Advertising in Xiaomi smartphones: where to hide, how to look and how to get rid of it

Xiaomi smartphones have long been popular for their value for money, but many users are faced with an unpleasant surprise — built-in advertising on the system. It can appear in the most unexpected places, from the screen blocker to the settings menu. In this article, we will analyze exactly what advertising looks like in Xiaomi, where it hides in firmware. MIUI 14/15 and the new HyperOS, and give step-by-step instructions for disabling it – both standard means and using hidden functions.

It's important to understand that Xiaomi's ads come in two types: system (built into firmware) and applications (from third-party services like Mi Browser or Mi Video). The first type is harder to remove because it's integrated at the OS level, but even here there are solutions. The second is often eliminated by banal removal of unnecessary programs. We analyzed all the current ways for 2026 - from official settings to little-known tricks for power users.

1. Where exactly does advertising appear in Xiaomi: a full list of places

Ads on Xiaomi smartphones can pop up in dozens of places, and not all of them are obvious. Here are the most common locations where users encounter intrusive banners:

• 📱 Lock screen – banner ads at the bottom of the screen or during unlocking.
• ⚙️ Settings menu – suggestions to connect to Mi Account or install new apps.
• 🔍 Search bar - in the search results by system (Settings) → Search).
• 📁 File Manager – Banners at the top of the screen when opening folders.
• 🎵 Music player – advertising in Mi Music between tracks.
• 🌐 Browser – pop-ups in Mi Browser or Mint Browser.
• 📺 Video player - commercials before watching in Mi Video.
• 📊 Security Center – offers to clear memory or install antivirus.

The ads on the lock screen are especially annoying, because they appear even when the phone is lying idle, and they can be opened accidentally when unlocked. MIUI 14/15 And HyperOS, the display algorithms are smarter, and banners are tailored to your interests (for example, if you play games a lot, there will be ads for new games), and this works by collecting data about your activity — another reason to think about privacy.

Another insidious aspect is the notification ads, which disguise themselves as system alerts (e.g., "Your memory is almost full! Install Clean Master"), often to third-party sites or the Mi App Store, where they offer to download dubious apps, and be careful that some of them may contain malicious code.

2.What Advertising Looks Like in Xiaomi: Visual Examples

To avoid confusing ads with regular system messages, it is important to know the visuals of the ads, and here are the main types of banners you may find:

Pay attention to banner design: they are often stylized as an interface. MIUI, For example, in HyperOS, banners can use the same colors and fonts as system notifications, another sign is links to the Mi App Store or external sites (for example, mipromo.com or other sites). miui.com/ad).

Critical: Some banner ads in Xiaomi contain scripts that can collect your location or search history even if you don’t click on them. XDA So turning off ads is not just a matter of comfort, it's also a matter of security.

3.Why Xiaomi is showing ads: official position and reality

Xiaomi officially says that advertising helps keep prices low on devices, and the company says that the revenue from displays allows you to offer smartphones cheaper than competitors, but in practice it looks different:

• 💰 User monetization – even in premium models (e.g. Xiaomi 14 Ultra) ads don’t turn off by default.
• 📊 Data collection – banners are adjusted to your interests, and for this the system analyzes your activity.
• 🔄 Ecosystem-based adverts often lead to Mi App Store or Xiaomi services to keep you in their ecosystem.
• 🌍 Regional differences: Europe and the US have fewer ads (due to data protection laws), while Asia and Russia have more.

Interesting fact: HyperOS (the new firmware Xiaomi) has less advertising, but it's smarter. Now banners are less visible, but more targeted. For example, if you use a camera a lot, you might be asked to install a photo editing app, which makes ads less visible, but more effective for Xiaomi.

⚠️ Note: In some regions (e.g. the EU), Xiaomi is required to provide the option of completely disabling advertising due to data protection laws (GDPR). If you live in Europe and you see ads, it's a violation. You can complain to your local consumer protection authorities.

Another thing is, even if you turn off personalized ads in your settings, banners will still show up, they'll just become less relevant, and you can only completely remove them through deep system settings or third-party tools.

4. How to disable advertising in Xiaomi: step-by-step instructions

There are several ways to get rid of Xiaomi ads, and their effectiveness depends on the firmware version, and we will take a look at the methods from the simplest to the most radical.

4.1. Standard settings (works on 80% of banners)

First, try to disable ads through the official menus, which does not require super-user rights (root) and is suitable for most users:

1. Go to Settings → Accounts and Sync → Mi Account.
2. Turn off the option “Personalized recommendations” (or “Advertising identification” in new versions).
3. Go back to the main settings menu and select Settings. → Additionally. → Advertising (in) MIUI 15 Ways may be different: Settings → The phone. → Additionally. → Advertising).
4. Turn off all sliders associated with ad impressions (for example, “Show recommendations” or “Banners on the lock screen”).
5. Reset the device.

This method removes most banners, but not all of them, for example, ads in Mi Browser or Mi Video may remain, and you need to turn them off separately in the settings of these applications.

4.2. Disabling advertising through ADB (power-user)

If the standard settings do not help, you can use the command. ADB (Android Debug Bridge. It takes a computer and a little bit of technical skill, but it takes away the system-level advertising:

1. Enable USB debugging on your phone: Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (click 7 times to activate Developer Mode), then Settings → Additional → Developers → Debugging over USB.
2. Connect your phone to your computer and open the command line (or Terminal on Mac/Linux).
3. Enter the command: adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.systemAdSolution This command disables the system module responsible for displaying ads.
4. To disable advertising in Mi Browser, do: adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.android.browser adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.browser
5. Reset the device.

