Advertising on Xiaomi: where it appears, how it looks and how to turn it off

If you own a Xiaomi device — a smartphone, a TV or a smartwatch — you've probably encountered intrusive advertising in the system. MIUI And we're going to use banners and push notifications and even embed ad units into standard apps, but what exactly does that ad look like? Where does it appear most often? And can you get rid of it without root rights?

In this article, we will analyze all types of advertising on Xiaomi, from banners in settings to sponsored notifications in Mi Browser. You will learn how to distinguish system advertising from viruses, which device models suffer most from it (spoiler: Redmi budget series and the most popular version of the program). POCO), And you'll get step-by-step instructions on how to turn off ads on different types of gadgets, and we'll also analyze why Xiaomi is so active in introducing ads into its devices, and whether it's legal in terms of user agreement.

Types of Advertising on Xiaomi: Where and How It Looks

Advertising on Xiaomi devices comes in several types, and its appearance depends on where it is displayed, below is a complete list of places where users most often encounter intrusive banners.

• 📱 System notifications – appear in the curtain as push messages from MiuiSystem or Msa (Mobile Services Analytics) Often advertise games, promotions on AliExpress or Xiaomi services (for example, Mi Credit).
• ⚙️ Settings menu - banners in the Settings section → Additionally, or on the main settings screen, usually looking like bright cards offering to install an app or apply for a loan.
• 🌐 Mi Browser – Ad blocks on the homepage, pop-ups when opening new tabs and even banners in search results (if you use a search from Xiaomi).
• 📺 Mi TVs TV — Main screen ads in the form of tiles with movies, games or promotions, often masquerading as "content recommendations".
• 🎵 Mi Music Music app – banners between tracks or on the player screen, can advertise premium subscriptions or third-party services.
• 📦 Branded apps – Mi Video, Mi Store, Themes and even Camera sometimes show sponsored content.

It is important to understand that not all ads on Xiaomi are system-based. Some banners may appear because of apps you have installed (such as games or aggressive monetization software). To distinguish system advertising from third-party advertising, look for the name of the package in the notification or the banner signature - if it mentions MiuiSystem, Msa or Xiaomi, this is exactly embedded advertising.

On budget models (e.g. Redmi) 9A or POCO M3) Advertising is much higher than on flagships (Xiaomi 13 Ultra or Mix Fold 3), which is due to the fact that Xiaomi compensates for the low price of the device through advertising impressions. In some regions (for example, in India), advertising can be 2-3 times more than in European firmware.

2. What does advertising look like in MIUI: photo and description

To accurately identify the ads on your device, we will provide visual examples describing typical banners. Please note that the design may vary slightly depending on the version. MIUI (for example, MIUI 14 banners became less intrusive than in the MIUI 12).

2.1 Advertising in the notification curtain

The most common type of push notifications are those from Msa (Mobile Services Analytics), which look like regular notifications but with advertising content:

• 🎮 Games - "Install Free Fire and Get a Bonus!", "New" RPG Xiaomi Games".
• 🛒 Share: 50% off Mi Band 8!, 10% off Mi Store".
• 💳 Finances – “Approach a loan in Mi Credit in 5 minutes!”, “Replenish the balance and get a bonus".

The distinguishing feature is that at the bottom of the notification, the small print says "Advertising" or "Sponsor," and sometimes these notifications come even when permissions for Msa are disabled, which is a system bug.

Banners in settings

Settings menu → Additionally, or on the main settings screen, bright sentence cards may appear. Examples:

• 📱 Apps – “Install Mi Video to Watch Movies”, “Try Mi Browser – Fast and Safe".
• 🎁 Stocks - Win Xiaomi 13T In our draw!, Get a discount on Mi Band".
• 🔄 Updates — “Update MIUI It’s not the latest version! (sometimes it’s not a real update, it’s just an ad).

Important: some banners in the settings are disguised as system notifications, for example, the sentence "Optimize device" may lead not to clear memory, but to install unnecessary software.

2.3 Advertising in the Mi Browser browser

Mi Browser is one of the most spammed components MIUI. There are three types of advertising here:

1. The main page is banners under the search bar (for example, "Buy Redmi Note 12 at a discount").
2. Pop-ups – appear when you open a new tab or scroll through the page.
3. Search-based promotional links – if you’re looking for something through built-in search, the first 1-2 results may be sponsored.

An example of what an ad looks like in Mi Browser:

Often, ads in the Mi Browser duplicate those shown in the notifications, which is because both services (Msa and Mi Browser) use the same Xiaomi ad networks.

