App Lock: Lock or Unlock Apps
Anyone who picks up your Xiaomi phone can open sensitive apps like banking, messaging or gallery without extra protection beyond the screen lock. App Lock adds a second barrier for individual apps, separate from your device PIN or pattern. Without it enabled, apps stay accessible the moment the phone itself is unlocked.
Delete a Contact
Contacts opened from Calls or Messages on a Xiaomi phone are the same entries stored in the Contacts app, so removing one wipes it out everywhere at once. Syncing with your Google Account does not stop the local delete from going through, and once it is confirmed there is no built-in way to bring the entry back.
Flip to Silence Ringer: Turn On or Off
If your Xiaomi phone keeps ringing loudly even when you quickly flip it face-down during a call, the Flip to silence ringer feature is likely turned off. When active, flipping the device mutes the ringtone, stops the vibration and turns off the notification light instantly. The caller still hears it ringing though - the call is not rejected or sent to voicemail.
Enable or Disable Captions for Supported Apps
When captions do not appear during playback, or they show up in a style that is hard to read against light backgrounds, the caption settings on your Xiaomi phone are usually the reason. This affects apps that hook into the system-wide caption feature, not just the video player itself. Size, color, and background of the caption text can all be adjusted separately from whether captions are shown at all.
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.
Camera Delay-Timer
If your Xiaomi camera fires the shutter the instant you tap the button, group photos or selfies often turn out blurry or catch you mid-pose. MIUI has a built-in delay-timer for exactly this situation, but it sits hidden inside the camera menu instead of the main shooting screen. Without it, you only get a split second to get into position before the shot is taken.
Delete a Folder from the Home Screen
A folder that still holds one or two apps refuses to disappear no matter how often you tap on it. MIUI does not offer a direct delete button inside the folder itself, which confuses a lot of users. The trick lies in how you grab and move the folder icon, not in emptying it app by app.
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.
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 Flashlight On or Off
Need to switch on the LED flash on the back of your Xiaomi phone without opening the camera app? The flashlight toggle sits in the quick settings panel, but if you rarely use it the icon is easy to overlook. An unresponsive toggle usually points to a Control center layout change, not a broken LED.
Delete an APN Entry
A wrong or duplicate access point can block mobile data or MMS on your Xiaomi phone, even after you switch carriers or SIM cards. If an old APN profile stays behind, the device sometimes keeps trying to use it instead of the correct one. Removing the unused entry clears up the confusion without touching your other network settings.
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.
Turn On Automatic Backup for Storage and Data
If you only remember to back up your Xiaomi phone after something breaks or gets lost, relying on manual backups is the real problem. MIUI can schedule backups on its own, but the default days, time, and data selection may not match how you actually use your phone. Getting the schedule wrong means backups either pile up unnecessarily or miss the files you actually care about.
Set a Custom Timer Ringtone
If the timer on your Xiaomi phone keeps playing the same generic tone, you probably want something you actually notice - or one you can tune down for lighter naps. MIUI lets you swap the timer sound for a pre-installed ringtone or your own .mp3 file, but the option sits several taps deep inside the Clock app and is easy to miss. Picking the wrong file type can also mean silence instead of a sound.
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.
Adjust TalkBack Advanced Settings
Once TalkBack is active on a Xiaomi phone, the whole touchscreen behaves differently and simple taps stop opening apps directly. Many users get stuck because the default gestures feel slow or accidentally trigger the wrong action. Xiaomi phones offer several TalkBack options like Single-tap activation, touch gestures, keyboard shortcuts and custom labels to fix this.
Forward an SMS Message
Need to pass on an address, code, or phone number from a text without retyping it? On Xiaomi phones you can forward the original SMS straight from the Messages app instead of copying the content by hand. This saves time and avoids typos in important details.
Disable Wi-Fi Direct
On many Xiaomi phones the Wi-Fi Direct toggle looks greyed out or simply refuses to switch off. That happens because the feature stays active as long as at least one device remains paired to it. Disconnecting every paired device is the only way to actually shut Wi-Fi Direct down.
Delete an Event in the Calendar App
If your calendar is cluttered with old appointments you no longer need, deleting individual events keeps things readable. Once removed, an event is gone for good and cannot be restored. On some Xiaomi phones the built-in Calendar app is replaced by Google Calendar, which uses a slightly different menu.
Taking a Photo with the Camera App
Snapping a basic photo on a Xiaomi phone rarely causes trouble, but once you enable a color filter, lock focus manually, or switch away from the default Photo mode, the shutter button can seem to do nothing. Knowing which mode and settings are active before you tap the shutter prevents blurry or oddly filtered shots.
Adjust Contrast, Saturation and Sharpness in Camera
Photos that look flat, oversaturated, or too soft often trace back to the Contrast, Saturation and Sharpness sliders hidden inside the camera settings, which default to a middle level that does not always match your device or lighting. Each slider offers seven steps for Contrast and Saturation and three steps for Sharpness, but most people never open that menu. Once one slider sits far from the middle, every photo taken afterward inherits the same look until you change it back.
Add a Widget to the Home Screen
Opening an app just to check a stock quote, the weather, or your next calendar entry gets tedious fast. On Xiaomi phones running MIUI, widgets show that information directly on the home screen without unlocking the app first. Many users only find wallpaper and icon-organizing options here, since the widget menu is easy to miss.