How to Remove or Disable Ads and Bloatware in MIUI
Xiaomi’s smartphones provide great value for money in terms of hardware. However, when it comes to software, the great experience of MIUI ROMs is spoiled by ads, push notifications, and bloatware. So, if you manage to remove ads, push notifications, and bloatware from MIUI ROM, you can enjoy great features without pushy ads.
MIUI ROMs were not like this forever. Initially, MIUI ROMs brought features that were not available in Stock Android. But after the introduction of ads, the great experience of MIUI is spoiled greatly. Luckily, there is a way to remove or disable push notifications, ads, and bloatware so that you can enjoy the good old MIUI experience.
SEE ALSO: How to Install MIUI 12 on your Xiaomi Phone?
A) Disable Push Notifications in MIUI
MIUI pushes notifications to users via the default web browser and other system apps. These notifications might push inappropriate content and cause embarrassment in front of friends and family. So, let’s try to block these annoying push notifications in MIUI first.
Step 1: Disable Notifications from the Notification Panel
The easiest way to disable a notification is to disable it from the notification panel. Whenever you receive any non-relevant notification, tap and hold on it. Next, disable the toggle next to it and tap on Done. You won’t receive notifications from that app again.
Step 2: Disable Notifications from MIUI Settings
Besides disabling notifications per-app basis, you can disable them for multiple apps in Settings. To do this, open Settings on MIUI and go to Notifications. Here, you can see the list of apps that are sending push notifications. You can now easily disable notifications from unwanted apps. We suggest you disable notifications from GetApps, Browser, Dailyhunt, and Mi Video apps. These apps send push notifications very frequently.
SEE ALSO: How to Hide Apps in Android Devices (Any Brand)?
B) Remove Ads from Settings and System Apps in MIUI
In the previous step, we disabled push notifications from apps in MIUI. Now, we will remove ads from MIUI Settings and system apps such as File Manager, Browser, Mi Video, etc.
Step 1: Remove Ads System-wide in MIUI 12
If your device is running MIUI 12, you can remove or disable ads in all system apps using a single toggle switch. Go to Settings > Account > Privacy Policy. In the Privacy Policy, look for Ads in system apps. Tap on it and disable the toggle next to it and you are done.
If you are using MIUI 11 or earlier, you can follow these steps to disable ads in System apps.
Step 2: Disable Ads via the msa in MIUI 11
First of all, go to Settings > Password and Security. Here, tap on Authorisation & revocation and look for msa. Disable the toggle next to it to disable MIUI System Ads (in short msa). This msa app collects data for pushing ads on Xiaomi phones. You may have to disable the toggle 2-3 times to turn it off permanently (wicked MIUI).
Step 3: Disable Ads in Mi Web Browser
After disabling msa, it’s time to disable ads in individual apps in MIUI. Let’s start with Mi Browser. So, first of all, open Mi Browser and go to Settings > Privacy & Security. Here, disable the toggle switch for Personalised services. Now, Mi Browser won’t push ads while you are browsing the internet.
Step 4: Disable Ads in the Mi Video App
After the browser, it’s time to disable ads in Mi Video. So, launch the Mi Video app and go to Settings. Here, disable Online recommendations and Push notifications. Mi Video app will no longer push ads.
Step 5: Disable Ads in the Native File Manager App in MIUI
As we have done for Mi Browser and Video apps, similarly, you can disable ads in the native File Manager app. Just go to Settings > About. Here disable the toggle for Recommendations and you are done.
INFO: Similarly, you can disable ads in other system apps in MIUI. We are not explaining for all of them as the process is quite similar for almost all of them. Just go to app’s Settings and look for Recommendations, Personalised services etc. and disable the toggle. Sometimes, these settings might be hidden inside Additional Settings for some apps. So, use common sense.
SEE ALSO: Top 7 New Features in MIUI 10.
C) Uninstall or Remove Bloatware from MIUI
After you have disabled push notifications and ads, it’s time to remove bloatware from MIUI. Like most of the OEMs, Xiaomi also adds a lot of bloatware to MIUI. While most of the OEMs provide options to disable these system apps, Xiaomi has removed this option in MIUI 11. These so-called system apps have access to almost all your data, activities, etc. Which is again a huge security and privacy risk.
So, in this part, we are going to show you how to remove bloatware apps from MIUI. You will need to set up ADB on your PC and enable developer options on your Xiaomi smartphone.
Step 1: Connect your Phone to your PC via ADB
First of all, set up ADB on your PC and Xiaomi smartphone. Then launch the ADB console from Command Prompt. Execute adb devices
command to check connected devices.
You can use the following commands in the ADB console to uninstall bloatware from MIUI. The part of the command after #
is for information only. You need not copy or type that into the ADB console.
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.android.apps.tachyon # Google Duo
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.android.music # Google Music
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.android.videos # Play Movies
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.android.browser # Mi Browser
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.bugreport # Mi Feedback
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.compass # Mi Compass
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.notes # Mi Notes
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.screenrecorder # Mi Screen Recorder
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.videoplayer # Mi Video
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.player # Mi Music
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.xiaomi.midrop # Mi Drop
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.xiaomi.mipicks # Mi Apps
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.xiaomi.scanner # Mi Scanner
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.ar.lens # Google Lens
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.android.apps.docs # Google Docs
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.android.chrome # Google Chrome
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.android.youtube # Google YouTube
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.duokan.phone.remotecontroller.peel.plugin # Peel Mi Remote
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.duokan.phone.remotecontroller # Mi Remote controller
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.enbbs # Xiaomi MIUI Forum
Step 2: Uninstall Bloatware from MIUI using Xiaomi Debloater
Besides ADB, you can also use Xiaomi Debloater to remove bloatware apps from MIUI. First, download the Xiaomi Debloater from this link and run it. Using this small utility software, you can uninstall Xiaomi apps from MIUI in a few clicks. Use this option if you are not comfortable with the command prompt.
First, Run the Xiaomi Debloater utility and connect your phone to your PC. Debloater should automatically detect your device. Now, just select the apps you want to remove and click the Uninstall button to uninstall them. You can check here the list of apps that are safe to uninstall in MIUI.
WARNING: Do not uninstall core apps of MIUI like the Security app. If you uninstall core apps, your device will enter boot loop.
SEE ALSO: How to Remove Bloatware and Speed up your New Laptop?
Disable Ads and Remove Bloatware from MIUI
The above tutorial explained how you can easily and completely remove ads, push notifications, and bloatware from MIUI. This tutorial works for MIUI12 as well as for older versions of MIUI. We have divided the tutorial into 3 parts so that you can follow it easily. You will be able to disable most of the ads by the second part of the tutorial. But if you wish to remove those stubborn apps, you may follow the third part of the tutorial as well. And remember, the third part requires you to set up ADB on your PC and enable USB debugging on your phone.
Hope you liked the process explained above. In case you still have some queries or suggestions, feel free to drop them in the comments. You can also subscribe to receive email notifications for the latest tutorials from us.