How to remove YouTube from Xiaomi TV completely: from standard methods to hidden features

Are you tired of YouTube’s intrusive recommendations on the home screen of your Xiaomi TV, or want to free up memory for other apps? Removing pre-installed YouTube from Mi TV, Redmi TV or Xiaomi Smart TV is not an easy task. The manufacturer blocks standard removal of system applications, but there are workarounds. In this article, we will examine 5 proven methods, from simple settings to technical solutions using ADB.

It's important to understand that on Xiaomi TVs (especially Mi TV 4S/4A/5X and later), YouTube is integrated at the PatchWall firmware level. This means that simply "deleting" through the app menu won't work. However, even without root rights, you can disable autoplay, hide the icon or uninstall the upload over the debugging bridge. If you're ready for experiments, read on.

Why is YouTube not being removed in the standard way?

Xiaomi TVs are based on Android TV with a proprietary shell PatchWall. YouTube here belongs to the category of system applications (system apps), which:

• 🔒 Protected from removal without special rights
• 🔄 Automatically recover after discharge
• 📦 Take up a seat in the section /system, not /data
• 🔗 Strongly tied to Google services (even if you don’t use them)

On Xiaomi TV models up to 2020 (e.g. Mi TV 4 55), sometimes disabling via Settings → Apps helped, but in new firmware (MIUI TV 3.0+), this option is blocked.

Method 1: Hiding the YouTube icon (without deleting)

If you are simply disturbed by the icon on the home screen, and the app itself can be left, use this method. It works on all Xiaomi TV models and does not require technical skills:

1. Press the Home button on the remote.
2. Find the YouTube icon and highlight it (don’t click!).
3. Press the OK button on the remote for 2-3 seconds.
4. In the menu that appears, select Remove from the screen or Hide.

⚠️ Warning: This method only removes the shortcut from the home screen. The app will remain in the system and will be updated in the background. To stop it completely, go to Settings. → Annexes → YouTube → Stop it.

Method 2: Disabling Autostart and Notifications

YouTube on Xiaomi TV often runs spontaneously and shows notifications.

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find YouTube in the list and select it.
3. Turn off the options: 🔄 Auto-start 🔔 Notifications 📶 Background use of data

Stop it.

Clear the cache

This won’t remove the app, but it will significantly reduce its activity.On some models (like the Redmi Smart TV X50) after these actions, YouTube will stop appearing in PatchWall recommendations.

💡

If YouTube still appears in the recommendations after disabling AutoRun, try resetting PatchWall settings via Settings → Accounts and Security → Resetting Launcher settings.

Method 3: Remove via ADB (for power users)

The most radical method is uninstalling YouTube via Android Debug Bridge (ADB), which requires connecting the TV to the computer, but gives 100% results on all Xiaomi TV models with Android 9 and later.

• 💻 Computer with Windows/macOS/Linux
• 🔌 USB-cable (preferably original from Xiaomi)
• 📥 Utility. ADB Tools by Google
• ⚙️ Debugging mode on-line TV

Step-by-step:

1. Activate Developer Mode on TV: Settings → About TV → Click 7 times on Android Version
2. Return to Settings → Additional → For developers and enable: Debugging via USB Debugging over the network (if you connect over Wi-Fi)

adb devices

(Serial number device should appear)

adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.google.android.youtube.tv

Reboot the TV.

⚠️ Note: Some of the updates after the update OTA YouTube may return. To avoid this, run the command before updating:

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.youtube.tv

Method 4: Reset to factory settings (extreme case)

If none of these methods work, it's a complete reset, which will delete all user data, but it will return the TV to "clean" state without any YouTube updates.

1. Open Settings → Accounts and Security → Resetting.
2. Choose Reset all settings (not to be confused with Network Reset!).
3. Enter. PIN-code (default 0000 or 1234).
4. Confirm the action and wait for the reboot (it will take 5-10 minutes).

If you’re up to this step, look for firmware on the XDA Developers or 4PDA forums, but keep in mind that for Xiaomi TVs, the process of unlocking a bootloader is more difficult than for smartphones.

What if YouTube is back after the update?

After updating PatchWall firmware or Google services, YouTube may reappear.

1. Turn off automatic app updates: Settings → Apps → Google Play settings → Auto-update apps → Never
2. Block YouTube domains via hosts file (root required): adb shell su echo "127.0.0.1 www.youtube.com" >> /system/etc/hosts
3. Use an ad blocker like Blokada or AdGuard for TV.
4. Check the list of apps on new versions of YouTube regularly.

On some models (e.g. Mi TV Q1 75), it helps to disable Google services completely:

Settings → Accounts and Sync → Google → Disable Sync

FAQ: Frequent questions about removing YouTube from Xiaomi TV