Set the Default Media Volume Level
Videos, music, and games on your Xiaomi phone start way too loud or too quiet, and pressing the Volume buttons only helps once something is already playing. That happens because Media volume runs on its own channel, separate from ringtone and notification levels in MIUI.
Set the Monthly Data Usage Reset Date
If the data usage counter on your Xiaomi phone resets on a different day than your carrier billing cycle starts, the numbers you see never match your actual plan. This happens because the reset date in Data usage is set independently from your SIM contract and has to be adjusted manually. Without matching it, data warnings and remaining allowance calculations stay inaccurate all month.
Turn Color Inversion On or Off
If your Xiaomi phone suddenly shows a black background with white text everywhere, or photos and videos look like a photo negative, Color inversion is likely switched on. This accessibility feature swaps colors system-wide, including in apps, galleries, and the camera preview, which can make the phone look broken until you know where to turn it off.
Turn On/Off Contact Suggestions
When Contact suggestions are active on a Xiaomi phone, the keyboard pulls names, numbers and email addresses from your Contacts app while you type messages or fill out forms. That can be handy for quick replies, but it also means personal details from your address book show up as autocomplete hints in apps that have nothing to do with Contacts. If you want tighter control over what your keyboard suggests, this setting is the one to check.
Assign a Custom Ringtone to a Contact
If every incoming call sounds the same, you have to check the screen to know who is calling before you pick up. On Xiaomi phones, the default ringtone applies to all contacts unless you override it manually for specific people.
Turn On, Off or Auto Camera Flash
If your Xiaomi camera fires the flash in bright rooms or refuses to light up a dark shot, the flash mode is set wrong. The camera app lets you force the flash on, force it off, or leave the decision to the automatic sensor. Getting this wrong ruins both photos and video clips shot in low light.
Change Call Waiting Notification Sound
If the call waiting tone plays continuously instead of just a short beep, or a second incoming call barely gets your attention, the notification style set for call waiting is likely the cause. Xiaomi phones let you pick between a single tone, a repeating tone, or a tone combined with vibration, and the wrong choice makes overlapping calls easy to miss or annoying to handle.
Turn On/Off Long-press for Symbols
If numbers, accents or special characters only appear after holding down a key on your Xiaomi keyboard, Long-press for symbols is doing its job in the background. When this setting is off, those hidden symbols stay invisible and you cannot access them at all through a long press. The delay before a symbol gets inserted can also feel too short or too long, depending on how you type.
Turn On/Off Call Forwarding
Calls landing in voicemail even though your phone never rang usually means call forwarding is already active in the background. On many Xiaomi phones the network sets forwarding for 'busy', 'unanswered' and 'unreachable' cases by default, so you might not notice it until a call disappears. Each of these forwarding rules can be switched on or off separately, or redirected to a different number entirely.
Move Photos or Videos into an Album
Photos and videos pile up in one long Gallery feed until finding a specific shot means endless scrolling. When you try to sort them into an album, Gallery stops you with a choice between moving or copying the file, and picking the wrong option can leave duplicates behind or remove the original from where you expected it.
Turn Screenshot Sound On or Off
Every time you capture a screenshot on a Xiaomi phone, a short chime plays to confirm the capture went through. If that sound feels too loud in meetings or you simply want an audible confirmation back, the setting sits separately from your general ringtone volume and needs its own toggle.
Game Turbo Settings
Game Turbo hides a long list of toggles that most Xiaomi owners never open, covering things like Game Speed Booster, ingame shortcuts and how added apps get removed from the list. If a game still throttles mid-match, notifications keep breaking through, or an external screen behaves oddly while gaming, one of these switches is usually the cause. The settings panel controls all of this from a single screen, but the options are easy to miss.
Turn Accessibility Menu Shortcut On or Off
If a small floating icon suddenly shows up in the bottom right corner of your screen on your Xiaomi phone, the Accessibility menu shortcut has been switched on. This icon opens a panel with accessibility actions and does not change how the rest of the phone works. You can turn it on or off depending on whether you actually need those accessibility tools.
Add a Fingerprint
If you can only unlock your Xiaomi phone with one specific finger, you probably registered just a single fingerprint during setup. MIUI lets you store several fingerprints so both your left and right hand work for unlocking or confirming payments. Each saved fingerprint can also get its own name, which helps when the device is shared with family.
Set a Custom Notification Sound
If you pick a full song as your Xiaomi notification tone, only the first few seconds usually play before the sound gets cut off or overlaps with the next alert. MIUI lets you use almost any audio file stored on your phone as a notification sound, no matter which folder it sits in, but long tracks feel out of place for a quick alert. Trimming the file first keeps notifications short and easy to recognize.
Set a Default Home Screen
Tapping the home button always drops you on the wrong panel, especially if you keep several home screens or widget pages active on your Xiaomi phone. MIUI lets you pin one specific screen as the default target, but this setting is easy to miss and gets reset after a launcher change or update. Without it, the home button just returns to whichever screen you last viewed.
Set Start of Week in Calendar
If your calendar always opens on a Sunday even though you expect Monday to be the first column, the app is just following the region setting on your phone. This mismatch makes weekly planning confusing, especially when you compare dates with colleagues or family using a different week layout. A quick setting inside the Calendar app fixes the view for good.
Turn Call Barring On or Off
If your Xiaomi phone keeps racking up charges while roaming abroad, or you need to stop all incoming or outgoing calls for a while, call barring is the setting responsible. Unlike silencing a contact or using Do Not Disturb, call barring blocks calls at the network level and requires a password to change. Getting the wrong option enabled can also cut off calls you actually want, like international or roaming numbers.
Hide and Show Apps on the Home Screen
If an app keeps showing up on your home screen even though you do not want it visible, MIUI can hide it completely as long as App lock is turned on. Without App lock active, the option to hide apps simply does not appear in the menu. Once hidden, an app only reappears after you unlock it with your password or pattern.
Turn Off Mobile Data When Device Is Locked
If your Xiaomi phone keeps burning through mobile data even while sitting locked in your pocket, a background data setting is likely still active. MIUI can cut mobile data automatically once the screen locks, but the delay before that happens is often left on a setting that does not match how you use the phone. That gap is what causes messages, emails or app updates to keep syncing long after you stopped looking at the screen.
Change Preferred Network Type
If your phone shows no or barely any 4G/LTE signal in certain spots, calls drop and data stalls even though older 3G or 2G networks are still available nearby. The Preferred network type setting decides which mobile network your SIM tries first, and the wrong choice can leave you stuck searching for a signal instead of connecting to one that actually works.
Set Swipe-from-Edge Action in Mi Browser
Swiping in from the left or right edge of the screen in Mi Browser normally sends you back or forward a page, and that can get in the way if you actually meant to switch tabs. Xiaomi lets you reassign this edge gesture in Mi Browser or turn it off completely if it keeps triggering by accident.
Notch Display per App
If one app stretches its content behind the notch while another leaves a black bar around it, the per-app notch setting is likely mismatched with that app's layout. This shows up mostly in games or video apps that were not built with a notch in mind. The fix depends on a setting Xiaomi lets you configure separately for each installed app.
Turn Quick Ball On or Off
If the floating navigation bubble is missing from your Xiaomi screen edge, you probably switched off Quick Ball at some point. This shortcut button gives fast access to actions like locking the screen, capturing a screenshot, or switching between recent apps without touching the physical buttons. When it disappears or starts blocking games and videos, it usually comes down to one setting hidden inside Additional settings.