How to disable Yandex advertising on a Xiaomi phone: all methods

Advertising in Yandex on smartphones Xiaomi can appear in the browser, search bar, weather widget, or even in system applications. Owners of phones Redmi and POCOface this problem especially often, where Yandex services are preinstalled by default. Unlike Google advertising, which can be blocked through account settings, advertising from Yandex requires separate actions - and not always obvious ones.

Many users mistakenly think that it is enough to disable personalization in their Yandex account or install an ad blocker. In practice, advertising banners may continue to be displayed due to the integration of services into the firmware MIUI. In this article we will look all available methods from basic settings to radical solutions for experienced users. It is important to understand that some methods may conflict with system updates, so you should back up your data before making changes.

If you are using Xiaomi with global firmware (MIUI Global), some of the advertising may come from partnership agreements between Xiaomi i Yandex. In Russian firmware versions (MIUI Russia) integration is even deeper - here advertising can even be built into system utilities. Before proceeding with the settings, check your firmware version in Settings → About phone → MIUI version.

1. Disabling advertising in Yandex.Browser

Yandex.Browser is one of the main sources of advertising on Xiaomi. Even if you don't use it, it can run in the background, showing notifications or banners on your home screen. To remove ads, follow these steps:

First, open your browser and go to Menu (three dots) → Settings → Advertising and notifications. Here, disable all toggle buttons related to personalized ads and push notifications. Pay attention to the item "Show recommendations on the main screen" —it also needs to be deactivated.

• 🔍 Open Yandex.Browser and tap on the menu icon (three dots in the lower right corner).
• ⚙️ Select Settings → Privacy.
• 🚫 In section "Ad personalization" disable all sliders.
• 📵 Return to the main settings and disable Notifications and Recommendations on the main screen.

If advertisements continue to appear, try resetting your browser to factory settings. To do this, go to Settings → Advanced → Reset settings. Please note that this will delete history, bookmarks and saved passwords.

2. Removing a Yandex widget from the main screen

Many smartphones Xiaomi have a default widget Yandex.Weather or Yandex.Searchthat displays advertising banners directly on the desktop. You can delete it in two ways:

Method 1: Delete via long press

Long tap on the widget, then drag it to the top of the screen inscriptions Delete (or Remove in English firmware). If there is no such option, proceed to the second method.

Method 2: Disabling through launcher settings

1. Long press on an empty space on the main screen.
2. Select Home screen settings (or Home screen settings).
3. Go to the section Widgets and disable all widgets from Yandex.

If the widget is not deleted, this may mean that it is built into system application Yandex (com.yandex.searchplugin). In this case, only disabling the application through the settings will help (more on this in the next section).

3. Disabling the Yandex system application

On smartphones Xiaomi with firmware MIUI Russia application Yandex (com.yandex.searchplugin) is often system, that is, it cannot be removed by standard means. However, it can disablewhich will stop the display of advertising and background activity.

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Manage applications.
2. In the search bar, enter Yandex and select the application from the list.
3. Click Disable (or Disable in the English version).
4. Confirm the action by pressing Disable application.

If the button Disable is inactive, this means that the application is protected by the device administrator. In this case, try the following workarounds:

• 🔧 Use ADB command to force disable:

  adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.yandex.searchplugin

  (requires enabled Developer mode and connection to a PC).

• 📦 Install an alternative launcher (for example Nova Launcher), which ignores system widgets.

Enable developer mode (tap 7 times by MIUI version in About phone)

Activate USB debugging in Settings → Advanced → For developers

Install Minimal ADB and Fastboot on PC

Connect your phone to the PC and confirm trust in the device-->

Important: Disabling the system application com.yandex.searchplugin may cause some MIUI functions to malfunction, such as system search or voice assistant. Before performing the operation, create a backup copy of your data.

4. Blocking ads through the hosts file

One ​​of the most effective ways to block Yandex advertising is to edit the file hosts. This method is suitable for experienced users, as it requires rights root or the use of special applications.

