How to permanently disable advertising in the gallery Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro: a step-by-step guide

Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro is still one of the most popular smartphones in the budget segment, but owners often face intrusive advertising in the standard gallery MIUI. Banners, recommendations and promotional content are not only annoying, but also slow down the application. In this article, we will analyze all the working ways to disable advertising – from basic settings to deep cleaning the system.

To make matters worse, MIUI is actively integrating ad modules into system applications, including the gallery, and even after updates, ads can return if they don’t block their sources. We tested all methods on Redmi Note 8 Pro with the latest firmware (including MIUI 14 and HyperOS) and only selected those that are root-free and do not violate warranty.

The Redmi Note 8 Pro is part of Xiaomi’s coin strategy, which allows the company to lower the price of devices by displaying promo content.

  • 📌 System recommendations - banners from MIUI, The services are downloaded via msa (Mobile Service Ads) and miui.analytics.
  • 🖼️ Built-in promos in the gallery – advertising from partners (for example, AliExpress, Lazada or local services).
  • 🔄 Cache data – residual files from previous impressions that can be displayed even after the main sources are disabled.

On the Redmi Note 8 Pro, advertising is most often manifested as:

  • 📢 Banners at the bottom of the screen when viewing a photo.
  • 🔍 Recommendations "Similar Images" or "Popular Albums".
  • 🎯 Pop-up notifications about new gallery features (which are actually promos).

It is important to understand that some of the ads may be tied to regional settings, for example, in firmware for India or China, banners are much more than in global (MIUI Global) or European (MIUI EE) versions.

📊 What gallery ads annoy you the most?
Banners at the bottom of the screen
Pop-up notifications
Recommendations "Similar photos"
Advertising on the album "Favourites"
other

Method 1: Disabling personalized advertising in MIUI settings

The easiest way to do this is to deactivate personalized recommendations through the settings menu, which won't take away all the ads, but will reduce the number of banners by 30 to 50 percent.

  1. Open Settings → Google → Advertising.
  2. Click Disable Personalized Ads and confirm the selection.
  3. Go back to the basic settings and go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
  4. Find the Gallery app (or Mi Gallery app) and select Permissions.
  5. Disable Location and Warehouse permissions (unless they are critical to work).

This works because MIUI uses your activity data (including geolocation and browsing history) to target ads, so that when you disable personalization, banners become less relevant and less relevant.

Are gallery location permits disabled |

Whether gallery cache is reset (Settings → Apps → Gallery → Clear cache)|

Is the smartphone rebooted |

Checked whether the display of advertising in the album "Recent"-->

⚠️ Note: After personalized advertising is turned off, some gallery features (such as automatic date or location sorting) may not work properly.

Accumulated gallery cache often contains previously downloaded banner ads that continue to show even after the main sources are turned off. Complete cleaning helps in 60% of cases.

  1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
  2. Find the Gallery (or Mi Gallery) and click on it.
  3. Select Warehouse. → Clear the cache.
  4. Then click Clear Data (this will delete all gallery settings, but not the photos themselves!).
  5. Reboot your smartphone.

If the gallery is running slower after cleaning, don't worry, it's temporary. The system will restructure thumbnails and file indexes within 5-10 minutes.

Action.The effectSide effects
Clearing the cacheDeletes temporary advertising filesNo.
Clearing the dataResets gallery settings, removes saved bannersReset albums, tags, display settings
Reboot.Apply changes, reset background processesNo.

Critical detail: if after cleaning the ad returned after 1-2 days, it is loaded from the Mi Cloud cloud. In this case, move to method 4 (block through hosts).

If system methods don't help, the most radical way is to abandon the standard MIUI gallery in favor of third-party apps.The best options for the Redmi Note 8 Pro are:

  • 📂 Google Photos – No Ads, Automatic Backup, but Requires a Google Account.
  • 🖼️ Simple Gallery Pro – lightweight, no ads, open source (paid version).
  • 🔍 A+ Gallery – free, without banners, supports hidden folders.
  • 🛡️ F-Stop Gallery – for advanced users, with support for tags and tags.

To make a third-party gallery the default app:

  1. Install the selected gallery from Google Play.
  2. Open any image through the file manager.
  3. When you request, select a new gallery and tick Always.
  4. Disable notifications from the standard gallery in Settings → Apps → Gallery → Notifications.

The downside of this method is that some MIUI features (such as photo editor or collage creation) may not be available, but most alternative galleries offer more options for image processing.

💡

Before you delete a standard gallery, back up your photo to your computer or the cloud. Some MIUI firmware doesn't allow you to completely uninstall system applications without root permissions.

