Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face a paradox: with powerful hardware, the device eventually begins to slow down or behave unpredictably. MIUI shells and the new HyperOS offer many features, but by default the system is set to balance functionality and power consumption, which does not always suit advanced users. Deep customization allows you to turn a standard gadget into a fast and responsive tool.
Many problems, such as sudden battery discharges, intrusive advertising in system applications or memory glut, are solved not by flashing, but by correctly adjusting hidden parameters. Disabling the MSA system service (MIUI System Ads) is the first and most critical step to improve interface responsiveness. In this article, we will discuss proven optimization methods that will help to revive even the newest device.
Before we start taking any drastic measures, we need to understand what is stopping your device from running, whether it's a crowded cache, the background processes of heavy applications, or poor power saving settings, and we'll go from simple cleaning activities to advanced manipulation of the engineering menu.
Basic cleaning and memory management
The first thing to do to improve performance is to clean up the file system. Android, and in particular the shell from Xiaomi, tends to accumulate temporary files that are not deleted automatically. Go to the Security → Cleanup app and start scanning. However, standard cleaning is often not enough.
It is important to manually check messenger folders, as they can take up gigabytes of space. Pictures, videos and documents from work chats are often duplicated in the gallery, putting extra stress on storage. Deleting unnecessary files frees up space for the system cache, which directly affects the speed of work.
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Use the Deep Clean feature in the standard Security app to find forgotten installations. APK-Files and Remnants of Remote Applications.
In modern versions of MIUI, virtual RAM can help or harm. If you have 6 or 8 GB of memory, expansion can slow down because virtual memory is slower than real memory.
- 🧹 Clean the cache of social media apps regularly as they grow to huge sizes.
- 🚫 Remove unused apps, especially those with background services.
- 📉 Turn off transition animation in developer settings if the device is old.
Disabling Advertising and System Services
One of the main reasons why users want to “improve” their Xiaomi is the built-in advertising, which not only annoys, but consumes traffic, as well as the CPU resources to download ad modules, and the centerpiece of this system is the MSA service (MIUI System Ads), which is a priority.
To do this, go to Settings → Passwords and Security → Access to personal data. Find the msa list and turn off the slider. The system will ask for 10 seconds and ask for confirmation. If the first time failed, repeat the procedure 3-4 times until the “Cancel” button appears.
⚠️ Note: After revoking the rights of the msa service, advertising in standard applications (Conductor, Music, Themes) may disappear not instantly, but within 24 hours.
In addition to MSA, you should disable ad personalization. Go to the Mi Account settings and find the Advertising Services section where you need to deactivate Personal Advertising Recommendations. Also, each system application (Music, Video, Downloads) has its own Receive Recommendations switch, which should also be turned off.
- 📱 Turn off “Receive recommendations” in the “Themes” app to speed up the menu opening.
- 🔒 In the security settings, turn off “Get recommendations” for Cleaner and Battery.
- 🌐 In Mi Browser, turn off notifications and news feed in the homepage settings.
What if the msa service is not shut down?
Optimization of battery autonomy and operation
Battery is a consumable, but software can significantly extend the life of a smartphone on a single charge. Xiaomi has an aggressive energy-saving system that sometimes strangles the right applications. It is important to find a balance between savings and functionality.
In Settings → Battery, check modes. Battery is optimal for everyday use. Savings mode limits background activity, and Ultra-Savings turns your smartphone into a caller. To extend the life of a lithium polymer battery, avoid charging in games or at high body temperature.
| Mode of work | Impact on CPUs | Background processes | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Productive | Maximum frequency | Not limited. | For games and heavy tasks |
| Battery (Standard) | Balance | Limited. | Daily use |
| Savings | Reduced. | Very limited. | When the charge is less than 20% |
The charge optimization feature deserves special attention. If it's on, the phone can stop charging by 80% and get the rest before you wake up. This is good for battery health, but if you want a full charge right now, it's best to temporarily turn it off.
☑️ Checking the battery's health
Display settings and MIUI/HyperOS interface
Visuals have a direct impact on speed perception. The smoothness of animations in MIUI 14 and HyperOS depends on the screen refresh rate. Make sure that the display settings (Settings → Screen) select Maximum or Adaptive updates, not Standard (60Hz) if your smartphone supports 90 or 120Hz.
For those who want maximum responsiveness, there is a hidden developer menu, and to activate it, you need to click 7 times on the build number in the About Phone menu, and then the "Developers" option will appear in the "Additional" section.
Inside the developer menu, find the Drawing section, and there are three animation zoom options: Windows animation, transition animation, and Animator Duration. Changing the value from 1x to 0.5x visually speeds up the interface by two times, making the system's response instantaneous.
- ⚙️ Enable Memory Extension only if the physical memory is less than 4GB.
- 🎨 Use a dark theme to reduce the load on the matrix AMOLED screen.
- 📉 Reduce the scale of the font and interface elements to display more content.
⚠️ Note: Changing the settings in the Developer Menu may affect the stability of some applications. Do not change the settings for which you do not know the purpose.
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Reducing the animations to 0.5x is the most effective way to make an old smartphone visually faster without losing data.
Application and Autoboot Management
Chinese firmware and even global builds often have too much pre-installed software, many of which are memory-consuming and resource-consuming applications, and removing or disabling such software is an important step in optimizing.
Go to Settings → Applications → All apps. Go through the list and find services you don’t use (e.g. Mi Video, Mi Browser, if there are alternatives, various demo versions of games). If the Delete button is inactive, use the Disable button. This will hide the application and stop its processes.
Pay special attention to autoload. MIUI has a special section of the Application → Permissions → Autorun. Leave only messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp) on to keep messages from being missed. All other applications, including stores and social networks, are better kept off, running them manually as needed.
Settings → Applications → Permissions → AutorunFor advanced users, it is possible to remove system debris via ADB (Android Debug Bridge) from the computer, but this requires caution. Standard means of the system can remove about 30% of preinstalled software, which will already give a tangible increase in performance.
How to safely remove system applications?
Network settings and GPS module
A common problem with Xiaomi devices is weak Wi-Fi or GPS signal. It's not always a hardware defect. It often helps to reset network settings or change the region. If you have problems with navigation, try changing the region in your phone settings to India or Singapore - this sometimes changes AGPS servers and improves satellite search.
To improve 5GHz Wi-Fi reception, make sure that the router settings are set to 40 or 80 MHz channel width, not the car. On the phone itself, you can click on the About Phone menu several times to run the hardware test, which sometimes reboots network modules.
If the Internet is not catching well in the confident reception zone, reset the APN settings for your carrier, which will return the standard access point parameters that may have gone wrong after the firmware update.
- 📡 Reset network settings: Settings → Connection and sharing → Reset Wi-Fi, mobile networks and Bluetooth.
- 🌍 Changing the region can activate additional functions (for example, unlocking second applications).
- 🔋 Turn it off. GPS Bluetooth when not in use to save power.
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If your smartphone loses network after a call (a problem with some modems), turn on your preferred LTE only type in the engineering menu (via code ##4636##), but remember that incoming calls may stop without VoLTE.