Set a Timer in the Clock App
Setting an alarm just to catch the end of an eBay auction wastes a reminder slot and still leaves you guessing when to check back. The Timer function in the Clock app on your Xiaomi phone counts down a fixed period and alerts you the moment it is over, without touching your alarm list. Many users overlook this tool because it sits next to the alarm and stopwatch tabs and rarely gets used.
Turn Personalized Ad Recommendations On or Off
If ads on your Xiaomi phone feel oddly tied to your recent searches or app activity, Personalized ad recommendations is the setting behind it. Switching it off does not lower how many banners you see, it only stops MIUI from matching them to your interests and usage data.
Email Guests From a Calendar Event
If an appointment reminder alone is not enough, guests often miss details or forget the event entirely. MIUI Calendar lets you send everyone attached to an event a custom email, but the app pre-selects all added guests automatically. Checking that list before sending prevents the message from going to the wrong people.
Add a New Contact
Saving a new phone number on a Xiaomi device sometimes feels confusing because the Contacts app hides extra fields like birthday, address or company behind a single Add button. Many users only enter a name and number, then wonder later why the birthday never shows up in the calendar. The trick is knowing which fields to expand before you save the entry.
Power Button Ends Call Setting
Ending a call on a Xiaomi phone usually means tapping the red hang-up button on screen, which is awkward one-handed or when the display is hard to reach. MIUI has a hidden accessibility toggle that lets you end calls with the power button instead, but it is turned off by default and easy to miss in the settings.
Turn a SIM Card On or Off
On a dual SIM Xiaomi phone, calls or texts sometimes keep arriving on a line you no longer want to use, or you want to silence one number without pulling the physical card out. MIUI lets you deactivate a SIM slot completely, which stops all calls, messages and mobile data on that line until you switch it back on.
Install an App from the Play Store
Setting up a new Xiaomi phone often means hunting for the right way to add apps like WhatsApp, a cookbook, or a new game. Search results in the Play Store can show several similar-looking entries, so picking the correct one before tapping Install actually matters.
Turn Camera Shutter Sound On or Off
Every photo on your Xiaomi phone triggers a shutter click, even in a quiet room or during a video call screenshot. The sound comes from the camera app itself and has nothing to do with your ringtone or notification volume, so muting the phone alone will not silence it.
Reject an Incoming Call
If a call comes in at a bad moment on your Xiaomi phone, you don't have to answer it or wait it out. The red decline icon on the incoming call screen lets you dismiss it right away, but only if you swipe correctly. Miss the gesture and the call keeps ringing or gets answered by accident.
Change Home Screen Transition Effect
Swiping between home screen pages on your Xiaomi phone always triggers the same flat slide animation, even after you have customized icons and widgets. MIUI actually ships with several transition styles such as Crossfade, Cube or Cascade, but the option sits inside the home screen settings rather than the main display menu, so most people never find it.
Rename a Gallery Album
Album names like Camera, Screenshots or a random date string get confusing fast once your Gallery fills up with dozens of folders. Renaming an album on your Xiaomi phone does not touch the photos or videos inside it, so nothing gets lost or reordered. This only affects how the folder is labeled in the app, not where the files are stored.
Turn On/Off Dark Mode
If your Xiaomi screen still glares white at night, straining your eyes and eating into battery life, Dark Mode is probably still switched off. MIUI can flip the whole interface to a dark layout, but many users never find the schedule option that would turn it on automatically at a set time. Without that schedule active, you end up switching the toggle by hand every evening.
Turn One-handed Mode On or Off
If your Xiaomi phone feels too big to reach the top of the screen with one thumb, the built-in one-handed mode shrinks the whole display into a smaller window. Many users never find this option because it hides under Additional settings instead of the main Display menu. Without it enabled, you are stuck stretching or using both hands for every notification bar swipe or top-corner button.
Turn Off Automatic Diagnostic Data Sending
If Send diagnostic data automatically stays enabled, your Xiaomi phone keeps transmitting usage statistics that can include personal details. Many people only notice this after checking a privacy report or reviewing background data usage. MIUI never discloses exactly what content gets sent in these reports, which is why disabling related user experience options is worth doing.
Close All Tabs in Mi Browser
After a long browsing session in Mi Browser, the tab counter on your Xiaomi phone can climb to a number you never actually chose. Every open tab keeps running in the background, which slows down the browser and drains extra battery. Closing them one by one takes forever, but there is a faster way.
Change Press-and-Hold Shutter Button Function
On Xiaomi phones, holding down the shutter button in the Camera app usually triggers a burst shot instead of a single photo. If you actually want continuous autofocus or a locked focus point for a tricky shot, that burst behavior gets in the way. MIUI lets you swap this hold action to Focus or Record video instead.
Go Back to Previous App Gesture
If swiping in from the left edge and holding for a moment does nothing on your Xiaomi phone, the Go back to previous app gesture is probably switched off. This shortcut only shows up once full-screen gestures are active, and it needs its own toggle buried inside the gesture settings. Without it, the small app-icon preview at the screen edge never appears.
Rename a Contact Group
A contact group on your Xiaomi phone keeps the name you gave it when you first created it, even after you add or remove members over time. If that label no longer fits, MIUI lets you edit it without deleting the group or losing its contacts. Default groups like Family, Colleagues or Friends are locked and cannot be renamed.
Filter Contacts by Account
If your contact list mixes phone numbers, WhatsApp entries, and other synced accounts, finding the right person gets messy fast. MIUI keeps every synced account in one long list by default, which makes Calls and Messages harder to scan. A built-in filter lets you narrow that view down to only the account you actually need.
Add a City to World Clock
Your Xiaomi phone only shows the time for your home region, and comparing time zones means switching apps constantly. The World Clock widget can hold several cities at once, but the option to add one sits inside a menu that is easy to overlook. Removing a city later works differently too, since it needs a long-press instead of a simple delete button.
Set Up a Privacy Protection Password
Anyone who unlocks your Xiaomi phone can still open apps like Gallery, Notes, or File Manager without a second check, exposing personal photos or documents. The screen lock protects the whole device but not individual apps, which is where a separate privacy password comes in.
Clear Cache (Storage & Backup)
If your Xiaomi phone feels slower than it used to, or apps freeze and crash for no clear reason, piled-up cache files are often the cause. MIUI stores thumbnails, temporary downloads and leftover app data that nobody ever cleans up manually. Over time this clutter eats into your free storage and can trigger odd system errors that have nothing to do with the apps themselves.
Enable or Disable Google Assistant via the Home Button
Holding down the virtual home button on your Xiaomi phone launches Google Assistant automatically, even when you only meant to go back to the home screen. If that accidental trigger bothers you, or you actually want the shortcut and it is not working, the setting sits in a spot most people never check.
Save Location Info for Photos and Videos
Photos and videos from the Xiaomi camera arrive without any location tag, so sorting vacation shots by place later only works if you remember the trip yourself. That happens because the camera option for saving location info sits switched off out of the box. Turning it on lets the Camera app attach GPS coordinates to every photo and video you capture.