Owners of modern Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face intrusive content that the system offers without demand. Video recommendations appear in app folders, on the lock screen and even in the settings menu, distracting from work and consuming traffic. This is part of the MIUI advertising ecosystem and the new HyperOS shell, designed to monetize budget devices, but for many users it becomes an annoyance.
Fortunately, the developers have left the option to disable most of these features, although they are hidden quite deep. Complete cleaning of the interface from debris requires sequential passage of several menus. In this article, we will take a detailed look at each step so that you can return your gadget to a clean look and improve performance.
Don't ignore these settings, because background preview loading and usage analytics can reduce device autonomy, and properly configured not only to remove visual noise, but also to save battery life. Let's start with the most obvious places where advertising appears.
Disabling Advertising in Application Folders
The most prominent place where recommended videos and news appear is in the desktop folders. When you open the app folder, the "Recommendations" or "Get More" block often pops up at the bottom, which not only takes up useful space, but can accidentally launch a browser or app store if you carelessly touch it.
To get rid of this, you need to change the settings of a particular folder. Click on the folder name to open it, then tap the name again or find the gear icon. The menu that opens will be Recommended (or Featured apps).
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If the recommendation switch in the folder is inactive (gray), try first to turn off the Internet, go to the folder settings, turn off the option, and only then turn the network back on.
It's important to understand that this is a customization for each folder, and if you have ten folders on your desktop with games and utilities, you'll have to do it again for each of them, but after the first time, the system will stop loading new content and no traffic will be consumed.
- 📁 Open the folder with applications on the desktop.
- ⚙️ Click on the folder name or settings icon.
- 🚫 Find and disable the "Recommended" switch».
- 🔄 Repeat the action for all folders on the device.
Setting up the lock screen Wallpaper Carousel
The Glance feature is another source of constant video streaming, and instead of a static picture on a locked screen, you see shifting images with news and short clips, and often this is where users notice that the phone is "enabled to play video" when they pull it out of their pocket.
To disable this feature completely, go to Settings → Lock Screen. Find the Wallpaper Carus section, and you will be asked to either turn the service off completely or adjust its behavior.
⚠️ Warning: After turning off the wallpaper carousel, you will lose the ability to see news headlines and beautiful themed selections on the locked screen».
If you don’t want to give up the feature completely, but you’re annoyed by the video, try to find the settings inside the Carousel itself. Sometimes the option “Show only images” is available there, but in the latest versions of MIUI 14 and HyperOS, developers often remove this option, leaving you with a choice: either all together or nothing.
Management of MSA Service and System Advertising
The MIUI System Ads (MSA) system process is responsible for collecting data and showing personalized offers, which is the core of Xiaomi’s advertising system, and without disabling it, all other manipulations may not be effective as the service will try to restore settings or display banners in system applications.
To access this process, go along the path: Settings → Passwords and security → Access to personal data. In the list, find msa and turn off the switch. The system will warn you that this may affect the operation of certain functions, and will suggest waiting 10 seconds before confirming.
Settings → Passwords and security → Access to personal data → msa → Turn offOnce MSA is disabled, it is also recommended to limit the other system services that collect statistics. Find Mi Video, GetApps and MIUI Daemon on the same list. Disabling access to data for these components will significantly reduce the number of intrusive offers.
- 🔒 Go to the menu "Passwords and security».
- 📜 Select "Access to Personal Data».
- ❌ Find and disable the msa service.
- ⏳ Wait for the countdown to end and confirm the action.
Cleaning the Mi Video and Browser app
Standard Xiaomi apps like Mi Video and Mi Browser often work as content aggregators. Even if you didn't run them specifically, they can display previews of videos in notification curtains or widgets. To remove video recommendations in Xiaomi, you need to configure each app separately.
Open the Mi Video app. Go to the "My" section (usually the person icon on the bottom right) and click on the settings icon. Find "Receive push notifications" or "Personalized recommendations" and deactivate them. Similar actions should be done in the browser: menu → Settings → Notifications.
An alternative way for advanced users
It’s also worth checking the notification settings for these apps in the system’s general menu. Go to Settings → Notifications and Status bar → Notification Management. Find Mi Video there and turn off all categories except, perhaps, Playback if you’re using the player as intended.
Specifics of HyperOS configuration and new versions of MIUI
In recent shell updates, the logic of settings may have changed. In HyperOS, some items have been renamed or moved to Advanced Settings. If you don't find the paths described above, search by settings.
Click on the magnifying glass at the top of the settings menu and enter keywords like “Advertising,” “Recommendations,” “MSA,” or “Personalization.” The system will prompt you to go to the desired switch. This is the fastest way to find hidden options in the updated interface.
| Function | Where to look for MIUI 13/14 | Where to look in HyperOS |
|---|---|---|
| Advertising in folders | Folder settings | Folder settings |
| System Advertising (MSA) | Passwords and security | Passwords and security |
| Wallpaper carousel | Lock screen | The screen is always on and the lock is locked. |
| Personalization | Passwords and security | Advanced settings |
It is worth noting that in some regions (e.g. Europe or Global), the number of ads by default is less than in Chinese firmware, but even on global versions, these settings can be reset after the update, so it is worth checking regularly.
☑️ Checking system cleanliness
Additional measures and cleaning of the cache
After making all changes to the system settings, it is recommended to clear the cache of the ad modules. This will remove videos and banners that have already been downloaded but not yet shown. Go to Settings → Apps → All applications.
Find Feedback and MIUI Daemon on the list, go to each, select Storage, and click Clear Cache. Don't confuse it with Clear All so you don't dump important data.
⚠️ Warning: Do not remove system applications completely unless you are sure of their purpose.This can lead to unstable phone operation or cyclic restart (bootloop).
It’s also helpful to check Google’s settings. You can turn off ad personalization in your Google account, which will reduce the relevance of impressions if the ad modules do make their way through Xiaomi’s protection. This is done through the Google Play app → Settings → General → Ad settings.
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Comprehensive shutdown of all advertising sources (MSA, folders, carousel) not only removes visual noise, but also really extends the smartphone from one charge.