Start the Screen Recorder
Besides taking screenshots, you can record your Xiaomi screen as a video, but the recorder icon can be tricky to spot among the other Quick Settings tiles. Once recording starts, the small floating control panel fades after about two seconds and shrinks to a barely visible dot, which makes it easy to lose track of how to pause or stop the recording.
Desktop View in Mi Browser
Mobile sites on your Xiaomi phone often hide buttons, filters, or entire menus that only show up in the desktop layout. Mi Browser squeezes every page into a phone-friendly view by default, which helps scrolling but can block tools like advanced editors or full navigation bars. Switching to the desktop version brings those missing elements back without needing a computer.
Manage App Permissions
If you tapped Deny when an app first asked for camera or contacts access, that app stays locked out until you change the setting yourself. MIUI does not repeat the prompt later, so features like document scanning or contact sync can quietly stop working. The permission is not deleted, it just needs to be switched back on in the app settings.
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.
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.
Scan QR Codes Automatically with the Camera App
If your Xiaomi camera does not react to a QR code on a package or shipping label, the Scan QR codes function is likely switched off. Without it, the camera behaves like a normal photo app and shows no scan prompt at all, forcing you to search for a separate scanner app.
Import Contacts from VCF, SIM or Account
If your contacts are stuck on a SIM card, an old VCF backup, or a different account, your Xiaomi phone won't just pick them up automatically. Contacts app import options are easy to miss inside Settings, so people end up re-typing numbers by hand instead of pulling them in from an existing file or account.
Turn Auto-correction On or Off
If your Xiaomi keyboard keeps swapping in a word you never typed, MIUI auto-correction is stepping in before you finish a sentence. It usually helps, but on names, slang or foreign words it can turn a normal message into something embarrassing. The feature sits in the keyboard settings and you can switch it on or off depending on how you type.
Change the Default Browser
Tapping a link on your Xiaomi phone always opens Mi Browser, even though you installed Chrome or another app from the Play Store? This happens because Android keeps using the browser you confirmed as default the first time you opened a link. The new app stays installed but is simply never called until you switch the default setting yourself.
How to Turn on/off Airplane mode
If your Xiaomi phone suddenly stops receiving calls, texts, or mobile data, Airplane mode is often the reason. Turning it on shuts down the mobile network, mobile data, WLAN, and Bluetooth at the same time. On some Xiaomi phones you can still switch WLAN or Bluetooth back on manually while Airplane mode stays active, which causes confusion when connectivity only half works.
Set Battery Saver for Individual Apps
If one app drains your battery fast while another stops sending notifications on time, a single phone-wide power saving mode will not fix both problems. Xiaomi lets you assign a separate battery plan to each app instead of forcing every app into the same restriction level. Picking the wrong option for an app can either waste battery or delay important alerts.
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.
Set Up Face Unlock
Xiaomi phones store a 2D scan of your face and use the front camera to unlock the screen without a fingerprint or PIN. Before you turn it on, MIUI itself warns that a photo of your face or someone who looks similar could sometimes trigger the same unlock. That trade-off between convenience and security is worth understanding before you register your face.
Quick Settings Panel Access
If toggles like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or the flashlight seem to be missing from your quick settings, you probably have not fully expanded the panel yet. On Xiaomi phones, the complete quick settings grid sits behind a second swipe-down gesture, which is easy to miss. Without knowing this, you end up searching the full settings menu for functions that should be a single tap away.
Select Quick Ball Shortcuts
The Quick Ball on Xiaomi phones only holds five shortcuts at a time, so adding a new function always means removing one that is already assigned. If you tap the wrong field or pick the wrong replacement, you can accidentally lose quick access to a shortcut you use every day.
Turn Color Inversion On or Off
If your Xiaomi phone suddenly shows a black background with white text everywhere, or photos and videos look like a photo negative, Color inversion is likely switched on. This accessibility feature swaps colors system-wide, including in apps, galleries, and the camera preview, which can make the phone look broken until you know where to turn it off.
Turn On/Off Contact Suggestions
When Contact suggestions are active on a Xiaomi phone, the keyboard pulls names, numbers and email addresses from your Contacts app while you type messages or fill out forms. That can be handy for quick replies, but it also means personal details from your address book show up as autocomplete hints in apps that have nothing to do with Contacts. If you want tighter control over what your keyboard suggests, this setting is the one to check.
Game Turbo Settings
Game Turbo hides a long list of toggles that most Xiaomi owners never open, covering things like Game Speed Booster, ingame shortcuts and how added apps get removed from the list. If a game still throttles mid-match, notifications keep breaking through, or an external screen behaves oddly while gaming, one of these switches is usually the cause. The settings panel controls all of this from a single screen, but the options are easy to miss.
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.
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.
Set a Custom Ringtone for Calls
If your Xiaomi phone still rings with a stock tone and you want a favorite song for incoming calls instead, the built-in ringtone list only shows preset options at first glance. MIUI actually lets you pick any audio file already stored on your phone, without moving it into a dedicated ringtone folder. On dual SIM devices, the ringtone also needs to be set separately for each SIM card.
Show or Hide Carrier Name on Lock Screen
If your Xiaomi lock screen shows the SIM carrier name under the clock, a MIUI status bar setting is behind it. Some people want that text gone for a cleaner lock screen or extra privacy, while others lose it after a reset and want it back. Either way, the toggle sits in one specific settings screen and is easy to miss.
Set the Monthly Data Usage Reset Date
If the data usage counter on your Xiaomi phone resets on a different day than your carrier billing cycle starts, the numbers you see never match your actual plan. This happens because the reset date in Data usage is set independently from your SIM contract and has to be adjusted manually. Without matching it, data warnings and remaining allowance calculations stay inaccurate all month.
Forget Saved Wi-Fi Networks
If your phone keeps reconnecting to a slow or wrong Wi-Fi network instead of your home connection, an outdated saved entry is usually the cause. This often happens after a router password change or when two networks share the same name. Removing the old entry forces your Xiaomi phone to ask for the current password the next time it connects.