Turn Notification Badges On or Off Per App
A red dot keeps sitting above an app icon even after you have opened every message inside it. On Xiaomi phones this badge is a separate switch from the notification itself, so muting an app does not always remove the counter. If the dot never clears, or shows up for an app you barely use, the badge toggle for that specific app is still turned on.
Change SIM PIN
The PIN that comes preset on a new SIM card is rarely one you can memorize, and typing the wrong code repeatedly locks the card. On Xiaomi phones you can swap it for a PIN you actually remember, but the option sits a few menus deep under network security settings rather than in the main lock screen settings.
Wi-Fi Assistant: Select Best Networks Automatically
If your Xiaomi phone keeps switching away from a weak Wi-Fi network without asking, Wi-Fi assistant is likely doing that for you. Once every nearby network drops in signal, it can also fall back to mobile data on its own, which can use up your data plan faster than expected. This automatic switching can also cause interruptions during video calls or downloads.
Turn Do Not Disturb On or Off
When Do Not Disturb is active on your Xiaomi phone, calls get an instant busy signal and every notification stays silent, even for messages you actually want to hear. Many people leave it on by accident after enabling it for a meeting or at night, since MIUI does not always show a clear reminder that it is still running. Checking the current status and switching it off takes just a few taps in Sound & vibration settings.
Change Device Name
If your Xiaomi phone still shows up under its model number when you scan for Bluetooth devices or connect to a hotspot, that is the default device name at work. It makes picking your phone out of a list of nearby devices harder, especially if you own more than one Xiaomi device. MIUI lets you replace that generic label with a name you actually recognize.
Unhide an Album in Gallery
If a photo album you hid earlier is missing from Gallery, it is not deleted - it just sits in a separate hidden section. Xiaomi keeps hidden albums out of the main view until you unhide them again, and each album needs to be restored on its own.
Add Extra Contact Details
Only a phone number and name saved for a contact leaves out useful extras like birthday, nickname, or a website link. On Xiaomi phones, MIUI hides these optional fields behind the standard edit screen, so you never see them unless you go looking. Without filling them in, calls and messages only ever show the bare minimum information for that person.
Change Time Format
If your Xiaomi phone shows time in a format you did not choose, MIUI is likely following your system language setting automatically. This means the clock can jump between 12-hour and 24-hour display whenever you change language or region. You can lock the format manually so it stays consistent no matter what language MIUI is set to.
Change Webpage Text Size in Mi Browser
If text on websites looks too small to read comfortably or too large and forces constant scrolling in Mi Browser, the webpage display size is set to the wrong level. Xiaomi phones offer five separate font sizes for browsing, independent from the system font size in your general settings. Switching to a different level fixes cramped or oversized text on every site you visit.
Turn On/Off Gesture Confirmation
Swiping back or closing an app by accident during a full-screen game or a video can throw you straight out of the action. On Xiaomi phones with full-screen gesture control, this usually happens because gesture confirmation is turned off, so a single swipe is enough to trigger the action. Turning it on forces you to swipe twice before the gesture actually executes.
Keyboard Vibration Settings
If every tap on the on-screen keyboard triggers a buzz that feels too strong or too weak, or typing feedback vanished after an update, the keyboard's Haptic feedback on keypress setting is usually the cause. This option runs independently from your general system vibration, so toggling System vibration alone will not fix it. Notifications and Focus mode profiles do not touch this setting either, since it lives inside the keyboard app itself.
Connect to Wi-Fi Using a QR Code
Typing out a long Wi-Fi password on a Xiaomi phone gets tedious, especially with mixed case letters and symbols. If the network owner has a QR code ready, you can skip the password field entirely by scanning it with the built-in Wi-Fi scanner.
Set Up Text-to-Speech Output
When TalkBack or Select to Speak reads content in the wrong language or sounds too fast, the text-to-speech engine on your Xiaomi phone is set to the wrong voice or rate. Pitch, speed and language all come from one shared accessibility setting, so a single wrong value affects every screen-reading feature at once. Fixing it stops garbled or mismatched speech without disabling accessibility features entirely.
Stopwatch: Lap Times, Pause and Reset
Lap times captured in the Xiaomi Clock app sometimes vanish once you pause the stopwatch, or tapping Stop clears the whole list instead of just pausing it. This happens because Start, Lap timer, Pause and Stop / Reset are separate controls with distinct effects on the running time and the lap history. Mixing up Pause and Stop is the most common reason lap data gets lost unexpectedly.
Change Keyboard Theme (Language & Input)
If the Gboard keyboard on your Xiaomi phone still shows the default gray background, the theme setting has never been switched. This only changes the visual layout - colors, gradients or picture backgrounds - and has no effect on autocorrect or typing speed. The key borders can also be turned on or off separately from the overall theme.
Show SIM Card Messages
Old text messages from years back sometimes stay on the SIM card instead of moving into the phone's internal storage. If you swap the SIM into a new Xiaomi phone, those messages do not show up in your normal inbox automatically, so it looks like they are gone.
Assign Custom Button Shortcuts
If double-pressing the power button always opens the camera when you wanted a screenshot instead, the button shortcut linked to that gesture doesn't match how you actually use your phone. MIUI lets you remap gestures like double-press power or long-press volume to actions such as torch, split screen or Google Assistant. Finding and changing that mapping means digging through a settings menu that isn't obvious at first glance.
Change Color Scheme
If photos, videos or app icons on your Xiaomi phone look washed out or overly intense, the display color scheme is likely set to the wrong profile. MIUI lets you switch between a natural, a vivid and a standard color rendering, plus fine-tune the color temperature manually. Picking the wrong option can make skin tones look off or colors appear flat.
Turn On/Off Read Text on Images (Select to Speak)
When Select to Speak on your Xiaomi phone starts reading text from photos or the camera viewfinder out loud, the Read text on images option is active. Xiaomi flags this as an experimental function, so it can misread words, skip lines entirely, or lag behind what the camera actually shows. Knowing where to switch it off helps once the readouts cause more confusion than they solve.
Set Data Usage Warning Level
If you have already capped your monthly data plan on a Xiaomi phone, you might still get surprised when the limit hits without any heads-up. The warning level tells MIUI at what percentage of your data plan it should alert you before you run out.
Archive a Conversation in Messages
When your chat overview gets cluttered with conversations you want to keep but do not check daily, the Messages list keeps showing all of them at the top. Archiving hides a conversation without deleting it, and you can bring it back anytime.
Delete an Alarm
If your Xiaomi phone keeps ringing at a time you no longer need, an old alarm is probably still sitting in the Clock app. Alarms pile up quickly once you set them for one-off events like flights or workouts, and they rarely get removed afterward. A cluttered alarm list also makes it harder to spot the one alarm you actually rely on every morning.
Turn Wi-Fi On or Off
If your Xiaomi phone won't connect to your home or public network, Wi-Fi might simply be switched off in the background. Leaving Wi-Fi active around the clock also drains the battery faster, especially when no network is in range. Many users struggle to find the toggle after a system update moved it inside a different menu.
Disable Navigation Bar Per App
Accidentally tapping the Back or Recents button during a full-screen game or video can pull you out of the app at the worst moment. On Xiaomi phones the on-screen navigation bar stays active by default even in apps that do not need it. MIUI lets you set this behavior per app instead of turning it off system-wide.