Data Usage Warning on Lock Screen
If you blow through your mobile data plan before the billing cycle ends, you probably only find out when the carrier sends a throttling notice. Xiaomi phones can flag this earlier, but the lock screen warning for data usage is off by default on most devices. Without it enabled, you only see usage numbers if you open the Security app yourself.
Turn On/Off Always-on Display
If your Xiaomi screen stays completely black in standby, you might be missing the time, battery level, or notifications at a glance. This depends on the Always-on display feature, which only works on Xiaomi models with an OLED panel, not on LCD screens.
Clear App Cache
If an app on your Xiaomi phone keeps crashing, freezing, or throwing error messages, leftover cache files are often the reason. Over time these temporary files pile up and can overlap or corrupt each other, causing an app to behave oddly even though nothing else changed. Clearing the cache removes that clutter without touching your saved data or settings.
Set Wi-Fi Hotspot Data Limit
If your mobile data plan drains fast whenever you share your Xiaomi phone's Wi-Fi hotspot with a laptop or tablet, an unlimited hotspot session is usually the cause. MIUI lets you cap the exact amount of data the hotspot can share and pick what happens once that cap is reached.
Fingerprint Unlock for App Lock
If a locked app on your Xiaomi phone keeps asking for the app lock password even though your fingerprint sensor works everywhere else, fingerprint unlock for App lock is probably switched off. This setting lets you skip the PIN or pattern entry for individual apps and confirm access with your finger instead. Without it enabled, MIUI falls back to the password every time you open a protected app.
Turn Delete Sound On or Off
Every time you delete a message or a file on your Xiaomi phone, a short click sound plays automatically. That extra sound gets annoying fast if you delete things often or want your phone quieter in general. The setting sits with the other system sounds, not inside the messaging app itself.
Delete a Single SMS Message
Deleting a whole conversation wipes out every message in that thread, even the ones you still need. Sometimes you only want one text gone, like an old verification code or a message sent to the wrong person. On Xiaomi phones, single messages inside a conversation can be removed without touching the rest of the thread.
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.
Turn On/Off Screen Magnification
If icons, text or app menus stay too small even after adjusting the display size, the built-in screen magnifier can help. On Xiaomi phones this feature works as a temporary zoom you trigger with a gesture or a shortcut button, not as a permanent font size change. Many users enable it but then struggle to find the toggle again or accidentally leave it running in the background.
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 Bookmark to the Home Screen
If you keep opening Mi Browser just to reach one saved website, that link only lives in your bookmarks list, not on the home screen. Xiaomi phones do not turn a saved bookmark into a shortcut automatically, so you have to add that icon yourself. Without it, every visit means opening the browser, tapping Bookmark, and scrolling to find the right entry.
Turn On/Off Device Watermark on Photos
Every photo you take with your Xiaomi phone gets a small watermark in the bottom left corner, showing which device captured the shot. If you want cleaner images for sharing or printing, that watermark can get in the way fast.
Turn On/Off Color Correction (Accessibility)
If someone using your Xiaomi phone has trouble distinguishing colors in charts, status icons, or notification dots, the screen's color rendering may need adjusting for a vision deficiency like red-green color blindness. MIUI ships with a color correction filter built into the Vision accessibility tools, but it stays disabled by default and is easy to miss. Without it turned on, the display keeps showing standard colors that are hard to tell apart for certain types of color vision anomalies.
Fingerprint Scan for Privacy Password: Enable or Disable
If your fingerprint unlocks the Privacy password screen, anyone with your fingerprint can bypass the extra PIN or password that protects hidden apps and locked content. That shortcut is convenient, but it removes a second layer of protection some people rely on. Whether you want that convenience or prefer to keep the password entry mandatory depends on how the phone is used.
Delete a Contact Group
If a contact group in the Xiaomi Contacts app is cluttering your groups list, you can remove it without losing the people inside it. Many users hesitate because they assume deleting a group also deletes the assigned contacts. In reality, only the group label itself gets removed, while every contact stays saved on the device.
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.
Make a Phone Call
When two SIM cards are active on your Xiaomi phone, tapping the call button can leave you unsure which line actually dials. The Phone app splits the green call button into two halves, one per SIM, and tapping the wrong side sends the call out on the wrong number or tariff. This mix-up gets worse if the SIM slots have not been renamed, since both halves look nearly identical.
Set Always-on Display Duration
If your Always-on display only flashes for a few seconds after you tap the screen, it is set to the short timer instead of staying on permanently. On MIUI you can choose between a brief 10-second preview and a version that stays active the whole time your phone is locked or in standby.
Limit Connected Hotspot Devices
By default, your Xiaomi phone lets an unlimited number of devices join your mobile hotspot at once. That can slow down your connection and makes it hard to track who is actually using your data. Setting a maximum device count gives you back control over who connects.
Notification Animation for Always On Display
When a message arrives with the screen off, some Xiaomi phones flash a full animation instead of the usual quiet Always On Display glow. If that effect feels too subtle, too flashy, or drains more battery than expected, the animation style itself is the setting to check, not the notification permissions.
Show Memory Status in Recent Apps
When you swipe up to check recent apps on a Xiaomi phone, the memory bar at the top sometimes just isn't there, leaving you without a quick read on free RAM. This indicator only reports live usage and does not close or manage background apps on its own. Without it turned on, you lose a fast way to judge whether your phone is actually running low on memory.
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.