What is a smart charging and why you need it
Xiaomi’s Smart Charging feature is an intelligent battery charging control system designed to extend battery life. It automatically limits the charge to 80-90% at night when you plug your phone into a long charge, and it only gets to 100% before you wake up, which reduces battery wear, as keeping the charge at 100% constantly accelerates the degradation of lithium-ion cells.
The technology is particularly relevant for owners of flagship models Xiaomi 13/14 series, Redmi Note 12 Pro+ and other devices with support for fast charging. the manufacturer claims that the correct use of smart charging can increase battery life by 20-30% without losing capacity for 2-3 years of operation.
It’s important to understand that smart charging only works with Xiaomi’s original chargers and cables. If you use third-party accessories, the system may not recognize charging options and turn off the feature, and it’s not available on budget models with a battery capacity of less than 4000 mAh.
What Xiaomi models support smart charging
Smart Charging has appeared in MIUI firmware since version 12.5, but full support is implemented only on devices with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 series processors and MediaTek Dimensity 1000+. Here is the current list of models with confirmed functionality:
- 📱 Xiaomi 14 Pro, Xiaomi 14, Xiaomi 14 Ultra – full support with adaptive algorithm
- 📱 Xiaomi 13 Pro, Xiaomi 13, Xiaomi 13 Ultra – requires an upgrade to MIUI 14
- 📱 Redmi K60 Pro, Redmi K60, POCO F5 Pro – Support with restrictions (no night mode)
- 📱 Xiaomi 12S Ultra, Xiaomi 12 Pro – only manually enabled via Battery Settings
- 📱 Black Shark 5 Pro, Black Shark 5 – Smart Charging Works Only with Branded Software JOYUI
On budget models (Redmi Note 11, POCO M5), the feature may be missing or hidden. To check for support, go to Settings → Battery → Battery Settings. If there is no Smart Charging option, your device is not compatible.
⚠️ Note: Some of the scoring for POCO The function is called “Adaptive Charging” and hidden in the menu Additional settings → Battery optimization. Don't confuse it with conventional energy optimization!
| Model of the device | Support for smart charging | Minimum version of MIUI | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xiaomi 14 Pro | ✅ Complete. | 14.0.3 | Automatic recognition of sleep time |
| Redmi K60 Pro | ⚠️ Partial | 13.2.5 | Only manual mode up to 80% |
| POCO F5 Pro | ✅ Complete. | 14.0.1 | Requires activation in the Battery Laboratory |
| Xiaomi 12 Lite | ❌ No. | — | Budget model without support |
| Black Shark 5 Pro | ✅ Complete. | JOYUI 13 | It only works with 120W branded charging. |
Step-by-step: how to turn on smart charging
Activation of the function takes no more than 2 minutes, but requires the correct sequence of actions. If you are using MIUI 14 or later, follow these steps:
- Open Settings and go to the Battery section.
- Slap the icon. ⚙️ (Battery settings) in upper right corner.
- Select “Smart Charging” (or “Adaptive Charging” on POCO).
- Activate the slider "Enable smart charging".
- Set your wake-up time (e.g. 7:00) to allow your phone to charge up to 100% by that hour.
- Connect the original charger and leave the phone on charge.
On older versions of MIUI (12.5–13), the path may be different:
Settings → Battery and Performance → Battery settings → Charging modes → Smart ChargingUsed original cable and power supply Xiaomi|
Updated to the latest version of MIUI|
Time settings indicate the correct time zone |
Third-party applications disabled to optimize the battery-->
⚠️ Warning: If the function is not working after activation, check if Super Battery Saving mode is enabled in Settings → Battery. It blocks all background processes, including smart charging.
Schedule setting and additional parameters
By default, smart charging is only activated at night, but you can customize it to your schedule.
- In the smart charging menu, tap on the "Schedule".
- Select the days of the week when the function should work (for example, weekdays only).
- Indicate the time of rest (when you usually go to bed) and the time of waking up.
- Activate the option “Adaptive Learning” so that the system can identify your habits.
Some models (Xiaomi 13 Pro, Redmi K60 Ultra) have advanced settings:
- 🔋 Charge threshold – the choice of the maximum level (80%, 90% or 100%).
