Xiaomi and Redmi smartphone owners often face intrusive offers, pop-ups and banner ads in system applications, a phenomenon that has become a hallmark of the MIUI shell and the new HyperOS, designed to monetize budget devices. However, annoying notifications and “recommendations” in application folders can be easily turned off by returning the phone to its clean look.
The process of deactivating ads does not require root rights or a global version of the device, but rather a series of steps in the system and application settings, and in this article, we will detail each step needed to completely clean the interface of marketing noise.
MSA Disconnection: The Main Source of Advertising
At the heart of Xiaomi’s advertising ecosystem is the MSA (MIUI System Ads) process, which is responsible for collecting user data and delivering targeted ads across different sections of the interface, and disabling this service is the first and most important step in the fight for a clean screen.
To deaktivirovat' service, go to the Settings menu → Passwords and security → Access to personal data. In the list that opens, find msa and put the switch into an inactive state, the system will warn you of the possible consequences and suggest waiting 10 seconds, after which you press the Stop button.
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If the msa service switch switch switch switches on itself again after a while, repeat the shutdown procedure 3-4 times in a row. This is a common shell bug that is treated by repeated repetition of the action.
Sometimes the system may prevent the shutdown by requiring a network connection or by giving a timer error, in which case it is recommended to turn off the Internet during the operation or use the Flight Mode function. After successful shutdown, the ads in the system folders and widgets should disappear.
What happens if you turn off the MSA?
Customization and recommendations in the system
Even after MSA is disabled, the phone still has other mechanisms for collecting statistics and showing recommendations, hidden in the depths of the personalization menu and security services, and these settings are responsible for smart offers in the GetApps browser, search and app store.
Go to Settings → Passwords & Security → Privacy → Special Permits → Recommendations. You need to find and disable the Receive Recommendations slider here. This action will prevent the system from analyzing your actions to generate promotional offers.
☑️ Checklist for complete cleanup of advertising
You should also check your security settings. Open the Security app, click on the gear in the top right corner, and select Get Recommendations. Disable this option to remove banners from the antivirus and memory cleaner.
Removing Advertising from Standard Applications
Xiaomi system applications such as Explorer, Music, Video and Cleanup often contain built-in ad modules, each of which requires separate setup, as there is no global switch for them.
In Explorer, click on the menu (three bars), select Settings → About the app, and turn off Receive recommendations. Similar procedure is done in the Music and Video apps: go to the profile or settings of the app and find the option to Show ads or Recommendations, then deactivate it.
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Ads in standard applications are turned off individually for each component, and remember to check the settings of each system utility separately.
For Downloads, open the app, click three dots in the corner, select Settings → Show recommended content, and turn off the switch, removing the news feed and promotional material from the download manager interface.
Cleaning the desktop and application folders
One of the most annoying features of the shell is the appearance of advertising carousels in folders on the desktop and in the left information window (Google Discover or Yandex), which can be removed through the launcher settings, but the path may vary depending on the version of MIUI or HyperOS.
Click on the empty space on your desktop or pinch it with two fingers to get into edit mode. Click on the settings gear and find the Recommendation item or Wallpaper Carousel. Disabling this option will remove the news feed to the left of the first screen.
Why does the ad return after the update?
To remove ads from the app folders themselves, open any folder, click on its name or settings (if available), and turn off the Advertising Recommendations option. In some firmware versions, it is enough to simply turn off the Internet when you first start a new folder so that the offer does not have time to load, but it is more reliable to use the software shutdown through the system settings described in the second section.
Resetting the advertising identifier
To improve targeting, the system uses a unique Advertising ID. Even if you have disabled the display of ads, resetting this ID will help break the link with previously collected data about your preferences.
Go to the Settings menu → Passwords and security → Confidentiality → Advertising. Here you'll see two useful actions: Reset the advertising ID and Delete the advertising ID. It's recommended that you do both sequentially.
| Action. | Description of effect | Necessity |
|---|---|---|
| Resetting the identifier | Creates a new random ID, breaking the link to the past | Recommended |
| Deletion of the identifier | Completely erases ID, making targeting impossible | Preferably. |
| MSA shutdown | Blocks the system service of displaying advertising | I'll be sure. |
| Restriction of tracking | Prohibits applications from using IDs for advertising | If you wish, |
Once the ID is reset or deleted, the ad networks will see you as a new user, which will temporarily reduce the frequency of personalized offers until new statistics accumulate.
Disabling notifications from system services
In addition to visual in-front advertising, Xiaomi often sends push notifications offering to install games, clean up memory or subscribe. These notifications come from system applications such as Mi Credit, Mi Video, GetApps and MIUI Daemon.
To stop this flow, go to Settings → Notifications and Status bar → Notification Management. In the list, look for suspicious system applications. Pay special attention to apps without an icon or with names like Analytics, Feedback, MIUI Daemon.
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Use Quiet Notifications for system services that cannot be completely disabled, which will hide their messages from the curtain, but will keep the logic of the system running.
Enter the settings of each such application and disable notifications from showing completely. If the off button is locked, try first disabling Autorun for that application through the Security app, and then return to setting notifications.
⚠️ Warning: Do not disable notifications from critical system processes such as Security (antivirus), Phone, or Messages.This may result in missing important calls or lowering the security level of the device.
Blocking Advertising through DNS (Additional Method)
If the built-in methods are not enough, you can use a lock at the network connection level. DNS-The method of blocking ads requests from the server to an ad filtered address before they reach your smartphone is effective not only for system advertising, but also for banners in browsers and some applications.
In the phone settings, go to Connect and Sharing → Private DNS (the path may differ: Settings → Wi-Fi → Private DNS or through Settings Search). Select the DNS Host Name (or Private DNS mode) option and type in the address: dns.adguard.com.
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Using private DNS filtering is the most powerful anti-advertising method that works globally for all applications using standard network protocols.
Once you save your settings, reboot your device, and now all requests to known ad servers will be blocked, which also increases the speed of loading pages in the browser, since it does not need to download heavy ad scripts.
⚠️ Attention: When in use DNS-filtering some applications or games may stop working correctly if their ads are blocked. DNS in Auto mode or Disconnected.