Why the battery on Xiaomi Redmi 4X is discharged quickly: reasons and solutions

Owners of the popular Xiaomi Redmi 4X budget smartphone often face a situation where a device that used to delight in autonomy begins to run out before their eyes.The 4100mAh battery capacity that once allowed two days of uncharged power now barely survives into the evening.This is a common problem for gadgets released a few years ago, and it is rarely caused by a single reason.

The decline in autonomy can be attributed to both software errors in the MIUI operating system and physical wear and tear of components. The anode and cathode inside the lithium polymer battery degrade over time, losing the ability to store charge. However, before you carry the phone to a service center to replace the battery, it is worth eliminating software factors that often mimic iron breakdown.

In this article, we will take a closer look at all the aspects that affect the power consumption of your smartphone, not only the obvious things like screen brightness, but also the system processes that are hidden from the eyes of the average user. Understanding how the Doze mechanism in Android works on older versions of firmware can be the key to solving your problem.

Physical wear of the battery and health diagnosis

The first thing that comes to mind when you lose battery life is the battery itself. Lithium-ion and lithium-polymer cells have a limited resource of charge-discharge cycles. Usually after 500 full cycles, the capacity drops to 80 percent of its value. For the Redmi 4X, which came out in 2017, it's a natural aging process.

You can measure degradation not only by the time you run, but also by the behavior of the phone. If the smartphone turns off at 15-20% charge or jumps sharply from 40% to 5%, then the voltage of the battery has become unstable. Also note the case: battery bloating is a critical signal that requires immediate intervention.

⚠️ Warning: If you notice that the back cover of the smartphone has risen or the screen has begun to move away from the frame, immediately stop charging.Using a swollen battery can damage the display or even catch fire.

You can use embedded tools or third-party tools to program your status check. There's a hidden test on Xiaomi's diagnostic menu that shows you the approximate state of the battery. Run it by typing a special code in the caller and look at the result. If the system writes "Bad" or "Replace," you can't programmatically fix the situation.

Programmatic causes and background processes of MIUI

MIUI is known for its aggressive optimization, but sometimes it works the other way around, allowing apps to eat up resources. Background processes are the main enemy of autonomy. Social media, messengers and news aggregators are constantly updating the feed even when you're not using them. Synchronizing data in the background can drain the phone faster than active use.

Special attention should be paid to "gluttonous" applications. Battery settings have statistics showing which programs consume the most power. Often, it turns out that some forgotten application with geolocation rights or constant network access keeps the processor in good shape. Turn off background activity for unnecessary services through the Settings → Battery and performance menu.

Another hidden reason is the constant search for the network, and if you're in a sensitive area, the communication module starts to work at a higher power, trying to catch the signal, which puts a tremendous strain on the power controller, in such situations, it's better to temporarily switch to flight mode or manually select the type of network.

• 📱 Check the consumption statistics in the Battery section and remove the consumption leaders apps.
• 📡 Turn off constant Wi-Fi and Bluetooth search in advanced feature settings.
• 📍 Limit geolocation access for applications that don’t need it all the time.

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Use Flight mode overnight unless you're waiting for important calls, which shuts down the radios completely and prevents discharge due to a network search for base stations.

The effect of the display and screen settings on autonomy

The screen is one of the main consumers of energy in any smartphone, and Redmi is a big part of the smartphone. 4X exception. IPS-A 5-inch matrix requires constant backlighting. If you keep the brightness at maximum, the battery will go down much faster. Automatic brightness control is often wrong, so you better set it manually to your own conditions.

The time to go to sleep is another important parameter. If the screen goes out after 2 or 5 minutes of inactivity, the phone wastes charge lying in your pocket. The optimal value is 30 seconds. It is also worth checking whether the function "Rise to turn on" is activated, which activates the backlight whenever the device moves.

The live wallpaper and animated MIUI shell themes look beautiful, but they make the GPU work all the time. Giving up dynamic interface elements in favor of static images can add up to 15-20% of the time. The graphics accelerator should not stand idle while you read the text.

Problems of cellular communication and data transmission modules

The communication module is the second after the screen energy consumer. In Xiaomi smartphones, sometimes there are failures in the radio module when the phone “stuck” in the search for 3G/4G network. This often happens when switching between towers or when driving in transport. Constant reconnection of the communication module causes voltage surges and rapid heating of the lower part of the case.

It is recommended to force switch network type if there is no stable network in your area. 4G Constant attempts to catch the cover. LTE where there is no battery, plant the battery faster than work in a stable 3G. You can change this in the Settings menu. → SIM-maps and mobile networks → Preferred type of network.

Also worth paying attention to the work of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. If these modules are on but not in use, the phone periodically scans the air. In new versions of Android, there is a feature called "Scanning is always available", which allows applications to search for networks even when Wi-Fi is turned off.

Battery calibration and statistics reset

Sometimes the problem is not physical wear, but it's the desynchronization of the charge controller and the operating system, and the phone can show 100 percent when it's actually charged 80 percent, or it can turn off at 20 percent, and calibration helps, and it's a process that allows the system to re-remember the actual battery capacity.

To calibrate the Redmi 4X, you need to completely discharge the device before you turn it off. Then, without turning the phone on, charge it and wait 100 percent. After that, you can turn the device on. It is advisable to repeat the cycle 2-3 times. This helps reset the battery statistics cache.

There's also a method of resetting statistics through an engineering menu, but it requires root rights and can be dangerous for inexperienced users, and it's better to limit it to a physical charge-discharge cycle, and if after three full cycles, the situation hasn't changed, then it's the physical condition of the battery.

⚠️ Warning: Do not leave a fully discharged lithium polymer battery lying uncharged for months. Deep discharge below the critical threshold can lead to an irreversible chemical reaction and inability to take charge in the future.

System optimization and hidden settings

There are many features in the MIUI shell that are useful but require energy. Vibration when typing, interface sound effects, constant checking of mail all add up to a significant expense. Turning off the tactile return of the keyboard and system sounds is an easy way to save a few percent of the charge per day.

It's also worth checking the app autoload list. Many programs prescribe themselves to start, even if you rarely use them, go to the application settings and prevent autoruns for everything except messengers, which will reduce the load on RAM and the processor immediately after you turn on the phone.

For advanced users, Developer Mode is available, where you can limit background processes, such as setting a limit of 2 processes, which will cause the system to more aggressively close applications, which can have a positive effect on autonomy, although it will require more frequent downloads when reopening.

• 🔇 Turn off keyboard vibration and system sounds in the section "Sound and vibration".
• 🚫 Disable auto-run for all unnecessary apps in security settings.
• 🌙 Use Do Not Disturb or Sleep at night to limit background activity.

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Integrated approach: the combination of background process limitation, screen customization and calibration gives a better result than using one method.

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