- ⚡ Fast charging – turning off accelerated charging after 80% to reduce heating.
- 📊 Battery statistics - displaying wear graphs and recommendations.
The critical caveat is that if you manually turn off your phone from charging to 100%, the system will reset the schedule and start learning again, so to avoid that, use only original accessories and don't interrupt the process.
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If smart charging turns off on its own, check if you have apps like AccuBattery or Greenify installed, which can interfere with MIUI system services and reset your battery settings.
Frequent problems and their solutions
Even when you set it up properly, users are faced with bugs, and here are the most common bugs and ways to fix them:
- 🔌 Function not activated → Check that the original charger is used (at least power) 33W). Third-party power supplies often don't support Quick Charge 4 protocol+, smart-charging.
- ⏰ The phone does not bring the charge to 100% by the specified time. → Make sure the time zone is correct and network sync is enabled in the time settings, and check if the phone is powered off at night (for example, due to weak contact in the socket).
- 📉 Battery discharges faster after smart charging is turned on → It's normal first time. 2-3 If the problem persists, reset the battery settings to Settings. → System system → Resetting settings → Resetting battery settings.
- 🔄 The function is switched on and off. → Update the firmware to the latest version. MIUI 13 was a service conflict error fixed in the patch V13.2.5.0.
If none of these methods worked, try resetting the battery cache:
1. Turn off the phone.
2. Press the Power + Volume buttons up for 10 seconds.
3. From the Fastboot menu, select Wipe Cache Partition (use volume buttons for navigation).
4. Reset the device.⚠️ Attention: On models POCO X5 Pro and Redmi Note 12 Turbo may need to re-activate smart charging via Settings → Special facilities → Battery lab.
Comparison of Xiaomi smart charging with analogues from other brands
Xiaomi’s Smart Charging technology is not unique – Samsung (Protect Battery), OPPO (Battery Health Engine) and Apple (Optimized Battery Charging) have similar solutions, but each manufacturer has its own characteristics:
| Brand | Name of function | Max, charge threshold. | Adaptive timetable | Requires original charging |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xiaomi | Smart Charging | 80%/90% | ✅ Yes. | ✅ Yes. |
| Samsung | Protect Battery | 85% | ❌ No. | ❌ No. |
| OPPO | Battery Health Engine | 80% | ✅ Yes, only on ColorOS 13.+) | ✅ Yes. |
| Apple | Optimized Battery Charging | 80% | ✅ Yes, iOS 13.+) | ❌ No. |
Xiaomi’s main advantage is the flexibility of settings: you can manually set the wake-up time, select the charge threshold, and even turn off fast charging after 80%. Samsung and Apple have fixed settings. But Xiaomi loses in stability: users often complain of spontaneous shutdown of the feature, which is not observed on the iPhone.
Why Smart Charging Can Shorten Battery Life
Myths and truths about smart charging
There's a lot of rumors going around with Smart Charging technology.
- 🔋 Myth: "Smart charging completely stops battery degradation." Truth: It only slows down. Even under ideal conditions, lithium-ion batteries lose their battery life. ~10-15% capacity 2 year-end.
- ⚡ Myth: "The function only works with original chargers." Truth: It works with third-party charges, but only if they support Quick Charge. 3.0/4.0 or PD 3.0. Cheap "no-name" power supplies will not work.
- 📱 Myth: "Smart charging reduces the performance of the phone." Truth: It doesn't affect the performance of the phone. CPU/GPU. Slowdown can only occur when charging and using intensively (games, video rendering).
- 🔄 Myth: "You have to turn off the function once a month to calibrate the battery." Truth: Modern Xiaomi smartphones calibrate the battery automatically. Manual shutdown is not required and can knock off smart charging algorithms.
Another common misconception is that smart charging increases charging time to 100%, in fact, it just stretches the last stage (from 80% to 100%) for a few hours to reduce heating, and the total charging time to 80% remains the same.
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Smart charging is only effective when used regularly, and if you turn it on occasionally, it won't work, because the algorithms don't have time to adapt to your habits.