How to completely disable system updates on Xiaomi: all ways

Automatic MIUI updates can annoy Xiaomi, Redmi or POCO users - especially when they arrive at the most inopportune moment, eat up traffic or install unstable firmware versions.The system often ignores the "Update Later" settings and stubbornly reminds of new patches, blocking the screen with a notification or even forcibly restarting the device for installation.

In this article, 5 proven ways to disable updates on any Xiaomi smartphone, including hidden methods for advanced users. We will examine both standard MIUI 12/13/14 settings, system tricks through ADB, manually removing updates, and even blocking update servers through hosts. Importantly, some methods require unlocking the bootloader or root rights - their consequences and risks we will also discuss.

Why is Xiaomi so intrusively updated?

Xiaomi has an aggressive update policy for several reasons:

• 🔄 Security: Regular patches close Android vulnerabilities MIUI, But they often bring new bugs.
• 📊 Statistics: the more devices on the latest version, the higher the rating of Xiaomi in the reports of analysts.
• 💰 Advertising: new versions MIUI can add advertising modules or change the logic of displaying ads.
• 🔧 Testing: Some updates are randomly distributed to collect stability data.

The system ignores users’ wishes: even if you clicked “Delay” or turned off automatic download, MIUI can secretly download the service pack in the background and offer it the next time you connect to Wi-Fi. Especially for devices on MIUI Global – Chinese versions (MIUI China) are updated less often, but there is no full control.

Method 1: Standard MIUI settings (without root)

The easiest method is to use the built-in options, which is suitable for most users and does not require technical skills, but it has a limitation: Xiaomi can ignore these settings when critical security updates are made.

1. Open Settings → About the phone → System update.
2. Slap the icon. ⚙️ (gear) in upper right corner.
3. Turn off the switches: 🔄 "Automatic booting via Wi-Fi" 📴 "Notify of new updates" 🔋 "Install automatically” (if any)

"Check updates."

Put off

Ignore

On some firmware (MIUI 14+), these options may be hidden. If you don't see the gear in the update menu, try an alternative path:

Settings → Applications → Application Management → Three points (⋮) → Show system → Find System Update → Notifications → Disable all

Method 2: Remove downloaded service packs

Even if you turned off automatic booting, MIUI could already save update files in the device’s memory. They need to be manually deleted, otherwise the system will prompt you to install them every time you turn on.

Update files are stored in the folder:

/sdcard/Download/rom/


or




/sdcard/DownloadedRom/

Instructions:

1. Open Files (the standard file manager of Xiaomi).
2. Go to the internal drive → Download → Rom (or DownloadedRom).
3. Delete all files with the.zip extension or names like miui_*.zip.
4. Clean the Recycle Bin (in the File Manager menu).

⚠️ Note: Do not delete files in folders /system or /vendor — This can cause the device to fail, and if in doubt, use only standard methods.

Method 3: Blocking update servers via hosts

This method will intercept requests to Xiaomi servers that are responsible for checking updates. It works without root, but requires unlocking the bootloader and installing Magisk (for modifying system files).

Steps:

1. Install Magisk and Systemless Hosts (available in the Magisk repository).
2. Download the hosts file with Xiaomi server lock: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AdAway/adaway.github.io/master/hosts.txt Or use this list (add to the end of your hosts): 127.0.0.1 update.miui.com 127.0.0.1 ota.miui.com 127.0.0.1 api.io.mi.com
3. Reset the device.

💡

Before editing hosts, back it up. If the Internet goes down or Xiaomi apps (such as Mi Account) stop working after the changes, restore the original file.

Method 4: Disconnect via ADB (without root)

If standard settings don’t work, you can use Android Debug Bridge (ADB), a debugging tool that allows you to manage system settings without superuser rights, which works on most Xiaomi devices but requires a connection to a computer.

Instructions:

1. Turn on Developer Mode: Settings → About Phone → MIUI Version (Tap 7 times)
2. Activate debugging over USB in Settings → Additional → For developers.
3. Connect your phone to your PC and execute commands: adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.android.updater adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.updater
4. Reset the device.

To return the updates back, use:

adb shell pm enable com.android.updater


adb shell pm enable com.miui.updater

⚠️ Attention: On some firmware (MIUI 14+ Xiaomi 12/13) These commands can work temporarily, and after a restart or security update, the system will return the settings to the system, in which case you will need to re-execute or use root.

💡

Disabling through ADB is the most reliable way without root, but it can fly off after resetting settings or major MIUI updates.

Method 5: Remove the system application "Update" (requires root)

A radical method for power users is to completely remove the system application responsible for updating, which is guaranteed to disable all notifications and downloads, but will deprive you of the ability to update in the future (you will have to install firmware manually through Fastboot or Recovery).

Steps:

1. Get root rights (for example, through Magisk).
2. Install a file manager with root support (such as Root Explorer or Mixplorer).
3. Go to /system/priv-app/Updater/ or /system/app/Updater/.
4. Remove or rename the Updater folder (for example, in the Updater_bak).
5. Delete files: /system/priv-app/Updater/Updater.apk /system/priv-app/Updater/Updater.odex (if any)
6. Reset the device.

FAQ: Frequent questions about Xiaomi updates