Owners of budget smartphones often face intrusive banner ads that overlap the useful content of the screen. Xiaomi Redmi 9A is no exception, as it works on the basis of MIUI firmware, known for its aggressive methods of monetization. By buying an affordable device, users indirectly agree to view advertising content that helps the manufacturer keep the price of the gadget low.
Fortunately, the system allows you to manually deactivate most advertising sources without losing warranty or needing to flash.The process requires care, as settings are scattered across different Settings menus. In this article, we will take a look at each step needed to clean the interface of your smartphone from unnecessary visual noise.
MIUI is integrated deep into the Android shell, so simply removing ad apps in the standard way is not going to work, you need to consistently disable system and analytics services, not only removing banners, but also speeding up the device a little bit, freeing up the processor resources.
⚠️ Note: Before making changes to system settings, it is recommended to back up important data in case of an unexpected failure.
Disabling the MSA service is the main source of advertising
MSA (MIUI System Ads) is the main component in charge of displaying ads in system applications. Without disabling this module, all other actions may not be effective. The deactivation process requires confirmation, as the system will try to convince you to leave the service on.
To start, go to the Settings menu, select Passwords and Security, and find the Access to Personal Data section. In the list that opens, find the msa element and switch the slider to the off position, and the system will start a countdown of 10 seconds, after which the active recall button will be activated.
Often, the first time you can not turn off the service is due to server errors or timeout. If you see an error message, just repeat the recall procedure 2-3 times. Usually, on 3-4 attempts, the system is surrendered and confirms the disconnection.
☑️ Checking the shutdown MSA
After successful withdrawal, the ads in folders and system widgets should disappear, but this is not the only source of banners, so you need to check other security settings.
Setting up privacy and advertising settings
Android, on top of which MIUI is built, has a personalized ad engine that collects your interests to show more relevant ads, and turning it off won't take away ads completely, but it will make them less intrusive and more tied to your actions.
Go to Settings, scroll down to Passwords and Security, and select Advertising. You need to activate the Toggle Toucher Restrict Ad Tracking or Remove Advertising ID, which will reset the unique ID assigned to your device by ad networks.
- 📱 Resetting your advertising ID breaks the link between your past actions and current impressions.
- 🔒 Restriction of tracking increases the level of confidentiality of user’s personal data.
- ⚙️ This setting affects the operation of all applications using standard advertising SDK.
It’s important to understand that this method does not achieve complete absence of advertising in third-party applications (for example, in games or free utilities), and here we are fighting against Xiaomi system integration.
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Repeat resetting your advertising ID every few months to improve privacy.
Removing Advertising in Standard Applications
Even after the MSA is disabled, some embedded apps can continue to show recommendations and news, such as Music, Video, Explorer and Downloads, and each needs to individually disable the recommendation function.
Consider the example of Explorer. Open the app, click on the three menu bars in the top left corner, and select Settings. Find Receive recommendations and turn it off. Similar actions should be done in the Security app (Clean Master section) and Topics.
Downloads also often pops up with suggestions to install games. To remove them, open the app, click on the three dots in the upper right corner, go to Settings and turn off Receive recommendations.
| Annex | The path to adjustment | What to turn off |
|---|---|---|
| Conductor | Menu → Settings | Receive recommendations |
| Music. | Menu → Settings → Extended | Showing advertisements |
| Topics | Profile → Settings | Personal recommendations |
| Security | Settings (cogs) | Receive recommendations |
This kind of detailing of settings may seem redundant, but it's the integrated approach that allows for a clean interface, and skipping one of the items can leave the irritation source active.
Disabling notifications and folders on the desktop
A common source of annoyance is desktop folders that show the names of popular apps with logos when they open, which is also a form of advertising built into the MIUI launcher, which can be turned off through desktop settings.
Push two fingers across the desktop to open the edit menu, then click Settings (cogs). Find Wallpaper Carousel or Recommendations in folders and deaktivate them. This will remove intrusive suggestions to download apps when you open any folder.
Also check notification settings for system applications. Go to Settings → Notifications and Status bar → Notification management. Go through the list of system applications (e.g. GetApps, Mi Video) and turn off notifications if they don’t carry important functionality.
⚠️ Warning: By disabling system application notifications, make sure you don’t hide important security alerts or system updates.
Work with GetApps and Mi Video
GetApps (formerly Mi Apps) is Xiaomi’s official app store and one of the most active ad distributors.If you don’t use this store, preferring Google Play, it can be completely disabled or removed updates.
Go to Settings → Apps → All Apps. Find in the GetApps list, click on it and select Remove (if available) or Disable. If deletion is not possible, go inside the app through its icon, go to Settings and turn off all the items related to notifications and auto-update.
It's a similar situation with the Mi Video player, which often offers content from partners when it launches. In the player's settings, find the Online Services section and turn them off, and this will prevent banner ads from being loaded from the network.
Can I remove system applications through ADB?
Cleaning these two components significantly reduces the load on the Redmi 9A’s RAM, which is especially true for devices with a small amount of RAM.
Additional methods and use of DNS
For those who want to go further, there is a method of blocking ads at the network connection level using DNS.This allows you to filter traffic and block requests to ad servers even before they reach the smartphone screen.
In the connection settings (Settings → Connection and Sharing → Private DNS), you can prescribe the address of the server blocking the ads. A popular option is the address dns.adguard.com. Once you save the setting, all traffic of the device will pass through the filter.
dns.adguard.comUsing a private DNS can slightly increase network response time, but for most users, this change will remain invisible, while the amount of advertising in the browser and some applications will decrease to almost zero.
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The combination of MSA disabling, application customization, and DNS use gives the maximum system cleanup effect.
Remember that MIUI is updated periodically, and some settings may return to factory values after a major firmware update.