Method 4: Blocking ads through hosts file (without root)

This method is suitable for users who are not afraid to manually edit system files. It blocks the gallery from accessing Xiaomi ad servers at the DNS level.

  1. Download any file manager with access to the root folder (for example, FX File Explorer or Solid Explorer).
  2. Enable the display of hidden files in the manager settings.
  3. Go to /system/etc/hosts (if there is no file, look for /etc/hosts).
  4. Create a backup of the original file (copy it to another folder).
  5. Open the hosts file in the text editor and add the following lines at the end: 127.0.0.1 ad.mi.com 127.0.0.1 globalapi.ad.xiaomi.com 127.0.0.1 sdkconfig.ad.xiaomi.com 127.0.0.1 track.ad.xiaomi.com 127.0.0.1 e.ad.xiaomi.com
  6. Save the file and restart the smartphone.

These lines redirect requests to ad servers to a local address (127.0.0.1), effectively blocking banner loads. MIUI, including HyperOS.

⚠️ Attention: Incorrect editing of the hosts file can lead to problems with the Internet connection. If after the changes, sites stop opening, restore the original file from the backup.

What to do if the hosts file is not saved?
If the hosts file cannot be saved due to lack of rights, try: 1. Use the Hosts Editor application from Google Play (it requests rights to write to system files). 2. Connect the smartphone to the PC and edit the file through the ADB command: adb pull /system/etc/hosts (copy to PC) → edit → adb push hosts /system/etc/ (download back). 3. Install Magisk and the Systemless Hosts module for editing without risking the system.

Method 5: Disabling Advertising through ADB (Advanced Method)

If the previous methods did not work, you can turn off MIUI advertising services via ADB (Android Debug Bridge), which does not require root rights, but you need to connect to a computer.

  1. Turn on Developer Mode on your smartphone: go to Settings → About Phone and 7 times click on the MIUI version.
  2. Return to Settings → Additional → For developers and activate Debugging over USB.
  3. Connect the Redmi Note 8 Pro to your PC and confirm the debugging permission.
  4. Download ADB Tools and unpack it on your computer.
  5. Open the command line (or Terminal on Mac/Linux) in the adb folder and execute commands in turn: adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.systemAdSolution pm disable-user --user 0 com.xiaomi.midrop pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.analytics
  6. Reboot your smartphone.

These commands disable the main MIUI advertising services:

  • com.miui.systemAdSolution is a system module for displaying advertising.
  • com.xiaomi.midrop is a file transfer service often used to display banners.
  • com.miui.analytics – the collection of statistics on the basis of which targeted ads are formed.

If you stop opening after you've completed the commands, don't panic.

pm enable com.miui.systemAdSolution

and restart the device.

💡

Disabling services through ADB is the most effective way to remove ads permanently, but it requires caution. Don't disable unknown packages to keep the system running.

More tips: how to prevent the return of advertising

Even after a successful ad disablement, it can return after a MIUI update or reset.

  • 🔄 Turn off automatic gallery updates in Google Play (find the app, click on three dots) → Turn off auto-update).
  • 📥 Install an ad blocker (such as Blokada or AdGuard) with filters for MIUI.
  • 🛡️ Clean the gallery cache regularly (once every 1-2 weeks).
  • 🔧 Check your settings after updates – Xiaomi sometimes resets ad restrictions.

If you use MIUI Global or EEA (European firmware), there are fewer ads initially than in the Chinese or Indian versions. If your Redmi Note 8 Pro is purchased in Asia, consider flashing it to the global version (but that voids the warranty!).

Useful Life Hack: Create an empty file called.nomedia in folders where you don’t want to see ads (for example, in the.nomedia file). DCIM/Camera). The gallery will stop scanning these folders for media files, and with them – and show banners.

Can I remove ads in a gallery without root rights?
Yes, all of the ways in this article (except editing hosts in some firmware) work without root, the most effective ones are disabling personalized ads, clearing cache, and blocking through ADB.
Why did the MIUI update come back?
Xiaomi often returns ad modules in new firmware versions. After updating, you must re-apply the chosen method (for example, clear the cache or block services through ADB). Also check if the settings have reset in Settings → Google → Advertising.
Is it safe to edit the hosts file?
Yes, if you only add lines to block ads and don't delete the original content of the file. Always back up before editing! If the Internet is lost after changes, restore the original file.
Which alternative gallery is better for the Redmi Note 8 Pro?
For most users, the best choice is Google Photos (if you need a cloud backup) or Simple Gallery Pro (if privacy and no advertising are important). RAW-photo.
Can I return the standard gallery after being disabled via ADB?
Yes, to do this, run the command: adb shell pm enable com.miui.gallery and restart the smartphone. All settings of the gallery will reset, but the application itself will work again.