How to permanently remove advertising in the Xiaomi Gallery: disable banners and recommendations

Ads in the standard Xiaomi Gallery have become one of the most annoying features of MIUI firmware in recent years, with banners offering to install games, ads for Xiaomi Cloud services, or even contextual ads in the Recommended album appearing where you least expect to see them — among personal photos, and the problem affects almost all models, from the budget Redmi 10A to flagships like Xiaomi 13 Pro.

In this article, we will discuss 7 proven ways to remove ads in the Xiaomi Gallery, from simple settings in the app menu to radical methods with disabling system services. All instructions are relevant for MIUI 12, 13 and 14 (including global and Chinese versions of firmware).

Why is there an advertisement in the Xiaomi Gallery?

The reason for the ad is Xiaomi's business model, where it monetizes its MIUI firmware through integrated advertising in system applications. The gallery is no exception. Here are the key sources of banner ads:

• 📌 Recommendations MIUI: The algorithm analyzes your photos and offers “useful” services (e.g., photo printing or cloud storage).
• 🎮 Banners from partners: games, apps from the Mi App Store or promotions from Xiaomi Mall.
• 🔄 Contextual Advertising: Appears in the Recommended Album based on your activity in other Xiaomi apps.
• 📱 System Notifications: Sometimes Masquerading as “Gallery Use Tips".

Interesting fact: European firmware (EEA) has a much lower advertising rate due to local data protection laws, while global and Chinese versions of MIUI have banners that can take up to 30% of the screen in some sections of the Gallery, and Xiaomi does not provide a direct option to “disable all ads” – it must be manually removed.

Method 1: Disabling personalized advertising in MIUI settings

The safest and most official method is to disable the personalization of ads in the system settings, which will not remove banners completely, but will significantly reduce their number.

1. Open Settings → Google → Advertising (if there is no item, skip the step).
2. Click Disable Ad Personalization and confirm the selection.
3. Go back to the main settings and go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
4. Find the Gallery, open its settings and select Permissions.
5. Disable access to Location and Warehouse (if this does not interfere with the basic functionality).

After this action, MIUI will stop picking ads based on your data, but banners from partners (such as games) may remain, and additional steps will be required to remove them.

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If your firmware does not have an Ads option in Google’s settings, try updating Google Play services manually through the Play Market.

Method 2: Reset the settings of the Gallery to the factory

Sometimes ads appear because of app cache crashes or incorrect user settings. Resetting Gallery to factory settings helps in 60% of cases:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management → Gallery.
2. Press Warehouse and Cache → Clear the cache.
3. Go back and select Reset (or Delete Data if the first item is not available).
4. Confirm the action and restart the phone.

Important: Reset won't delete your photos, but it can reset album sorting and display settings. If after reboot the ad returns, move on to the next way.

Method 3: Disabling Advertising Services via ADB (without root)

For advanced users, there is a method of disabling MIUI advertising services through ADB (Android Debug Bridge), which does not require superuser rights, but requires a computer and 10 minutes of time.

1. Turn on Developer Mode on your phone: Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (click 7 times).
2. Return to Settings → Additional → For developers and activate Debugging over USB.
3. Connect your phone to your PC, download ADB Tools and unpack the archive.
4. Open the command line in the ADB folder and enter it one by one:

adb devices


adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.systemAdSolution




adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.xiaomi.midrop




adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.analytics

These commands disable the main MIUI ad modules. Once you reboot your phone, the Gallery ad should disappear, but some features like Mi Drop (Wi-Fi file transfer) may disappear.

Install Xiaomi drivers on PC|Download ADB Tools from the official website|Enable debugging on USB phone-on|Connect your phone to the original cable|Check device detection by adb devices-->

Method 4: Install an alternative gallery (without removing the system)

If nothing works, you can simply replace the standard Gallery with a third-party app.

• ✅ No advertising (most alternatives).
• ✅ More features (editing, cloud albums, AI-sorting).
• ✅ Does not require root or complex manipulation.

The best free alternatives are:

To make the alternative Gallery the default app:

1. Install the selected application from the list above.
2. Open any image through the file manager.
3. When you request, select a new Gallery and tick Always.

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Even after installing the alternative Gallery, the Xiaomi Gallery system app will remain in the phone. To avoid consuming resources, turn it off from the battery settings.

Method 5: Blocking Advertising via DNS (for Advanced Ads)

If the ad in the Gallery is downloaded over the Internet (for example, banners from Xiaomi Ads), it can be blocked at the DNS level. This method works for all MIUI applications, but requires network configuration.

Instructions:

1. Go to Settings → Wi-Fi (or Mobile Network if you use mobile Internet).
2. Click on the current network → Change the network → Additional → IP settings.
3. Select Static and enter 94.140.14.14 (AdGuard DNS) in the DNS 1 field and 94.140.15.15 in DNS 2.
4. Save the settings and restart the phone.

Alternative DNS for blocking ads:

• 1.1.1.3 (Cloudflare Family)
• 176.103.130.130 (AdGuard DNS)
• 84.200.69.80 (DNS.WATCH)

⚠️ Attention: Change DNS This can cause problems with access to some Xiaomi services (such as Mi Cloud or Mi Account). DNS automatic.

Method 6: Remove the Gallery through the uninstaller (requires unlocking the bootloader)

The radical method is to remove the system gallery completely, and this is only possible on phones with an unlocked bootloader and TWRP installed. Attention: after the Gallery is removed, some MIUI functions (such as editing screenshots) may not work properly.

Step-by-step:

1. Unlock the bootloader through the official Xiaomi tool.
2. Install custom recovery TWRP for your model.
3. Download the system application uninstaller (e.g. Universal Debloater).
4. Download to TWRP, uninstall and select the following packages to remove: com.miui.gallery (main app) com.miui.galleryeditor (photo editor)

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⚠️ Attention: Removing system applications may cause unstable firmware. Before the procedure, back up through TWRP Make sure you have access to the original firmware for recovery.

Method 7: Update MIUI to the latest version (sometimes helps)

In some cases, ads in the Gallery appear because of bugs in a particular version of MIUI. Xiaomi periodically releases patches that reduce the number of banners (especially after users complain).

1. Go to Settings → About the phone → System update.
2. Click Check Updates and wait for the search.
3. If a new version is available, download and install it.
4. After the update, perform Method 2 (reset Gallery settings).

If the automatic update does not find new versions, you can try installing the firmware manually:

1. Download the latest stable firmware for your model from the official Xiaomi website.
2. Rename the file to update.zip and place it in the root of internal memory.
3. Go to Settings → About Phone → System Update → Menu (three dots) → Select a firmware file.
4. Select update.zip and confirm the installation.

After the update, check out the Gallery – recent versions of MIUI 14 (such as the Xiaomi 12T or Redmi Note 12) have seen less advertising due to community pressure.

FAQ: Frequent questions about advertising in the Xiaomi Gallery