Xiaomi ADB: What You Can Remove From Your System to Speed Up and Clean Up

Xiaomi and Redmi smartphone owners often face excessive amounts of pre-installed software that not only takes up space but consumes CPU resources. Standard cleaning methods through the settings menu do not allow you to get rid of most system components, as they are protected from removal. Using the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) protocol opens up access to hidden package management functions, allowing you to deactivate or completely remove unnecessary elements.

Unlike super-user rights (root), ADB is more secure and does not violate the manufacturer's warranty, although it requires caution when typing commands. It can turn a crowded banner shell MIUI or HyperOS into a clean and fast system close to the stock Android. Before starting any manipulations, you need to understand which processes are critical to the operation of the device, and which are only "bloating" the system.

To work, you will need a computer with installed drivers ADB, USB-cable and on-line debugging USB In this article, we will discuss in detail which packets can be safely removed, provide tables with the package codes and explain how to restore the deleted one in case of an error. Remember that mindlessly removing system libraries can lead to a device “bricking” or cyclical reboot.

Preparation of the device and setting up ADB

The first step is to activate the hidden developer menu, and to do this, go to Settings → About Phone and quickly click on the MIUI (or OS) version seven times. Once you have become a developer, a new option will appear in the settings menu, “Additional” or “Extended Settings”, where you will find “Developers”.

Inside the developer menu, you should activate the USB Debugging switch. When you connect your smartphone to your computer, you will see a request for debugging permission on the screen — be sure to tick the "Always Allow from this computer" box and confirm the action. Without this procedure, the computer will not be able to send commands to the device.

On the PC side, you need to download Platform-Tools from Google's official website. After unpacking the archive, open the command line (cmd) or PowerShell in the tool folder. Check the connection by entering the adb device command. If the list shows the serial number of your device with device status, then the connection is established correctly.

⚠️ Warning: Do not connect your smartphone to public charging stations with debugging enabled USB. In debugging mode, the device is vulnerable to data interception if the computer is not trusted.

Safe to remove system applications

The first step in cleaning up is to start with applications that don’t affect the basic functionality of the phone, but are actively used to monetize or impose services, primarily advertising and analytics services that collect user data, removing these components significantly reduces the load on the battery and the processor.

Special attention should be paid to app stores and browsers if you do not use them. In firmware for the global market, there are often duplicate Google services, and in Chinese versions, Xiaomi services that can be replaced with analogues, and you can also remove standard widgets and live wallpaper if they are not used on the desktop.

• 📢 com.miui.misystem is the main system advertising service (Mi System Service), responsible for pop-ups.
• 📊 com.miui.analytics – an analytics service that collects device usage statistics and sends reports to the server.
• 🌐 com.miui.browser is a standard Mi Browser browser that often duplicates Chrome functionality and contains a news feed.
• 🎮 com.xiaomi.gamecenter is a game center that can be replaced by Google Play Games or removed if you do not use its features.

To remove a specific packet, use the command adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 packet name. The -k flag stores cache and data, making it easier to recover the application if you need it in the future. If you are sure that the application will never be needed again, you can use the full uninstall command without saving data, but this increases the risk.

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Use graphical shells like ADB AppControl or Xiaomi ADB/Fastboot Tools for easy packet management without manually typing long commands.

Removal of MIUI Advertising and Analytics Services

Xiaomi’s advertising infrastructure is deeply integrated into the system, so simply turning off notifications does not have a full effect. To completely clean up, you need to remove the background processes responsible for targeted advertising in system applications such as Explorer, Music and Themes.

A critical component is MSA (MIUI System Ads), which is the process responsible for loading and displaying banner ads. its removal requires caution: sometimes the system may try to restore it automatically when updating or checking the integrity, so after deleting it, it is recommended to disable auto-update system components.

adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.msa.global

Another important element is Daemon, the ad service demon, which runs in the background and waits for commands from MSA, and removing both components ensures that the ad modules will not be activated even if the system is partially restored.

⚠️ Note: After removing advertising services, the interface of some system applications (e.g., Security) may not work smoothly or crash.

If you use Google services, you can safely remove Chinese analytics services, which often remain in global firmware, which do not carry a functional load for users outside of China, but continue to consume traffic.

Cleaning up from duplicates of Google and Xiaomi

Xiaomi smartphones often feature two sets of apps: from Google and from Xiaomi, such as two music players, two cloud storages and two theme stores. If you prefer the Google ecosystem, Xiaomi apps (Mi Music, Mi Video, Mi Cloud) can be removed.

The reverse is also possible: users of Chinese firmware may want to uninstall Google services (GMS) if they don’t use them, although it’s harder to do this in global versions without special utilities.

List of safe for removing duplicates and heavy services:

• 🎵 com.miui.player is a standard Mi Music player, replaced by Spotify, Yandex.Music or VLC.
• 🎬 com.miui.videoplayer is a Mi Video video player that often contains built-in advertising for streaming services.
• ☁️ com.miui.cloudservice – Xiaomi cloud service, unnecessary if you use Google Photos and Google Drive.
• 🗺️ com.miui.maps – Xiaomi cards, which in global versions are often just a shell or duplicate.

Table of disposal packets by category

For ease of navigation and search for specific packets, a structured table below shows the names of the packets, their description and the level of risk of removal. The "Low" risk level means that removal is practically safe for system stability.

The com.xiaomi.joyose suite is responsible for optimizing games and collecting telemetry, and its removal can result in game modes being disabled or the CPU changing its behavior in heavy games, so it is labeled as medium risk.

When you remove standard apps like Weather or Calendar, make sure you have an alternative. Android may not display widgets on your desktop properly if the base app for them is removed, even if the widget is from another manufacturer.

Recovery of Remote Applications

The main advantage of ADB over root deletion is that it can be restored, because we use the --user 0 command, the application doesn't physically erase from the system partition, it just hides to the current user, and it allows you to return everything as it was in a couple of clicks.

To recover any remote packet, it is enough to execute the command:

adb shell cmd package install-existing name packet

For example, if you delete a standard browser and you need it urgently, the adb shell cmd package install-existing com.miui.browser command will return it to its place.

It is important to keep a list of deleted packets, and if you use scripts or third-party utilities for mass cleaning, they often save a log of actions, and in case of problems, this will help you quickly identify which component caused the failure.

⚠️ Warning: Do not attempt to restore or delete packets while the phone is in boot or update mode.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Using ADB to remove apps is a reversible procedure that allows you to customize Xiaomi without losing warranty, but requires careful input of commands.