Turn Floating Notifications On or Off
Every pop-up banner that slides over your Xiaomi lock screen or current app comes from the floating notifications feature, and not every app should get that permission. If a messaging app keeps interrupting your screen with banners while a quieter app never shows up at all, the per-app floating notification setting is usually the reason.
Set Up Fingerprint Unlock
Setting up fingerprint unlock on a Xiaomi phone only works if you already have a Pattern, PIN, or Password configured, and MIUI asks for it before it lets you enroll a finger. If you cannot remember that unlock code, the fingerprint menu will not let you proceed at all. Many users also get confused about how many fingerprints they can add and what each one can be used for.
Turn On or Off Dual 4G
If your second SIM card keeps dropping to 3G or 2G while the first stays on 4G, your phone is likely limiting the fast connection to a single slot. Xiaomi lets you decide whether both SIM cards can use 4G at the same time, but this option only shows up on models that support it in hardware.
Block Calls from Unknown Numbers
When a caller shows up as Unknown or Private, your Xiaomi phone has no caller ID to check against a blocklist entry. Instead of rejecting these calls by hand every single time, you can have the Phone app reject them automatically before they ring through.
Adjust Screen Timeout Duration
If your Xiaomi display turns off after a few seconds or stays lit far longer than you expect, the sleep timer is set to the wrong value. This setting decides how long the screen stays active before it locks, and it has a direct effect on battery drain and how often you have to unlock the phone.
Turn Call Barring On or Off
If your Xiaomi phone keeps racking up charges while roaming abroad, or you need to stop all incoming or outgoing calls for a while, call barring is the setting responsible. Unlike silencing a contact or using Do Not Disturb, call barring blocks calls at the network level and requires a password to change. Getting the wrong option enabled can also cut off calls you actually want, like international or roaming numbers.
Turn Off Screen Lock
Want to skip entering a pattern, PIN, or password every time you wake your Xiaomi phone? Removing the screen lock only asks for your current unlock method once, but afterward the device stays open to anyone who picks it up. That trade-off matters if the phone holds banking apps, messages, or saved logins.
Assign a Photo to a Contact
When a contact shows only initials or a plain avatar during calls and messages, no photo has been linked to that contact yet. MIUI lets you attach an existing picture from your gallery instead of only allowing a new snapshot. Without that link, incoming calls and chat threads stay visually anonymous even if the contact already has a name and number saved.
Turn On High Contrast Text
Thin system fonts in MIUI can blur together against busy wallpapers or in bright sunlight, which makes reading notifications and menus tiring. The High contrast text option adds a bold black outline around letters to separate them from the background. On several Xiaomi phones this switch sits in an experimental accessibility section, so it can behave slightly differently between apps.
Hide or Show the Notch
If icons or app content get cut off by the camera cutout on your Xiaomi phone, the Notch display setting is likely still set to show full-screen content behind it. Some apps stretch their layout right into the cutout area, hiding status bar icons or clipping off parts of the interface. MIUI lets you switch between covering the Notch with a black bar or letting content run around it.
Turn On, Off or Auto Camera Flash
If your Xiaomi camera fires the flash in bright rooms or refuses to light up a dark shot, the flash mode is set wrong. The camera app lets you force the flash on, force it off, or leave the decision to the automatic sensor. Getting this wrong ruins both photos and video clips shot in low light.
Switch Contact Name Order (First/Last Name)
If your Xiaomi contact list always shows the first name before the last name, finding people gets harder when you organize contacts by family name or your workplace expects last-name-first lists. This affects how names appear in Contacts, the call log, and message threads alike. MIUI lets you flip that order without editing a single contact.
Change Camera Photo Frame Ratio
Photos taken in the default 4:3 frame show black bars when you stream them to an HDTV or play them back on a widescreen display. Switching to a 16:9 ratio matches modern screens and avoids the letterboxing, while a 1:1 crop works better for square social posts. The frame setting sits in the camera menu and is easy to miss if you never open it.
Mount SD Card
If you tapped Eject SD card or safely removed the card from your Xiaomi phone, the storage disappears from your file manager and apps stop saving to it. MIUI keeps the card unmounted until you tell it to reconnect, even after a reboot in some cases. Photos, downloads, and app data meant for the card get redirected to internal storage instead.
Set Up a VPN Connection
If a website, streaming service, or company network blocks your current connection, a VPN reroutes your traffic through an encrypted server and hides your real location. Without one, your provider and any public Wi-Fi you join can log everything you send. MIUI does not create VPN profiles on its own, so you need a working server address and login details ready before you connect.
Turn Off Mobile Data When Device Is Locked
If your Xiaomi phone keeps burning through mobile data even while sitting locked in your pocket, a background data setting is likely still active. MIUI can cut mobile data automatically once the screen locks, but the delay before that happens is often left on a setting that does not match how you use the phone. That gap is what causes messages, emails or app updates to keep syncing long after you stopped looking at the screen.
Turn On or Off USB-OTG
If your Xiaomi phone does not recognize a USB drive, game controller, or keyboard through a USB-C adapter, the OTG function is often switched off or has timed out. MIUI disables OTG automatically after 10 minutes without an active connection, so a device that worked yesterday can suddenly show nothing today.
Turn Autofill Service On or Off
If login fields on your Xiaomi phone stay empty or a browser keeps offering saved passwords you never asked for, the Autofill service is likely misconfigured. This system feature decides whether apps and browsers can pull addresses, payment details or passwords into forms automatically. Switching providers or turning the service off changes what gets filled in and which app holds that data.
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.
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.
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.
Volume Buttons Function for Camera
Pressing the volume buttons in the Xiaomi camera app triggers the shutter or a countdown timer by default, not zoom. If you want the buttons to handle something else while framing a shot, the assignment can be changed in the camera settings. Right now only two options are available for this shortcut.
Turn Game Turbo On or Off
When you mirror your Xiaomi's screen to a monitor or TV, gaming performance can drop noticeably if Game Turbo stays inactive. This mode reroutes system resources, speeds up data transmission and blocks distracting features like notifications during matches. If it stays on by default, though, it can also interrupt calls or messages you actually want to see.
Set Default Reminder Time for Calendar Events
Every new event in the Calendar app on a Xiaomi phone gets the same reminder time by default, even when it does not fit the appointment. Resetting the reminder manually for each entry gets tedious fast, especially for recurring meetings. This default value comes from a setting most people never open.