How to disable MSA on Xiaomi: remove ads forever

Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphones often face intrusive advertising that appears in system applications. This is not a virus, but an embedded monetization mechanism known as MIUI System Ads or MSA. Many users mistakenly believe that it is impossible to get rid of it without installing third-party launchers or reflashing the device on global versions without advertising.

In fact, the company's engineers have made it possible to disable most of the ad modules with standard operating system tools. The process requires care, as settings are scattered across different menus, and some options can be hidden. In this article, we will detail how to completely disable MSA on Xiaomi to enjoy a clean MIUI or HyperOS interface.

Before you start setting up, you need to understand that completely removing system components can lead to unstable operation of the device. We will consider safe methods that do not require root rights. Your task is to consistently perform actions in each section, since disabling only one service may not give the desired result.

What is MSA and why is it needed?

MSA (Miui System Ads) is a system process that collects usage statistics and displays banner ads in standard applications, analyzes your actions to show targeted ads in folders, when unlocking the screen and in system utilities, and uses mdapp and other support processes to work with this mechanism.

Disabling this component does not disrupt the basic functions of the smartphone. You will still be able to use the theme store, browser and other services, but they will no longer show promotional offers. It is important to understand the difference between system advertising and advertising in third-party applications, which MSA does not control.

⚠️ Note: When disabling system processes through ADB Be careful not to remove components whose purpose you do not know, this can lead to a cyclic reboot.

It's worth noting that the switches may differ slightly between MIUI and HyperOS, but the logic of the ad modules remains the same across the ecosystem. If you don't find an option in the specified location, search by settings.

Basic privacy setting

The first step to getting rid of advertising is to send usage data, and that's the foundation on which targeting is built, so you have to go to the settings menu and find the privacy section, and there are key switches that allow telemetry to be collected.

Find Password and Security, then go to Privacy, and at the bottom of the screen, you'll have a special permissions or ad services link, and that's where the main switch is, and that's what users often ignore.

• 📱 Find the item “Get recommendations” and move the slider to an inactive state.
• 🔒 Turn off the option “User Experience Program).
• 📊 In the section "Advertising Services" click "Disable" MSA» and wait for the countdown.

After these steps are completed, the system may request confirmation, press "Disable" several times until the timer expires, and sometimes it is necessary to repeat the procedure 2-3 times, since the server may not accept the request the first time.

Disabling Advertising in System Applications

Even after the core MSA module is disabled, individual applications can continue to display banners, each system component has its own personalization settings, and to achieve full effect, you need to “walk” through key applications.

Start with the Security app. This is the control center that often contains the most ad integrations. Click on the gear icon in the top right corner and find "Get recommendations." Make sure it's off.

Then go to the Downloads app. Click on three dots in the corner of the screen, select Settings, and turn off "Show recommended content." Similar steps should be repeated for the Music and Video (Mi Video) app.

The Topic app is a little more complicated, so go to the user profile, then to the settings, and you have to turn off all the personalization and recommendation items, and that will remove banner ads from the theme update feed.

Use of the hidden MIUI menu

There's a hidden engineering menu in the MIUI shell that gives you access to advanced settings, and it allows you to control the behavior of the system at a deeper level, and it's accessed through a set of special code in the phone.

Open the Phone app and dial the code ##6485##. If the code doesn't work, your firmware version may be restricting access to this menu, in which case you can try an alternative method through the Task Manager app.

In the menu, look for options that start with MF_. The meaning of False or 0 It usually means that the function is disabled. Be very careful: changing unknown parameters can cause malfunctions in the communication modules or camera.

⚠️ Note: Do not change the parameters associated with the battery (BT_) Or calibrate the screen if you're not sure what they're supposed to do, and that might require resetting to the factory.

Blocking through DNS and network

If you don't think the software is effective enough, you can use network locking, which prevents the smartphone from connecting to Xiaomi's ad servers. DNS-server settings in Wi-Fi or mobile network.

Go to Settings → Connection & Sharing → Private DNS. Select the option “DNS Provider Host Name” and enter the ad blocker address, such as dns.adguard.com. This action will block most ad requests at the network level.

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Using a private AdGuard DNS blocks ads not only in the system, but also in many applications and browsers, speeding up the loading of pages.

Alternative method – using local VPN-An application like Blokada or AdGuard (no root version) that creates a local tunnel and filters traffic according to built-in lock lists, which can slightly increase battery consumption, but ensures maximum system cleanliness.

Removing MSA via ADB (for Advanced)

For those who want guaranteed results, there is a method of removing the MSA package through USB debugging, which requires connecting the smartphone to the computer and having the ADB (Android Debug Bridge) tool installed, which allows you to forcibly remove or freeze the system application.

First, activate the developer mode. To do this, click on the build number in the About Phone menu 7 times. Then turn on USB Debugging in the Developer menu. Connect the phone to your PC and start the command line.

adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.msa.global

This command will remove the ad pack for the current user. The phone doesn't need to root. If you want to return everything as it was, just reset the settings to the factory, and you can also remove the com.miui.personalassistant (left desktop) and com.miui.analytics (analytics).

Frequent problems and their solution

After performing all the manipulations, users may encounter residual phenomena, for example, advertising may continue to appear in applications that have not been updated in a long time, in which case it is recommended to clear the cache of these applications through the memory management menu.

Sometimes, after updating, the system resets. This is normal behavior of the MIUI shell. You have to revisit the instructions, especially when turning off recommendations in system utilities. Regularly checking these settings after major Android updates will help clean the interface.

⚠️ Attention: If after removal MSA Widgets or smart home features have stopped working, try reinstalling updates for the relevant system applications through the GetApps store.

Remember that removing all ad modules can lead to longer battery life as background processes stop loading content, but in rare cases, errors in the work of Xiaomi Account services are possible.

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A comprehensive approach, including disabling settings, changing DNS and removing packets through ADB, gives 100% results in the fight against advertising on Xiaomi.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions