Xiaomi smartphone owners often face a situation where the usual lock screen is overgrown with unnecessary widgets, news feeds and recommendations that are not always appropriate. Instead of a clean interface, the user sees a motley mixture of headlines, pictures and advertising, which can be annoying and distracting, this is the result of built-in services such as Glance or Yandex.News, which are activated by default when the device is first launched.
Deleting news isn’t just a matter of aesthetics, it’s also a way to save battery life and protect personal data from over-gathering statistics. The standard MIUI shell and the new HyperOS offer a variety of personalization tools, but often hide the right switches in the back of the menu. Understanding where those settings are hiding will allow you to take back control of your gadget.
In this article, we'll look at all the current ways to turn off noise, learn how to manage widgets, disable wallpaper carousel, and customize system applications so that your smartphone works for you. Let's start with the most popular news source.
Disabling Glance tape on lockdown
The most common source of news content is Glance (or Mi Video/Lock Screen Magazine in different regions), which automatically uploads bright images and headlines every time you turn on the screen, and you'll need to go to your system settings to remove this element.
Go to Settings and find Lock Screen or Always On and Lock Screen, and here you are interested in an option that might be called Wallpaper Carousel, Galaxy for Xiaomi, or Ribbon for Widgets.
- 🔍 Find the Settings menu section associated with the lock screen.
- 🚫 Turn off the wallpaper carousel or glance switch».
- 🗑️ If required, confirm the action in the pop-up window by selecting “Switch off».
- 🔄 Restart the device to apply changes.
☑️ Checking out the Glance shutdown
⚠️ Warning: After disabling Glance, the standard weather or pedometer widgets may remain on the lock screen, and are set up separately in the lock screen widget menu.
Sometimes a simple deactivation is not enough, and the system suggests “optimizing” the experience by leaving some features, in which case you need to log inside the menu of the Glance app itself if it is installed as a separate component, and in its internal settings, prevent the recommendation from showing.
Management of widgets and cards MIUI
In addition to the external feed, Xiaomi’s interface is packed with internal widgets that can also broadcast news, often activated by users accidentally swiping their fingers across the lock screen to the left or right, which are called “cards” or “left widgets.”
To control these elements, you need to unlock your phone, but not open any apps. Swipe to the right of the center of the lock screen. If there's a news feed, try pinching your finger on an empty area or clicking on the settings icon (usually a gear or three dots) that appears in the corner.
| Type of widget | Wherever | How to turn off | Impact on the battery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yandex ribbon | Swipe left | Widget settings | High. |
| Google News | Swipe right | Google settings | Average. |
| Wallpaper carousel | Lockdown background | Screen settings | Average. |
| Stepper | Center of the screen | Topics/Wallpaper | Low. |
In some versions of the firmware, it is easy to drag and drop the widget to the top of the screen where the basket or cross icon appears. If this is not possible, go to Settings → Additional → Lock screen and find the item “Widgets on the lock screen.” Here you can customize in detail which blocks will be displayed.
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If the news widget is not removed by standard methods, try changing the theme to a standard Classic through the Topics app. Third-party themes often have their own hard-to-find widgets.
Setting up the Security app and optimizer
Xiaomi’s Security System App is a powerful tool that also knows how to display news, and often the first time news services are activated is when you turn on your phone, and you have to check this section.
Open the Security app and click on the three dots in the top right to open the menu. Select Settings. In the list that opens, look for sections called "Receive recommendations," "Receive news feed," or "Receive virus and news notifications." All of these switches must be deactivated.
- 🛡️ Open the Security app on your desktop.
- ⚙️ Go to the app settings menu (three points).
- 📉 Find and disable all options related to recommendations.
- 🧹 Clear the cache of the application to reset accumulated data.
Special attention should be paid to the item "Memory Cleanup", sometimes after the scan is completed, the system offers "get advice", which is actually a disguised news feed, and turning off advertising in system utilities significantly increases the comfort of using the device.
Why does the news come back after the update?
Disabling personalization in Google and browser
The news source may not only be Xiaomi’s system itself, but also Google’s Android-integrated services.The “Google Discover” widget (formerly Google Now) often occupies the left side of the desktop or appears on the lock screen depending on the launcher settings.
To remove this tape, press and hold your finger on the empty desktop space. In the menu that appears, select Settings or More. Find Google Ribbon or Google Discover and turn it off. It's also worth checking the settings of the Google app itself.
Go to your phone Settings, search the Apps section, and select the Google app. You can turn off all unnecessary alerts from the Notifications menu. In addition, you can limit data collection within your Google account settings (Ad Personalization section), which indirectly affects the relevance and frequency of news blocks.
⚠️ Note: Disabling Google services may affect the voice assistant and some search widgets. If you use an assistant, leave the main services on, disabling only visual feeds.
And remember, if you have a Mi Browser or Chrome with a desktop widget, they can also stream news. Go to your browser settings and turn off the "Show news" or "Tape" option, which will help clear the space.
Resetting launcher settings and design themes
If standard methods don’t help, the problem may be a conflict of design topics or a system launcher failure: Third-party themes often implement their own content display mechanisms that are difficult to disable in the usual ways.
Try resetting your launcher. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps. Find System Launcher (or System Launcher) on the list. Click Clear → Clear all data. This action will return the desktop icons and widgets to factory status by removing all the unnecessary news widgets.
Also effective is to go back to the standard theme: Open the Topics app, go to the profile (human icon) and select My Topics. Activate the Classic or Default theme. After applying the standard theme, all third-party interface elements, including news blocks, should disappear.
- 🎨 Open the “Themes” app and go to profile.
- 🔄 Choose a standard theme “Classic” and apply it.
- 📱 Go to the application settings and find “System Launcher».
- 🧹 Perform a complete cleanup of the launcher data.
After that, the phone can reboot or the interface will blink. It's normal behavior. The desktops will reset, and there will be no trace of the widgets that you don't need, and if the problem persists because of a caching error, that step should solve it.
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Returning to the factory theme of design and resetting the launcher are the most radical, but also the most effective methods of dealing with embedded advertising and news, if the usual settings do not help.
Use of third-party launchers
For advanced users who want to get rid of the Xiaomi ecosystem completely, there is an option to install a third-party launcher. Apps like Nova Launcher, Microsoft Launcher or Smart Launcher completely replace the standard Android interface.
Once you install this launcher and assign it to the primary (by default), all system restrictions and Xiaomi news feeds will no longer be displayed, as you will use the third-party developer interface.
However, it is worth considering that third-party launchers can consume more battery resources and do not always integrate perfectly with gestures. MIUI/HyperOS. For example, you might have trouble calling a swipe menu or working the notification curtain, but if you want a pure Android without news, that's the best choice.
⚠️ Note: When installing a third-party launcher, the system may constantly suggest returning Standard Launcher. To avoid this, always mark Always or use the option when selecting an action. ADB-commands to hide the system launcher.
Installing an alternative interface is a habit-driven move, but it allows Xiaomi to become as close as possible to a pure Android device, devoid of any noise and advertising on the lock screen.