Add Update Shortcut to Home Screen
Checking for a new MIUI version usually means digging through several settings screens on a Xiaomi phone. A home screen shortcut skips that detour and opens the update check directly. Without it, casual users often forget to check for updates at all.
Remove App from Folder
When a folder on your Xiaomi home screen fills up with apps you barely touch, finding the one you actually use often becomes annoying. This happens a lot with apps like Messenger or WhatsApp, which start in a folder but end up needing a spot of their own once you rely on them daily. MIUI lets you pull an app back out without deleting anything.
Sound and Vibration for Calendar Reminders
If birthday or appointment reminders in the Calendar app stay silent, or if they buzz and ring when you would rather have them quiet, the notification settings for that app are usually the cause. On Xiaomi phones this is controlled separately from the general system sound, so a muted phone does not automatically mean the calendar stays quiet too. Checking the dedicated Calendar notification options clears up most missed or unwanted reminder alerts.
Turn Google Play Protect On or Off
If your Xiaomi keeps blocking app installs from outside the Play Store, or you get repeated malware warnings for apps you know are safe, Google Play Protect is usually behind it. The feature scans every app before and after installation and can flag legitimate apps as risky. You can check its current status and switch the scanning behavior directly from the security settings.
Turn Do Not Disturb On or Off
When Do Not Disturb is active on your Xiaomi phone, calls get an instant busy signal and every notification stays silent, even for messages you actually want to hear. Many people leave it on by accident after enabling it for a meeting or at night, since MIUI does not always show a clear reminder that it is still running. Checking the current status and switching it off takes just a few taps in Sound & vibration settings.
Double Tap to Wake or Sleep Screen
Waking your Xiaomi phone only works by pressing the power button, and double-tapping the display does nothing. This happens when 'Double tap to wake or turn off screen' is switched off in the lock screen settings, so a quick glance at the clock or notifications requires a full button press instead.
Battery Optimization Settings for Individual Apps
If a messaging app stops delivering notifications until you open it, or a background app quietly drains your battery overnight, MIUI's per-app battery optimization is usually behind it. Some apps get frozen too aggressively, others are left completely unrestricted and keep running in the background. Getting this balance wrong either kills battery life or breaks apps that need to stay active.
Change Downloads Location in Mi Browser
If every file you download through Mi Browser lands in the same generic folder, sorting photos, documents and APKs afterward gets tedious fast. The browser has its own storage setting that decides where new downloads go, separate from the system-wide file manager. Once you know where that option sits, you can point downloads straight to the right folder.
Rename a Home Screen Folder
A newly created folder on your Xiaomi home screen often just carries a generic label like 'Folder' or picks up the name of the first app you dropped into it. That makes it hard to tell at a glance whether it holds your shopping apps, finance tools, or games. Once you have several folders sitting next to each other, a clear name is the only thing that keeps your screen readable.
Add a Keyboard Language
Typing in a second language on your Xiaomi phone turns into a mess of red underlines and wrong autocorrect suggestions when the keyboard only knows one language. Messages, emails, and notes in that language become slower to write because every word gets flagged or swapped for something else. The built-in keyboard supports multiple languages at once, but only if you add them manually first.
Reset Wi-Fi, Mobile Data & Bluetooth
If Wi-Fi keeps dropping, mobile data stops working after a SIM swap, or paired Bluetooth devices refuse to reconnect, corrupted network profiles are often the real cause. Switching a connection off and on rarely fixes these deeper configuration conflicts. A full network reset clears every saved Wi-Fi password, paired device, and mobile data setting in one pass.
Change Display Size
If text and icons on your Xiaomi phone look too small or too cramped, the Display size setting is usually the cause. It scales both the interface and the font size together, which can push app shortcuts around on your home screen until you rearrange them.
Set the Fingerprint Recognition Method (Touch or Press)
If your Xiaomi phone has the fingerprint sensor built into the power button, unlocking with the screen off depends on how the sensor reacts to your finger. Some users notice the phone unlocks too slowly, or not at all, because the sensor expects a light touch instead of a firm press, or the other way around. Switching the recognition method changes how the sensor behaves every time you pick up the phone.
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.
Show or Hide the Emoji Switch Key
If you type a lot of emojis, switching between the language globe and the emoji picker can slow you down on the MIUI keyboard. The globe icon and the emoji key share the same spot, so only one of them shows on the keyboard row at a time. Turning on the emoji switch key swaps that icon while quick language switching still works by holding the space bar.
Enterprise Mode
If you spot Enterprise mode buried in your Xiaomi settings and have no idea what switched it on, you are not alone. The feature is built for companies that want to restrict which apps or websites an employee device can reach, and in some setups it can also report device activity back to an administrator. On a private phone that was never enrolled by a company, this toggle usually just sits there unused, which raises the question of what it is doing and whether it is safe to leave alone.
Set Up Switch Access
If tapping the touchscreen is difficult or impossible, everyday tasks like opening apps, scrolling, or typing on a Xiaomi phone can become a real barrier. Switch Access lets people with motor disabilities control the phone through one or more external switches instead of direct touch. These switches connect over USB or pair via Bluetooth and take over selection, scrolling, and text entry.
Keyboard Vibration Settings
If every tap on the on-screen keyboard triggers a buzz that feels too strong or too weak, or typing feedback vanished after an update, the keyboard's Haptic feedback on keypress setting is usually the cause. This option runs independently from your general system vibration, so toggling System vibration alone will not fix it. Notifications and Focus mode profiles do not touch this setting either, since it lives inside the keyboard app itself.
Add a Time Stamp to Photos
Photos taken with your Xiaomi phone often show no date or time, making it hard to prove exactly when a picture was captured. This is controlled by the Watermark option inside the Camera app, which stays off by default on most MIUI devices. Without it enabled, every shot leaves the gallery without any timestamp overlay.
Show or Hide Password Characters While Typing
On Xiaomi phones, every character you type into a password field flashes briefly on screen before turning into a dot. If you unlock accounts in public, on a video call, or while someone else can see your display, that brief character preview can expose your password to anyone nearby.
Change App Icon Size
If the home screen on your Xiaomi phone feels cluttered or the icons look too small to tap comfortably, MIUI lets you adjust that directly from the home screen settings. The icon size is controlled by a slider, so you can fine-tune it instead of picking from a few fixed presets. Getting this wrong can shift your grid layout or cut off app names underneath the icons.
Remove Google Search Bar from Home Screen
After the first setup of a new Xiaomi phone, a Google Search bar sits on the home screen by default and takes up space you might want for widgets or app icons. Many people assume it is a fixed part of MIUI and leave it there without checking. It is actually just a removable widget, so getting rid of it does not require digging through any settings menu.
Turn Location Access On or Off
If maps, weather, or camera apps suddenly stop finding your position on a Xiaomi phone, the general location toggle in MIUI settings might be switched off. Turning it off blocks GPS for every app at once, even those you already granted permission to use your location. This differs from per-app location permissions, which stay untouched but simply can't function without the master switch.
Turn On/Off Auto Brightness
If your Xiaomi screen keeps getting brighter or dimmer without you touching anything, Auto Brightness is reacting to the light sensor. You can still drag the brightness slider manually while the function stays active, which often causes confusion about which setting is actually in control.