The Cost of “Value”: Why Your Premium Hardware Comes with Built-In Spam

Western users are often shocked when they boot up a brand-new device and find it acting like a Times Square billboard. Whether you bought a budget-friendly Poco or splurged on a top-tier flagship meant to challenge Apple and Samsung on European turf, the problem remains the same. The root of this issue comes down to a business model deeply embedded in the tech market.

To dominate the global market with aggressive pricing, the manufacturer cuts profit margins on hardware to an absolute minimum. They treat their custom software—whether the classic MIUI or the newer HyperOS—not just as an operating system, but as an ongoing digital marketplace. By embedding global monetization scripts directly into the system core, they ensure that every user continues to generate ad revenue long after the initial retail purchase. Fortunately, the system still includes native toggles to shut this tracking down if you know exactly where to look.

Taking Back Control: Killing System-Level Tracking and MSA

To clean up your device, you need to target the core background processes responsible for data collection and banner delivery.

• Disable Personalized Ad Targeting: Navigate to Settings and use the search bar to find “Passwords & security” (or “Fingerprints, face unlock and screen lock” depending on your region). From there, enter Privacy, locate Ad services, and switch off the toggle for Personalized ads.

• Revoke Authorization for MSA: Return to the previous menu and select Authorization & revocation. Find msa (Xiaomi System Ads), which acts as the main engine fetching banners. Toggle it off, wait out the mandatory 10-second security warning, and confirm. If the phone displays a “Couldn’t revoke authorization” error, it is a common server-side restriction; simply tap the toggle 3 to 5 times consecutively until it goes through.

• Stop Background Daemon and Feedback Logging: In the same Authorization & revocation list, locate Feedback (or MiuiDaemon). This utility constantly compiles system logs and analytics to ship them back to overseas servers, draining battery life. Toggle it off and approve the revocation.

Purging Stock Applications and Notification Spam

Once the system core is locked down, you must manually disable the “recommendations” hidden inside individual pre-installed utilities.

• Clean Up the Themes App: Open Themes, tap your personal Profile icon, head into Settings (the gear icon), and disable both Show ads and Personalized recommendations.

• Sanitize Security, File Manager, and Downloads: Open each of these stock applications individually, access their internal settings menus, look for options labeled Receive recommendations or Display recommended content, and turn them off.

• Block Pushing and Notification Aggression: Native storefronts like GetApps or the stock Music app frequently clutter the Android drop-down shade with unwanted alerts. Long-press the app icon, select App info, navigate to Notifications, and disable floating notifications, badges, and non-essential alerts entirely.

Eliminating Google Discover and the Left-Screen Feed

To complete the minimalist digital cleanup, remove the resource-heavy news stream that populates the leftmost screen of your launcher.

• Remove the -1 Screen via Settings: Go to the main Settings app, scroll down, and select Home screen. Locate the -1 screen option and change the setting to None to completely eliminate the Google Discover page or App Vault from your desktop.

• Disable Feed Recommendations in Google Apps: Open the official Google app, tap your Profile avatar in the top right, and go to Settings -> General. Turn off the toggle next to Discover. To prevent ads from returning on the web, visit google.com in Chrome, tap your profile icon, head to More settings, and disable home page recommendations.