Turn Google Location History On or Off
If Google Maps keeps suggesting places based on where you have been, or your Timeline fills up with stops you never meant to save, Location History is still active in the background. On Xiaomi phones this tracking can run even when no Google app is currently open, which surprises a lot of users checking their data usage or battery drain.
Switch Between Browser Tabs
Comparing prices or articles across several websites gets confusing fast if you cannot jump between open pages in Mi Browser. On Xiaomi phones the tab overview is easy to miss, so people end up closing and reopening pages instead of switching between them directly.
Set a Button Shortcut for Split Screen
Opening split screen through the recent apps menu takes several taps and only works if you can find the small split-screen icon on the app card. If your phone uses button navigation instead of gestures, there is a faster way: a long press on one of the navigation buttons can trigger split screen directly.
Add Contacts to a Group
Groups on your Xiaomi phone stay empty until you actually assign contacts to them. You can add people either from a single contact's profile or from inside the group itself, and mixing up the two methods is where most confusion starts. Knowing which screen controls group membership saves you from re-adding the same contact twice.
Change the Default Keyboard
Installed a new keyboard app on your Xiaomi phone but typing still opens Gboard? MIUI keeps the previous keyboard active until you manually switch the default under Languages & input. Without that step, the new keyboard stays listed but never takes over text fields.
Share Wi-Fi Password via QR Code
Typing out a long Wi-Fi password for every visitor gets tedious, especially with random letter-number combos. Xiaomi phones can turn your current network credentials into a scannable QR code instead. Anyone with a camera can then join the network without you dictating a single character.
Rename Face Data
If you have saved more than one face profile on your Xiaomi phone, for example a regular look and one with glasses, every entry shows up under the same generic label in the Face unlock settings. Without a custom name it is hard to tell which profile matches which appearance, especially when you only want to manage or delete one of them.
Create or Remove Dual Apps
Running two WhatsApp or Facebook accounts on one phone usually fails because those apps only allow a single login at a time. Dual apps gets around that by cloning the app into a second icon with its own data and notifications, fully separate from the original. Without setting this up, you are stuck logging out and back in every time you want to switch accounts.
Turn MMS Read Receipts On or Off
If contacts can see the moment they read your MMS messages, or you cannot tell whether your own texts got opened, the read receipt option is likely misconfigured on your Xiaomi phone. This setting works separately from standard SMS delivery reports and needs its own toggle inside the messaging app. On Dual SIM devices, each SIM line can carry a different receipt setting, which often explains why the behavior seems inconsistent between conversations.
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.
Switch Between Front and Rear Camera
Selfies on a Xiaomi phone often need extra light, and the display flashes white to fake a camera flash for the front lens. If you are not sure where the switch control sits or why the screen behaves this way, jumping between front and rear camera during a quick shot or video call gets slower than it should. This affects both the Camera app and any third-party app that uses the same camera controls.
Turn Off TalkBack on Xiaomi
If your Xiaomi phone reads out everything you tap and single taps only select items instead of opening them, TalkBack is active. This screen reader changes how touch works across the whole system, which makes normal navigation confusing if you never meant to turn it on.
Turn On/Off Ascending Alarm Volume
If your Xiaomi alarm starts at full volume and jolts you awake instead of easing you into the morning, the ascending volume option is likely switched off. Some users prefer the opposite: a gentle ramp-up feels too quiet to wake them at all. Either way, this sits in a separate alarm setting that many people never notice.
Hide Notifications for Hidden Apps
If a hidden app on your Xiaomi phone still shows message previews on the lock screen or in the notification shade, anyone glancing at your phone can read what is inside. This happens because App lock only hides the app icon by default, not its incoming notifications. You can decide separately whether alerts from locked apps stay invisible until you open and unlock them.
Answer an Incoming Call on the Lock Screen
If tapping the green phone icon does not pick up the call on your Xiaomi phone, you are likely missing the swipe gesture MIUI expects. The lock screen call button reacts to a drag motion, not a simple tap, so a short or sideways swipe leaves the phone ringing until it drops to voicemail. This mainly trips up people switching from a brand that uses tap-to-answer instead of swipe-to-answer.
Set the Action for When Your Data Plan Runs Out
If your mobile data suddenly stops working before the month is over, MIUI may already be cutting it off automatically once you hit your set limit. Some people only want a heads-up instead of losing their connection outright, but that only works if the right action is selected in the data usage settings. Without checking this setting, you can end up with dead mobile data at the worst possible moment.
Add Apps to a Folder on the Home Screen
Dragging one app at a time into a folder gets tedious once your home screen fills up with dozens of icons. Xiaomi phones running MIUI let you group several apps into a single folder in one move instead of repeating the drag-and-drop for each icon. If you only know the old hold-and-drag method, sorting a full app drawer can take much longer than it should.
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.
Save Previous Camera Mode
If your Xiaomi camera always opens in Photo mode even though you shot a video or used Portrait last time, the app is not storing your last selection. This happens when the option that remembers your last shooting mode is switched off, forcing every launch back to the default. Toggling it changes how the camera behaves on the next launch, not just during the current session.
App Download Preference (Play Store)
If apps on your Xiaomi phone start downloading over mobile data even while connected to Wi-Fi, the Play Store's download preference is likely set to Over any network. This setting decides whether new app installs and updates use any connection, Wi-Fi only, or ask before each download. Getting it wrong quickly eats into a limited monthly data plan.
App Lock: Lock or Unlock Apps
Anyone who picks up your Xiaomi phone can open sensitive apps like banking, messaging or gallery without extra protection beyond the screen lock. App Lock adds a second barrier for individual apps, separate from your device PIN or pattern. Without it enabled, apps stay accessible the moment the phone itself is unlocked.
Block Offensive Words in Keyboard Suggestions
If the keyboard on your Xiaomi phone keeps suggesting swear words or curses while typing, autocorrect is picking them up as valid entries. A dedicated filter in the keyboard settings controls whether these words show up in suggestions at all. Turning it on or off changes what the prediction bar offers, not what you can actually type.
Assign a Contact to a Speed Dial Number
If holding down a number on the dial pad does nothing on your Xiaomi phone, no contact has been linked to that speed dial slot yet. Speed dial only works once you connect a number manually to a saved contact. Without that step, the quick dial button stays empty and no call goes through.