Owners of smartphones Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO, When you look at the settings of the storage or the list of running processes, you often come across the mysterious name catalog.xiaomi. Immediately a natural question arises: what is this component, why does it consume resources and is it not a virus or a hidden miner? Don’t panic, as this is a standard system service preinstalled in the shell. MIUI HyperOS.
It is responsible for collecting, structuring and displaying recommendations, news and promotions directly in the interface of your device. It runs in the background, periodically contacting the company's servers to update the feed of content. Understanding its purpose will help you make an informed decision: leave it to receive relevant information or turn it off for the sake of increased autonomy.
In this article, we will take a closer look at catalog.xiaomi’s functionality, analyze its impact on smartphone performance, and provide step-by-step instructions for managing this service, and learn how to safely limit its appetites or completely remove it if you don’t need it.
Main purpose of the system component
The catalog.xiaomi app (often displayed as “Recommendations” or “MSA”) is part of the MIUI ecosystem. Its main purpose is to provide users with personalized content, which can be news from affiliate sources, game offers, discounts on the Mi Store or recommendations of applications that may interest you.
In addition to advertising, it is responsible for widgets in application folders and on the desktop. When you open the game folder and see the Popular Games list at the bottom, catalog.xiaomi is responsible for this. It can also offer wallpaper, themes or ringtones based on current trends and your activity.
⚠️ Note: Do not confuse this system process with malware. However, if you notice a sharp increase in traffic or battery discharge by this process, it is worth checking the synchronization settings and advertising identifiers.
It is important to understand that removing or disabling this component will not cause a smartphone to break, but it can change the appearance of some system elements, for example, the ad banners in standard applications ("Conductor", "Music", "Security") will disappear, which for many users is the desired effect.
Impact on battery and performance
One of the most common questions is why catalog.xiaomi consumes battery power. Because the app runs in the background and periodically requests data from the Internet, it consumes energy. On new devices with powerful batteries, this may not be noticeable, but on older models or with a poor network signal, the consumption can become noticeable.
The impact on performance is usually minimal, but in some scenarios, the service can cause micro-slowdowns to the interface, such as when you update your recommendation feed or download heavy media for previews. If your smartphone starts to hang when you unlock or open folders, it’s worth checking the load from this process.
- 📉 Background activity: Constant connection to the server to check for content updates.
- 📺 Media Content: Image Uploads and Video Previews for Recommendment Feed.
- 📊 Statistics: Analyzing the use of applications to improve personalization (requires processor resources).
To assess the real impact, go to the battery settings and find detailed statistics. If catalog.xiaomi is in the top.-5 Consumers, but you don’t use the recommendations, turning it off is a great way to extend the device’s life.
Where it meets in the interface MIUI and HyperOS
The service is integrated deep into the shell, so it can be found in different parts of the system, and users are most often confronted with the results of its work in standard applications. For example, the Security app often pops up when scanning the phone with suggestions to clean up garbage or speed up the game, which is a function of catalog.xiaomi.
Advertisements and recommendations also appear in the Explorer system menu, in the Music app, and even in the GetApps application download interface. In desktop folders, this component forms a bottom block with icons of recommended games or utilities. In newer versions of HyperOS, integration has become less intrusive, but has not completely disappeared.
Below is a table showing exactly where this service manifests itself in various system applications:
| System application | Type of manifestation | We can turn it off. |
|---|---|---|
| The File Manager (File Manager) | Banner ads, news | Yes. |
| Security (Security) | Suggestions for cleaning, acceleration | Yes. |
| Desktop | Widgets in folders, tape on the left | Partially. |
| GetApps (Store) | Recommendations of the annexes | Yes. |
Knowing where to look, you can pinpoint the irritants without affecting the entire system, which allows you to keep the functionality of the smartphone, removing visual noise.
Data security and confidentiality
The privacy issue of using Xiaomi services is acute.The app catalog.xiaomi collects data about what applications you use, how often you open certain folders and what categories of content you are interested in, and this information is sent to servers to analyze and generate personalized results.
Xiaomi says it is complying with privacy policies and encrypting data. However, for users who are sensitive to their digital hygiene, collecting telemetry may not be acceptable. Disabling the service is the only guaranteed way to stop sending data about your user habits.
⚠️ Note: Complete removal of system components through ADB It may disrupt some functions MIUI, such as automatic updates of themes or desktop widgets.
If you choose to leave the app, it is recommended to at least disable the personalization of ads in the settings of the Mi Account. This will reduce the accuracy of profiling, although it will not completely stop the collection of anonymous statistics.
Instructions: How to disable advertising and recommendations
The easiest and safest way to combat catalog.xiaomi intrusiveness is to turn off personalization through system settings. This won't remove the app completely, but it will make it blind and stop showing you targeted sentences. It only takes a couple of minutes.
You have to go to the basic settings of your smartphone, find the password and security section, and the path may vary slightly between versions of MIUI, but the logic remains the same: we look for authorization and advertising settings.
☑️ Checklist of ad-shutdown
Next, perform the following actions:
- Open Settings and go to Passwords and Security.
- Find Access to Personal Data (or Authorization and Security) and find the MSA (MIUI System Ads) and catalog.xiaomi process, then disable the slider.
- Confirm the action by clicking on Stop in the window that appears. The system may ask you several times, insisting on the importance of the service - ignore this.
- Return to the Passwords & Security menu → Privacy → Advertising Services and turn off Personalized Advertising.
After these steps are completed, the number of ad integrations will be significantly reduced, but to achieve full effect, it is sometimes necessary to also disable recommendations in specific applications, such as Explorer or Music, through their internal settings.
Removal through ADB: Advanced Method
For users who want to get rid of catalog.xiaomi completely and are not afraid to work with a computer, there is a method of deleting through ADB (Android Debug Bridge), which does not require superuser rights (Root), but requires a PC and a USB cable. This is the most radical method that will physically remove the package from the system for the current user.
Before you start, you need to activate the developer mode on your smartphone, and then seven times click on the build number in the About Phone section. Then, in the Developer menu, turn on USB Debugging. Connect the phone to your computer and install ADB drivers if they are not already installed.
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.misys
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.msa.globalThe commands above will remove the main components responsible for system advertising and directory. Be careful when typing commands: an error in the name of the package can lead to the removal of critical system applications.