Modern smartphones in the Redmi and Poco line offer excellent value for money, but the cost of affordable prices is often intrusive advertising. Users face sudden banners in system applications, recommendations in folders and even pop-ups on the desktop. This is not just an annoyance, but also a potential security threat if you accidentally click on a malicious ad.
Fortunately, MIUI (and the new HyperOS) allows you to flexibly configure privacy and advertising settings. You don’t have to be a programmer to block the main sources of intrusive content. In this article, we’ll look at system disabling techniques, working with the MSA service, and clearing notifications from specific applications.
Now, it's hard to erase marketing completely without losing some services, but it's real to minimize it. We'll go through all the hidden corners of the settings so that your Xiaomi is a handy tool again, not an advertising platform. Let's start with the most important thing, the system recommendation switch.
Disabling personalized advertising in the system
The first and most important step is to disable data collection to personalize ads, which allows Xiaomi algorithms to analyze your actions and select targeted ads, and without disabling this option, all other actions may be less effective.
To start, you need to go to the smartphone settings menu. Find the Password and Security section (in some versions of the firmware it can be called simply Security). Inside this menu, you should select Access to Personal Data or Privacy. This is the key switch that manages advertising identifiers.
⚠️ Attention: After disabling personalization, ads won't disappear instantly, but they will become less relevant.The system will continue to show ads, but they will be random, not based on your search history.
In the list of services, find the MSA (MIUI System Ads) switch next to it, you need to turn off. The system will require you to wait 10 seconds, then prompt you to confirm the action with the Disable button. If the first time failed and the timer resets, repeat the procedure. This is the standard interface behavior for "protection" from accidental shutdown.
- 📱 Open the Settings. → Password and security.
- 🔒 Go to the section Access to personal data.
- 🚫 Find the msa service and turn it off.
- ⏳ Wait 10 seconds and confirm the shutdown.
In addition to the MSA service, you should check the settings of the recommendation system itself. In the Settings menu, find the Advanced Settings or Additional section, there may be a Receive Recommendations item, make sure it is deactivated, this will remove news and app suggestions in standard folders.
Setup of System Applications: Security and Cleanup
Security and Cleanup apps are the main sources of pop-ups in the background, and they often show ads after scanning or cleaning up memory, and to remove these banners, you need to change the settings of each application separately.
Open the Security app. Click on the gear icon at the top right of the screen to get into the settings. Find the General Settings section or just the switch list at the bottom. You need to find the Receive Recommendations and turn it off. You should also turn off the Add Security Shortcut to your desktop if you don't need one.
☑️ Checking applications
A similar procedure should be done for the Cleaner app. Run it, click three dots in the corner or a gear, and find the Receive recommendations switch. Disabling it will prevent banner ads from appearing after the garbage cleaning process. In new versions of HyperOS, these settings can be combined into a common privacy profile.
Remember that system applications are often updated through the GetApps store or Google Play. After a major update, the settings may reset, so it makes sense to periodically check these items. This will take less than a minute, but will keep the interface clean.
MSA and Mi Browser Service Management
MSA (MIUI System Ads) is responsible for loading and displaying advertising content throughout the shell, but there is also the Mi Browser (standard browser), which also generates many notifications and pop-ups.
If you don't use a standard browser, its ad settings can be ignored, but it's better to be safe. Open Mi Browser, go to settings (three bars → Settings). Find the Privacy and Security section.
| System component | The path to adjustment | What's off? | The result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Systemic advertising | Password and security → Access to personal data | msa | Termination of data collection for targeting |
| Security Annex | Security → A gear. | Receive recommendations | No banners after scanning |
| Annex Cleaning | Cleanup → A gear. | Receive recommendations | No post-cleaning ads |
| Topics | Topics → Profile → Settings | Showing ads | Clean store interface theme |
Also, look at the Themes app. Open a user profile (human icon), click on settings and disable all items related to recommendations and banner auto-update, which will make the directory more stringent and less congested.
Why does Xiaomi need advertising?
Blocking Advertising in Specific Applications
Often the source of irritation is not system services, but third-party applications installed by the user. QR-Codes and simple games can show ads to the full screen at the most inopportune time.
To find the culprit, look at the content of the ads. If they advertise games or products with AliExpress, it's likely one of the newly installed free apps. Android 11 and later has a convenient way to identify such programs.
When a pop-up appears on the screen, don't close it immediately. Press the menu button (three bars or a square) to switch between running apps. At the top of the ad card, the name of the app that launched it will be written, and then it can be removed through Settings → Apps.
- 🔍 Use the "Menu" button when advertising.
- 📝 Remember the name of the source application.
- 🗑️ Remove the program through settings or find its anaog without ads.
- 🛡️ Install an ad blocker (such as AdGuard) to filter traffic.
If you can't find a source visually, you can use notification settings. Go to Settings → Notifications and Status bar → Notification management. Go through the list and turn off notifications for suspicious applications that don't need them (calculator, voice recorder, simple utilities).
Using DNS to Block Advertising
The most effective method that works at the network level is the use of a private DNS. This method does not require the installation of additional applications and blocks advertising in many games and browsers, without skipping requests to advertising servers.
To set up, go to Settings → Connection and Sharing (or Wi-Fi). Find a Private Item DNS (Private DNS). Select the hostname of the provider DNS (or "Manually"). In the box that appears, enter the blocker's address.
dns.adguard.comSave the settings. Now all your smartphone traffic will go through AdGuard DNS filters. This will remove most banners in the browser and applications. However, be careful: some sites or applications may stop working correctly if they consider the blocker to be a network error.
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If after activating DNS, the Internet in public Wi-Fi stopped working (browser authorization is required), temporarily disable the private DNS after authorization, and turn it on again.
Resetting the advertising identifier
Even after all the settings, the old advertising ID (GAID) can continue to be used for targeting.It is recommended to periodically reset.This will not remove the ads completely, but will "nullify" the profile that advertisers have collected about your preferences.
This is done through Google services. Open your phone's Settings, scroll down to the Google section. Select Ads. Here you'll see the Reset Ad ID option. Click on it and confirm the action.
You can also include the option to turn off ad personalization from this menu, which will prevent Google from using your search history and YouTube data to show ads in apps, combined with disabling MSA, this gives the maximum effect.
⚠️ Attention: Resetting the ID is not an instant solution. ad networks may take hours to days to update information and stop showing old targeted banners.
Cleaning the cache of Google Play services regularly also helps. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps, find Google Play Services and Google Play Store. Select Storage → Clear cache. Don't confuse with Clear Data, as it can reset your account settings.