Turn On/Off Switch to Speaker Automatically
If your Xiaomi phone keeps the call on the earpiece even after you pull it away from your face, or the speaker never kicks in on its own, a hidden accessibility feature is likely involved. This function relies on TalkBack and sits inside a section labeled Experimental, which is why most people never find it. Without it enabled correctly, calls stay locked to the earpiece no matter how you hold the phone.
Turn USB Tethering On or Off
When you plug your Xiaomi phone into a PC or laptop to share its mobile data, the computer often prompts you to pick a connection type instead of connecting automatically. This happens because USB tethering sits in a separate toggle from your regular USB file-transfer mode. Without switching it on first, the cable only charges the phone or transfers files instead of sharing the data connection.
Create a Contact Group
If you want to text several friends at once or hear a different ringtone when work calls versus family, MIUI needs your contacts sorted into groups first. Without a group, every message goes out individually and every caller sounds the same. Xiaomi handles this through a labeling feature inside the Contacts app that most people never notice.
Change the Default Keyboard
Installed a new keyboard app on your Xiaomi phone but typing still opens Gboard? MIUI keeps the previous keyboard active until you manually switch the default under Languages & input. Without that step, the new keyboard stays listed but never takes over text fields.
Factory Reset via Settings
When your Xiaomi phone gets stuck in a lag loop, refuses to accept a new owner, or you just want to wipe it before selling it, a full factory reset is often the only clean fix. The Erase all data function removes every account, app, and system setting from internal storage without a way to undo it. Before you start, it helps to know exactly what gets deleted and what stays untouched.
Turn Anti Banding On or Off
If photos or videos of screens, TVs or fluorescent lights show dark stripes or a flickering pattern, the camera sensor is reacting to the local power frequency. Xiaomi phones include an Anti banding option that compensates for this, but the wrong setting can make the flicker worse instead of better.
Share Wi-Fi Password via QR Code
Typing out a long Wi-Fi password for every visitor gets tedious, especially with random letter-number combos. Xiaomi phones can turn your current network credentials into a scannable QR code instead. Anyone with a camera can then join the network without you dictating a single character.
Rename Face Data
If you have saved more than one face profile on your Xiaomi phone, for example a regular look and one with glasses, every entry shows up under the same generic label in the Face unlock settings. Without a custom name it is hard to tell which profile matches which appearance, especially when you only want to manage or delete one of them.
Auto-Update Download Settings
If your Xiaomi phone keeps downloading system updates in the background without asking, it can eat into your data plan or fill up storage at the worst moment. On the other hand, if updates never download automatically, you might miss important security patches for weeks. This behavior is controlled by a single toggle buried inside the MIUI version screen, separate from the mobile data download option next to it.
Create or Remove Dual Apps
Running two WhatsApp or Facebook accounts on one phone usually fails because those apps only allow a single login at a time. Dual apps gets around that by cloning the app into a second icon with its own data and notifications, fully separate from the original. Without setting this up, you are stuck logging out and back in every time you want to switch accounts.
Disable Automatic Video and Image Downloads in Mi Browser
If your mobile data disappears fast while browsing on your Xiaomi phone, Mi Browser might be pre-loading videos and images before you even tap them. This automatic download feature speeds up page loading but quietly eats into your data plan. Turning it off puts you back in control of what actually gets downloaded.
Turn MMS Read Receipts On or Off
If contacts can see the moment they read your MMS messages, or you cannot tell whether your own texts got opened, the read receipt option is likely misconfigured on your Xiaomi phone. This setting works separately from standard SMS delivery reports and needs its own toggle inside the messaging app. On Dual SIM devices, each SIM line can carry a different receipt setting, which often explains why the behavior seems inconsistent between conversations.
Switch Between Front and Rear Camera
Selfies on a Xiaomi phone often need extra light, and the display flashes white to fake a camera flash for the front lens. If you are not sure where the switch control sits or why the screen behaves this way, jumping between front and rear camera during a quick shot or video call gets slower than it should. This affects both the Camera app and any third-party app that uses the same camera controls.
Turn Off TalkBack on Xiaomi
If your Xiaomi phone reads out everything you tap and single taps only select items instead of opening them, TalkBack is active. This screen reader changes how touch works across the whole system, which makes normal navigation confusing if you never meant to turn it on.
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.
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.