Some Mi TVs Forcing Ads on Users Before Switching HDMI Modes

Xiaomi is known for offering its products at highly affordable prices and while the company makes a big deal about honest pricing andlimited profiton the actual cost, it covers its bases by showing its users ads and selling ad-enabled services. This has become the norm on MIUI phones and you will see Xiaomi inserting adsanywhere it finds empty space– within its own apps like file manager, Mi Calendar, and even in themultitasking menu.

Now, a user has complained that Xiaomi is forcing them to watch ads on their Mi TV. Although ads on TVs are pretty common, the userreported being forced to watch a 60-second commercial every time they switch from one HDMI connectionto another. So evidently, Xiaomi has found a pretty clever and cunning way of bulldozing ads onto its Mi TV users.

My xiaomi tv just forced me to watch a 60 second ad between switching from hdmi1 to hdmi3. Twice.fromXiaomi

The user, who goes by the alias ofimanimmigranton Reddit, says that they have been using numerous Xiaomi products including a smartphone, air purifier, water filter, smart security cameras, dash cam, rice cooker, electric toothbrush, router, andMi Notebookand none of these forces them to see ads before using the device. Knowing that they are from China, the vast range makes sense.

Clearly, this way of forcing ads, especially when it comes to a point where it obstructs usability, is invasive and distressing. Notably, the issue is not new and we were able to spot anold complaint on the MIUI Forumin which the user reports that they have towait for a series of ads to finish before being able to actually use the Mi TV.

There is atemporary solutionto this, though, and it requires you to filter out certain URLs associated with these ads. To be able to do that, you mustadd the addresses in the link above to the filtering settings of your Wi-Fi router. There is, however,no direct option within the Mi TVto remove ads.

Since the aforementioned complaint comes from China, we’re not sure if Indian users also have to face similar hindrances while using their Mi TVs, especially theolder versions running PatchWall OS.

If you’re in India, we’d love to know if you see similar intrusive ads on your Mi TV.Meanwhile, you can add comments below if you want to provide some information and we’ll be updating the article accordingly.

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