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.
Set Up a Private DNS Server
If your Xiaomi phone still resolves domains through whatever DNS your carrier or Wi-Fi router assigns, you get no ad blocking, no tracking protection, and inconsistent speeds between networks. On some models the Private DNS option is missing entirely or resets to Automatic after a reboot, which silently stops a custom provider like Cloudflare or Google DNS from taking effect.
Change Default Messaging App
Texts land in one app while replies keep opening in another, or a new SMS app you downloaded from the Play Store never becomes the one that actually launches. This happens because MIUI keeps a fixed default assignment for messaging that does not update automatically when you install a new app. Until that assignment is changed manually, notifications and quick replies keep routing to the wrong app.
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.
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.
Set a Custom Ringtone for Calls
If your Xiaomi phone still rings with a stock tone and you want a favorite song for incoming calls instead, the built-in ringtone list only shows preset options at first glance. MIUI actually lets you pick any audio file already stored on your phone, without moving it into a dedicated ringtone folder. On dual SIM devices, the ringtone also needs to be set separately for each SIM card.
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.
Change Keyboard Height
If the on-screen keyboard on your Xiaomi phone feels cramped for typing or covers too much of the screen, the Keyboard height setting is usually the cause. MIUI offers seven size presets from extra short to extra tall, and picking the wrong one makes typos more likely or blocks content you need to see while typing.
Enable or Disable LED Notification Light
If your Xiaomi phone stays dark when a new message arrives, the LED notification light might be switched off for that app. This setting works per app, so one app can flash the LED while another stays silent. Not every Xiaomi model has a physical LED, so the option may be missing entirely on some devices.
Change App Lock Settings
Once App lock is turned on for an app, MIUI still leaves several details open: notification previews can leak private messages, protected apps might each demand their own unlock, and Xiaomi keeps suggesting more apps to add to the lock. These behaviors come from separate switches inside the App lock settings, not from the lock feature itself.
Forget Saved Wi-Fi Networks
If your phone keeps reconnecting to a slow or wrong Wi-Fi network instead of your home connection, an outdated saved entry is usually the cause. This often happens after a router password change or when two networks share the same name. Removing the old entry forces your Xiaomi phone to ask for the current password the next time it connects.
Block Calls from Unknown Numbers
When a caller shows up as Unknown or Private, your Xiaomi phone has no caller ID to check against a blocklist entry. Instead of rejecting these calls by hand every single time, you can have the Phone app reject them automatically before they ring through.
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.
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.
Turn Auto-capitalization On or Off
If your Xiaomi keyboard keeps capitalizing letters you want lowercase - like usernames, code snippets, or crypto addresses - auto-capitalization is likely running in the background. It automatically capitalizes the first letter after a period or new sentence, which speeds up regular typing but gets in the way for technical text. The setting sits inside the keyboard's text correction options, not the main system settings.
Manage App Permissions
If you tapped Deny when an app first asked for camera or contacts access, that app stays locked out until you change the setting yourself. MIUI does not repeat the prompt later, so features like document scanning or contact sync can quietly stop working. The permission is not deleted, it just needs to be switched back on in the app settings.
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.
Block Apps from Using Mobile Data or Wi-Fi
If an app keeps burning through your mobile data plan even though you are connected to Wi-Fi, a per-app network permission is likely still letting it use the mobile connection. Xiaomi phones let you lock individual apps to just one connection type, which stops unexpected background data use. This helps with apps you only want active when Wi-Fi is available, or that should never touch mobile data.
Show or Hide Carrier Name on Lock Screen
If your Xiaomi lock screen shows the SIM carrier name under the clock, a MIUI status bar setting is behind it. Some people want that text gone for a cleaner lock screen or extra privacy, while others lose it after a reset and want it back. Either way, the toggle sits in one specific settings screen and is easy to miss.
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.
Import Contacts from VCF, SIM or Account
If your contacts are stuck on a SIM card, an old VCF backup, or a different account, your Xiaomi phone won't just pick them up automatically. Contacts app import options are easy to miss inside Settings, so people end up re-typing numbers by hand instead of pulling them in from an existing file or account.
Sort Contacts by First or Last Name
If your Xiaomi contact list feels out of order, it usually comes down to whether the Contacts app is sorting entries by first name or last name. This becomes a real problem when you are searching for someone by their surname but the list is alphabetized by given name instead. The rule that controls this sits in one setting inside the Contacts app.
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.
Desktop View in Mi Browser
Mobile sites on your Xiaomi phone often hide buttons, filters, or entire menus that only show up in the desktop layout. Mi Browser squeezes every page into a phone-friendly view by default, which helps scrolling but can block tools like advanced editors or full navigation bars. Switching to the desktop version brings those missing elements back without needing a computer.