Delete an Album in Gallery
Deleting an album on your Xiaomi phone also deletes every photo and video still stored inside it. This catches a lot of people off guard when they just wanted to tidy up their Gallery app and end up losing media they meant to keep. Knowing which albums are safe to remove and which ones hold originals is key before you tap delete.
Set a Timer in the Clock App
Setting an alarm just to catch the end of an eBay auction wastes a reminder slot and still leaves you guessing when to check back. The Timer function in the Clock app on your Xiaomi phone counts down a fixed period and alerts you the moment it is over, without touching your alarm list. Many users overlook this tool because it sits next to the alarm and stopwatch tabs and rarely gets used.
Show Emojis in the Symbols Keyboard
On Xiaomi phones the symbols keyboard can display your most recently used emojis for quicker access, but that suggestion strip stays hidden by default. The Mi keyboard needs this behavior turned on separately before recent emojis appear next to the symbols and numbers.
Turn Personalized Ad Recommendations On or Off
If ads on your Xiaomi phone feel oddly tied to your recent searches or app activity, Personalized ad recommendations is the setting behind it. Switching it off does not lower how many banners you see, it only stops MIUI from matching them to your interests and usage data.
Email Guests From a Calendar Event
If an appointment reminder alone is not enough, guests often miss details or forget the event entirely. MIUI Calendar lets you send everyone attached to an event a custom email, but the app pre-selects all added guests automatically. Checking that list before sending prevents the message from going to the wrong people.
Add a New Contact
Saving a new phone number on a Xiaomi device sometimes feels confusing because the Contacts app hides extra fields like birthday, address or company behind a single Add button. Many users only enter a name and number, then wonder later why the birthday never shows up in the calendar. The trick is knowing which fields to expand before you save the entry.
Power Button Ends Call Setting
Ending a call on a Xiaomi phone usually means tapping the red hang-up button on screen, which is awkward one-handed or when the display is hard to reach. MIUI has a hidden accessibility toggle that lets you end calls with the power button instead, but it is turned off by default and easy to miss in the settings.
Turn a SIM Card On or Off
On a dual SIM Xiaomi phone, calls or texts sometimes keep arriving on a line you no longer want to use, or you want to silence one number without pulling the physical card out. MIUI lets you deactivate a SIM slot completely, which stops all calls, messages and mobile data on that line until you switch it back on.
Install an App from the Play Store
Setting up a new Xiaomi phone often means hunting for the right way to add apps like WhatsApp, a cookbook, or a new game. Search results in the Play Store can show several similar-looking entries, so picking the correct one before tapping Install actually matters.
Raise to Wake: Turn On or Off
If lifting your phone doesn't wake the screen, the Raise to wake feature is probably switched off. This setting decides whether MIUI turns on the display automatically when you pick up the phone, instead of you having to press the power button for a quick glance at the time or a notification.
Turn Camera Shutter Sound On or Off
Every photo on your Xiaomi phone triggers a shutter click, even in a quiet room or during a video call screenshot. The sound comes from the camera app itself and has nothing to do with your ringtone or notification volume, so muting the phone alone will not silence it.
Reject an Incoming Call
If a call comes in at a bad moment on your Xiaomi phone, you don't have to answer it or wait it out. The red decline icon on the incoming call screen lets you dismiss it right away, but only if you swipe correctly. Miss the gesture and the call keeps ringing or gets answered by accident.
Show or Hide Holidays in Calendar
If your Xiaomi calendar looks packed with public holidays you never asked for, real appointments and reminders get buried fast. This clutter often comes from a default setting that pulls in every regional or national holiday for your account. Turning that display on or off only takes a moment once you know where MIUI hides the switch.
Camera Modes Layout: Tab or Panel
Switching between Photo, Video, and other capture modes takes an extra tap when your camera app hides them behind a 'More' tab instead of a swipeable panel. This layout setting decides how the mode bar behaves at the bottom of the viewfinder, and the wrong choice can slow down quick mode changes while shooting. The option lives inside the camera app itself, not in the general phone settings.
Change Home Screen Transition Effect
Swiping between home screen pages on your Xiaomi phone always triggers the same flat slide animation, even after you have customized icons and widgets. MIUI actually ships with several transition styles such as Crossfade, Cube or Cascade, but the option sits inside the home screen settings rather than the main display menu, so most people never find it.
Set Ringtone for Incoming Calls
When every incoming call on your Xiaomi phone uses the same generic tone, or a video calling app ignores your chosen sound completely, the default ringtone setting is usually the cause. Dual-SIM users often run into a second issue: one SIM plays the wrong tone because each line can carry its own ringtone. Both problems trace back to the same sound settings that MIUI applies system-wide.
Rename a Gallery Album
Album names like Camera, Screenshots or a random date string get confusing fast once your Gallery fills up with dozens of folders. Renaming an album on your Xiaomi phone does not touch the photos or videos inside it, so nothing gets lost or reordered. This only affects how the folder is labeled in the app, not where the files are stored.
Turn On/Off Dark Mode
If your Xiaomi screen still glares white at night, straining your eyes and eating into battery life, Dark Mode is probably still switched off. MIUI can flip the whole interface to a dark layout, but many users never find the schedule option that would turn it on automatically at a set time. Without that schedule active, you end up switching the toggle by hand every evening.
Auto-Fill Empty Home Screen Cells After Uninstalling Apps
When you uninstall an app on a Xiaomi phone, the empty cell it leaves behind can sit unused or the whole layout can shift, depending on one home screen setting. Most people never notice this toggle exists until their icons suddenly rearrange themselves. Knowing where it lives lets you decide whether gaps stay put or close automatically.
Turn One-handed Mode On or Off
If your Xiaomi phone feels too big to reach the top of the screen with one thumb, the built-in one-handed mode shrinks the whole display into a smaller window. Many users never find this option because it hides under Additional settings instead of the main Display menu. Without it enabled, you are stuck stretching or using both hands for every notification bar swipe or top-corner button.
Turn Off Automatic Diagnostic Data Sending
If Send diagnostic data automatically stays enabled, your Xiaomi phone keeps transmitting usage statistics that can include personal details. Many people only notice this after checking a privacy report or reviewing background data usage. MIUI never discloses exactly what content gets sent in these reports, which is why disabling related user experience options is worth doing.
Close All Tabs in Mi Browser
After a long browsing session in Mi Browser, the tab counter on your Xiaomi phone can climb to a number you never actually chose. Every open tab keeps running in the background, which slows down the browser and drains extra battery. Closing them one by one takes forever, but there is a faster way.
Change Press-and-Hold Shutter Button Function
On Xiaomi phones, holding down the shutter button in the Camera app usually triggers a burst shot instead of a single photo. If you actually want continuous autofocus or a locked focus point for a tricky shot, that burst behavior gets in the way. MIUI lets you swap this hold action to Focus or Record video instead.
Turn Screen Locking Sounds On or Off
Every time your Xiaomi phone locks or unlocks, a short click plays, and it keeps repeating as you use the device throughout the day. That sound comes from the Screen locking sounds option buried in the sound settings, not from notifications or Focus mode. It can be muted or restored in a few taps once you know where it hides.