Xiaomi is one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world, just after Samsung and Apple. It is a leading smartphone maker in India and a few other markets. It offers phones in every price segment, be it from “very affordable” to “ultra flagship” with its custom skin MIUI. However, one thing that Xiaomi users won’t be able to escape is ads on MIUI, and unfortunately, there’s no paid version available too (chuckles). Anyway, now that the majority of the Xiaomi user base is fed up with the system ads, they have come up with various ways to remove them. Some of these methods remove ads partially, while some of them remove ads almost completely. It is unlikely that you will get rid of all the ads on MIUI as per common belief.
We at AndroidFist have curated a list of all the methods you can deploy on how to disable ads from MIUI on Xiaomi devices on various fronts. Be it browser-level or system-level ads, all will go down after you have followed these methods.
1. Revoke MSA Authorization
MSA or MIUI System Ads are the proprietary building block on ads shown all Xiaomi/Redmi/Mi smartphones that are sewed deep into the devices to show ads. It is a system app, and thus, you won’t find it on the home screen and neither on the app drawer. You can locate it in the Apps section, but it cannot be disabled. Luckily, you can revoke its authorization on your Xiaomi devices that will likely stop MIUI system ads on browsers, security, and other bloatware. Here’s how you can do it.
- Firstly, go to the Settings >> Passwords and Security.
- Navigate to “Authorization and Revocation”.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page to locate a system app called “msa”.
- Toggle it to revoke its authorization from running on your device.
Note: Apparently, MIUI will prevent you from revoking MSA’s authorization on the system. If that happens, simply try to revoke its access several times and this should work in your favor.
Once you have disabled the authorization on MSA, this will prevent this system app from pushing ads on various system apps like Mi Browser among others.
2. Revoke GetApps Authorization
GetApps is an MIUI App Store from Xiaomi and it is the place where you will get all apps and more. But technically, it is a bit annoying as it can also display a tonne of system ads on your Xiaomi smartphone and thus, must be dealt with. Here’s how you can revoke its authorization.
- First, launch the Settings app on your device and proceed with “Passwords and Security”.
- Click on “Authorization & Revocation”.
- Find “GetApps” from the list and toggle it off.
Note: If you are unable to toggle it off on the first try, attempt to disable it multiple times and it would disable itself. Even if you revoke its authorization, it will still continue to function as it is as you will be able to use it freely. The difference will be, it won’t have authorization/permission to show system ads.
3. Stop Targeted and Personalized Ads
Apparently, Xiaomi has many ways to showcase ads on its Mi and Redmi devices. Even if a user turns down one of its services, others are active and can show ads. But hey, let’s not give MIUI any chance to show irritating ads whatsoever. Here’s how you can stop targeted and personalized ads on Xiaomi devices.
- Firstly, launch the Settings app on your device.
- Second, you need to navigate to the Passwords & Security section and then, proceed to the “Privacy” section and then, scroll down to the “User Experience Programme” section.
- Now, you have to turn off the switch against “User Experience Programme” and “Send diagnostic data automatically”.
- Tap on “Ad Service”.
- Finally, toggle and turn off “Personalized as recommendations”.
Now that you have disabled targeted and personalized ads, it is quite assuring that whatever ads you get aren’t targeted especially to you. For those who don’t know much about personalized ads, these ads devour the personal information stored on the device including the user’s search history, behavior, and others and thus, breaching one’s privacy. Note that this aforementioned method works on MIUI 11 and previous iterations.
The MIUI 12 gives you a different option to kill all types of system ads that MIUI showcases on Redmi and Mi devices using just a single tap. Here’s how it works.
- Firstly, launch the Settings app on your Xiaomi smartphone.
- Next up, go to the Account option and then, tap on “Privacy Policy”.
- Now, you will see the option “System Ads” within the Privacy Policy section.
- Toggle it OFF to disable ads on MIUI 12 totally ( or at least most of them).
4. How to Disable Ads from Mi Video
As said above, Xiaomi has more than one way to showcase ads on Mi and Redmi smartphones. Mi Video is bloatware and thus, a system app that cannot be removed using the usual “uninstallation” method. Here’s how to disable ads from Mi Video on Xiaomi devices.
- Firstly, you need to open the Mi Video app on your device.
- Next up, go to the “Profile” tab located on the bottom right corner of the screen and tap on “Settings”.
- Now, you need to turn off/disable “Online Recommendations”, “Personalised Recommendations”, “Push Notifications”.
Hope this will stop ads originating from the Mi Video app to a great extent.
5. How to Disable Ads from Mi Music
Apparently, Mi Music pushes its ads too although it might not be too much, but enough to enrage users. Here’s how you can disable ads from Mi Music using simple step-by-step instructions.
- Firstly, open the Mi Music app on your Xiaomi device.
- Next up, tap on the three horizontal lines or it is commonly known as the hamburger menu located on the top-left corner of the display.
- Next up, tap on Settings and proceed to Advanced Settings.
- Now, scroll down to the bottom of the screen to find “Receive Recommendations” so disable it.