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If you see an ad in Mi Browser even after you disable it in your settings, try resetting your browser settings to factory settings or installing an alternative (e.g. Google Chrome or Firefox).

3. Advertising on Xiaomi TVs (Mi) TV/PatchWall): peculiarities

Xiaomi TVs (Mi series) TV, Redmi TV, Xiaomi TV A) use the PatchWall shell, which aggressively introduces ads to the home screen, and unlike smartphones, banners occupy a large part of the screen and are more difficult to turn off.

Main types of advertising on Mi TV:

• 🎬 Content recommendations are tiles with movies or TV shows that actually lead to paid services (such as Prime Video or Netflix) often signed as "Sponsor".
• 🎮 Games are banners with a suggestion to install casual games (for example, Ludo King or Free Fire).
• 🛒 Products – Advertising smartphones, headphones or household appliances Xiaomi with direct links to the purchase.
• 📢 Local promotions – offers from partners (for example, discounts in restaurants or taxis).

An example of how the ad looks on the PatchWall home screen:

1.At the top of the screen is a horizontal ribbon with banners (for example, "New Redmi Note 12 Pro - order now!").

2.In the "Recommended" section - tiles with films, which are redirected to paid services when clicked.

3. At the bottom of the screen are static banners with promotions (for example, "Buy Mi Band 8 and get a discount on Mi Scale").

Distinctive feature of advertising on Mi TV: It's often masquerading as "personalized recommendations." For example, if you've watched movies on YouTube, the system might show a banner offering to subscribe to YouTube Premium.

4.Why is Xiaomi showing ads and is it legal?

Many users resent the intrusive advertising on Xiaomi devices, but from a legal point of view, the company has the right to do so. MIUI (The Advertising Services section clearly states that Xiaomi can display personalized ads based on your activity:

• 📄 You consent to display ads when you first turn on your device (this is stated in the Terms of Use). MIUI).
• 🔍 Advertising is personalized based on your data: search history, installed applications, geolocation.
• 🌍 The rules vary from region to region, for example, the EU has more stringent data protection laws (GDPR), There is less advertising than in Asia.
• 💰 The main reason is monetization. Budget devices (Redmi, POCO) Xiaomi is selling at almost cost, and Xiaomi profits from advertising and services.

Xiaomi does not violate the law, as:

1. It provides the ability to disable personalized advertising (although this doesn’t always work).
2. Does not collect data without the consent of the user (in theory).
3. It allows you to manually disable some advertising services (more on this below).

But there are also gray areas:

• 🔄 Some advertising notifications come even after all permissions for Msa have been disabled.
• 📦 In branded applications (for example, Mi Video) advertising can be displayed without explicit consent.
• 📵 On Mi TVs. TV Turn off ads on the home screen is almost impossible without third-party firmware.

If you are not satisfied with Xiaomi’s advertising policy, you can:

• 🛠️ Switch to custom firmware (like LineageOS or Pixel Experience) where there are no built-in ads.
• 📵 Use alternative launchers (e.g. Nova Launcher) and browsers.
• 🛡️ Disable Advertising Services Manually (Instructions Below).

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Xiaomi is allowed to display ads because you agree to it when you first turn on the device, but the aggressiveness of the impressions depends on the region and model – on budget smartphones and TVs, it is much more.

5. How to disable ads on Xiaomi: step-by-step instructions

You can remove ads on Xiaomi devices in several ways, from simple (disable in settings) to radical (install custom firmware).

5.1. Disabling advertising in MIUI (smartphone)

Try the standard methods first:

If standard methods don’t help, try:

1. Disable Msa through ADB (computer required: adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.analytics adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.xiaomi.msa.global This will disable analytics collection and some advertising notifications.

Important: on some models (for example, Redmi Note 10 with a s) MIUI 13) disabling Msa may cause sync errors (e.g., themes or cloud storage will stop working).In this case, it is better to use ad blockers (e.g. Blokada or AdGuard).

5.2. Disabling Advertising on Mi TV

On Xiaomi TVs, it is more difficult to remove ads, but you can reduce the number of ads:

• 🔌 Disconnecting the Internet is a radical method, but advertising will disappear completely (although all online services will disappear with it).
• ⚙️ Reset your Smart settings TV — Sometimes it helps, but the adverts may come back in a few days.
• 🛠️ Install an alternative firmware (for example, ATV or LineageOS for TV), But it requires unlocking the bootloader.
• 📵 Use it. DNS-blocker - prescribe in the network settings DNS by AdGuard (94.140.14.14).

