How to remove ads on the lock screen Xiaomi: Full instructions

Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphone owners often encounter intrusive content that appears in the most unexpected places on the interface. One of the most annoying aspects of the company's commercial policy is advertising on the lock screen, which can block notifications, require unnecessary actions to unlock or simply take up useful space to distract from using the device.

Fortunately, the modern shell MIUI and its successor HyperOS provide flexible tools for personalization, in this article we will discuss in detail how to get rid of banner ads on a locked screen, as well as touch on related settings that will help make smartphone use more comfortable and clean.

The process of disabling does not require superuser rights or complex reflashing, just go through a few points in the settings menu consistently and disable key MSA analytics services. We will look at both the standard methods available to each user and more advanced ways to clean the system of advertising debris.

The nature of advertising on a blocked screen

Before we take any action, we need to understand the source of the problem: Advertising on the lock screen in Xiaomi devices is not a virus or the result of malware downloaded from a dubious source, but a regular feature of the system that is activated by default when a new smartphone is first turned on.

The content display service is responsible for a special service, often called "Wallpaper Carousel" or Glance depending on the region of the firmware, which uploads images with news feed and advertising inserts every time you wake up the device, which is a news source for some users, but for most it is an unnecessary waste of traffic and battery.

⚠️ Warning: Disabling advertising services may affect the performance of the widgets of the Carousel feed.If you actively use news widgets on a locked screen, after disabling the adverts, they may stop updating or displaying content.

And some of the ad integrations are tied to the MSA (MIUI System Ads) system application, which analyzes your actions and selects relevant ads, and without disabling this component, you can't completely clear the interface from ads, even if you remove the wallpaper from the lock.

MSA Service Disconnection: A Basic Step to Cleaning Up

The first and most important step is to deactivate the system advertising module. MSA (Miui System Ads) is the process responsible for collecting user data and displaying targeted advertising in embedded applications and system windows.

To do this, you will need access to the application management menu. Find the application list "MSA" or "miuiDaemon" (depending on the version of the shell, the names may vary slightly), go to the application information and select the "Disable" option.

The system can warn you that disabling this component may affect the operation of other applications. Don't pay attention to this warning, because in our case we purposely restrict the functionality of the advertising module. If the system requires confirmation of action through password or fingerprint, follow it.

After successful shutdown of the MSA service, it is recommended to restart the device, which is necessary to ensure that all system processes are updated and stop accessing advertising servers, the effect becomes noticeable immediately after turning on: the number of pop-up windows in standard applications ("Conductor", "Music", "Themes") is sharply reduced.

Setting up "Wallpaper Carousel" and lock screen

The primary source of visual noise on a locked screen is the Wallpaper Carousel feature, which in global firmware is called Glance, which replaces static images with dynamic feeds of news and banner ads.

To remove the ads, you need to go to the lock screen settings. The path may vary depending on the version of the shell, but it's usually in the Settings → Lock screen section. Here you need to find the item responsible for the wallpaper carousel or Glance and put the switch inactive.

If you don't have a simple switch, you might have a separate carousel module as an app.

• 📱 Go to Settings. → Annexes → All applications.
• 🔍 Find the list of "Wallpaper Carousel", "Glance" or "Lock Screen Magazine".
• 🚫 Click "Disable" or "Delete Updates" and then "Disable".

Once this service is disabled, the lock screen will return to the classic look: static wallpaper, time and notifications. Advertising slides will no longer appear when the screen wakes up. If you want to leave beautiful wallpaper but no ads, just select a static image in the gallery and set it as wallpaper for the lock screen.

Disabling personal recommendations in the system

Even after the main services are disabled, hidden switches that are responsible for receiving advertising recommendations may remain in the system, often hidden in the depths of the settings menu and activated by default to “improve the user experience”.

You need to find a privacy or special feature section. In different versions of MIUI, the path can look like Settings → Passwords and Security → Privacy → Special features.

Also, check your Mi Account settings. Go to Settings → Mi Account, select your profile, and find the Ads section. Make sure the Personalized Ads switch is turned off. This will prevent companies from using your data to select ads.

Also, be sure to check the settings of Xiaomi's standard apps, such as Music, Video and Explorer. Each of them has a settings section (usually a gear icon) that says "Get recommendations" or "Show ads," and it takes a couple of minutes to disable these options, but it makes the interface much cleaner.

💡

After each change in the privacy settings, the system may suggest sending an error report or usage data. Always select "Do Not Send" to minimize data collection.

Removing advertising applications and cleaning the cache

In some cases, the device may have news aggregator apps or browsers pre-installed that duplicate the ad features on the lock screen, often from third-party partners, such as news feeds or gaming centers.

If you see programs with names like "Hot Games", "News", "Browser" (if you don't use them), it's best to uninstall them. For system applications that don't get deleted completely, use the "Disable" feature.

Also effective is cleaning the cache of advertising services. Even if the service is disabled, it may still have cached banners in its memory. Go to Settings → Apps → All applications, look for Wallpaper Carousel or MSA, go to Memory and click Clear Cache and Clear Everything.

This procedure is especially useful if the ad continues to appear sporadically (periodically) after all the settings.Reset application data returns it to factory state, removing all temporary files and settings that may have been changed by the server.

Using DNS to Block Advertising

For those who want to achieve maximum results and block advertising not only in the system, but also in the browser and applications, an effective method is to configure a private DNS. This method does not require the installation of third-party software and works at the network connection level.

The most popular and reliable service for this purpose is AdGuard DNS. To activate it, go to Settings → Connection and Sharing → Private DNS. Select the option “Host Name of the DNS Provider” and enter the address: dns.adguard.com.

Once you save the settings, all requests to known ad servers will be blocked at the network level, which means that even if some application tries to upload a banner to the lock screen or interface, the connection will be severed, and you will see an empty space or a standard stub.

⚠️ Attention: Use of third-party DNS may cause some functions that depend on geolocation or specific domains of the operator to fail. DNS Mobile Internet or certain applications have stopped working, return the settings DNS auto-mode.

The advantage of this method is that it works for all applications at once, including those that do not have their own ad settings, but it is worth remembering that it does not cancel the system settings of MIUI, but only complements them by blocking the download of content.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

💡

The comprehensive approach, including disabling MSA, configuring DNS and cleaning system applications, allows you to remove 99% of ads in the Xiaomi interface without losing the guarantee and stability of the system.