Turn On/Off Sunlight Mode
Bright sunlight can make the Xiaomi display look washed out or hard to read, especially when checking messages outdoors. If automatic brightness is switched off, a separate Sunlight mode boosts the screen output whenever strong light hits the sensor. Without it active, the display often stays too dim outside even at maximum manual brightness.
Set Up Device Pairing for Messages on Web
If you want to read and send texts from your PC or laptop, the Messages app first needs to link with your browser. Without an active pairing, the browser page for Messages for Web stays blank or shows a QR code you cannot get past. This mostly affects people switching to a new browser or clearing their browser data, which breaks the existing link.
Turn Speak Passwords On or Off for TalkBack
When TalkBack reads your password out loud while you type it, anyone nearby can hear sensitive login data. On Xiaomi phones with MIUI, this happens because the Speak passwords option inside TalkBack is turned on by default. Switching it off keeps entered characters silent, though you lose the audio confirmation that a password was typed correctly.
Change Notification Sound
When every app on your Xiaomi phone plays the same generic chime, spotting an important message in a stack of notifications gets tricky. MIUI lets you pick a different tone per notification type, and if you run two SIM cards you can even split the sound by line. The tricky part is finding where this setting actually lives, since it is buried a few taps below the general Sound menu.
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.
Turn HDR On or Off in Camera
Photos taken against bright light or in high-contrast scenes sometimes look overprocessed, flat, or slightly blurred on Xiaomi phones. This happens when HDR (High Dynamic Range) automatically merges several exposures into one shot, which also slows down capture for moving subjects.
Change the Time Zone Manually
If your Xiaomi phone keeps switching its time zone whenever you travel or connect to a different carrier network, automatic time zone detection is the cause. This network-based setting overrides any manual change you make until you turn it off. Once you know where that toggle sits, you can lock in a fixed time zone yourself.
Enable Keyboard Dark Theme in Battery Saver
If your Xiaomi keyboard stays bright white even after battery saver kicks in, the automatic dark theme switch for the keyboard is turned off. This setting is separate from the general dark mode toggle and only reacts to the power-saving state of the phone. Without it, the keyboard ignores battery saver and keeps burning extra power on OLED screens.
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.
Set Up a Proxy Server for Wi-Fi
If your network admin or workplace requires traffic to run through a specific server, a plain Wi-Fi connection on your Xiaomi phone will not route it correctly. Without a configured proxy hostname and port, apps either fail to connect or bypass the required server entirely. This affects browsing, app updates and anything that depends on that network policy.
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.
Switch Keyboard Language While Typing
Typing a message in a second language on your Xiaomi phone often means the wrong keyboard stays active because it defaults to the last language you used. Leaving the text field to fix this in settings breaks your train of thought and can even discard what you typed. A quick gesture inside the text field itself switches the keyboard without closing the app.
Turn Bluetooth On or Off
If a Bluetooth headset, speaker, or car kit will not pair with your Xiaomi phone, Bluetooth is often still switched off or was never fully enabled after a restart. The Quick Settings toggle can also drift out of sync with the actual radio state, which leaves paired devices unable to reconnect until you check the setting directly.
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.
Turn Dual Clock On/Off on Lock Screen
After switching the region on a Xiaomi phone, a second time suddenly shows up on the lock screen next to the main clock. This happens because MIUI detects a time difference between your set region and your current location or SIM, and the Dual clock feature reacts automatically. You can switch it off entirely or change which region the second clock refers to.
Turn Data Roaming On or Off
If your Xiaomi phone connects to a foreign network, no data moves until data roaming is switched on. Once active, you get internet access abroad, but your carrier may bill extra for it. Xiaomi does not offer a simple on/off toggle here - it gives you three distinct roaming states, and picking the wrong one either blocks data or leaves roaming running when you do not want it.
Add or Remove Bookmarks in Mi Browser
Losing track of a website you visited last week is common once it drops out of your browser history. Bookmarks fix this by saving the page permanently until you decide to remove it. The catch is that many Xiaomi users don't know where the bookmark list actually lives inside Mi Browser, so saved pages get forgotten or accidentally deleted.
Change the Always-on Display Clock Style
If the Always-on display on your Xiaomi phone only shows a plain digital number and you want something more analog or more detailed, the clock style is buried a few taps deep in the display settings. Many users never notice the option because it sits inside a submenu, not on the main Always-on display toggle screen. Picking the wrong style can also affect how much info fits on the lock screen and how visible the clock stays in daylight.
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.
Turn Off App Lock
If Xiaomi's App lock keeps asking for a PIN, pattern or fingerprint before certain apps open, and some apps seem to have vanished from your app drawer, the lock feature is still active in the background. Turning it off releases every protected app at once and brings previously hidden apps back into view.
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.
Set Notification Sounds for Each App Individually
When every app on your Xiaomi phone plays the same notification tone, it gets hard to tell a messaging alert from a random app update without looking at the screen. MIUI lets you assign or mute sound per app, but the option sits inside a settings area many users never open. Here is where that control actually lives and how to change it for one app at a time.
Set a Custom Watermark in the Camera App
If every photo automatically shows your device or camera model as a watermark, you might want your own text there instead. The Watermark settings inside the Camera app let you swap that default label for a personal signature, but the option sits a few taps deep in the menu. Once set, the custom text gets stamped on every new shot instead of the model name.