How to turn off ads on Xiaomi Miui: the complete guide

Users of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphones often face intrusive marketing built into the MIUI shell.This can be annoying, especially when banner ads pop up in system apps or when unlocking the screen. Fortunately, developers have left the ability to minimize this impact through hidden settings.

In this article, we will take a look at how to turn off ads on Xiaomi without getting root permissions. We will go through each system application, disable the MSA service, and customize personalization to make your smartphone cleaner and faster.

Before you start, it’s important to understand that you can’t completely remove advertising code without flashing it to global versions or custom firmware, but a competent setup will hide 99% of banners. You only need access to the settings menu and about 15 minutes of free time.

MSA Disconnection: The Main Source of Advertising

The main engine of advertising content in the MIUI shell is the MSA (MIUI System Ads) process, which is responsible for loading and displaying banners in the interface, and the first step is to deactivate this service.

To do this, go to the Settings menu. → Passwords and security → Access to data. In the list that opens, find the msa app and turn off the switch next to it. The system will warn you of the consequences — ignore this and click Stop".

⚠️ Warning: the shutdown may not occur the first time. If the Stop button is inactive or an error occurs, repeat the procedure 3-5 It's a well-known feature of system protection.

After successfully disabling MSA, the number of ad integrations will be reduced by a factor, but some built-in applications have their own ad settings that require special attention.

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If the MSA switch is constantly returning to active state, try first to turn off the Internet (Wi-Fi and mobile network), turn off the service, and then turn the network back on.

Setting up the Security Application

The standard Security app is one of the most active apps in terms of showing notifications, and it can offer game installations, ad memory cleaning, or news, so to remove that, open the app and click on the settings gear in the top right corner.

In the settings menu, find the Receive recommendations section and move the slider to the inactive position, and it is also recommended to go to the About apps section and turn off similar items there, if they are present.

• 🛑 Turn off (Push) notifications about new applications.
• 🛑 Remove the box from the item "Receive recommendations".
• 🛑 In the "Cleanup" section, remove the auto-run of advertising modules.

Now the application will perform only its direct functions – to protect the device and speed up its work, without distracting you with unnecessary content.

We remove advertising in the Explorer and Downloads

System Explorer and Download Manager often contain promotional feeds in the Popular section. To clear the interface, open Explorer, click on the menu (three bars) and select Settings → About.

You need to find and disable the Recommendations item. A similar procedure is used for Downloads: open the application, click three dots in the corner, select Settings, and remove the tick from Receive Recommendations.

After these actions, folders and file lists will look sterile, without pop-ups with offers to buy goods or install a game.

Cleaning up the Security theme and lock screen

The wallpaper carousel on the lock screen is another source of banners. To manage this functionality, go to Settings → Always on screen and lock → Wallpaper carousel.

In the menu that opens, find the Receive Recommendations switch and turn it off. This will stop new images from loading with ads. If you use the Security theme, go to its settings and also disable all items related to news and recommendation.

⚠️ Warning: After the wallpaper carousel is turned off, a static image may remain on the lock screen. To return the usual wallpaper, simply change them through the "Themes" menu or gallery.

Some users prefer to turn off the Carousel feature completely so as not to waste traffic, which is especially true for Internet-limited fares.

Comparison of methods of disabling advertising

There are several approaches to combating intrusive marketing in MIUI, which vary in complexity and effectiveness, and below is a table to help you choose the best method for your situation.

The most secure and recommended way for the average user is to combine disabling the MSA and manually configuring each application. Using a Private DNS, such as dns.adguard.com, also gives excellent results, but can conflict with some local services.

Using Private DNS to block

Modern versions of Android and MIUI change DNS-It's a powerful tool that blocks ads at the network request level. → Connection and sharing → Private DNS-server.

Select the mode "Host Name of the DNS provider" and enter the address: dns.adguard.com. Save settings. Now all traffic going to known advertising servers will be blocked.

• ✅ Removes ads in the browser.
• ✅ Blocks trackers in apps.
• ✅ No need to install additional software.

However, it is worth remembering that some legitimate services may stop displaying content correctly if their domains get into the blacklist filter, in which case the DNS will have to be temporarily disabled.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

⚠️ Attention: when using methods with ADB or delete system packages you act at your own risk.Always make a full backup of data before interfering with system files.

To sum up, Xiaomi provides enough tools to be comfortable to use without undue noise. MSA, manually configuring applications and use DNS-Filtering allows you to turn a budget smartphone into a clean and fast tool for work and entertainment.

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An integrated approach (MSA + Application Settings + DNS) gives a better result than using only one method of blocking.