How to Turn Off Advertising on Poco X3 Phone: The Complete Guide

Owners of Poco X3 smartphones and other Chinese-branded devices often face intrusive ads that appear in system applications, a fee for the device’s affordable cost as the company compensates for low margins by monetizing the user experience. However, there is an effective way to regain the comfort of using the gadget by completely removing unnecessary banners.

The process of cleaning the system from advertising debris does not require obtaining superuser rights or flashing the device. It is enough to consistently perform several settings in the MIUI or HyperOS menu to block the main sources of traffic. In this article, we will discuss all the steps that will help make your Poco X3 cleaner and faster.

It should be understood that some system services are solely responsible for displaying ads, and their forced shutdown will not disrupt the phone. On the contrary, it often leads to faster menu opening and less CPU load. Let's start configuring your device.

Disabling the MSA service, the main source of advertising

The centerpiece of Xiaomi’s advertising ecosystem is the service. MSA (MIUI System Ads. This is the one that loads and displays banners in the interface, and to turn it off, you have to go to the settings menu, select "Passwords and Security" and then "Access to Data," and you have to find the msa app in the list and disable the network access slider. The system will alert you to the consequences, but it is standard procedure.

After the MSA shuts down, you have to wait 10 seconds and press the "Revoke" button. If you can't revoke the first time, try repeating the procedure several times, a critical step without which other settings may be less effective.

⚠️ Attention: after the service is disconnected MSA Complete cache cleaning and termination of impressions can take up to 24 hours of active use of the device.

You should also check your personalization settings. Go to Settings → Passwords & Security → Privacy → Special Permits → Advertising. You should turn off the “Receive recommendations” option here. This action will prevent the system from analyzing your actions to select ads.

Some users prefer to use more radical methods, but for the Poco X3, a standard MSA shutdown is enough, and it is also important to make sure that you have an up-to-date version of the firmware installed, since the new MIUI updates have a more stable locking algorithm.

Setup of system applications: Explorer, Security and Downloads

Ad units are often built directly into standard utilities. Start with the Security app. Open it, click on the gear in the upper right corner, and find the "Receive recommendations" item. The switch needs to be put inactive, which will remove news and suggestions from the main scanner window.

The File Manager is the same: Go to the settings via the hamburger menu or three dots, select About or immediately find the settings inside the menu. You need to find the settings section and turn off the "Get recommendations" or "Show ads." The interface may vary slightly depending on the version of MIUI.

• 📁 Conductor: Settings → About the annex → Receive recommendations (Off).
• 🛡️ Security: Settings (cogs) → Receive recommendations (Off).
• 📥 Downloads: Three dots → Settings → Show recommended content (off).

The Downloads app is also worth noting, often containing pop-ups with suggestions to install other games or utilities, and disabling the recommendations in this menu makes downloading files through a browser or messengers much cleaner.

💡

If you can’t find the ad disabler in the app, try clearing its cache through Settings → Apps → All Apps → [Title] → Memory → Clear.

Once you do this, the interface of standard tools will be minimalist, and you'll notice that apps open faster because they no longer have to load ad units when they start, especially on the Snapdragon 732G processor installed in the Poco X3.

Cleaning up the Mi browser and the Music app

Xiaomi’s standard browser and Music app are some of the most ad-packaged components in the system. In Mi Browser, click on three menu bars, go to Settings → Privacy & Security, and you should turn off Personal Guidelines and Site Notifications if you don’t need them.

The Music app also requires manual adjustment. Open it, click three dots in the corner, select Settings, and find Advanced Settings. In this menu, you need to deactivate "Get recommendations" and "Show ads." Sometimes this item may be called "Show ad content" in the English version of the firmware.

And remember, the Themes app aggressively promotes paid content, go to the user profile (human icon), click on the settings gear, and turn off "Show Ads" and "Auto-Update Themes" if you want to manually control the process.

Users who are actively using cloud services may find that synchronization is more stable after disabling ads, because background processes do not compete for a channel with ad servers.

Blocking Advertising in Yandex.Browser and Chrome

Even after cleaning the system, advertising can appear in third-party browsers such as Yandex.Browser or Google Chrome. In Yandex, you need to open the menu, go to Settings → Ad Blocker and activate it. It is also recommended to turn on Turbo Mode, which compresses traffic and trims some of the ad scriptتov.

In Google Chrome, the built-in protection works less aggressively. Go to Settings» → «Confidentiality and security» → «Safe browsing. Although there is no direct ad blocking, it will protect against malicious sites. DNS-filtering or installing specialized extensions if the browser supports them.

An effective method is to use DNS. This is a system setting that filters traffic at the connection level. Go to Settings → Connection and Sharing → Private DNS. Select “DNS Provider Host Name” and type in the address: dns.adguard.com. Save settings.

After application DNS-Advertising will disappear not only in browsers, but also in many free apps and games. However, it is worth remembering that some sites may stop showing correctly if they rely on blocked domains.

Removing unnecessary applications and disabling notifications

Poco X3 has a lot of pre-installed software out of the box, which often contains ad modules, and apps like WPS Office, TikTok, AliExpress, and games can be easily removed if you're not using them, and they not only show banners, they also consume battery life.

Pay special attention to notifications. Many apps mask ads as system messages. Go to Settings → Notifications and Status bar → Notification management. Go through the list and turn off notifications for all suspicious or unnecessary programs. Keep only messengers and important services active.

• 🗑️ Delete: Press the app icon → Remove (or move to the basket).
• 🔕 Notifications: Settings → Notifications → Disable for advertising applications.
• 🚫 Limitation: Settings → Annexes → Permits → Auto-start (disable for all unnecessary).

For applications that cannot be removed (systemic), use the "Disable" function, which will hide the icon and stop all processes associated with the program, and you can find this option in the menu of a particular application in the "All Applications" section.

⚠️ Warning: Do not disable system components called System Frame, Google Play Services, or Task Manager, which can lead to unstable Android operation.

Regularly reviewing installed software helps keep your phone clean, and once a month, it is recommended to check the list of installed programs and delete what you have stopped using.

Resetting the advertising identifier and additional measures

To increase privacy and reset your ad profile, it is recommended to change your advertising ID periodically. Go to Settings → Passwords and Security → Privacy → Advertising. Click Reset Advertising ID. This action will break the link between your current activity and previously collected data.

Also worth checking for permissions for apps you rarely use: often they have access to geolocation and a microphone, which allows you to collect data for targeted advertising. In the Permits menu, restrict location access for all applications that do not need it to work (for example, a calculator or flashlight).

💡

A comprehensive approach, including disabling MSA, configuring DNS and removing excess software, ensures that ads on Poco X3 disappear completely.

If you use a Google Account, check your ad settings on your Google account. click adssettings.google.com and turn off ad personalization, which will reduce the number of relevant but intrusive ads on Google services.

By doing all these steps, you’ll turn your Poco X3 into a device that works solely for you, not advertisers.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)