That’s all. You have successfully disabled ads originating from the Mi Music app on your device.
6. How to Disable Ads from File Manager
File Manager is an essential and integral part of any smartphone. It is where you will find access to all the files including system files if you have root access. It allows sharing files, managing them, and more. But when it comes to MIUI on Xiaomi devices, it shows ads here too.
Next, now you need to disable ads from Xiaomi’s File Manager that you will find across all Mi and Redmi smartphones. Here’s how you can do it.
- Firstly, open the Mi File Manager app on your device.
- Next up, tap on the Settings app and proceed to the “About” section.
- Next up, you need to turn on “Recommendations” and this will potentially prevent the app from showing ads which it has termed as ‘recommendations’
7. How to Disable Ads from Downloads
There’s more. You will see a tonne of recommended and promotional content in the Downloads folder as well and that is annoying. Here’s a simple way to get rid of it.
- Firstly, go to the Downloads app.
- Tap on Settings.
- Toggle off the switch against “Show Recommended Content”.
That’s pretty much how you can get rid of ads in the Downloads folder.
8. How to Disable Ads from Mi Browser
Mi Browser is available on MIUI although you might not get it on the latest MIUI 12. If you are using MIUI 11 and previous versions, here’s how you can get rid of recommendations on Mi Browser that would give you a breath of relief.
- First up, go to the Settings app on your device.
- Next, go to Settings >> System app settings >> Browser.
- Proceed to Privacy & Security and locate “Personalized Services”.
- Finally, tap on “Off”.
There you go, you have successfully removed ads from Mi Browser for good. This should prevent it from showing ads on Mi Browser whatsoever.
If you are using Mi Browser, you must be aware of the promotional content that Mi Browser might put up on the homepage. The easiest way to get rid of this promotional content is by disabling it using these easy steps.
- Launch the Mi Browser app and proceed to the Settings.
- Next, tap on “System app settings >> Browser Advanced >> Set start page”.
- If you are a hard-core Google user, you can simply put the URL “www.google.com”, “www.google.co.in” and it is done.
9. How to Disable Ads from Mi Security
When you download apps from Google Play Store, Mi Security checks out for any security issues. There are many other features embedded with the Mi Security app including Cleaner, Updates, Boost Speed, etc. It offers features across Security, Data Usage, Blocklist, Battery & Performance, and other categories. But it has recommendations too that you gauge as ads or promotional content. Thus, removing them is the way to go. Here’s how you can do it about.
- Firstly, open the Mi Security app on your device.
- Next up, tap on the cogwheel icon on the top-left corner to navigate to the ‘Settings’ section.
- Scroll to the “Recommendations” section to turn off or toggle off “Receive Recommendations”.
- Next up, click on the “Cleaner” option on the same page and turn off “Receive Recommendations”.
- Finally, click on “Boost Speed” and turn off “Receive Recommendations” from here too.
10. How to Disable Ads from Themes
Xiaomi devices have a separate app for themes and it is aptly named as “Themes”. It is where you get wallpapers, fonts, themes, and more options to customize your Xiaomi smartphone. Apparently, it is also buggy at times and filled with loud colors and is unnecessarily crowded. The cherry on the cake is that it shows ads and that is something we are here to deal with. Here’s how you can disable ads from the Themes app.
- Firstly, you need to tap and launch “Themes”.
- Next up, you need to tap on “My Page”.
- Go to Settings listed on the “My Page”.
- Finally, tap and toggle off “Recommendations”.
This should prevent ads from originating or showing up on the Themes app on your MIUI-powered Redmi and Mi devices.
11. How to Disable Ads Promoted Apps on Xiaomi devices
You will find out that some of the folders on Xiaomi devices like More Apps and Games push out “Promoted Apps”. You will see the apps being promoted in the folder itself or in the notification panel. Here’s how to disable it.
- For this to work, locate the folder pushing out ads and long-press on it.
- Go to its Settings and look out for “Promoted Apps”.
- Toggle it off and you are done.
12. How To Disable Spammy Notifications on MIUI
We have tried Redmi devices before and one thing that bugs all of its users is the unending charades of notifications. Apparently, you will get notifications from almost all apps including a tonne of bloatware recommending stuff that you wouldn’t be interested in. I have personally disabled recommendations from many apps and still get recommendations and notifications like crazy. Thus, disabling notifications from all these apps is a much better option.
- Here, you need to launch the Settings app on your phone.
- Proceed to the Notifications section where you will get a complete list of all the apps installed on your smartphone.
- Tap on each listing and disable notifications either entirely or partially for everything that you don’t want to get notified for.
If you are using Instagram, disabling notifications on items like being notified when some new user arrives on Instagram or if someone comes ‘live’ and it will probably save your notification panel from clogging. Similarly, disabling notifications from all bloatware will save a lot of your time chugging each and every notification that you get on your device. The end result is a clog-free notification panel as well as improved smoothness of the interface as there are no spammy notifications clogging it up.
These were almost all the ways you can use to disable from MIUI on Xiaomi devices. You might see some ads here and there but using all these methods, you are in for a treat as most of the ads are already removed.
