How to Enable Ads on Xiaomi Redmi: System Guide

Xiaomi and Redmi smartphone owners often face intrusive ads that appear in system applications, folders, and even on the lock screen. However, there is a category of users who, on the contrary, need to forcefully activate these functions to test, debug ad integrations or check the operation of antivirus filters. Standard settings of the MIUI shell or HyperOS by default can have limited display functionality if an advertising ID has been reset or services have been manually disabled.

The process of activating advertising modules requires a deep dive into the system security settings and special services responsible for monetization. Unlike just turning on the Internet, you need to synchronize the work of several system components, including MSA (MIUI System Ads) and recommendation service. Without properly configuring these parameters, the user will not see targeted offers, even if they are formally allowed in the global settings.

This guide describes the technical aspects of enabling ad mechanisms on devices with Snapdragon and MediaTek processors. We will look not only at standard menu paths, but also at specific settings that are often hidden from the average user. Understanding how the MSA system service requests and displays content will allow you to fully control the flow of information that arrives on your device.

MSA System Services and Service

The foundation for displaying any advertising information in the Xiaomi ecosystem is the MSA system service. This component works in the background and is responsible for collecting anonymous data about user preferences to generate relevant offers. If the service is disabled or its data is cleared, the ad blocks in standard applications cease to update or disappear completely.

To activate full mode, you need to make sure that the service has all the necessary permissions. Often users inadvertently restrict background activity, which leads to the termination of banner displays. Checking the status of service is the first step in diagnosing and configuring the phone's advertising system.

It is important to understand that MSA is closely integrated with Mi Account, and the personalization of offers depends on how full the profile is and what permissions you have given the system to use geolocation and usage data.

💡

The MSA service is the central node of Xiaomi’s advertising system; without it being active, no system banner will be displayed correctly.

Activation through security settings

The main focus of advertising preference management is the Security app, which is preinstalled on every Redmi device, and that's where the switches that govern how you get personalized recommendations are located, and to enable them, you need to go to the settings of the security app itself, not the general menu of the phone.

Inside the settings section, you'll find the Receive Recommendations item, and activating this slider allows the system to show suggestions in the Cleaner, Battery saver, and other utilities interface, which is the baseline onset that activates most standard ad integrations.

Also, the same section often hides the option to display ads in specific tools, for example, after scanning viruses or cleaning memory, the system may suggest installing recommended applications. If this item is turned off, you will only see a verification report, without commercial offers.

⚠️ Warning: Enabling all recommendation features can lead to increased traffic consumption and a slight increase in CPU load in the background.

Personalization in Mi Account

To make the ads really interesting and relevant to your needs, you need to set up a profile in Mi Account. The system analyzes the demographics specified during registration and adjusts the results. If you want to see ads for specific categories of products, make sure that your interests in the profile are relevant.

In Settings → Mi Account → Privacy is an important switch Personalized Advertising. Activating it allows Xiaomi servers to use your location and search queries to generate a sentence feed. Without this flag, advertising will be-generic and less effective.

• 📍 Geolocation: Allow location access to display ads for nearby stores.
• 📱 Application usage: permission to access usage statistics helps to select similar games and utilities.
• 🔍 Search queries: analysis of queries in the browser and the GetApps store improves targeting.

Also worth paying attention to synchronization of data between devices. If you use multiple Xiaomi gadgets, enabling synchronization of the advertising ID will allow you to broadcast a single advertising strategy to all your devices, creating a continuous user experience.

Advertising blocks in system applications

Each standard MIUI application has its own content display settings. To enable ads in Explorer, Music or Themes, you need to go to the settings of each one separately. Global security inclusion does not always automatically activate banners in all child applications.

For example, the Themes app needs to activate the display of recommended wallpaper and paid themes on the home screen. Promotional material from concerts or new albums may appear in the Music if the appropriate option is enabled in the About Service section.

Special attention should be paid to GetApps, which is the main distribution channel for paid content, and its settings should allow push notifications for discounts and new games, which will ensure a constant flow of advertising messages into the notification curtain.

⚠️ Warning: Aggressively customizing ads across all system applications can lead to notification overflows and lower overall interface performance.

Screen screensavers and lock screen

One of the most prominent places to post advertising content is the Glance, which replaces the static lock picture with a dynamic image tape, often containing advertising inserts from partners. → Lock screen.

You have to activate the wallpaper carousel switch and select the source of content. In some regions and firmware versions, this may be called Lock Screen Magazine. Once turned on, the system will start uploading new images, among which will be found banner ads that can be transferred to the application.

You can also adjust the frequency of image changes and network connection conditions. For maximum coverage of advertising materials, it is recommended to allow updating over the mobile network so that content loads even without Wi-Fi.

Special facilities and debugging

For advanced users testing ad integrations, there is a debugging mode that allows you to simulate different scenarios and check the performance of advertising SDKs. Access to these features is often hidden in the Developer Menu.

To activate the developer menu, you need to click on the build number several times in the About Phone section. Once the corresponding item appears in the settings, you can find a section associated with Test Ads or network debugging, and you can forcefully update the advertising ID or reset the cache of advertising services.

💡

Use incognito mode in your browser or create a new user on the system to check how advertising changes for a “clean” profile with no history.

There are also hidden codes for the engineering menu that allow you to check the status of the connection to the ad servers, and typing a command into a phone book can show technical information about the status of Mi Ads services.

#6484## (Engineering menu - Equipment check)

While there is no direct code to include ads, checking the network connection in the engineering menu helps make sure nothing blocks the connection to the analytics servers.

Frequent problems and their solution

Even after you turn on all settings, the ads may not show up.This is often due to third-party blockers or DNS settings. If you use DNS (e.g. dns.adguard.com), system ads are blocked at the network level, regardless of the phone's settings.

Check to see if the device has an antivirus with AdBlock function. These applications can intercept MSA requests and prevent banner loading. Temporarily disable protection or add Xiaomi system processes to exceptions.

• 🚫 Blockers: Check the list of installed applications for AdBlock, AdGuard and analogues.
• 🌐 DNS: Make sure that the Wi-Fi and mobile network settings are “auto” or DNS provider.
• 🔄 Cash: Clear the data of the applications "Security" and "Services and reviews".

If the problem persists, try resetting the network settings or resetting the advertising ID completely, and then re-enact the activation procedure, which will cause the system to request the ad modules from the server again.

⚠️ Attention: Use of modified DNS-servers are the most effective way to block ads, so to turn them on, you need to disable them.