Modern Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones offer impressive value for money, but users often have to put up with intrusive advertising for affordable cost. Especially annoying is the appearance of banner ads and recommendations on the lock screen, which should display only important information, time and notifications from messengers. Device owners are faced with the fact that instead of a clean interface they see offers to install games or buy goods, which violates the aesthetics and usability of the gadget.
Fortunately, the MIUI shell and the new HyperOS provide flexible tools to fine-tune the system to completely eliminate visual noise. The process of deactivating advertising modules does not require obtaining superuser rights (Root) or flashing the device to the global version. It is enough to go through several settings menus consistently and disable specific services responsible for targeted content. In this article, we will discuss in detail each step necessary to regain control of your lock screen.
It's important to understand that advertising is broadcast across multiple channels, so to maximize the impact, you need a comprehensive approach. We'll touch not only standard personalization settings, but also hidden services like MSA, which often remain active even after you first set up your smartphone. Following the instructions, you can make the interface clean and fast, eliminating the unnecessary load on the processor and battery from the background load of advertising content.
Disabling recommendations in the block topic
The first and most obvious source of ads on a locked screen is the Wallpaper Carousel (or Glance in some regions), which automatically changes the background image and regularly uploads news feeds and banner ads. To remove this, you need to go to the lock screen settings. Open the Settings menu, find the Lock Screen section, and select the Wallpaper Carousel.
Inside this menu, you'll see the service activation switch. Even if it's already off, you're encouraged to go deeper into the settings of the service itself. Click on the gear icon or three dots in the corner of the screen to open additional settings. Here, you'll find the "Receive recommendations" or "Show promotional materials" option and put the slider inactive, which will stop downloading new images with brand logos.
After disabling the recommendations, the system can suggest that you choose a static image from the gallery or a standard collection without advertising, which is the best option for those who appreciate minimalism. If you want to leave a dynamic change of wallpaper, but without advertising, in some versions of the shell, the option is available “Only your photos”, but it requires preloading albums into the memory of the device.
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Periodically check the updates of the application "Themes", as after major updates MIUI some ad settings may be reset to factory values.
It is important to note that depending on the firmware region (China, Global, India, Russia), item names may vary slightly. For example, in the Chinese version of CN ROM, this service may be called “Mi Unlock” or have other associative names, but the icon usually remains recognizable. If there is no standard switch, try clearing the data of the wallpaper carousel application itself through the application management menu, which often resets advertising identifiers.
MSA Service Management and Personalization
The centerpiece of Xiaomi’s advertising ecosystem is the system service. MSA (MIUI System Ads is responsible for collecting your preferences and displaying targeted ads in embedded applications and on system screens, and turning off this service is a critical step in cleaning your smartphone completely. → Passwords and security → Access to personal data.
In the list of system services that opens, find msa. When you try to turn off the slider, the system will start counting down (usually 10 seconds), and then require confirmation of the action. Often the first time you fail to turn off the service, you will see an error message or a Cancel button. In this case, you need to be persistent: repeat the disconnection procedure 3-5 times in a row until the system accepts your request.
☑️ Checking the shutdown MSA
In parallel with the MSA disablement, you need to prevent the system from using your data to personalize advertising. In the same menu, “Passwords and security”, go to the Advertising (or Special Opportunities) section. Here you should disable the option “Personalized Ads”**. This action does not remove the ads completely, but makes it less intrusive and tied to your search queries, and also resets the device’s advertising ID.
⚠️ Note: After disabling the msa service, some system applications, such as Music or Video, may stop downloading album covers or movie previews.This is normal behavior, as this data is often uploaded through the same advertising gateways.
Set up notifications from system applications
Users often confuse the lock screen ads with the usual push notifications from Xiaomi system applications. Cleanup, Security, Downloads or Explorer services can send messages that “the phone is slowing down” or “viruses are found”, which are essentially disguised ads.
Go to Settings → Notifications and Status bar → Notification management. Go through the list of system applications. Pay special attention to the Security app. Within its notification settings, turn off all items related to recommendations, security news or optimization suggestions. Leave only critical warnings if you really need them.
