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.
Stopwatch: Lap Times, Pause and Reset
Lap times captured in the Xiaomi Clock app sometimes vanish once you pause the stopwatch, or tapping Stop clears the whole list instead of just pausing it. This happens because Start, Lap timer, Pause and Stop / Reset are separate controls with distinct effects on the running time and the lap history. Mixing up Pause and Stop is the most common reason lap data gets lost unexpectedly.
Custom Image on Always-on Display
If the pre-installed Always-on Display themes on your Xiaomi phone all look the same, you can swap them for a photo of your own. MIUI lets you pick any image from your gallery instead of the default clock designs. Once applied, you can still adjust the clock position, text color, and how battery or notification icons appear on top of your picture.
Allow or Deny Picture-in-Picture Access per App
If a video keeps floating over your screen after you switch away from an app, or a floating window refuses to disappear while you're typing a message, picture-in-picture is active for that app. Some apps use this floating window aggressively even when you just want the screen back to yourself, while others lose the ability to keep playing video in the background because the permission got switched off. This setting controls exactly which apps are allowed to open that overlay window on your Xiaomi phone.
Show SIM Card Messages
Old text messages from years back sometimes stay on the SIM card instead of moving into the phone's internal storage. If you swap the SIM into a new Xiaomi phone, those messages do not show up in your normal inbox automatically, so it looks like they are gone.
Lock Home Screen Layout
If icons keep shifting position every time you delete an app or accidentally shake your phone, MIUI is still rearranging empty spaces on its own. Locking the layout stops that automatic reshuffling and keeps every icon exactly where you placed it.
Restart the Xiaomi Smartphone
If apps on your Xiaomi phone start lagging, background downloads get stuck, or the interface feels sluggish after days of uptime, a restart usually clears the problem. MIUI keeps processes and cached data running in the background, and over time this can slow down the whole system. A clean reboot forces MIUI to close every open app and rebuild its memory from scratch.
Quiet Ringer When Lifted
If your phone still rings at full volume even after you pick it up during an incoming call, the Quiet ringer when lifted feature might be switched off. This motion-based setting is meant to automatically lower the ringtone as soon as you lift the device, but it only works when enabled in the calling settings. Without it active, you have to manually silence every call yourself.
Change Color Scheme
If photos, videos or app icons on your Xiaomi phone look washed out or overly intense, the display color scheme is likely set to the wrong profile. MIUI lets you switch between a natural, a vivid and a standard color rendering, plus fine-tune the color temperature manually. Picking the wrong option can make skin tones look off or colors appear flat.
Turn On/Off Read Text on Images (Select to Speak)
When Select to Speak on your Xiaomi phone starts reading text from photos or the camera viewfinder out loud, the Read text on images option is active. Xiaomi flags this as an experimental function, so it can misread words, skip lines entirely, or lag behind what the camera actually shows. Knowing where to switch it off helps once the readouts cause more confusion than they solve.
Switch Recent Apps View
On Xiaomi phones, Recents stacks open apps vertically below each other by default, which can feel cramped if you are used to the classic card layout. MIUI lets you switch to a horizontal row instead, so apps line up side by side like in older Android versions. This setting sits in the Home screen options, not inside the multitasking menu itself.
Show or Hide Week Numbers in Calendar
Scheduling an event and trying to figure out which calendar week it falls into turns into quick mental math every time. The Calendar app on Xiaomi phones can display the week number next to every row, but the option sits buried in a settings menu most people never open.
Adjust Ringtone Volume for Calls and Notifications
If calls ring too loud while notifications stay silent, the culprit is usually the separate volume sliders inside Sound & vibration. Xiaomi phones control ringtone, reminder and notification volume independently, so lowering one slider does not affect the others. This mismatch often causes missed calls or alerts that trigger at the wrong volume.
Manage Device Administrator Apps
An app you want to uninstall on your Xiaomi phone refuses to go away, or a widget keeps nagging you about admin permissions. Device administrator apps get elevated rights to change security settings or wipe data remotely, which is exactly what blocks a normal uninstall. Turning off that permission is usually the fix before the app can finally be removed.
Set Up Device Pairing for Messages on Web
If you want to read and send texts from your PC or laptop, the Messages app first needs to link with your browser. Without an active pairing, the browser page for Messages for Web stays blank or shows a QR code you cannot get past. This mostly affects people switching to a new browser or clearing their browser data, which breaks the existing link.
Turn Speak Passwords On or Off for TalkBack
When TalkBack reads your password out loud while you type it, anyone nearby can hear sensitive login data. On Xiaomi phones with MIUI, this happens because the Speak passwords option inside TalkBack is turned on by default. Switching it off keeps entered characters silent, though you lose the audio confirmation that a password was typed correctly.
Turn On/Off Emergency SOS
If your Xiaomi phone fires off an emergency text every time you grab it too fast, Emergency SOS is likely reacting to five quick presses of the power button. The feature sends your location and, if you choose, a summary of your last hour of call activity to selected contacts. Turning it off - or setting it up properly first - stops accidental alerts and unwanted location shares.
Send MMS Message
Xiaomi Messages does not offer a separate MMS button, so it is easy to assume attachments go out as a normal text message. As soon as you add a photo, video, or .gif to a chat, the app switches the message to multimedia format automatically. If your carrier has MMS disabled or your mobile data is off, that message can silently fail to send.
Export Contacts as a VCF File
Switching to a new phone or just backing up your address book can be tricky when the Contacts app on your Xiaomi phone does not offer a simple 'transfer' button. Instead, contacts leave the device as a VCF file, and picking the wrong storage location or account often means the file cannot be found afterward. Knowing where the export lands makes the difference between a working backup and a lost contact list.
Download Videos via Mi Browser
Saving a video from Facebook, YouTube or Vimeo on a Xiaomi phone usually means installing a separate downloader app first. Mi Browser can skip that step, but only if you know where the download option for links is hidden in the profile menu. Without it, a pasted video link just opens for streaming instead of saving to your storage.
Turn Best Photo Marks On or Off
If your Gallery keeps flagging one photo out of a burst as the best shot, MIUI is comparing similar images and tagging the sharpest or best-exposed one automatically. Some users find this helpful for sorting large photo batches, others just want a clean gallery without extra labels. The setting controls whether this comparison runs at all.
Set the Time Manually
If the clock on your Xiaomi phone keeps jumping back to the wrong hour right after you edit it, the Use network-provided time toggle is still active in the background. Xiaomi phones pull the time straight from your mobile network or Wi-Fi connection, so any manual change gets overwritten within seconds. That sync option has to be switched off first before a custom time will actually stick.
Turn Front Camera Mirroring On or Off
Selfies taken with your Xiaomi front camera often look flipped compared to how other people actually see you, especially when text or logos appear reversed in the background. This happens because MIUI mirrors the preview and, on many devices, the saved photo to match what you see in the viewfinder. The mirroring setting controls whether your final shot keeps that flipped look or saves a true-to-life version.
Add Update Shortcut to Home Screen
Checking for a new MIUI version usually means digging through several settings screens on a Xiaomi phone. A home screen shortcut skips that detour and opens the update check directly. Without it, casual users often forget to check for updates at all.