Remove a Keyboard Language
Too many keyboard languages clutter the language switcher and slow down cycling to the one you actually type in. On Xiaomi phones, unused layouts stay listed under keyboard management until you remove them manually, even if you only tried them once.
Vibration in Silent Mode: Turn On or Off
When you switch a Xiaomi phone to Silent, it still buzzes for every incoming call or message by default. If you want the device completely quiet without any buzzing on the table, you need a separate toggle beyond the ringer switch itself.
Block a Number from Call History
Spam calls from fake lottery winnings or gambling subscriptions keep showing up in your call log even after you hang up. On Xiaomi phones, blocking a caller straight from that log is often faster than adding them manually through Contacts. Here's what triggers the block option and where it actually lives in the Phone app.
Add a Printer via IP Address or Wi-Fi Direct
If your printer does not show up automatically even though your phone and printer share the same Wi-Fi network, MIUI still lets you add it manually. This usually happens with older printers, devices on a different subnet, or printers that only support Wi-Fi Direct instead of standard network discovery. In that case you need to enter the printer's IP address yourself or switch on Wi-Fi Direct printing directly from the printing menu.
Set the WiFi Hotspot Band
If your Xiaomi hotspot always connects on the slower 2.4GHz band, other devices lose out on faster 5GHz speeds. Not every phone or app picks the best signal automatically, so a laptop or smart TV might latch onto the weaker frequency even when 5GHz is available. Whether you can switch depends on the AP Band option being supported by your device.
Send an SMS Text Message
On a Xiaomi phone there is no separate SMS app or SMS folder, so every text lands in the same Messages inbox as MMS content. Attach a photo or video to a text and MIUI silently switches the format to MMS without asking you first. That makes it hard to tell which messages actually went out as plain SMS and which ones used mobile data as MMS.
Create a Folder on the Home Screen
If your home screen is cluttered with dozens of app icons, grouping them into folders keeps things organized. On MIUI, folders are created by dragging one app icon onto another, the same drag-and-drop gesture you might know from a PC desktop or other Android phones. You need at least two apps ready to combine before a folder actually appears.
Unmount SD Card Safely
Pulling the SD card out of your Xiaomi phone while it is still mounted can corrupt photos, app data, or the file system on the card. MIUI keeps read and write connections open in the background even when the screen looks idle. Ejecting the card properly closes those connections before you remove it.
Create a Local Backup
Switching to a new Xiaomi phone or resetting the current one often means losing app data, home screen layout and system settings if no backup exists beforehand. Cloud backup depends on a stable connection and free Xiaomi account storage, which is not always available. A local backup avoids both issues by saving everything directly to the device storage instead.
Turn On or Off Find My Device
If your Xiaomi phone goes missing and Google's Find My Device search comes up empty, the tracking toggle is probably switched off in your privacy settings. This setting decides whether your phone keeps reporting its last known location to your Google Account. Without it enabled beforehand, there is no location history to fall back on once the phone is actually lost.
Set Notification Sounds for Each App Individually
When every app on your Xiaomi phone plays the same notification tone, it gets hard to tell a messaging alert from a random app update without looking at the screen. MIUI lets you assign or mute sound per app, but the option sits inside a settings area many users never open. Here is where that control actually lives and how to change it for one app at a time.
Set Up Unlock with Bluetooth Device
If your Xiaomi phone stays locked even though your paired Bluetooth accessory is nearby, the Unlock with Bluetooth device feature is probably still off. Once active, the phone unlocks automatically near that device and stays unlocked as long as the connection holds. This only works with Xiaomi's own Bluetooth accessories, not with third-party headphones or wearables.
Turn Glide Typing On or Off
If typing feels slow because you tap every single letter, Glide typing lets you swipe across the keys instead of lifting your finger. On some Xiaomi phones this swipe input stays off by default, or it keeps running even though you prefer classic tapping. Auto-correction and word suggestions are separate settings and keep working either way.
Keyboard Usage Statistics Sharing Toggle
If your Xiaomi phone keeps sending keyboard usage data to Google in the background, that's the 'Share usage statistics' option buried in the keyboard settings. This toggle controls whether typing patterns get reported for diagnostics, and it's on by default on most devices. Many users only discover it exists when checking their privacy settings after noticing unfamiliar data usage.
Show or Hide Notification Icons in the Status Bar
When your status bar stays empty even though an app has new messages, the notification icon display in MIUI might be switched off. This setting decides whether small app icons show up next to the clock so you can spot new activity without unlocking your phone. If it is disabled, you will only notice new notifications once you pull down the shade.
Wi-Fi Direct Setup
Streaming a video or photo to your TV or Fire TV Stick only works if both devices can see each other on the network, and Wi-Fi Direct connections often fail silently when that handshake breaks. Your Xiaomi phone needs to be on the same wireless network as the receiving device before Wi-Fi Direct can even scan for it. If the target device never shows up in the device list, this direct-connection setting is usually the first thing to check.
Turn Screen Wake for Notifications On or Off
If your Xiaomi phone lights up every single time a notification arrives, that constant flashing can drain the battery and get annoying fast, especially at night. On the other hand, if the display stays black and you only hear the notification tone, you might be missing messages you actually want to see right away. Both behaviors come from one single toggle in the lock screen settings.
Add a Birthday to a Contact
If the default Contacts form on your Xiaomi phone only shows phone number and email, there's no visible field for a birthday. That date option sits in a separate section that most people never open, so they assume it doesn't exist and skip it. Without it, you lose an easy way to keep birthdays tied directly to a contact card instead of a separate calendar entry.
Resize a Home Screen Widget
When a widget takes up too much space or looks squeezed on your Xiaomi home screen, the easiest fix is adjusting its size instead of removing it. Not every widget supports resizing, and some only offer fixed size steps rather than free dragging. Knowing which widgets react to resize handles saves you from rearranging your whole layout.
Mobile Data on Secondary SIM During VoLTE Calls
When you're on a VoLTE call with your primary SIM, mobile data can stay locked to that same line instead of switching to your secondary SIM. That leaves apps stuck loading or messages stuck sending mid-call. A dedicated toggle in the network settings decides which SIM handles data traffic while a VoLTE call is active.
Set Up Speed Dial for Calls
Dialing the same contact from a long list every time you need them wastes time when you only want to reach a favorite number fast. Speed dial on Xiaomi phones lets you call an assigned number with a single long press on the keypad, but it only works once a contact is linked to that digit. On Dual SIM devices you may also get asked which line to use if no default SIM for calls is set.
Turn Select to Speak On or Off
If Select to Speak stays greyed out or its icon never shows up in your navigation bar, the accessibility shortcut on your Xiaomi phone is probably still switched off. Once enabled, tapping the icon lets you select any text or image on screen and have it read aloud instantly. Turning it off again removes the icon without touching other accessibility settings.
One-Handed Keyboard Mode
Typing with one thumb on a large Xiaomi screen often means missing keys on the far side of the keyboard. The stock layout stretches across the full display width, so you end up stretching your thumb or shifting your grip with every message. Xiaomi's keyboard settings can shrink and pin the whole layout to the left or right edge instead.
Show Memory Status in Recent Apps
When you swipe up to check recent apps on a Xiaomi phone, the memory bar at the top sometimes just isn't there, leaving you without a quick read on free RAM. This indicator only reports live usage and does not close or manage background apps on its own. Without it turned on, you lose a fast way to judge whether your phone is actually running low on memory.