Assign Google Assistant to the Power Button
On some Xiaomi phones a short press of the Power button opens the power menu instead of Google Assistant, even though full screen gesture navigation is active. This happens because the button shortcut for Google Assistant sits in a separate settings section and stays off by default. Without enabling it, you still need the home button gesture or voice command to wake the Assistant.
Change Home or Lock Screen Theme
If your Home screen, Lock screen, and app icons suddenly look inconsistent after switching themes, MIUI applied only part of the new theme's assets. This happens when a saved theme only covers some elements, like Lock screen and System, but skips Icons. Picking the wrong theme ('Classic' vs 'Limitless') or a corrupted download can also leave icons untouched while wallpapers change.
Uninstall App Updates
If an app starts crashing, draining battery, or losing features right after an update on your Xiaomi phone, the new version is usually the cause. Instead of waiting for another patch, you can roll the app back to the version that shipped with your system and keep your data intact.
Turn Call Waiting On or Off
If you are already on a call and a second call comes in on your Xiaomi phone, a tone and a pop-up usually appear. When Call waiting is switched off, that second caller hears a busy signal instead and nothing shows up on your screen. With Dual SIM, this setting applies per SIM card, so one line can behave differently from the other.
Turn Camera Grid Lines On or Off
If your photos keep coming out tilted or the horizon never lines up straight, you are probably shooting without any framing guide. Xiaomi's camera app can overlay a 3x3 grid that helps you keep verticals upright and place the horizon on a clean line. Without it, minor tilts are easy to miss on a small screen and only show up later when you check the shot on a bigger display.
Add Account in Calendar App
If appointments from your Google or work account never show up in the Xiaomi Calendar app, only one account is usually linked to it. Calendar only displays events for accounts you have added yourself, so a new work email or a second Google account stays invisible until you connect it. This is also why events vanish after switching phones or resetting the calendar app.
Change Camera Picture Quality
If your camera storage fills up fast or photos take too long to share, the picture quality setting in the MIUI camera app is often the reason. Xiaomi's camera defaults to a high resolution that produces large files, even when you only need a quick snapshot. Switching between High, Standard, and Low lets you balance sharpness against file size for each situation.
Turn Wi-Fi On or Off
If your Xiaomi phone won't connect to your home or public network, Wi-Fi might simply be switched off in the background. Leaving Wi-Fi active around the clock also drains the battery faster, especially when no network is in range. Many users struggle to find the toggle after a system update moved it inside a different menu.
Disable Navigation Bar Per App
Accidentally tapping the Back or Recents button during a full-screen game or video can pull you out of the app at the worst moment. On Xiaomi phones the on-screen navigation bar stays active by default even in apps that do not need it. MIUI lets you set this behavior per app instead of turning it off system-wide.
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 Notification Badges On or Off Per App
A red dot keeps sitting above an app icon even after you have opened every message inside it. On Xiaomi phones this badge is a separate switch from the notification itself, so muting an app does not always remove the counter. If the dot never clears, or shows up for an app you barely use, the badge toggle for that specific app is still turned on.
Turn an Alarm On or Off
Alarms you already set on your Xiaomi phone stay stored even after you switch them off, but the toggle in the Clock app is easy to miss. If an alarm keeps ringing when you do not need it, or stays silent when you want it active, the switch next to the entry is probably in the wrong position. This affects your wake-up routine and any reminders you set up in MIUI.
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.
Sound and Vibration for Calendar Reminders
If birthday or appointment reminders in the Calendar app stay silent, or if they buzz and ring when you would rather have them quiet, the notification settings for that app are usually the cause. On Xiaomi phones this is controlled separately from the general system sound, so a muted phone does not automatically mean the calendar stays quiet too. Checking the dedicated Calendar notification options clears up most missed or unwanted reminder alerts.
Turn Google Play Protect On or Off
If your Xiaomi keeps blocking app installs from outside the Play Store, or you get repeated malware warnings for apps you know are safe, Google Play Protect is usually behind it. The feature scans every app before and after installation and can flag legitimate apps as risky. You can check its current status and switch the scanning behavior directly from the security settings.
Turn On/Off Wi-Fi Calling
Weak signal at home, underground, or in a concrete building often causes dropped calls on a Xiaomi phone, even when Wi-Fi shows full bars. Wi-Fi calling routes voice calls through your wireless network instead of the mobile network, but only works if your carrier actually supports it. If the toggle is missing from your SIM settings, an unsupported plan or outdated carrier profile is usually the reason.
Turn Do Not Disturb On or Off
When Do Not Disturb is active on your Xiaomi phone, calls get an instant busy signal and every notification stays silent, even for messages you actually want to hear. Many people leave it on by accident after enabling it for a meeting or at night, since MIUI does not always show a clear reminder that it is still running. Checking the current status and switching it off takes just a few taps in Sound & vibration settings.
Double Tap to Wake or Sleep Screen
Waking your Xiaomi phone only works by pressing the power button, and double-tapping the display does nothing. This happens when 'Double tap to wake or turn off screen' is switched off in the lock screen settings, so a quick glance at the clock or notifications requires a full button press instead.
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.
Change Downloads Location in Mi Browser
If every file you download through Mi Browser lands in the same generic folder, sorting photos, documents and APKs afterward gets tedious fast. The browser has its own storage setting that decides where new downloads go, separate from the system-wide file manager. Once you know where that option sits, you can point downloads straight to the right folder.
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.
Add Games or Apps to Game Turbo Manually
When a freshly installed game does not show up in Game Turbo, the automatic detection has missed it. This also happens with non-gaming apps you want to run under Game Turbo performance settings. Manually adding the app closes that gap without waiting for a system scan.
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.