How to turn off activity control in Xiaomi: step-by-step instructions

Owners of MIUI or HyperOS devices often face the challenge of limiting their behavioral data collection, and the default system is set to actively interact with the manufacturer's servers by sending reports on application usage and system errors. For many users, it's not just a matter of saving traffic, but also personal digital hygiene.

The deactivation process isn't always obvious, as developers have scattered the relevant switches across different settings menus. Activity control in the Xiaomi ecosystem is divided into several levels, from simple usage statistics to deep system analytics. Understanding the difference between these levels will allow you to flexibly manage privacy.

In this article, we’ll take a look at all the available methods for limiting telemetry, and we’ll look at the standard menu paths, the hidden developer settings, and the nuances of working with your Mi Account, and you’ll have full control over what information leaves your device.

Anatomy of data collection in MIUI and HyperOS

Before we go into disabling functions, we need to understand what the operating system is building. Telemetry is not a single file, but a collection of multiple logs that are generated by different services. Android has a basic level of data collection, on top of which Xiaomi overlays its own layer of analytics.

Most of the information is sent through the services that run the GetApps app store and MSA system services, which analyze which apps you run, how long they've been active, and how often they crash.

⚠️ Warning: Disabling analytics services completely may cause some built-in features to malfunction, such as automatic topic updates or personalized browser recommendations.

There's also a User Experience Program, which is often turned on by default when you first activate your smartphone, and it collects data about how you interact with the interface, where you click most often, and what gestures you use, and the data is anonymized, but it's transmitted in the background.

Basic privacy settings in the menu

The first and easiest step is to turn off the standard switches in the security section, and to do that, you'll need to go to Settings → Passwords & Security → Privacy. This is where the main permissions control node is located.

In the menu that opens, look for Advertising Services or MSA, which is the service that delivers targeted ads to system applications, and disabling it will significantly reduce the amount of data you transmit about your preferences.

• 🔍 Find the item "User experience" and uncheck the box with consent to the sending of data.
• 📉 Turn off the option "Automatically send error reports" so that the system does not send logs of failures.
• 🔒 In the "Special Features" section, check if suspicious apps have screen access.

Once the settings are changed, the system may ask you to wait 10 seconds before confirming an action, which is a security mechanism to prevent accidental changes in critical parameters, just wait for the countdown to end and confirm the shutdown.

Managing User Experience Improvement Programs

The user experience improvement program deserves special attention, which is a deeper level of stats collection, which is often hidden in the submenu. To get to it, go to Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (or version logo).

You have to click on the system logo several times to activate the hidden menu, or you can find the option in the upper right corner, and the list that opens will be "Experience Improvement Program," which is responsible for sending detailed logs of use.

Importantly, the new versions of HyperOS have partially integrated this functionality into a single security center, and if you don’t find settings in the About menu, try searching for them by settings by typing “improvement” or “experience.”

Disabling system analytics services (Advanced Method)

For those who want to get the most out of it, there is a method to disable the system packages responsible for analytics, which requires caution because it affects system processes. → All applications.

Turn on the system process map. To do this, click on the three dots in the upper right corner and select Show System Processes. Now, you need to find the following components in the list:

• 📊 Analytics – the main compiler of statistics.
• 📡 Mi Daemon – background monitoring service.
• 📈 TestUserExperience – User Experience Testing Module.

When you try to disable these services, the system may issue a warning that it may affect the operation of the device. Ignore it if you are sure of your actions. However, complete removal of these packets without Root rights is impossible, you can only stop them or limit background activity.

⚠️ Warning: Disabling Mi Daemon may disrupt Device Search and synchronize some system settings through the cloud.

The alternative is to use ADB commands to freeze these applications, which is a more secure method that doesn't require super-user rights, but requires a connection to a computer.

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.analytics

Advertising ID and personalization

Even after the basic services are disabled, the advertising ID remains active in the system, a unique code that is assigned to your device to target ads, and must be reset or disabled separately.

Go to Settings → Passwords & Security → Privacy → Advertising Services. Here you will see the Personalized Ads switch. Disabling it will prevent apps from using your ID to select ads.

It is also recommended to periodically click the Reset Ad ID button, which generates new random code, breaking the link between your past browsing history and current activities, which is especially useful if you are actively using free apps with an abundance of advertising.

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Use Flight mode when you first set up your smartphone to minimize the amount of data sent to the manufacturer’s servers before you have time to turn off all privacy settings.

Restriction of background activity and access

Activity control is also about controlling what apps do when you're not using them. MIUI has an aggressive memory management policy, but it doesn't always correlate with data transfer. You have to manually check permissions.

Go to Settings → Applications → Permissions Management. Pay special attention to Autostart and Background Saving permissions. Disable those rights for applications that don't need to work all the time, like photo editors or calculators.

A separate feature to mention is Location Access, which is that many applications request geodata even in the background, and set all applications to "Only in Use" permission, so that tracking stops as soon as you fold the program.

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Regular audit of application permissions is the most effective measure to prevent hidden data transfer in the background.

Using DNS to block trackers

The most effective way to block network-level activity control is to use a private DNS. This method requires no additional applications to be installed and works for the entire system at once. You can prescribe a server address that blocks known trackers.

Go to Settings → Connection and Sharing → Private DNS. Select Host Name of DNS Provider and enter a trusted filter address. One popular solution is the AdGuard DNS server.

dns.adguard.com

Once you save your settings, all requests for ad and analytics servers will be blocked at the network level, which means that even if the application tries to send a report of your activity, the connection will be severed, and this can also speed up the Internet by not downloading advertising debris.

Note that using a third-party DNS can sometimes lead to problems with accessing local ISP resources or specific services. If you notice connection problems, just return the setting to Auto.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)