and resetting settings

For power users who want to completely clear the system of MIUI advertising modules, there is a method of using ADB (Android Debug Bridge), which allows you to delete or freeze the system packages responsible for advertising without obtaining root rights.

To start, activate Developer Mode. Tap 7 times on the MIUI version in About Phone. Then turn on USB Debugging in the Developer Menu. Connect your phone to your PC and use the command to remove ad packages such as com.miui.misys or com.miui.personalassistant.

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

This command disables the system service responsible for data collection and advertising. Be careful: removing critical system components can lead to unstable device operation or cyclical restart. Deleting the misys package can disrupt the authorization work in the Mi Account.

If you are not sure about your actions, it is better to limit yourself to the software methods of disabling described in the previous sections. Resetting settings via the menu (Advanced Settings → Restore and Reset) will also return all system settings to the original, but the ads will have to be turned off again if you do not choose the option of full cleanup (which will delete your data).

Remember that firmware updates can return components removed through ADB or restore ad settings, so after each major system update, it is recommended to review the privacy settings again.

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Use an ad-blocking DNS (like AdGuard DNS) in your Wi-Fi settings or through the Private DNS app on Android 9+. This will block the download of network-level banner ads even if your phone settings are off.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Removing ads completely requires a comprehensive approach: disabling the wallpaper carousel, setting up system applications and checking for viruses. Regular monitoring of settings after updates is mandatory.