Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphones often encounter intrusive banner ads that appear directly in system applications. The gallery was no exception: instead of purely viewing photos of the user, they encounter “hot offers” and recommendations for installing games. It's annoying, it's distracting, it makes it feel like someone else is controlling the device. MIUI And its new HyperOS shell provides the flexible tools to control that flow of information.
In this article, we will discuss how to turn off ads in the Xiaomi Redmi Gallery using both standard settings and more advanced methods. You will learn how to block advertising identifiers, disable personalization and remove pop-ups that overlap content. It is important to understand that it is not always possible to completely get rid of all elements of marketing in one click, but a comprehensive approach allows you to make the interface clean and comfortable for daily use.
Before we start to make changes, it's worth noting that some features may be called differently depending on the firmware version and region. We'll look at the universal paths that are relevant to most modern models. System constraints can vary, so be patient and follow the steps carefully.
Disabling personalized recommendations in the Gallery
The first step to a clean interface is to disable the recommendation system that analyzes your photos and offers relevant content or products, which is often responsible for the appearance of the "interesting" tape or advertising blocks for preview albums, and to do this, you need to go to the settings of the application itself.
Open the Gallery app and find the gear icon or three dots in the top right corner of the screen. In the menu that opens, select Settings. Here you are interested in the personalization section. In different versions of the shell, it can be called "Recommendations", "Receive recommendations" or "Personalized services."
⚠️ Warning: After disabling recommendations, the news and suggestion feed may not disappear instantly, sometimes you need to completely close the application through the Task Manager and start it again so that the changes take effect.
Then you should look at the "About Program" or "Privacy Policy" inside gallery settings, which often hides a separate switchboard responsible for receiving promotional materials from partners, and disabling this option is critical because it allows an app to download display content from the network, and without this step, banners can continue to appear even if the main recommendations are turned off.
- 📱 Go to the Gallery and open the settings menu through the upper right corner.
- 🔒 Find the “Get recommendations” item and turn it off.
- 🚫 In the section "About the program" uncheck the box from receiving advertising materials.
- 🔄 Forcedly close the application and restart it to apply changes.
It's also worth checking if you've turned on the Enhanced View feature, or a similar one that loads up additional data about where you're shooting or where you're photographing, and while it's useful, it often serves as a channel for delivering ad content, and if you turn it off, you'll not only take away the ads, but also potentially speed up the app on older devices.
Global MSA Disconnection (MIUI System Ads)
If the local settings of the Gallery did not help to completely remove the ads, you need to influence the source of its appearance – the MSA (MIUI System Ads) system service, which is responsible for displaying ads in all system applications of the Xiaomi ecosystem, including the Gallery, Explorer and Menu.
To access the management of this service, go to the basic Settings of your smartphone. Search for settings by type in the word “msa” or manually search for the Passwords and Security section (in some firmwares Advanced Settings). Inside, look for Personal Data Access or Authorization and Review. In the application list, find msa and turn off the switch.
The system will try to convince you to keep the service active, claiming that it will affect the operation of certain functions. Ignore the warnings and press the button "Revoke." The countdown timer of 10 seconds is designed specifically to change the user's mind. Count to the end and confirm the action.
☑️ Checking the shutdown MSA
It's important to understand that MSA may try to automatically turn on again after a device is restarted, so you sometimes have to do this 2-3 times in a row until the system finally agrees with your decision, which is a standard shell behavior designed to preserve the company's advertising revenue.
Configure privacy and advertising ID
Another source of targeted advertising is the device’s advertising ID, which allows advertisers to track your actions and show relevant ads, and resetting or disabling this ID significantly reduces the frequency of personalized banners in the Gallery.
Go to Settings → Passwords and Security → Privacy. Go to Advertising Services. Here you will be offered two options: reset your advertising ID or completely disable ad personalization. For maximum effect, you are encouraged to do both.
| Action. | The effect | Frequency of application |
|---|---|---|
| Resetting ID | Creates a new random identifier | Once or periodically |
| Disabling personalization | Prohibits the use of ID for targeting | Once (constantly) |
| Deletion of history | Clears data on past actions | As necessary |
After changing these settings, it is recommended to clear the Gallery app cache. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps, find the Gallery, select Memory and click Clear Cache. Don't confuse it with Clear All, otherwise you may lose the album display settings, although the photos themselves will not be affected.
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Regularly resetting your advertising ID (once a month) prevents ad networks from making a full profile of your interests, making advertising less intrusive.
Using Private DNS to block ads
One of the most effective methods that works not only in the Gallery, but also in the browser and other applications is the use of a private DNS. This method redirects requests to known ad servers to nowhere, preventing banners from loading.
To set up, go to Settings → Connection and Sharing (or Wi-Fi). Find a Private Item DNS (Private DNS). Select the mode "Host Name provider" DNS» and enter the address: dns.adguard.com. Save settings.
This method has its own peculiarities: on the one hand, it effectively cuts ads without requiring third-party applications to be installed; on the other hand, if the DNS server is temporarily unavailable, some sites or functions may run slower; and it will not work if the ads are sewn directly into the application code and downloaded from the same domains as useful content.
⚠️ Note: When Enabled Private DNS through third-party Wi-Fi networks (in cafes, hotels, airports) may have problems with authorization through pop-ups. DNS better off temporarily.
Advanced method: Disconnection via ADB
For users who are not afraid of the command line and want a guaranteed result, there is a method to disable advertising components through USB debugging (ADB).This method allows you to “freeze” the system packages responsible for advertising, making them completely uninstalled, but also launch.
To start, activate Developer Mode. Go to Settings → About Phone and quickly click on MIUI Version (or OS Version) 7 times. Then, in Advanced Settings, turn on USB Debugging. Connect your phone to your computer, install drivers and the ADB platform.
adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.misys
adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.msa.global
adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.android.adservices.apiPerforming these commands will shut down system analytics and advertising services, the gallery will stop receiving commands to display banners at the system level, and to return everything as it was, use the command adb shell pm enable.
Risks of using ADB
Alternative solutions and third-party galleries
If the Xiaomi Gallery continues to be annoying with its work or limitations, consider installing an alternative photo-viewing app. Modern third-party galleries are often faster, have a more user-friendly interface, and are guaranteed to lack built-in advertising.
Popular options are Google Photos, Simple Gallery (or its forks, since the original was sold) and AGallery. Once you install an alternative app, the system can suggest you choose it by default to open images.
- 🖼️ Google Photos: Great cloud integration, smart search, but requires a Google account.
- ⚡ Simple Gallery Pro: Open Source, Total Privacy, No Advertising.
- 🎨 AGallery: Modern design, support RAW, flexible display settings.
Using third-party software is not only a move away from advertising, but often a better tool for editing and sorting images. Xiaomi’s standard gallery is good with basic functionality, but in terms of cleanliness of the interface, it loses to specialized solutions.
Summary table of methods and their effectiveness
For the sake of comparison, we have prepared a table to help you choose the best option for your situation.
| Method | Difficulty | Efficiency | Security |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gallery settings | Low. | Medium | Tall. |
| MSA shutdown | Low. | Tall. | Tall. |
| Private DNS | Medium | Very high. | Tall. |
| ADB Teams | Tall. | Maximum | It requires caution. |
To sum up, anti-advertising in Xiaomi is a process that requires a holistic approach: Start with simple in-app settings, then turn off the MSA system service. If that's not enough, use DNS or third-party apps. The combination of disabling MSA and using Private DNS eliminates 99% of all advertising on the system.
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There is no one magic button, but applying the steps described consistently will turn your Xiaomi into a clean device without intrusive advertising.