Turn Portable Wi-Fi Hotspot On or Off
If other devices cannot get online through your Xiaomi phone, the portable hotspot might simply be switched off or still using a network name and password you do not remember. This feature turns your mobile data connection into a Wi-Fi network for laptops, tablets or other phones nearby. Once it is active, the tricky part is usually finding the right toggle again, since it sits inside a settings screen most people only visit once.
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.
Turn Quick Responses On or Off
When a call comes in and you cannot pick up, MIUI can send the caller a short text instead of just cutting them off. If that automatic reply keeps firing at the wrong moments or refuses to trigger at all, the Quick responses feature needs a check.
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.
Export Contacts as a VCF File
Switching to a new phone or just backing up your address book can be tricky when the Contacts app on your Xiaomi phone does not offer a simple 'transfer' button. Instead, contacts leave the device as a VCF file, and picking the wrong storage location or account often means the file cannot be found afterward. Knowing where the export lands makes the difference between a working backup and a lost contact list.
Send MMS Message
Xiaomi Messages does not offer a separate MMS button, so it is easy to assume attachments go out as a normal text message. As soon as you add a photo, video, or .gif to a chat, the app switches the message to multimedia format automatically. If your carrier has MMS disabled or your mobile data is off, that message can silently fail to send.
Zoom In and Out in the Camera App
If the pinch gesture in the Camera app feels imprecise or the zoom slider does not react as expected, framing a shot gets frustrating fast. On Xiaomi phones the zoom level can be controlled either with two fingers on the screen or with a dedicated slider next to the shutter button, and mixing up both methods often causes jumpy results. Knowing which control belongs to which situation makes zooming smoother and prevents accidental resets while shooting.
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.
Block a Contact (Calls & Messages)
If someone keeps calling or texting after you have asked them to stop, deleting the contact does not actually stop the calls or messages from reaching you. MIUI has a separate blocklist function inside the Contacts app that silently rejects both. Note that blocking only works for numbers already saved as a contact, not for random unsaved numbers.
Reorder Keyboard Languages
If your Xiaomi phone keeps switching to the wrong keyboard language after you added a second or third layout, MIUI is simply using the wrong priority order. The keyboard picks its default language from the order you set in Manage keyboards, not from the one you type most often. Autocorrect and word suggestions follow that same order until you rearrange it.
Set the Time Manually
If the clock on your Xiaomi phone keeps jumping back to the wrong hour right after you edit it, the Use network-provided time toggle is still active in the background. Xiaomi phones pull the time straight from your mobile network or Wi-Fi connection, so any manual change gets overwritten within seconds. That sync option has to be switched off first before a custom time will actually stick.
Turn Front Camera Mirroring On or Off
Selfies taken with your Xiaomi front camera often look flipped compared to how other people actually see you, especially when text or logos appear reversed in the background. This happens because MIUI mirrors the preview and, on many devices, the saved photo to match what you see in the viewfinder. The mirroring setting controls whether your final shot keeps that flipped look or saves a true-to-life version.
Change TalkBack Voice Output Settings
If TalkBack reads text too fast, too slow, or in a pitch that is hard to follow, the default speech output values are likely still active. On Xiaomi phones the speaking rate and voice pitch can be adjusted independently through sliders in the Text-to-speech settings.
Turn On Second Space
If you want to keep work apps, private photos, or a guest profile completely separate from your main Xiaomi setup, mixing everything into one home screen becomes a mess fast. Second space creates an isolated area with its own apps, files, and accounts, so nothing from one side leaks into the other. It is different from a simple app lock, because the whole environment is duplicated rather than just hidden.
Move a Widget on the Home Screen
When a new widget lands right on top of an app icon or pushes your favorite shortcuts to another page, the home screen on your Xiaomi phone turns messy fast. Every widget blocks out its own grid space, so repositioning one often forces nearby icons to shift too. Getting the placement right the first time saves you from constantly rearranging your layout afterward.
Set Up an App Timer
If an app on your Xiaomi phone keeps eating hours of your day without you noticing, MIUI does not limit it automatically. Digital Wellbeing only tracks usage in the background unless you configure a timer yourself for that app. Without that timer, games or social media apps stay open all day, no matter how long you actually meant to use them.
Set Autoclick Dwell Timing for a Mouse
If you control your Xiaomi phone with a connected mouse, clicking a tiny cursor button gets tiring fast. Autoclick (dwell timing) lets the phone register a click automatically once the pointer stops moving for a set time. The delay is adjustable, so a short dwell time can trigger accidental taps while a long one feels sluggish.
Reset Camera Settings to Default
If your Xiaomi camera keeps producing blurry shots, odd colors, or a shooting mode you no longer understand after trying out filters and manual adjustments, restoring the default configuration usually fixes it. This clears every custom change you made in the camera app without touching photos or videos already saved on your phone. It is the fastest way to undo settings that got out of control after too much tinkering with exposure, resolution, or scene modes.
Add a Print Service
If a print dialog on your Xiaomi phone shows no printer at all, no print service is registered in MIUI yet. Most phones only come with a driver for Epson devices, so printers from other brands stay invisible until you install their own service. Without that step, apps like a PDF viewer or browser can never send a job to your printer.
Turn Data Usage On or Off for a SIM Card
If mobile data suddenly refuses to turn back on after your phone hit its limit, the culprit is usually the Data usage toggle inside the Security app. Xiaomi switches off the connection automatically once the set threshold is reached, and it stays off until you flip that switch again. The same setting also lets you disable mobile data manually before any limit is close.
Turn Call Vibration On or Off
If your Xiaomi phone buzzes loudly on a hard surface every time someone calls, or you can barely feel it while it sits in your pocket, the call vibration setting is likely working against you. This option controls only the vibration for incoming calls, independent from message or app notification vibration. Getting it wrong means either annoying buzzing on a desk or missed calls when the phone is muted and out of sight.
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.
Set Ringtone for Incoming Calls
When every incoming call on your Xiaomi phone uses the same generic tone, or a video calling app ignores your chosen sound completely, the default ringtone setting is usually the cause. Dual-SIM users often run into a second issue: one SIM plays the wrong tone because each line can carry its own ringtone. Both problems trace back to the same sound settings that MIUI applies system-wide.