Send an SMS Text Message
On a Xiaomi phone there is no separate SMS app or SMS folder, so every text lands in the same Messages inbox as MMS content. Attach a photo or video to a text and MIUI silently switches the format to MMS without asking you first. That makes it hard to tell which messages actually went out as plain SMS and which ones used mobile data as MMS.
Delete Learned Words and Data
If the built-in Xiaomi keyboard keeps suggesting outdated or wrong words, the learned word database is usually the cause. This data builds up over time from everything you type and can make autocorrect feel stuck on old habits. Clearing it resets suggestions without touching your other settings.
Answer an Incoming Call on the Lock Screen
If tapping the green phone icon does not pick up the call on your Xiaomi phone, you are likely missing the swipe gesture MIUI expects. The lock screen call button reacts to a drag motion, not a simple tap, so a short or sideways swipe leaves the phone ringing until it drops to voicemail. This mainly trips up people switching from a brand that uses tap-to-answer instead of swipe-to-answer.
Set the Action for When Your Data Plan Runs Out
If your mobile data suddenly stops working before the month is over, MIUI may already be cutting it off automatically once you hit your set limit. Some people only want a heads-up instead of losing their connection outright, but that only works if the right action is selected in the data usage settings. Without checking this setting, you can end up with dead mobile data at the worst possible moment.
Unmount SD Card Safely
Pulling the SD card out of your Xiaomi phone while it is still mounted can corrupt photos, app data, or the file system on the card. MIUI keeps read and write connections open in the background even when the screen looks idle. Ejecting the card properly closes those connections before you remove it.
Create a Local Backup
Switching to a new Xiaomi phone or resetting the current one often means losing app data, home screen layout and system settings if no backup exists beforehand. Cloud backup depends on a stable connection and free Xiaomi account storage, which is not always available. A local backup avoids both issues by saving everything directly to the device storage instead.
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.
Add a Home Screen Page
Running out of room for app icons on your Xiaomi home screen is a common problem once you install more than a handful of apps. Instead of stacking icons into folders, you can create a completely new home screen page and spread your apps across it. This works with a simple drag gesture and does not require any extra settings menu.
Set Up Unlock with Bluetooth Device
If your Xiaomi phone stays locked even though your paired Bluetooth accessory is nearby, the Unlock with Bluetooth device feature is probably still off. Once active, the phone unlocks automatically near that device and stays unlocked as long as the connection holds. This only works with Xiaomi's own Bluetooth accessories, not with third-party headphones or wearables.
Turn Global Icon Animations On or Off
If third-party app icons on your Xiaomi phone bounce or pulse every time you tap them, a system-wide animation setting is running in the background. Some people like the extra feedback, others find it distracting or feel it slows down the home screen. This setting controls the effect for all installed apps at once, not for a single icon.
Enable or Disable Spell Check
If words get underlined the moment you type them on your Xiaomi phone, spell check is active in the keyboard. Unlike autocorrect, spell check only flags a word as wrong without changing it, which can feel distracting when you type quickly or use slang. You can turn this marking on or off separately from autocorrect.
Enable Dark Mode in Mi Browser
If Mi Browser still shows bright white pages after the sun goes down, the built-in night option is probably switched off. This setting dims both the browser interface and many web pages, which cuts glare and makes late-evening browsing easier on your eyes. It sits separately from the general system theme, so changing one does not automatically change the other.
Keyboard Usage Statistics Sharing Toggle
If your Xiaomi phone keeps sending keyboard usage data to Google in the background, that's the 'Share usage statistics' option buried in the keyboard settings. This toggle controls whether typing patterns get reported for diagnostics, and it's on by default on most devices. Many users only discover it exists when checking their privacy settings after noticing unfamiliar data usage.
Show or Hide Notification Icons in the Status Bar
When your status bar stays empty even though an app has new messages, the notification icon display in MIUI might be switched off. This setting decides whether small app icons show up next to the clock so you can spot new activity without unlocking your phone. If it is disabled, you will only notice new notifications once you pull down the shade.
Add a Birthday to a Contact
If the default Contacts form on your Xiaomi phone only shows phone number and email, there's no visible field for a birthday. That date option sits in a separate section that most people never open, so they assume it doesn't exist and skip it. Without it, you lose an easy way to keep birthdays tied directly to a contact card instead of a separate calendar entry.
Pair a Bluetooth Device
If your headset, earbuds, or speaker will not connect to your Xiaomi phone, the accessory usually needs to be paired first before Bluetooth can use it. Until pairing finishes, the phone will not list it as an active connection, so audio and calls stay on the built-in speaker.
Resize a Home Screen Widget
When a widget takes up too much space or looks squeezed on your Xiaomi home screen, the easiest fix is adjusting its size instead of removing it. Not every widget supports resizing, and some only offer fixed size steps rather than free dragging. Knowing which widgets react to resize handles saves you from rearranging your whole layout.
Turn Select to Speak On or Off
If Select to Speak stays greyed out or its icon never shows up in your navigation bar, the accessibility shortcut on your Xiaomi phone is probably still switched off. Once enabled, tapping the icon lets you select any text or image on screen and have it read aloud instantly. Turning it off again removes the icon without touching other accessibility settings.
One-Handed Keyboard Mode
Typing with one thumb on a large Xiaomi screen often means missing keys on the far side of the keyboard. The stock layout stretches across the full display width, so you end up stretching your thumb or shifting your grip with every message. Xiaomi's keyboard settings can shrink and pin the whole layout to the left or right edge instead.
View Device Certification Info
If you need your Xiaomi phone's FCC ID, model number, or other certification details for a return, insurance claim, or customs check, they are not printed on the box or shown in a quick settings toggle. This information sits inside a dedicated certification screen that most users never open on their own.
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.
Check for System Updates
If you swiped away the update notification on your Xiaomi phone or never saw it pop up, the update itself is not lost. MIUI still tracks it in the background, you just need to trigger the check yourself. This matters when a security patch or bugfix has been sitting unnoticed for weeks.
Manage App Permissions with the Permission Manager
If you're unsure which apps can reach your camera, microphone or location on your Xiaomi phone, permissions granted at install time often go unnoticed afterwards. Over weeks several apps quietly keep background access to sensitive functions with no obvious place to check it. The permission manager under Privacy protection lists this access per function and per app, so you can spot anything that looks off.
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.