How to Remove Ads from Xiaomi Phones

Xiaomi is one of the biggest smartphone manufacturers in the world. The made it big by selling quality products at affordable prices. One of the ways Xiaomi manages to keep the price low is though the use of advertisements built in to their customized Android user interface, MIUI. With consumer’s increasingly aware of targeted ads, Xiaomi’s decision to push ads on their MIUI interface is annoying to say the least. Xiaomi’s apps seem to be littered with them. While there isn’t a way to opt out of them completely, there are ways to minimize the amount of ads you see while using your Xiaomi device. Additionally, disabling some of these will ensure that some personal information, such as browsing history, isn’t collected.

Also read: How Do Internet Browsers Make Money?

Xiaomi Devices Running MIUI 11

The latest update to Xiaomi’s MIUI software has made disabling ads a lot easier. To check whether or not your Xiaomi phone or tablet is running MIUI 11, open your Settings app and tap on “My device”. On the next screen, find “MIUI version”. If it says MIUI 11, then you’re running the latest version of MIUI. If it doesn’t say MIUI 11, you can always try to upgrade your software. To see if an update is available for your device, simply tap on “System Update” at the top of the screen.

If your Xiaomi device is running MIUI 11, simply launch the Settings app. From there, select on “Mi Account -> Privacy”. On the next screen you should see a toggle button labelled “System Ads”. Tap the toggle to turn off system advertisements in MIUI 11.

Xiaomi Devices Running MIUI 10 and Under

Disabling ads in Xiaomi devices running MIUI 10 and under will require a little more elbow grease, but it will deliver the same results. Instead of a one click fix, you’ll have to manually disable advertising in various individual software packages.

Disable MSA App

MSA stands for “MIUI System Ads”, which is an application pre-installed on Xiaomi devices. Its sole function is to push advertisements into various aspects of Xiaomi’s MIUI software. Unfortunately, end users cannot simply uninstall this app. However, users can still disable it. To do so, launch the Settings app and head to “Additional Settings -> Authorization and Revocation” and set the options labelled “MSA” to off. It’s worth noting that Xiaomi really doesn’t want you to disable this app. Don’t be discouraged if you get a message saying it can’t be disabled, you’ll probably have to do this a few times before it works.

Disable Personal Ad Recommendations

Next, you’ll need to turn off the personalized “recommendations” that Xiaomi is keen on bombarding you with. By disabling personal ad recommendations, you are effectively stopping Xiaomi from collecting your usage data, such as your browsing history. Open up the Settings app and tap on “Additonal Settings”. Select “Privacy” and look for “Ad Services”. Tapping on that will give you the option to toggle “Personalized Ad Recommendations” off.

Disable Ads in Mi Security

Launch the Mi Security app and tap on the cog icon in the top right of the screen. Find the toggle switch labelled “Recommendations” and flick it off.

Disable Ads in Mi Video

Open the Mi Video app and head to the “Account” menu. From here, select “Settings”. On the next screen, you’ll want to toggle off both “Recommendations” and “Push Notifications”. Alternatively, you can always install a different video player app, such as VLC Media Player or MX Player.

Disable Ads in Mi Music App

Launch the Mi Music app and tap on the menu button on the top-left of the screen (it looks like three lines stacked on top of one another). From here select “Settings -> Advanced Settings”. Then simply toggle off “Recommendations”. As with your video app, you can always install a third party music player that isn’t ad supported like Musicolet.

Disable Ads in Mi Web Browser

MIUI’s default browser is fine, however we recommend that you use a more feature rich web browser like Chrome. However, if you are planning on using Mi Web Browser, you’re going to want to limit those ads. To do so, open the Mi Browser app. Next, open the app’s menu by tapping on the three stacked lines icon in the bottom-right of the screen. Once you’re in the app’s menu, select “Settings -> Advanced -> Top Sites Order” and toggle off “Recommendations”.

Disable Ads in Mi File Manager & Downloads

Launch the Mi File Manager app and tap on the menu icon (three stacked lines) in the top-left of the screen. From there, select “Settings” and toggle off “Show Recommended Content”. Follow the same steps for the Downloads app.

Do you have a Xiaomi device? How do you feel about integrated system advertisements? Would you like other manufacturers to adopt this practice if it meant cheaper prices? Let us know in the comments!