How to turn off ads on Xiaomi Redmi Note 9: the complete guide

Xiaomi smartphone owners often face intrusive ads that appear in system applications. The Redmi Note 9, despite its popularity and excellent characteristics, was no exception to the rule. The built-in advertising system is designed to compensate for the low cost of the device, but for many users it becomes a source of irritation.

Fortunately, the company's engineers have provided the ability to limit or completely disable most ad integrations. You don't need superuser rights or complex flashing of the device. You just need to change a number of settings in the MIUI shell interface sequentially. In this article, we'll take a look at each step necessary to clear the system of banners.

Before we make any changes, it’s worth understanding that some services may not work properly temporarily after system components are turned off. However, in the vast majority of cases, the functionality of the Redmi Note 9 smartphone remains completely intact. Let’s start with the most important step: disabling the system advertising service.

Disabling the MSA system service

The central element in charge of displaying advertising content in the shell is the MSA system application (MIUI System Ads), which collects data about your preferences and broadcasts the corresponding banners. Without it, other manipulations may not have the full effect. The deactivation process requires care, as the system will try to keep the user.

To start, you need to go to the smartphone settings menu. Find the Password and Security section and select Access to Personal Data. From the app list that opens, find msa and put the slider in an inactive position. The system will issue a warning that some features may stop working, and will prompt you to wait 10 seconds before you try again to turn off.

This delay mechanism is a standard protection, not a mistake. You have to press the "Cancel" button and wait for the timer to expire. If you fail the first time, try repeating the procedure 2-3 times, sometimes it takes several waiting cycles to successfully execute the command on the manufacturer's servers.

Once you successfully disable msa, ads in standard applications like Conductor or Music should disappear, but it is worth noting that completely removing this component is impossible without using the same software. ADB-For the average user, it is enough to revoke licenses, which blocks the download of advertising modules.

Configuring standard MIUI applications

Even after the main service is disabled, some built-in utilities can save their own notification settings. The MIUI shell allows you to flexibly configure each system application separately, which allows you to fine-tune, but takes time to go through all menu items.

First of all, look at the Safety app. It often contains clean-up or acceleration recommendations, which are essentially promotional links. Go to the app, click on the settings gear in the corner, and find the Receive recommendations section. Turn the switch to the "Off" position.

Similar actions must be taken for the Explorer and Download applications, and these gates also have a feature that displays recommended content, and ignoring these settings can cause you to see banners when you open folders, even if the main MSA service is disabled.

Special attention should be paid to the application "Themes", which is through it often receive notifications about new skins or paid wallpaper. Go to the user profile (human icon), select "Settings" and disable the item "Show ads", this action will significantly clear the interface of visual noise.

Blocking personalized advertising

Collecting data about user behavior is a key tool for targeted advertising. Xiaomi, like many other large companies, uses this data to generate personalized offers, and you have every right to prohibit the processing of your information for advertising purposes.

To do this, go to Settings → Password and Security → Privacy. Find the Advertising Services section. Here you will be prompted to disable ad personalization. After switching the toggle, the ads will not disappear completely, but they will no longer be relevant to your interests and become less intrusive.

This action generates a new random number that replaces your current ID. Regularly resetting this ID (for example, once a month) makes it much harder for ad networks to build your digital profile.

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Reset your advertising ID every time you sell or give away your Xiaomi smartphone, which will protect the new owner from advertising intended for you and keep your privacy.

It is important to understand the difference between disabling data collection and blocking ad displays. Disabling personalization does not remove ads completely, it only makes them random. The actions described in the previous sections are necessary to completely disappear banners.

Disabling recommendations in folders and on the desktop

One of the most annoying features of the shell is that the recommended apps appear in the folders on the desktop, and when you open the folder with the programs, the "Recommendations" block may appear at the bottom. These are not viruses, but a regular launcher feature that is easy to turn off.

Click on any folder on your desktop to open it. At the top of the folder window, you'll see a name like "Tools" or "Games." Click on that name. A small folder settings menu will open. Find the Recommended Switch and turn it off. The sentence block will disappear instantly.

Also, check the settings of the desktop itself, hold your finger on the blank space of the screen, or pinch the screen with two fingers to enter edit mode, click on the gear settings in the corner, you can turn off the "Google Discover" (or Yandex) if you are not using it, and remove the wallpaper carousel, which may also contain advertising integrations.

A clean desktop not only looks nicer, it saves processor resources. The launcher doesn't need to download additional data and pictures to render recommended content, which is especially true for the Redmi Note 9 model if you've been using it for several years and want to keep it running.

Using DNS to Block Advertising

The most effective method of combating advertising, including in third-party applications and browsers, is the use of private DNS. This method works at the network connection level and blocks requests to known ad servers.

In modern versions of Android and MIUI setup DNS No root permissions required. Go to Settings → Connection and Sharing (or "Additional Settings" depending on the firmware version). DNS (Private DNS). Select the mode "Host Name of the provider" DNS" And enter the address:

dns.adguard.com

Once you save the settings, you need to restart the smartphone, which blocks most ad requests without installing additional blocking apps that can consume battery life themselves, but it is worth considering that when using public Wi-Fi networks with authorization through a web page, Internet access can be temporarily blocked.

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Use of the DNS-Filtering is a silver bullet to combat advertising that blocks up to 90% of banners throughout the system without installing additional software.

If some apps or sites stop working after you turn on DNS, you can always go back to your settings and select Auto mode to turn off filtering. It's a flexible tool that you can turn on and off as you need it.

Summary table of disabling actions

For ease of perception, all the above steps are summarized in a single table, which will help you quickly navigate which steps have already been completed and which still need to be done to completely clean the Redmi Note 9 from advertising.

Doing all the points in the table ensures maximum protection against intrusive content. You don’t have to do all the actions at once, you can start by disabling the MSA, as this gives the most noticeable visual effect.

Remember that after major updates to the MIUI firmware, some settings can be reset to factory values. Periodic checking of these parameters will help keep the smartphone clean.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)