A similar procedure is worth doing for the Downloads app.** It often sends notifications about hot files or news that appear on the locked screen. Disabling these notifications does not affect the functionality of the downloads, but removes information noise. Also check the Get Content App (GetApps) app, the official Xiaomi app store, which is also prone to aggressive push notification.
You can use Do Not Disturb mode to clean it up more deeply, or you can set up the notification rules for sleep mode, but the best solution is to manually disable the notification channels in the settings of each specific system component, ensuring that no message will slip onto the lock screen without your knowledge.
Comparison of Advertising Removal Methods in MIUI and HyperOS
With the release of the new HyperOS shell, menu structure and item names have changed, although the principles of the advertising modules remained similar. Understanding the differences between the old MIUI 14 and the new system will help you find the right settings faster. Below is a table comparing the location of key switches in different versions of the software.
| Function/Setting up | Location at MIUI 12-14 | Location in HyperOS | Impact on advertising |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personalization of advertising | Passwords and security → Advertising | Additionally. → Special facilities → Advertising | High (ID reset) |
| MSA Service | Passwords and security → Access to personal data | Passwords and security → Access to personal data | Critical (principal source) |
| Wallpaper carousel | Lock screen → Wallpaper carousel | Lock screen → Wallpaper carousel | High (banners on screen) |
| Recommendations in folders | Settings → Home screen → Recommendations | Settings → Home screen → Recommendations | Average (only on the desktop) |
As you can see from the table, the logic of settings in HyperOS has become more logical, but some items have been moved to the “Advanced” submenu. Users who have upgraded with MIUI should be more careful when looking for old ways. The new system also has increased control over permissions, so when you first start after the update, it is worth rechecking all privacy settings.
Another important difference is that widgets work. In HyperOS, widgets on the lock screen can broadcast content that looks like ads. If you use news or video widgets, check their internal settings. Often, the default option is "Show recommended content," which you need to manually deactivate for each widget separately.
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In HyperOS, ad settings can be spread across different submenu, so use the search by settings (search line at the top of the menu) by entering “advertising”, “msa” or “personalization” queries.
Disabling Advertising in Standard Applications
Ads on the lock screen are often just the tip of the iceberg. Many of Xiaomi’s built-in apps (Music, Video, Explorer, Themes) have their own customizations for advertising recommendations that can duplicate or provoke banners.
Start with the Themes app. Open it, go to the profile (human icon) and click on the settings icon. Here you need to disable the Display Ads and Personalized Recommendations. Similar actions are required in the Music app: click the menu (three bars), select Settings → Advanced Settings and remove the tick from the Display Ads box.
The same thing happens with the Video app, go to profile, open your settings, and find the privacy or advertising section, turn off all options related to auto-starting videos and showing promotional material, which not only removes the ads, but also speeds up the apps themselves, because they no longer need to download heavy media content.
⚠️ Note: In some regions (e.g. India or China), Video and Music apps may not have ad switches, in which case the only solution is to install a global version of these apps or use third-party analogues from Google Play.
Don’t forget to check the Explorer app, too.** It often hides the Receive References option, which is responsible for the news feed and banner ads at the bottom of the screen or in notifications, and disabling this feature makes the file manager a clean and functional tool.
Additional methods and work with DNS
If standard methods fail to produce 100% results or you want to guarantee that you block ads at the network level, you can use the Private DNS setting (Private DNS), which is effective for blocking ads in the browser and some applications, although the system advertising of the lock screen is indirectly affected by preventing banners from loading.
To set up, go to Settings → Connection and Sharing (or Wi-Fi) → Private DNS. Select DNS Host Name (or Manual) and enter the address: dns.adguard.com. Save settings. After that, the smartphone will filter traffic through AdGuard servers, cutting off known advertising domains.
dns.adguard.comUsing a third-party DNS can slightly increase network response time in rare cases, but for most users the difference is not noticeable. This method is especially useful if you do not want to delve deeply into the system settings of each application. However, to remove banners from the lock screen, the combination of DNS and manually disabling MSA gives the best result.
What to do if the advertisement appears again?
In conclusion, it’s a good habit to check your settings regularly after major system updates. The developers of MIUI and HyperOS are constantly improving their monetization algorithms, so what worked six months ago may require adjustments today. Using the methods described above, you can keep your Xiaomi ad-free for years to come.