For PatchWall TVs, you can also try:

1. Go to Settings → Accounts and security → Advertising and disabling "Personalized Advertising".
2. Remove unnecessary apps (such as Mi Game Center or Mi Live) that often show ads.
3. Disable automatic PatchWall update (this can bring back the old version without ads).

Warning: on Mi TVs TV with PatchWall 4.0 firmware+ Turning off the home screen ads is almost impossible without rooting rights, and the only reliable way is to install custom firmware, but that voids the warranty.

6. Alternative ways to combat advertising on Xiaomi

If standard methods don't work, you can use advanced ad blocking tools, and here are the proven ways for different types of devices.

Ad Blockers (AdGuard, Blokada)

Apps like AdGuard or Blokada can block ad requests at the level of the Internet. DNS or VPN. For that:

1. Install AdGuard from Google Play or from the official website.
2. Activate the "Ad Blocking" module.
3. Add to the blacklist the domains of Xiaomi: api.ad.xiaomi.com tracker.ai.xiaomi.com data.mistat.xiaomi.com sdkconfig.ad.xiaomi.com

This will help block some of the advertising notifications and banners in the system applications.

6.2. Change in region of device

In some regions (e.g. the EU), there are fewer ads due to data protection laws, to change regions:

1. Go to Settings. → The phone. → All parameters. → Region.
2. Choose a country with stricter rules (e.g. Germany or France).
3. Reset the device.

Attention: a change in region may lead to:

• 🔄 Loss of some features (such as Mi Pay or local services).
• 📵 Update issues (some firmware tied to region).
• 🛠️ Resetting requirements (in rare cases).

Installation of custom firmware

If you are willing to take drastic measures, you can install firmware without advertising, for example:

• 📱 For smartphones – LineageOS, Pixel Experience, ArrowOS.
• 📺 For TVs — ATV (Android TV) CoreELEC (for models with Amlogic).

Advantages:

• ✅ Complete absence of system advertising.
• ✅ Cleaner and faster interface.
• ✅ Regular security updates.

Disadvantages:

• ⚠️ Loss of warranty (if bootloader unlocked).
• ⚠️ Risk of "bricking" of the device when installed incorrectly.
• ⚠️ Certain functions (e.g, IR-blaster NFC) They may not work properly.

Tip: before installing custom firmware, make a backup through TWRP Or Mi Flash Tool. This will help restore the device in case of a failure.

7. Frequent Mistakes When Disabling Ads on Xiaomi

Many users have trouble trying to remove ads on their devices, and let’s look at the most common mistakes and how to avoid them.

Incomplete disconnection of Msa

Often users turn off notifications for Msa, but forget about other advertising services, such as:

• com.xiaomi.mipicks is responsible for content recommendations.
• com.miui.systemAdSolution – manages banners in the settings.
• com.android.browser is a built-in browser with advertising.

To turn them off, use them. ADB Xiaomi ADB/Fastboot Tools.

Use of untested “optimizers”

There are a lot of apps on Google Play that promise to "get rid of ads on Xiaomi in one click." Don't trust them!

• 🦠 Viruses can steal your data or show more ads.
• 🔧 Useless Utilities – Just Disable Notifications, But Don’t Remove System Ads.
• 💰 Paid subscriptions – require payment for the “premium version".

Better to use proven methods: ADB, AdGuard or manual disabling of services.

7.3 Resets without backup

Some users are resetting the device to factory settings, hoping to get rid of the ads.

• ⚠️ After reset, the ads may return (especially on Mi). TV).
• ⚠️ You will lose all your data if you do not backup.
• ⚠️ On some models, the reset leads to a loader lock.

If you decide to reset the settings, first:

1. Save important data to Google Drive or computer.
2. Write down a list of installed applications (can be done through App Cloner).
3. Make sure you have access to your Mi Account (required to unlock after a reset).

Update MIUI test-free

Xiaomi regularly releases updates to the MIUI, But sometimes they return the ads, even if you turned them off, to avoid it:

• 🔍 Before updating, check the reviews on the forums (for example, 4PDA or XDA-Developers).
• 📵 If there is an advertisement in the update, roll back to the previous version via the Mi Flash Tool.
• 🛠️ Use custom firmware where updates are controlled by you, not Xiaomi.

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Before any manipulation of the system (disable Msa, reset, firmware), always do a backup of data, which will save you from losing important information and help restore the device in the event of a failure.

8. FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions about Advertising on Xiaomi