⚠️ Attention: Teams ADB They can cause the system to malfunction if entered incorrectly. Backup data before execution. Also, after updating the firmware, you may need to re-enter commands.

If after these actions, the advertisement still appears, try to disable another module:

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.xiaomi.mipicks

It is responsible for personalized recommendations in MIUI.

Removal of system applications (requires root)

The most radical way is to remove the system applications responsible for displaying ads, which requires super-user rights (root) and is only suitable for power users. Here is a list of applications that can be safely removed (using Root Explorer or Titanium Backup):

• 🗑️ com.miui.systemAdSolution – the main module of advertising.
• 🗑️ com.xiaomi.mipicks – personalized recommendations.
• 🗑️ com.miui.analytics – analytics collection (reduces the number of targeted ads).
• 🗑️ com.miui.bugreport – sending error reports (sometimes used to collect data).
• 🗑️ com.miui.cloudservice – cloud services (may contain advertising modules).

Warning: Removing system applications can cause phone malfunctions. For example, without com.miui.cloudservice, backups may stop working.Be sure to backup before you delete and be prepared for possible problems.

💡

If you don’t want to get root but need to remove unnecessary apps, use the command. ADB: adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 This will remove the application only for your user without affecting the system.

5. Advertising in specific Xiaomi apps: how to remove

Even after the system ads are turned off, banners can remain in separate Xiaomi apps, and let’s see how to remove them in the most problematic programs.

5.1. Mi Browser / Mint Browser

Xiaomi's browsers are known for aggressive advertising, to turn it off:

1. Open Mi Browser and go to Settings → Additionally.
2. Turn off the options: 🔘 "Personalized news" 🔘 "Recommended content" 🔘 "Showing notifications"

"Clear the data"

"Clear the cache."

adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.android.browser

5.2. Mi Video / Mi Music

In these applications, ads are often embedded in content, to reduce them:

• 🎬 In Mi Video: Go to Settings → Personal recommendations and disable all sliders.
• 🎵 In Mi Music: Open Settings → Recommend and deactivate "Show banners".
• 🚫 If nothing helps, remove the app through ADB Or refuse to use them in favor of alternatives (VLC, Spotify).

Security App (Security App)

Security centre in the MIUI He often shows ads disguised as "helpful advice" to turn them off:

1. Open the Security App and go to Settings → Notifications.
2. Turn off "optimization recommendations" and "safety tips".
3. In the same menu, find "Memory Clearup" and turn off "Show Notifications."
4. If the advertisement remains, disable the application through ADB: adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.securitycenter Warning: This will disable all security features, including antivirus.

6. Alternative methods: firmware, custom ROM and VPN

If none of these methods work, then radical measures remain: they require more effort, but they are guaranteed to remove advertising.

Install custom firmware (for example, LineageOS)

Custom firmware like LineageOS or Pixel Experience completely removes all Xiaomi system applications, including advertising modules.

• ✅ No system advertising.
• ✅ More control over the device.
• ✅ Regular security updates.

Cons:

• ❌ Complex installation (needs an unlocked boot loader).
• ❌ The camera or sensors may not work (depending on the model).
• ❌ Loss of guarantee.

Instructions for installing LineageOS:

1. Unlock the bootloader through the Mi Unlock Tool (requires a wait of 7-14 days).
2. Install TWRP Recovery.
3. Download the LineageOS firmware for your model from the official website.
4. Flow through TWRP.

⚠️ Warning: The wrong firmware can turn your phone into a brick. If you're not sure about your skills, you'd better see a specialist.

6.2. Use of VPN advertising-blocking

Some of them VPN-Services (e.g. AdGuard) VPN Blokada, or Blokada, is blocking ad domains at the network level, and it's not going to eliminate banners completely, but it's going to reduce the number of banners:

• 🔒 Does not require root or complex manipulation.
• 🌍 It works on any device.
• 🛡️ Protects against tracking.

How to set up:

1. Install AdGuard or Blokada from Google Play.
2. Activate ad blocking in the application settings.
3. Add to the blacklist domains: mipromo.com miui.com/ad api.ad.xiaomi.com

This method is especially useful for blocking ads in the browser and some system applications.

Transition to global firmware (for Chinese models)

If you have a Xiaomi smartphone with Chinese firmware (for example, Redmi Note 12 Pro)+ 5G And for the Chinese market, there's a lot more advertising than the global version, and the solution is to flip the phone over to global or European firmware:

1. Download the official global firmware from the site en.miui.com/download.html.
2. Use the Mi Flash Tool for firmware (instructions are available on the XDA Developers).
3. After the firmware, reset to factory settings.

This will remove all Chinese services and ad modules, but there may be a problem with supporting some features (e.g. Google Pay on uncertified devices).

7. Frequent Ad Disabling Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Many users have trouble trying to remove ads from Xiaomi, and here are the most common mistakes and solutions:

Another common problem is advertising in notifications from third-party apps (such as games or social networks), which is not related to Xiaomi, but disguises itself as system alerts, to turn it off:

1. Go to Settings. → Notifications → All applications.
2. Find an app that shows ads and turn off notifications from it.
3. If it is an unknown app, delete it.

In addition, some advertising links lead to dubious sites, which carries the risk of infection with viruses.