File hosts allows you to redirect requests to advertising domains to a non-existent IP address, thereby blocking their loading. Here's how to do it:

1. Download a file with current blocking rules for Yandex (for example, from GitHub).
2. Use a file manager with root access (for example, Root Explorer) or application AdAway (requires root).
3. Replace the contents of the file /system/etc/hosts with the downloaded rules.
4. Restart the device.

If you do not have root access, you can use the application Blokada or DNS66that work without rooting, but block ads at the VPN level. However, such applications may conflict with other VPN services.

5. Setting up DNS to block ads. data-i="173">Changing DNS servers is another way to reduce the amount of advertising from Yandex. Some DNS providers (for example,

Changing DNS servers is another way to reduce the amount of advertising from Yandex. Some DNS providers (for example, AdGuard DNS or NextDNS) automatically filter advertising domains.

To change DNS to Xiaomi:

1. Go in Settings → Connections and sharing → Private DNS.
2. Select DNS provider hostname.
3. Enter one of the addresses:
   • dns.adguard.com (AdGuard DNS)
   • doh.securedns.eu (SecureDNS)

This method blocks not only Yandex advertising, but also other trackers. However, it may slow down the Internet speed or conflict with some applications (for example, banking).

6. Using third-party ad blockers

If the previous methods did not help, you can install a specialized ad blocking application. The most popular options:

• 🛡️ AdGuard —blocks ads at the system level, works without root (via VPN). It has free and paid versions.
• 🚫 Blokada - open source software with support for custom blocklists. Does not require root, but may conflict with other VPNs.
• 🔒 DNS66 — blocks ads by redirecting DNS requests. Lightweight and does not require registration.

To install:

1. Download the APK file from the official website (for example, AdGuard).
2. Allow installation from unknown sources in Settings → Applications → Special access → Installation unknown applications.
3. Install the application and follow the setup instructions.

Please note that some blockers (for example, AdGuard) may require you to enable VPN mode. This does not affect Internet speed, but may conflict with other VPN services (for example, to bypass geo-blocking).

7. Radical methods: flashing and root

If none of the above methods helped, radical measures remain - obtaining root access or installing custom firmware. These methods are only suitable for experienced users, as they can lead to loss of warranty or unstable operation of the phone.

Option 1: Obtaining root access

Using the utility Magisk you can get root and manually remove Yandex system applications. To do this:

1. Unlock the bootloader through the official website Xiaomi (Mi account required and waiting 7-30 days).
2. Install TWRP Recovery and flash Magisk.
3. Use Root Explorer to delete folders /system/priv-app/Yandex and /system/app/Yandex.

Option 2: Installing custom firmware

Based firmware AOSP (for example, LineageOS or Pixel Experience) do not contain pre-installed Yandex services. However, to install them you will need:

• Unlocked bootloader.
• Installed custom recovery (TWRP or OrangeFox).
• Backup copy of data (the firmware erases all user files).

⚠️ Attention: Unlocking the bootloader and obtaining root access will void the warranty on the device. In addition, incorrect actions can lead to the phone being bricked (inoperable). Before starting the procedure, carefully read the instructions for your model Xiaomi on the forum 4PDA or XDA Developers.

8. Alternative solutions: changing the search engine

If the main problem is advertising in the search bar, you can completely abandon Yandex in favor of alternative search engines. For example:

• 🔎 Google — minimal advertising with personalization disabled.
• 🦆 DuckDuckGo — does not collect user data and does not show targeted advertising.
• 🌍 Startpage — anonymous search with results from Google, but without tracking.

To change the search engine by default:

1. Install a browser that supports changing the search engine (for example, Firefox or Brave).
2. Go to the browser settings and select the desired search engine in the section Search engine.
3. For system search (for example, in the widget MIUI) install an alternative launcher, such as Nova Launcher.

⚠️ Attention: On some versions MIUI Russia the system search is strictly tied to Yandex. In this case, only disabling the application com.miui.search via ADB or getting root access will help.

adb shell pm enable com.yandex.searchplugin