Document Scanner Shortcut: Enable or Disable
If the camera keeps popping up a scan icon every time you point it at a sheet of paper or a presentation slide, the Document scanner suggestion is active. Some people find this shortcut useful for quickly digitizing paperwork, others just want the extra button gone from the viewfinder.
Wi-Fi Assistant: Select Best Networks Automatically
If your Xiaomi phone keeps switching away from a weak Wi-Fi network without asking, Wi-Fi assistant is likely doing that for you. Once every nearby network drops in signal, it can also fall back to mobile data on its own, which can use up your data plan faster than expected. This automatic switching can also cause interruptions during video calls or downloads.
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 If the toggle is missing from your SIM settings, an unsupported plan or outdated carrier profile is usually the reason.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 Off User Experience Program
If usage statistics keep syncing quietly in the background on your Xiaomi phone, the User Experience Program is likely still active. This service sends anonymous usage data from your device to Xiaomi to help refine products and features. Since it is not possible to verify exactly what data leaves your device, disabling this option is the safer choice.
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.
Change Device Name
If your Xiaomi phone still shows up under its model number when you scan for Bluetooth devices or connect to a hotspot, that is the default device name at work. It makes picking your phone out of a list of nearby devices harder, especially if you own more than one Xiaomi device. MIUI lets you replace that generic label with a name you actually recognize.
Unhide an Album in Gallery
If a photo album you hid earlier is missing from Gallery, it is not deleted - it just sits in a separate hidden section. Xiaomi keeps hidden albums out of the main view until you unhide them again, and each album needs to be restored on its own.
Show or Hide the Emoji Switch Key
If you type a lot of emojis, switching between the language globe and the emoji picker can slow you down on the MIUI keyboard. The globe icon and the emoji key share the same spot, so only one of them shows on the keyboard row at a time. Turning on the emoji switch key swaps that icon while quick language switching still works by holding the space bar.
Turn Screen Cast On or Off
If your Xiaomi phone won't mirror to a TV or monitor, the built-in Cast feature might be turned off, or your phone and screen aren't on the same Wi-Fi network. Screen Cast behaves differently from many third-party mirroring apps, since playback usually stops the moment you turn off the display. That makes it easy to mistake a disabled toggle for a broken connection.
Change Alarm Tone
If your Xiaomi alarm keeps ringing with the same generic tone or the Nature alarm sound never changes, the ringtone categories in the Clock app are likely the reason. Some categories, like Nature alarm, only rotate through different sounds when the phone has an active internet connection. Without that connection, the alarm falls back to a stored default tone instead of downloading a new one.
Turn Web Link Previews On or Off
If URLs in Xiaomi Messages show up as plain text instead of a preview card, the Automatic previews option is likely set to a mode you did not expect. MIUI lets you choose between previews for every shared link, previews limited to web addresses, or no previews at all. This affects both how conversations look and how much data the app pulls in the background.
Remove Google Search Bar from Home Screen
After the first setup of a new Xiaomi phone, a Google Search bar sits on the home screen by default and takes up space you might want for widgets or app icons. Many people assume it is a fixed part of MIUI and leave it there without checking. It is actually just a removable widget, so getting rid of it does not require digging through any settings menu.
Connect to Wi-Fi Using a QR Code
Typing out a long Wi-Fi password on a Xiaomi phone gets tedious, especially with mixed case letters and symbols. If the network owner has a QR code ready, you can skip the password field entirely by scanning it with the built-in Wi-Fi scanner.
Turn Location Access On or Off
If maps, weather, or camera apps suddenly stop finding your position on a Xiaomi phone, the general location toggle in MIUI settings might be switched off. Turning it off blocks GPS for every app at once, even those you already granted permission to use your location. This differs from per-app location permissions, which stay untouched but simply can't function without the master switch.
Turn Battery Drain Notifications On or Off
If your Xiaomi phone keeps popping up alerts about fast battery drain, or you never get one and expect to, this setting is the reason. Battery drain notifications warn you when an app or background process burns through power faster than normal. Left enabled, unrelated background tasks can trigger these alerts more often than you would like.
Change Keyboard Theme (Language & Input)
If the Gboard keyboard on your Xiaomi phone still shows the default gray background, the theme setting has never been switched. This only changes the visual layout - colors, gradients or picture backgrounds - and has no effect on autocorrect or typing speed. The key borders can also be turned on or off separately from the overall theme.
Show SIM Card Messages
Old text messages from years back sometimes stay on the SIM card instead of moving into the phone's internal storage. If you swap the SIM into a new Xiaomi phone, those messages do not show up in your normal inbox automatically, so it looks like they are gone.
Assign Custom Button Shortcuts
If double-pressing the power button always opens the camera when you wanted a screenshot instead, the button shortcut linked to that gesture doesn't match how you actually use your phone. MIUI lets you remap gestures like double-press power or long-press volume to actions such as torch, split screen or Google Assistant. Finding and changing that mapping means digging through a settings menu that isn't obvious at first glance.
Change Color Scheme
If photos, videos or app icons on your Xiaomi phone look washed out or overly intense, the display color scheme is likely set to the wrong profile. MIUI lets you switch between a natural, a vivid and a standard color rendering, plus fine-tune the color temperature manually. Picking the wrong option can make skin tones look off or colors appear flat.
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 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.
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 On/Off Traffic Mode
If a background download eats up bandwidth while you are streaming or on a video call, your Xiaomi phone might be sharing the connection equally between all apps. Traffic mode in the Wi-Fi assistant lets you decide whether the app you are actively using gets priority over background traffic. Without it enabled, downloads and updates can slow down whatever you are doing in the foreground.
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.