Set Up Switch Access
If tapping the touchscreen is difficult or impossible, everyday tasks like opening apps, scrolling, or typing on a Xiaomi phone can become a real barrier. Switch Access lets people with motor disabilities control the phone through one or more external switches instead of direct touch. These switches connect over USB or pair via Bluetooth and take over selection, scrolling, and text entry.
Keyboard Vibration Settings
If every tap on the on-screen keyboard triggers a buzz that feels too strong or too weak, or typing feedback vanished after an update, the keyboard's Haptic feedback on keypress setting is usually the cause. This option runs independently from your general system vibration, so toggling System vibration alone will not fix it. Notifications and Focus mode profiles do not touch this setting either, since it lives inside the keyboard app itself.
Add a Time Stamp to Photos
Photos taken with your Xiaomi phone often show no date or time, making it hard to prove exactly when a picture was captured. This is controlled by the Watermark option inside the Camera app, which stays off by default on most MIUI devices. Without it enabled, every shot leaves the gallery without any timestamp overlay.
Show or Hide Password Characters While Typing
On Xiaomi phones, every character you type into a password field flashes briefly on screen before turning into a dot. If you unlock accounts in public, on a video call, or while someone else can see your display, that brief character preview can expose your password to anyone nearby.
Change App Icon Size
If the home screen on your Xiaomi phone feels cluttered or the icons look too small to tap comfortably, MIUI lets you adjust that directly from the home screen settings. The icon size is controlled by a slider, so you can fine-tune it instead of picking from a few fixed presets. Getting this wrong can shift your grid layout or cut off app names underneath the icons.
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.
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 On/Off Auto Brightness
If your Xiaomi screen keeps getting brighter or dimmer without you touching anything, Auto Brightness is reacting to the light sensor. You can still drag the brightness slider manually while the function stays active, which often causes confusion about which setting is actually in control.
Turn Off Developer Options
If Developer options keeps popping up in your Xiaomi settings even though you only enabled it once for a quick fix, it usually just needs to be switched off inside its own menu. Leaving it active keeps USB debugging and other low-level toggles exposed, which can interfere with app checks or banking apps. Turning it off hides the whole menu again until you reactivate it through the hidden tap sequence.
Shake to Auto-Arrange Home Screen Icons
Empty cells scattered across your Xiaomi home screen after uninstalling an app? Shaking the phone while in edit mode can pull the remaining icons together and close those gaps automatically. The feature, called Shake to fill empty cells, sits hidden in the display settings and can be switched on or off.
Turn Automatic Date & Time On or Off
If your Xiaomi phone shows the wrong time after a trip or SIM swap, the automatic time sync is likely still active. Automatic date & time relies on network-provided time, which can lag or fail when signal is weak. Turning it off lets you set the clock manually instead.
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.
Lock Home Screen Layout
If icons keep shifting position every time you delete an app or accidentally shake your phone, MIUI is still rearranging empty spaces on its own. Locking the layout stops that automatic reshuffling and keeps every icon exactly where you placed it.
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.
Manually Add an APN
If mobile data drops out or MMS messages will not send on your Xiaomi phone, the access point name (APN) supplied by your carrier might be missing or wrong. This entry is normally created the first time you insert a SIM card, but a factory reset, a new SIM, or a carrier update can wipe it out. Without a correct APN, the phone shows full signal but cannot actually load data.
Turn Tap Sounds On or Off
Every tap on a button, the Back key, or a menu item triggers a short click sound on your Xiaomi phone. If that noise gets distracting during calls, meetings, or at night, the Tap sounds setting is behind it and can be switched off just as quickly as it can be turned back on.
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 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.
Schedule Power On/Off
If you keep forgetting to switch your Xiaomi phone off at night or want it ready and running before you even reach for it in the morning, pressing the power button every time gets old fast. MIUI includes a built-in scheduler that turns the device on and off at fixed times you define, with support for daily repetition or custom days. Once set up, the phone handles the switching on its own, without any manual input.
Set Data Usage Warning Level
If you have already capped your monthly data plan on a Xiaomi phone, you might still get surprised when the limit hits without any heads-up. The warning level tells MIUI at what percentage of your data plan it should alert you before you run out.
Set a New Alarm
Waking up on time with a Xiaomi phone means finding the right spot to add a repeating schedule, a custom label, or a different ringtone for each alarm. Many users only set a one-off alarm and miss the options for weekday repetition, vibration, or automatic deletion after the alarm rings. Getting these details wrong means the alarm either fires on the wrong days or disappears after a single use when you actually wanted it daily.
Turn On or Off Reading Mode
If your Xiaomi phone throws a cold, blue-tinted glow at night, reading on it can feel harsh and even keep you awake longer. Reading mode warms up the display colors to ease eye strain, but a lot of people never find the toggle or the scheduling option. Without it set up correctly, the warmer tone never kicks in on its own when you need it.
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.
Edit and Rearrange Quick Settings
If the toggle you need most sits at the bottom of the control center or is missing entirely, you have to scroll or swipe further every time you want to switch it on. MIUI lets you add, remove and reorder these quick settings tiles, but the edit option is easy to miss if you have never opened it before.