Adblock Xiaomi: How to disable system advertising and MSA

Xiaomi smartphone owners often face intrusive advertising that is built into the system applications of the MIUI shell or the new HyperOS. Despite the fact that manufacturers promise to improve the user experience, banner ads and pop-ups continue to annoy the audience.

Ads can appear in unexpected places: when you unlock your screen, in the Security folder, in a standard browser, or even in Explorer. Fortunately, engineers have left the ability to deactivate most ad modules without having to get root rights. In this article, we will discuss a comprehensive approach to cleaning your device’s interface from visual noise.

It is worth noting that completely removing all advertising components requires several steps to be performed in a sequence. Just switching one switch in the settings is usually not enough, since different system services are responsible for displaying banners. We will look at methods from simple settings to more advanced solutions.

Disabling system advertising through MIUI settings

The first and most logical step is to go to native operating system settings, and there's a hidden switch in the MIUI shell that formally disables personalized ads, and it's deep down the menu, and many users just don't get to it when they first set up the phone.

To activate this feature, you need to go to Settings, then select Passwords and Security, and find the Access to Personal Data section there. That's where the master switch is hidden. Find the msa (MIUI System Ads) app in the list and turn off the access slider.

When you try to shut down, the system will show you a 10 second countdown timer, which is an artificial delay designed to get the user to abandon their decision, so you have to wait until the time ends and press the Turn off button. If you didn't work the first time, try repeating the procedure, because the server may not respond instantly.

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If the MSA disable button is inactive or gray, check for system updates. Sometimes interface bugs are solved by simply updating the shell to the current version.

Importantly, disabling MSA does not remove the application completely, but only prevents it from receiving data for targeted advertising. However, this significantly reduces the frequency of banners in system interfaces. Some users also recommend disabling GetApps if you do not use the branded app store.

Set up a private DNS to block ads

The most effective method, which works at the network connection level, is the use of a private DNS. This method does not require the installation of third-party applications and works immediately for all programs trying to download advertising content, the essence of the method is to redirect requests to advertising servers to nowhere.

To implement this method, go to Settings → Connection and Sharing → Private DNS. The default is “Auto” or “Disabled.” You need to select the option “Host Name of the DNS provider (or “Manual”) and enter the address of the special server-blocker.

The most popular and reliable solution is the AdGuard DNS service. In the field for entering, you must specify the following address:

dns.adguard.com

Once you save your settings, the phone can lose its Internet connection for a second, then restore it, and now all requests to known ad trackers will be blocked at the network level, which also increases security by weeding out malicious domains.

There are alternative addresses, such as those from NextDNS or ControlD, that allow for finer customization through the provider’s personal account, but for most users, a standard AdGuard address is the optimal balance between speed and quality of filtering.

Managing Permits for System Applications

Even after the core services are disabled, some standard applications continue to try to display content that can be classified as undesirable, such as “Conductor,” “Music,” “Video,” and “Cleanup,” often with embedded news feeds or recommendations that consume CPU traffic and resources.

To limit their appetites, manually go through the permissions of each suspicious app. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps. Find File Manager, click on it and select Other permissions.

You should disable network access (Wi-Fi and Mobile Internet) if this option is available in your version of MIUI, or disable display over other windows.

⚠️ Note: Disabling network access for system applications may limit their functionality, for example, online radio in the player will cease to work, and cloud functions of the conductor will become unavailable.

Also worth paying attention to is the Security app, which often hides recommendations for installing games or cleaning up memory, which are disguised ads, go to the settings of the Security app itself and turn off Receive Recommendations.

Setting up the browser and news feed

The standard Mi Browser browser and Glance (or Google Discover) newsfeed on the desktop are the main sources of information noise. They are designed to hold the user's attention, but often overload the interface.

First, we'll sort out the desktop newsfeed. Swipe to the right of the first screen to open the feed. Click three dots in the corner or the settings icon and select Remove or Hide. This will remove the news aggregator from the home screen.

In the browser, it's more complicated. You need to find the privacy and security section in the Mi Browser settings and activate the ad blocker, but you'd better not use a standard browser at all, but install an alternative, like Brave, DuckDuckGo or Via Browser, which are privacy-focused.

Also, remember to disable notifications from system services. Go to Settings → Notifications and Status bar → Application Notifications. Go through the list and turn off notifications for GetApps, Mi Video, and other services you don’t actively use.

If you use desktop widgets, check their settings. Some weather or currency widgets can load banner ads at the bottom of the widget. Replacing these widgets with standard Google widgets often solves the problem.

Use of third-party solutions and Adblock Plus

If built-in tools are not enough, specialized blocking apps come to the rescue, they work on the principle of a local VPN, filtering traffic inside the device, and one of the most popular solutions is the AdGuard application (not to be confused with DNS, it is a full-fledged application).

After installing such an application, you will need to give him permission to create VPN-After that, all traffic will pass through the filter, which allows you to cut ads even inside some games and applications that use their own advertising. SDK.

However, this method has its downsides: constant traffic filtering can slightly increase battery consumption, although on modern Snapdragon or MediaTek processors this is almost invisible, and some banking applications can conflict with a local VPN.

For advanced users, there is a method of editing the hosts file, but it requires root rights. This gives the maximum result, but deprives of warranty and can lead to unstable system operation if improper intervention is made.

Solving Intrusive Notification Problems

Sometimes the ads come in the form of normal push notifications from sites you once signed up for.This is not Xiaomi's system advertising, but the result of allowing the site to send notifications in the browser.

To remove them, open your browser settings, go to Sites → Notifications, where you will see a list of permitted sites, ruthlessly delete or block any suspicious resources that you do not recognize.

Also check the App section in your phone settings, often with a useful program, you install a hidden “junk” without an icon, which simply shows the ad, and you can calculate it by not having a name or icon in the list of installed apps.

Regularly checking installed applications will help clean the system: do not install programs from unknown sources and carefully read what permissions you give when installing.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Integrated use DNS-Filtering and disabling system services MSA It allows you to remove 95% of all advertising in the interface of Xiaomi without loss of warranty and stability of work.