Owners of the Chinese brand’s devices often encounter intrusive banners that appear in the most unexpected places of the interface. Advertising in Xiaomi smartphones has become a parable, annoying users even after buying flagship models. Fortunately, the company’s engineers have provided the ability to control this data flow, although they hid the switches deep enough in the menu.
Deleting advertising content completely requires a consistent approach, as it is handled by different system services. You will have to go through several settings to block all channels of broadcast. In this article, we will discuss each step in detail so that your Redmi or POCO becomes truly your personal device without unnecessary visual noise.
It is worth noting that some changes may require rebooting or re-entering the account. msa (MIUI System Ads) is the main source of banners, and disabling it solves 80% of problems. Don’t be afraid to make changes to the service, it is the standard functionality of the MIUI shell or HyperOS, designed to flexible customize the user experience.
Disabling the MSA System Service
The centerpiece of advertising content is msa, which collects your preferences and generates personalized offers, and you need to access advanced system settings to hide the standard switches from the casual user.
Go to the settings menu and find the "About Phone" option, and you'll need to quickly click on the MIUI shell version several times until you're a developer, then go back to the main settings menu and select "Advanced", then "Developers".
- 📱 Find the item in the list "Inclusion" USB-Debugging and activating it (this may be required for some advanced techniques).
- 🔍 In the search for settings, type in “msa” or “advertising” to quickly find the right switch.
- 🚫 Turn off the Receive References slider in the Security and Privacy section».
⚠️ Attention: When you try to disable the msa service, the system may ask you several times about your decision, claiming that it will worsen the personalization experience.
Once you have found the Receive References switch, click on it. The system will ask you to wait 10 seconds, after which the Disconnect button will become active. If you failed to turn off the first time, repeat the procedure 2-3 times, sometimes the company's servers do not immediately accept the request for status change.
☑️ Checking the shutdown MSA
Setup of system applications and services
In addition to the main service, the ad modules are built into the standard utilities that each Xiaomi owner uses: Explorer, Music, Downloads and other system applications have their own settings for displaying recommendations.
Start with the Security app. Open it, click on the settings gear in the top right corner. You'll need to find the "Get recommendations" and deactivate it. You can do the same thing in the Downloads app if you use it to download files from the Internet.
| Annex | The path to adjustment | Action. |
|---|---|---|
| Conductor | Menus. → Settings → About the programme | Turn off "Receive recommendations" |
| Music. | Menu → Settings → Advanced settings | Turn off "Show ads" |
| Topics | Profile → Settings | Disable “Show Ads” and “Auto Update” |
| Mi video | Menu → Settings → Additional | Remove the tick from the “Online Recommendations” |
Also, be sure to check the settings of the Themes app. Often, that's where pop-ups pop up with a suggestion to install new wallpaper or fonts. In the user profile, find the settings and remove all ticks related to personalization and notifications.
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If after disabling the ad in the applications it still appears, try to clear the cache of each system application through the menu "Apps» → «Application management».
Managing Notifications in the Mi browser
Mi's built-in browser is one of the most active sources of advertising traffic. Not only does it show banners when you launch, it can send push notifications from various sites you accidentally subscribe to. Browser setup is critical for comfortable use.
Open your browser and go to settings (three bars at the bottom or top). Find the Privacy and Security section. You should turn off Personalized Recommendations here. You should also check the Notifications section and prevent sites from sending fluffs.
- 🌐 In the address bar, enter mi.com to check the start page (you can change it to Google or Yandex).
- 🔒 Enable Incognito mode to visit questionable resources to avoid intrusive banners.
- 🗑️ Regularly clear your browser history and cache through the Privacy menu».
Many users prefer not to configure the built-in browser, but simply install an alternative, such as Chrome or Firefox. This is a radical but effective solution. However, if you use a standard browser, make sure that the General section disables the Show News option on the home page.
Cleaning the lock screen and desktop
Wallpaper carousel is a feature that periodically changes images on a locked screen, often loading up advertising images. The lock screen does not need to be a marketing platform, so this feature is better deactivated or strictly limited.
Go to the settings, select Always on screen and Lock screen (or just Lock screen) and find wallpaper carousel (or Glance). Inside, turn off the wallpaper carousel switch, which will remove the advertising slides and free up some RAM.
⚠️ Warning: After the wallpaper carousel is turned off, the static image may not immediately return to the lock screen.
Also worth checking is the desktop settings. Long tapping on an empty space causes the edit menu. Select Settings and scroll down to the Recommendations section. Turn off Get Recommendations so that news and app ads stop appearing in the widget feed (usually to the left of the first screen).
For owners of new HyperOS models, the paths may be slightly different, but the logic remains the same: look for the words “Recommendations,” “Advertising,” or “Personalization” in any menu related to visual design.
What if the wallpaper carousel turns on itself?
Resetting the advertising identifier
Even after all visible sources are turned off, the Advertising ID remains in the system, a unique code assigned to your device to track your interests by ad networks, and its reset and disabling is the final touch in the fight for privacy.
Go to Passwords and Security (or “Additional” in older versions of MIUI). Go to Privacy → Advertising Services. Here you will see your current ID.
Settings → Passwords and security → Privacy → Advertising servicesClick the Reset Ad ID button, which will create a new random code, breaking the link with previously collected data about your preferences, immediately after that, turn off the Ad Personalization switch to prevent the use of the new ID for targeting.
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Resetting the advertising ID does not remove the ads completely, but makes them less relevant and intrusive by resetting the accumulated user profile.