The MIUI shell and its successors interface in HyperOS provide users with a huge opportunity to customize the appearance. However, the active use of third-party designs often leads to clutter, advertising and reduced performance of the device. Many owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphones face the need to clean the style gallery or completely remove intrusive design elements.
The process of getting rid of unnecessary themes can range from simply switching to a standard style to deep cleaning of system debris through an engineering menu. It is important to understand the difference between removing a theme file from memory and resetting all visual settings to factory values. In this article, we will discuss all the available methods to help return your smartphone to its original appearance.
A theme that doesn't work properly often shows up not only in icon changes, but also in system errors or interface lags. Deleting these problems correctly without having to completely reset the data. We'll look at both the standard tools of the system and more advanced methods for power users.
Basic removal of topics through the Topic app
The most obvious and safe way to get rid of third-party design is to use the built-in Themes app. It is through this system module that all visual components are managed. First, open the application and go to the Profile tab, which is usually located in the lower right corner of the screen.
In the menu that opens, select Topics, which will show you a list of all the designs that have ever been installed on your device, find the theme you want to remove, and click on it. In the parts window that opens, you will see the Remove button or the basket icon.
⚠️ Note: Deleting a theme that is currently active may result in automatic switching to a standard Classic or Default style. If the system requires you to activate another theme first before removing the current one, follow this requirement to avoid visual glitches.
Once validated, the design files will be deleted from internal memory, but it is worth remembering that some elements, such as live wallpaper or special fonts, may remain in the system.
If standard deletion doesn't help or the button is inactive, it's possible that the theme has been integrated deeper into the system or corrupted. In such cases, cleaning the data of the Theme app itself helps, but we'll talk about this in the next sections. For now, make sure you delete all unnecessary packets through the standard interface.
Resetting all topics to standard settings
Sometimes it's easier not to delete each theme individually, but to reset the personalization settings completely, which is especially effective if the interface starts to work unstable after installing a questionable design, and resets icons, fonts and wallpaper back to factory status.
To do this, go to your smartphone Settings. Search for the settings for "Themes" or search for the Topics section in the main menu (location may vary depending on the version of MIUI or HyperOS). Inside the menu, find the Reset or Restore button by default.
☑️ Checklist before resetting that
The system will warn you that all changes will be lost. Confirm the action. Once the device is rebooted, you will see a standard set of icons and wallpapers typical of your Xiaomi model. This action does not affect personal files, contacts or installed applications, changing only the visual shell.
In some firmware versions, a full themes reset can be done through the Advanced Settings menu. The path can look like Settings → Advanced Settings → Region (region change sometimes resets the theme store content) or through the hidden developer menu if the appropriate interface debugging option is enabled.
Cleaning the cache and application data Topics
There are times when a topic is deleted but its tails remain in the system, taking up space or causing errors, in which case you need to clear the cache and data of the system application, this is a safe procedure that does not delete your personal photos or documents.
Open Settings and go to the Apps. Select All Apps. Search Themes (or Themes) in the list. Click on it to open the Control menu.
At the bottom of the screen, you'll see two important buttons: Clean and Delete. We need to clean. Click Clean and select Clear all data. This action will reset the Themes app settings to "post-purchase."
⚠️ Attention: Cleaning the Themes app data will remove download history and local customization settings. Your purchased or downloaded themes may disappear from the Downloaded list, but they can be downloaded again from your Mi Account.
After this operation, it is recommended to restart the smartphone, and the next time it starts, the system will re-index the available styles and apply basic settings, which often solves problems with broken icons or incorrect font display.
What if the Topic app is not on the list?
Removing themes through the file manager
For advanced users who prefer to control every file on the device, a method of manual deletion through the file system is available.Themes in Xiaomi are files with the.mtz extension. They can be found and deleted manually if standard methods do not work.
Open the File Manager application, and you need to go to a hidden system folder, and the path is usually as follows: MIUI → theme →.mi_theme. Note that folders starting from a dot are hidden. To see them, click on the menu (three dots or stripes) in Explorer and turn on the option to Show hidden files.
Inside the folder, you'll find files with obscure titles or titles of themes, and deleting those files will free up space in memory, but be careful not to delete files that have default or system words in their names, as they're responsible for the basic display of the interface.
| File type | Location. | Can I remove it? | Effects of removal |
|---|---|---|---|
| .mtz | /MIUI/theme/ | Yes (if not active) | The topic will disappear from the list. |
| .cfg | /MIUI/theme/ | No. | Failure to apply styles |
| current_theme | /MIUI/theme/ | No. | System will return the standard |
| .cache | /MIUI/theme/cache | Yes. | Safe, speeds up work. |
Using a file manager gives you more control, but requires care. Manual deletion of system files can lead to the need to flash the device if critical design components are affected.
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Use third-party file managers like Total Commander or Solid Explorer for more convenient access to hidden system folders and root directory.
Disabling advertising in topics
Often, "remove themes" means users wanting to get rid of the intrusive ads that appear in the Themes app when you change design. Ads in MIUI are a well-known feature, but they can be minimized or completely disabled.
The first step is to disable personalized recommendations. Open the Topic app, go to Profile and click on the settings icon (cogs). Find Receive recommendations or Personalized recommendations and turn it off. This will remove banner ads from the app's news feed.
Step two is to turn off MSA (MIUI System Ads). Go to Settings → Passwords & Security → Access to Personal Data. Go to msa and turn off the slider. The system will ask you to wait 10 seconds, then click Cancel.
⚠️ Attention: Service shutdown MSA This can cause a temporary blank space in the interface or errors in the operation of some system applications.
It is also recommended to disable autoplay video in the theme store. In the settings of the Themes app, find Autoplay video and select Never or Only via Wi-Fi. This will save traffic and remove visual noise when directory.
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Completely disabling advertising requires a comprehensive approach: settings within the Topics application, revoking consent from the MSA service and disabling personalization in the system.
Solving problems with undeleteable topics
In rare cases, users will find that the theme does not get deleted, freezes in the process or returns after a reboot, which can be caused by a conflict between the Android and MIUI versions, or by a file system corruption.
If standard methods don't work, try entering Safe Mode, press the power button, and when the switch-off menu appears, keep your finger on "Stop" for a long time (on some models) or use a combination of volume buttons when booting. In Safe Mode, third-party themes are not activated, allowing you to safely delete the problem file.
Another method is the use of ADB-Android Debug Bridge, which requires you to connect your smartphone to your PC and have drivers, and you can force the command line to remove the theme packet even if the phone interface is not responsive.
adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.android.thememanagerAbove is the command to remove the theme manager (use with extreme caution!).A safer option is to clear the cache via ADB: adb shell pm clear com.android.thememanager. This is similar to manually cleaning data, but is done at a deeper level.
If nothing works, the last resort is a full reset to factory settings (Wipe & Reset), before you make sure to back up all the important data, as the phone will return to the state "out of the box".