Owning a Xiaomi smartphone often starts with the euphoria of its excellent price-to-performance ratio, but is quickly overshadowed by intrusive marketing. Users are faced with banner ads in system applications, recommendations in folders and pop-ups after launching programs. It is not a bug, but part of the company’s business model to keep iron prices low. However, embedded advertising is not mandatory and can be completely neutralized by standard means.
The process of cleaning the interface from marketing noise requires sequential passage through all key settings. In modern shells MIUI 14 and the new HyperOS mechanisms are hidden deeper than in the early versions of Android, but they are available. You do not need superuser rights or complex scripts, just care when switching switches in the menu.
In this article, we’ll break down every source of annoying notifications and banners, and we’ll go from global MSA shutdowns to fine-tuning system applications like Explorer and Music, resulting in a clean interface that runs faster and doesn’t distract you from third-party content.
⚠️ Note: Before making changes to system settings, make sure you have a stable internet connection.Some switches require a real-time license status check, and without a network, the button may simply not respond to a click.
MSA Disconnection: The Main Source of Advertising
At the heart of Xiaomi’s advertising ecosystem is the MSA (MIUI System Ads) system process, which collects your preferences and broadcasts ads to different parts of the interface, and disabling this service is the first and most important step to clean up the system.
First, you need to log in to the security settings menu, find the password and security item in the main menu, or search the settings. Next, go to the Access to Personal Data section, here is a complete list of applications that have permission to collect information, find the msa component in the list and move the slider to the Off position.
The system will try to dissuade you from this decision, and you will see a 10 second countdown timer, after which you will need to press the "Cancel" button. If the first time failed (which is often due to interface bugs), just repeat the procedure again. Usually, on the second or third attempt, the service is successfully disabled.
☑️ Checking the shutdown MSA
After successful permission revocation, it is recommended to restart the device, which is necessary to complete background processes that may have remained in RAM, and it is also worth checking whether the "Receive recommendations" option in the same security menu has been activated, and disable it if it is enabled.
Setup of system applications: Explorer and Security
Even after disabling the MSA, individual system utilities can continue to show promotional offers, most often with the Security app and the built-in Explorer, these programs have their own internal ad settings that are managed independently of the global service.
In the Security app, you need to click on the settings gear in the top right corner. Scroll down to the General Settings block. Here you should find the Receive Recommendations and Deactivate it. It is also useful to disable the Auto Clean option if you prefer to manually control the process, although it is not advertising, but often contains pop-up prompts.
A similar procedure is required for Explorer. Open the app, click on the menu (three bars) and select Settings. Under About or More, find the Recommendation switch and turn it off. In some versions of MIUI, this item may be called Show Ads.
What to do if the settings are reset?
Remember that each system application is updated independently through the GetApps store or Google Play. After the next update of the interface or functionality, you should recheck these settings, since developers can return them to the active state.
Remove advertising in the browser and the application “Music”
The standard Mi Browser browser and the Music app are among the most aggressive sources of marketing content: The browser often opens a news feed with promotional material, and the music app offers paid subscriptions and merchandise at every turn.
To clean your browser, go to your profile menu, find the Privacy and Security section or just Settings, and turn off Personalized Guidelines, and select Classic or No News mode in the Home Page to remove any noise when you start.
The situation is similar in the Music app. Open the settings (cogs), go to Advanced Settings. Find Show Ads and turn it off. If you don't have one, try clearing the app's data through the Android system menu: Settings → Apps → All Apps → Music → Clear the data.
⚠️ Warning: Disabling ads in standard apps may limit the functionality of news feeds. If you use desktop news widgets, they may stop updating or show empty blocks.
Consider comparing the impact of disabling advertising on different aspects of the system:
| System component | The impact of advertising on work | Effects of disconnection | Difficulty setting up |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSA Service | High (banners everywhere) | Complete cleaning of the interface | Low. |
| Security Annex | Medium (pop-ups) | Clean scanner interface | Low. |
| Conductor | Low (recommendations) | Just files, no trash. | Low. |
| bootloader (bootloader) | High (full screen) | No banners when downloading | Medium |
Cleaning folders and desktop
One of the most annoying things about the shell is the ads in the folders on the desktop, and when you create a folder and put apps in there, the system automatically adds recommended games or utilities marked "Recommended," to increase the visibility of partners.
To remove this item, you click on the empty space on your desktop to enter edit mode, and select Settings. In the menu that opens, find the Recommendations item in folders (or "Promoted apps in folders") and disable it. After that, the intrusive app icons will disappear from all existing folders.
Also worth noting is the Glance widget, which often blocks the screen with news ads. You can turn it off from the Settings menu → Always on screen and lock → Wallpaper carousel. Put the switch to an inactive state so that only the time and notifications are displayed on the lock screen.
Once you turn off the wallpaper carousel, you can set up a static image or your photos, which not only removes ads, but also potentially saves battery power, as dynamic content loading from servers will no longer occur in the background.
Specific settings for HyperOS and new versions of MIUI
With the release of the HyperOS shell, Xiaomi began to rethink its approach to monetization, but the advertising mechanisms have not gone away, but only shifted, and new versions have a separate category of customization, dedicated to personalization, which often masks advertising options.
In HyperOS, go to Settings → Password and Security → Access to Personal Data. Here, in addition to MSA, you should check the GetApps app (Xiaomi app store). Even if you don't use it, it may have permission to notify. Disabling data access for GetApps will prevent targeted advertising based on the programs you have installed.
Also in new versions appeared the service MIUI Daemon, who is responsible for collecting usage statistics. Although it doesn't directly show banners, it passes the data to analytics. → Password and security → Access to personal data → Miui daemon – Disabling this service increases privacy, but could theoretically affect some of the functions of smart scripts.
💡
Use Second Space mode to test. Create a separate user profile without a linked Mi Account to check how the system behaves without synchronization. Often, there are fewer ads in the "clean" profile by default.
It’s important to note that global firmware versions (Global ROM) initially have less advertising than Chinese ones (CN ROMs). If you buy a device designed for the Chinese market, the amount of advertising will be significantly higher, and some system applications may not have switches to turn it off in the menu.
Advanced methods: DNS and ADB
For users who want to get rid of network-level advertising, there is a method of using it. DNS-This is a root-free method that works on any Android 9 or higher device, and the idea is to redirect requests to ad servers to nowhere.
The most effective solution is to use AdGuard DNS. To connect, go to Settings → Connection and General Settings → Private DNS (the path may vary depending on the Android version). Select the option “Host Name of the DNS provider” and enter the address: dns.adguard.com.
dns.adguard.comOnce you save the settings, the phone can lose the Internet for a second, and then the connection will recover, which blocks ads not only in Xiaomi’s system, but also in many apps and browsers where banners pop up.
⚠️ Attention: Use of third-party DNS It can slow down the opening of some sites or cause connection problems in corporate Wi-Fi networks, where authorization is required via a browser. DNS better off temporarily.
A more radical method is to use ADB (Android Debug Bridge) commands from a computer, which allows you to remove system packages responsible for advertising, such as com.miui.misys or com.android.cloudnvp. However, this method requires command-line skills and carries the risk of disrupting the system when you remove critical components.
💡
The combination of MSA disabling, DNS settings and manual application cleaning gives 99% of the result of eliminating advertising without losing the guarantee and stability of the system.
The use of ADB is justified only in extreme cases, when standard methods do not help. For most users, the settings described in the previous sections are sufficient. Remember that a deep modification of the system can make it impossible to receive official updates.