Show Only Local Albums in Gallery
If your MIUI Cloud stores thousands of photos, the Gallery app can end up cluttered with albums that only exist online and were never saved to your phone. Turning on Only show local albums hides those cloud-only entries so you see just what is actually stored on the device. This helps when storage is tight or the Gallery feels slow to load.
Back Up Your Phone to Xiaomi Cloud
If your Xiaomi phone breaks or gets lost, photos, contacts and app data are gone unless a cloud backup exists. Many users assume MIUI backs up automatically, but Xiaomi Cloud sync stays off until you sign in with a Mi account and switch it on. Without that step, only local backups on the device itself exist, and those disappear along with the phone.
Adjust Contrast, Saturation and Sharpness in Camera
Photos that look flat, oversaturated, or too soft often trace back to the Contrast, Saturation and Sharpness sliders hidden inside the camera settings, which default to a middle level that does not always match your device or lighting. Each slider offers seven steps for Contrast and Saturation and three steps for Sharpness, but most people never open that menu. Once one slider sits far from the middle, every photo taken afterward inherits the same look until you change it back.
Add a Widget to the Home Screen
Opening an app just to check a stock quote, the weather, or your next calendar entry gets tedious fast. On Xiaomi phones running MIUI, widgets show that information directly on the home screen without unlocking the app first. Many users only find wallpaper and icon-organizing options here, since the widget menu is easy to miss.
Change the Region Setting
Your Xiaomi phone picks the region automatically, usually based on your SIM card or network. If you are traveling or using a local SIM abroad, that automatic pick can be wrong for app stores, currency formats, or regional content. You can override it and set the region yourself.
Create a New Event in the Calendar App
If a date only lives in your head, it disappears the moment you get distracted. The Calendar app on your Xiaomi phone lets you save events with a title, guests, location and repeat schedule, but many users only ever use the quick add-note shortcut and miss the full event options. Skipping the dedicated event category also means no reminder fires before the actual date.
Turn On/Off Pop-up on Keypress
If every letter you tap on your Xiaomi keyboard flashes up in a small preview bubble, typing can feel slower and the screen looks cluttered. This preview comes from a keyboard setting called Popup on keypress, and it can get in the way when you type quickly in Messenger, WhatsApp or any other app. You can switch it on or off directly in the keyboard settings on your phone.
Open Split Screen via Recent Apps
Switching back and forth between two apps constantly slows you down, especially when you need to compare content or copy information between them. On Xiaomi phones the Recent apps overview hides the option to run two apps side by side unless you tap and hold the right spot on the app card. Not every app supports this mode, and the shortcut disappears if you tap the wrong area.
Manage Bookmarks in Mi Browser
If your saved pages in Mi Browser have turned into one long unsorted list, the bookmark manager on your Xiaomi phone can fix that. You can rename, move or delete individual entries and sort them into groups instead of scrolling through everything at once. This becomes especially useful once you have dozens of bookmarks from work, shopping or research mixed together.
Add a Second Face Unlock Profile
If Face Unlock keeps failing because you wear glasses, a mask, or switch up your look, one stored face often is not enough. Xiaomi lets you register a second face profile so the sensor recognizes both appearances without asking for your PIN every time. Without this second entry, the phone falls back to Pattern, PIN or Password whenever your look does not match the saved data.
Set a Custom Start Page in Mi Browser
Every time you open Mi Browser on your Xiaomi phone, the same default home screen with shortcuts and preset services loads instead of a search engine you actually use. This happens because the start page setting is locked to the built-in default and has not been switched to a custom web address. You can point it to Google, Bing or any other site you prefer.
Turn Focus Mode On or Off
If notifications from social or gaming apps keep interrupting your home office setup on a Xiaomi phone, Focus mode is the built-in tool meant to block that noise for selected apps. Many users only discover the toggle by accident, and the automatic scheduling option often stays unused, leaving the phone unrestricted outside of manual activation.
Optimize Battery Usage
If your Xiaomi phone drains faster than usual, background apps and forgotten settings are often the cause. MIUI has a built-in scan that checks running processes and configuration and lists exactly what is costing you charge. You decide which of those suggestions actually get applied.
Auto-download Updates via Mobile Data
If your Xiaomi phone keeps pulling system updates in the background while you are off Wi-Fi, mobile data usage can climb fast without warning. MIUI treats update downloads as automatic once a new version is detected, and a separate toggle decides whether mobile data counts as an allowed source for that download. Switching it off limits update downloads to Wi-Fi only, which matters if you are on a limited plan.
Send Photos and Videos via Bluetooth
Sending a photo or video from your Xiaomi phone to a paired device sometimes stalls right after you tap Share, or the target device never shows up in the list. This usually comes down to picking the wrong sharing option or Bluetooth pairing not being active. The steps below use MIUI's file sharing menu, which works the same for pictures, videos and most other file types.
Configure Individual System App Settings
When Security, Messages, or Camera on your Xiaomi phone keeps auto-updating or asking for permissions you never approved, a hidden per-app toggle in System app settings is usually the cause. Each preinstalled MIUI app, from Calendar to Recorder, carries its own switches for updates, notifications, and background data that do not show up on the regular app info screen. Finding the right toggle for the right app is the only way to fix the behavior without disabling the whole app.
Share Contacts as File, Text or QR Code
Trying to send a saved contact to someone but not sure which sharing format actually works on their phone? Xiaomi lets you send a contact as a file, as plain text, or as a scannable QR code, and each option behaves differently depending on the app you pick. Picking the wrong format is the usual reason a recipient cannot open or save the contact properly.
Allow Repeated Calls in Do Not Disturb
When Do Not Disturb is active on your Xiaomi phone, every incoming call gets silenced, even urgent ones. MIUI has a separate setting that lets a second call from the same number within a short window ring through instead of staying muted.
Turn Off Suggestions in Recent Apps Menu
If your recent apps screen on a Xiaomi phone keeps showing extra tiles for Cleaner, Security scan, Deep cleaning or Manage Apps, a system suggestion feature is adding them automatically. This can make the app switcher feel cluttered and slower to scan through, especially if you only want to see your open apps.
Switch Between Old and New Control Center Style
If your Xiaomi phone still shows the older two-panel layout after an update, or you miss that classic view after switching to the newer simplified overview, the display style does not change on its own. It sits behind a separate setting that many people never open. Notifications and quick toggles stay mixed together until you pick the layout you actually want.
Turn Off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Scanning for Location
Even with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth switched off, your Xiaomi phone can still scan nearby networks and devices to sharpen its location fix. Apps with location permission trigger this background scanning automatically, keeping your radios active more often than expected. If you want tighter control over when your phone searches for networks, the scanning setting needs to be adjusted separately from the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth toggles.
Delete an Album in Gallery
Deleting an album on your Xiaomi phone also deletes every photo and video still stored inside it. This catches a lot of people off guard when they just wanted to tidy up their Gallery app and end up losing media they meant to keep. Knowing which albums are safe to remove and which ones hold originals is key before you tap delete.
Fix Fisheye Distortion in Ultra Wide Shots
Ultra wide shots on your Xiaomi phone sometimes bulge at the edges, making straight lines look curved like a fisheye lens. This happens because the wide field of view stretches objects near the corners of the frame. The camera app can correct this automatically, but the setting is easy to overlook.
Back Up Phone Data to Google Drive
If your Xiaomi phone gets reset, lost or swapped for a new one, contacts, messages and app data disappear unless a backup exists somewhere else. MIUI has a built-in option to save that data to Google Drive, but the toggle sits buried in the general settings and is easy to miss until you actually need it.