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.
Set a Daily Mobile Data Usage Limit
A monthly data cap does not catch the one day you binge-watch or download something huge, and by the time the monthly warning fires the damage is done. On Xiaomi phones you can add a separate daily threshold so heavy usage gets flagged the same day it happens. You also decide whether MIUI just warns you or cuts mobile data automatically once the limit is hit.
Clear Speaker Sound Cleaner
If your Xiaomi phone's speaker sounds muffled or noticeably quieter than it used to, dust or lint trapped in the speaker grille is usually the reason. MIUI has a built-in tool that plays a short cleaning tone to help shake particles loose before you reach for compressed air or a pin.
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.
Turn Emergency Location Service (ELS) On or Off
If first responders cannot pinpoint your position during an emergency call or text, Emergency Location Service on your Xiaomi phone may be switched off. This feature sends your current GPS position automatically whenever you dial an emergency number, but it only works if the setting is active and your wireless carrier supports it. Some users disable it by accident while adjusting location permissions, which delays help in a real emergency.
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.
App Location Permission Settings
If a Xiaomi app keeps showing the location icon even when you are not actively using it, its permission is probably set to allow access all the time. That drains battery and can expose more data than the app actually needs. You can review and change this setting for every installed app individually.
Turn On or Off Bluetooth Tethering
If your laptop or tablet has no free USB port, sharing your Xiaomi phone's mobile data over a cable is not an option. Bluetooth tethering lets you pass the connection wirelessly, but it needs to be paired and switched on first, and many users miss the toggle because it sits inside the hotspot settings rather than the Bluetooth menu itself.
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.
Blur Effect for App Previews
When you swipe through recent apps on your Xiaomi phone, the preview thumbnails can show account balances, chat messages or other personal details in plain sight. MIUI lets you blur individual app previews so text and layout become unreadable at a glance. The setting works per app, which means it is easy to forget for apps you add later, such as a new banking or messaging app.
Allow or Deny Apps to Modify System Settings
Some apps on your Xiaomi phone quietly hold permission to change system settings like brightness, do-not-disturb or notification behavior, even after you stopped using them. If a random app is toggling display or sound settings on its own, this hidden permission is usually the cause. You can review and revoke it for individual apps without affecting others.
Turn on TalkBack
Once TalkBack starts running, every tap on the screen gets read aloud instead of performed right away, which throws off anyone who did not expect the phone to switch to gesture-based navigation. This screen reader is essential for blind or low-vision users, but a stray touch inside the Accessibility menu can turn it on by accident too, changing how the whole interface reacts to touch. Knowing exactly where the toggle sits helps you switch it on deliberately or turn it back off if the phone suddenly stops responding to normal taps.
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.
Adjust Screen Brightness
If the display on your Xiaomi phone looks too dark indoors or blinds you at night, the brightness slider is set wrong or auto-brightness is fighting your manual changes. A screen running at full brightness all day is also one of the fastest ways to drain the battery. Getting the level right matters both for comfort and battery life.
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.
Mirror Navigation Bar Buttons
If the back button and recent apps button feel like they are on the wrong side of the navigation bar, your Xiaomi phone likely has the default three-button layout active. Left-handed users especially notice this, since reaching for the back key on the left edge feels unnatural. A hidden toggle lets you flip the order of these two buttons without changing anything else on the home button.
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.