Xiaomi is adding a one-click button to turn off all ads in MIUI system apps

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Xiaomi’s custom Android skin MIUI comes with a bevy of improvements over, or substitutes for, features in AOSP. The company spends a significant amount of time refining these features based on the feedback from beta testers as well as developing new ones with the objective of improving the end user’s experience. While users cherish the aesthetic and functional improvements that MIUI brings, the UI has had a grave problem of showing unwanted ads to users in several system apps and this is, perhaps, the only deal-breaker for those who might otherwise be drawn by great hardware that Xiaomi and Redmi devices offer. Now, Xiaomi has started to take users’ criticism about these intrusive ads in MIUI seriously and will allow users to opt out of ads completely with the last MIUI 10 beta.

In a recent post on Weibo, MIUI experience general manager @MIUI Xiaofan announced that Xiaomi has been working towards remedying the problem of ads. They claim that while the experience has improved quite a bit in the past few months since the company began with “comprehensive rectification [translated],” the ultimate solution that they have come up with for this issue is a new one-click toggle button added in the MIUI beta version 9.8.29 in China.

Xiaomi has always emphasized that the revenue from ads marginally improves the lean profit margin they maintain in order to keep their devices more affordable than other brands. The company also stresses that the ad revenue helps them improve the quality of their hardware and software products. This argument has not convinced users, who, as the director admits, want these ads to be disabled. But with the new switch in place, users will be able to disable system-wide ads without having to go through the painstaking process of disabling ads in each section of MIUI 10 individually.

Since this is the last MIUI 10 beta, we cannot be sure if the feature will be reaching the stable channel anytime soon. However, we strongly believe that the choice to disable ads will be an empowering and integral part of MIUI 11, which is expected to roll out soon.

In the meantime, Xiaomi is also testing a cleaner layout for the browser and we might see it with the future updates.