How to remove the text of notifications on Xiaomi: from hiding content to completely blocking

Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face a situation where the device’s screen lights up at the wrong time, displaying sensitive information or just annoying messages. This can happen in the cinema, during a business meeting, or just in your pocket when the device accidentally unlocks. The problem lies in the features of the MIUI shell or the new HyperOS, which are set for maximum informativeness by default, but not always for privacy.

There are several levels of this, from simply hiding the text of a message on a locked screen to completely disabling notifications from specific applications, and consider system “notifications” in the form of advertising recommendations, which are often confused with ordinary messages. In this article, we will discuss all the ways to make your screen clean and secure, while maintaining the functionality of important services.

Before you make any changes, it’s important to understand what’s bothering you: the content of messages that are seen by outsiders, or intrusive pop-ups from the system and applications. The algorithm will vary depending on the desired outcome. We’ll look at security settings, application notification management, and system advertising hiding.

Configure the display of content on a locked screen

The most common request is to hide the text of a message so that only the name of the application, such as "Telegram" or "WhatsApp", can be seen on the black screen, without the text itself. This is the basic Android feature available in MIUI. You need to go to the system settings and find the partition responsible for the lock screen.

Depending on the firmware version, the path may be slightly different, but the logic remains the same: you need to find a clause that controls the "style" or "content" of notifications, and by default, the system is often in "Show All" mode, which leads to information leakage.

Change this to Hide Content, in which case, when a new message arrives, you will only see the app icon and possibly the number of new messages, but the text will remain hidden until the device is unlocked using a password, fingerprint or Face ID.

⚠️ Note: Once you have enabled this feature, you will not be able to quickly respond to messages directly from the lock screen, as the text will be hidden.

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If you want to hide text only for certain applications (for example, only for banking SMS), use the settings inside the applications themselves, not the general system settings.

It’s also worth checking the settings for a particular application, “Security” or “Block Screen”, if they are placed in a separate menu, and in some versions of HyperOS, these settings have been integrated deeper into the Passwords and Security menu.

Disabling notifications for specific applications

If you are annoyed not so much by the text as by the fact that the plaques appear on the screen, they can be completely turned off for unnecessary programs. Often users forget that many applications (games, stores, delivery services) require permission to notify the first installation, and then use it to send ads.

To manage this, go to Settings → Notifications and Status bar → Notification Management. This is a complete list of all installed programs. You can select any application and customize in detail what types of notifications are allowed.

• 🔴 All notifications: Complete ban on any pop-ups from the selected app.
• 🟡 Audible notifications: Prohibiting sound, but visual display remains.
• 🔵 Pop-up notifications: banning plaques from over other windows (important for gaming).
• 🟢 Icon on the lock screen: banning the display of the icon when the phone is locked.

Pay special attention to system applications such as Music, Video, Cleanup or Explorer, which most often generate background noise by reporting "new features" or "recommendations" and disabling notifications for them will not affect the smartphone, but will remove unnecessary text messages.

Blocking Advertising Recommendations and MSAs

A separate category of “notifications” on Xiaomi are the promotional recommendations that the system offers in folders, in the Security app or in the settings menu. They often look like system messages, but are actually part of the MSA service (MIUI System Ads).

To remove this text, you need to turn off ad personalization. Go to Settings → Passwords & Security → Access to Personal Data (or “Special Features” in new versions). Find the msa service in the list and turn off the switch. The system will ask you to wait 10 seconds, after which you need to confirm the disconnection.

You should also go through the built-in apps. Open the Security app, click on the settings gear, and find "Get recommendations." Turn it off. Similar settings are found in the Topics, Music and Video apps -- look for a gear or three-dot menu everywhere.

⚠️ Note: msa may spontaneously turn on again after a system update.

Hiding notifications in the curtain and on the desktop

Sometimes the notification text is not visible on the locked screen, but appears in the top status bar (in the "ear") or as icons on the desktop, which can interfere with the perception of icons and create visual noise.

To manage your desktop icons (red numerals) go to Settings → Notifications and Status bar → Desktop icons. You can choose "Show Nothing" or "Show Only Number" mode, the first option will completely remove the digital indicators from the application icons.

To hide the text in the active status bar (top of the screen) when the phone is unlocked, use the Hide Notification Contents feature. It's in the same notification management menu, which is especially useful when you're showing the screen to someone else or taking a screenshot.

Remember that some launchers (desktop shells) may have their own badge settings. If standard MIUI settings didn't help, check your launcher settings under "Additional" or "Desktop."

Do Not Disturb and Schedules

If your goal is not to remove text permanently, but to temporarily free the screen from messages (for example, at night or while sleeping), it is better to use the "Do Not Disturb" mode. In this mode, the phone will receive messages, but the screen will not light up, and sound and vibration will be turned off.

You can set the automatic activation of this mode on a schedule. Go to Settings → Sound and vibration → Do not disturb → Add a rule. You can set a time, for example, from 23:00 to 07:00, or tie the mode to the event "Sleep", which is tracked through a fitness tracker or alarm clock.

An important feature is setting exceptions. Even in Do Not Disturb mode, you can allow interruptions for selected contacts or re-calls (if the same person calls twice within 3 minutes), which ensures that you do not miss a really important call while you sleep.

Use of third-party applications for filtering

If standard Android and MIUI tools aren’t enough, you can use specialized notification managers, and apps like Notification History Log or FilterBox can create complex filtering rules.

They can, for example, set the rule: "If a message comes from the 'Game X' app, don't show text, don't make sound, don't turn on the screen, but save the notification to history." This gives you flexibility not available in standard settings.

However, it is worth remembering that installing such applications requires broad permissions to access your personal data and correspondence. Use only proven applications with open source or high trust ratings, so as not to transfer your data to third parties.

⚠️ Note: When installing notification managers, the system can aggressively "kill" their process in the background to save battery.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

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A comprehensive approach to setting up privacy on Xiaomi involves not only hiding text on the lock screen, but also disabling system advertising (MSA) and setting the rules for each application separately.