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.
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.
Set the Default Media Volume Level
Videos, music, and games on your Xiaomi phone start way too loud or too quiet, and pressing the Volume buttons only helps once something is already playing. That happens because Media volume runs on its own channel, separate from ringtone and notification levels in MIUI.
Schedule Reading Mode Automatically
Reading mode does not switch itself on unless you tell it when to run, so the display keeps its normal cool color balance even in the evening. Turning it on manually every night is easy to forget, which defeats the purpose of reducing blue light before bed. A schedule lets Reading mode start and stop on its own, either at fixed times or automatically around sunset.
Turn Screenshot Sound On or Off
Every time you capture a screenshot on a Xiaomi phone, a short chime plays to confirm the capture went through. If that sound feels too loud in meetings or you simply want an audible confirmation back, the setting sits separately from your general ringtone volume and needs its own toggle.
Turn Accessibility Menu Shortcut On or Off
If a small floating icon suddenly shows up in the bottom right corner of your screen on your Xiaomi phone, the Accessibility menu shortcut has been switched on. This icon opens a panel with accessibility actions and does not change how the rest of the phone works. You can turn it on or off depending on whether you actually need those accessibility tools.
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.
Allow Calls During Do Not Disturb
If Do Not Disturb mode is silencing calls you actually want to receive, a call filter is deciding who gets through and who gets blocked. Xiaomi phones let you choose between allowing calls from anyone, only contacts, only starred contacts, or nobody at all while the mode is active. Missed calls from family or work contacts usually trace back to this exact setting being set too strictly.
Set a Default Home Screen
Tapping the home button always drops you on the wrong panel, especially if you keep several home screens or widget pages active on your Xiaomi phone. MIUI lets you pin one specific screen as the default target, but this setting is easy to miss and gets reset after a launcher change or update. Without it, the home button just returns to whichever screen you last viewed.
Turn On/Off Proximity Sensor During Calls
If your Xiaomi screen stays lit while it is pressed against your ear during a call, you can end up muting yourself, switching to speaker, or hanging up by accident. This usually happens when the proximity sensor is switched off, so the display keeps reacting to touch instead of going dark near your face. A quick check in the call settings tells you whether the sensor is active.
Force Stop an Unresponsive App
When an app keeps running in the background and refuses to close normally, closing the recent apps card often does nothing. Force stopping shuts the process down completely, but it can also interrupt saved data or active downloads.
App Lock Timing
If App lock keeps asking for your PIN every time you switch briefly between apps, the delay is probably set too tight. Xiaomi lets you choose whether protected apps lock the instant the screen turns off, right after you leave the app, or after a short grace period. Picking the wrong option means either constant re-entry or apps staying unlocked longer than you want.
Turn Off Mobile Data When Device Is Locked
If your Xiaomi phone keeps burning through mobile data even while sitting locked in your pocket, a background data setting is likely still active. MIUI can cut mobile data automatically once the screen locks, but the delay before that happens is often left on a setting that does not match how you use the phone. That gap is what causes messages, emails or app updates to keep syncing long after you stopped looking at the screen.
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 Swipe-from-Edge Action in Mi Browser
Swiping in from the left or right edge of the screen in Mi Browser normally sends you back or forward a page, and that can get in the way if you actually meant to switch tabs. Xiaomi lets you reassign this edge gesture in Mi Browser or turn it off completely if it keeps triggering by accident.
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.
Bedtime Mode: Turn On or Off
If your Xiaomi phone keeps buzzing with notifications late at night or the screen stays distractingly bright while you try to fall asleep, Bedtime mode is probably not set up yet. This feature is supposed to mute the device and dim the colors automatically, but only if you pick the right trigger - a fixed schedule or charging at night. Choosing the wrong option is the usual reason it never kicks in when you actually need it.
Hide the Full Screen Indicator (Gesture Bar)
With gesture navigation active on a Xiaomi phone, a thin bar stays visible at the bottom of the screen at all times. It sits on top of apps, videos and games, and some people find it distracting during full-screen use. This line is a system indicator tied to gesture navigation, not a bug.
Turn On or Off Dual 4G
If your second SIM card keeps dropping to 3G or 2G while the first stays on 4G, your phone is likely limiting the fast connection to a single slot. Xiaomi lets you decide whether both SIM cards can use 4G at the same time, but this option only shows up on models that support it in hardware.
Move Photos or Videos into an Album
Photos and videos pile up in one long Gallery feed until finding a specific shot means endless scrolling. When you try to sort them into an album, Gallery stops you with a choice between moving or copying the file, and picking the wrong option can leave duplicates behind or remove the original from where you expected it.
Customize Camera Feature Layout
If your camera app only shows modes you never use while Night or Pro mode stays buried under More, the feature layout on your Xiaomi is still set to default. You can add, remove or reorder quick-access modes like Portrait, 48M, Panorama, Documents, Slow motion or Time-lapse directly in the camera settings. Which modes are available depends on your specific device model.
Enable Reader View in Mi Browser
Long Wikipedia entries or news articles often mix text with ads, sidebars and menus that crowd a phone screen. Mi Browser has a reader view that strips a page down to just the article text and images. If the option seems to be missing on a particular page, it usually depends on how that page is built.
Change Default Dialer App
If you install a new phone or call app on your Xiaomi device, calls may still open in the standard MIUI Dialer instead of your preferred app. This happens because MIUI keeps its own dialer set as default until you switch it manually in the app settings. Third-party dialer apps from the Play Store only take over once you assign them as default there.