Xiaomi smartphone owners often face a situation where access to certain features or applications is blocked due to activated restrictions. Parental controls are a useful tool, but it can become a problem if you forget your password or bought a used device. Owners of gadgets based on MIUI and HyperOS should understand that there are several layers of protection, each of which requires a different approach for deactivation.
In this article, we will discuss how to turn off parental control in a variety of ways without disrupting system integrity. You will learn about standard ways through account settings, using Google services and radical methods of access restoration.
Before you start, determine what type of lock is installed on your Xiaomi. This can be a built-in screen time limiter, a third-party app or a corporate profile. Accurately determining the type of lock will save you time and prevent accidental resetting of all device settings. We will consider all options so you can choose the most suitable one.
Determination of the type of lock and preparation
The first step before attempting to disable protection is to accurately diagnose the source of the restrictions. On Xiaomi smartphones, the restrictions can be implemented through the Digital Well-Being system service, through the Mi Account, or through third-party programs such as Google Family Link. Each of these mechanisms works independently and requires specific knowledge to bypass.
If you see a notification that the application’s usage time has expired, the Digital Wellbeing mode is likely activated. PIN-When you try to open your settings or app store, you can lock it through Mi Account, and understanding this difference is critical to choosing the right strategy.
Preparing the device also involves backing up important data. Even if you only plan to change your settings, there is always a risk of accidental error, save your contacts, photos and documents to the cloud or to your computer to protect yourself from losing information during the process of resetting restrictions.
Disconnecting through Mi Account settings
The most common scenario is to activate the Find Device feature or privacy restrictions directly in your Xiaomi account. To remove these restrictions in a standard way, you will need access to the account from which they were installed. Go to the Settings → Mi Account menu and select the Cloud or Find Device section.
Inside this section, you need to find a switch that locks your device or hides your data. If you own an account, the system will simply ask you to confirm the password, and once you have successfully logged in, the security will be removed and all the features will be available in full.
☑️ Check before disabling the account
In some versions of MIUI firmware, restrictions may be related to Second Space mode. If a second space is created on a device, it may have its own passwords and limitations. For full control, check the settings of both profiles. If the password from the second space is lost, deleting it will require cleaning the main profile data.
⚠️ Note: When trying to disable Mi Account without a password, the system may request a confirmation code sent to the linked phone number or email.
Managing Restrictions through Google Family Link
Many users are establishing control through Google’s ecosystem using the Family Link app, a powerful tool that often blocks app installation or limits smartphone usage time, and in order to turn off parental control, you need to use the parent’s device or know their password from Google.
The deactivation process is as follows: on the parent's device, open the Family Link app, select the child's profile and go to the account settings, and then find the option "Disable Control" or "Delete Account from the Group." Once the actions on the child's device are confirmed, the restrictions will be removed automatically when you have a network connection.
If a child's device is offline, the changes will apply immediately after they are connected to the Internet, in some cases physical access to the child's phone is required to confirm the child's withdrawal from the group, this is done for the security of the minor's data.
| Action. | Access required | The result |
|---|---|---|
| Removal from the group | Parent's password | Complete removal of all restrictions |
| Changes in limits | Parental appendix | Temporary extension of time |
| Password reset | Email of a parent | Restoring access to settings |
| Internet shutdown | Physical access | Blocking remote control |
What to do if the parent is unavailable?
Reset via Safe Mode and ADB
For advanced users who are blocked by third-party applications that are not removed in the standard way, there is a method of downloading to Safe Mode, which only runs system services, which allows you to remove malware or block the work of parental control applications.
To enter Safe Mode on Xiaomi, press the power button and then (hold) the “Switch Off” icon on the screen until the prompt appears to go to Safe Mode. After the reboot, remove suspicious apps through Settings → Apps → All Apps.
An even more powerful tool is the debugging of the USB (ADB). If the developer mode and debugging permission were previously enabled on the device, you can use the computer to remove the packets responsible for blocking. ADB Tools on PC and execute commands:
adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.example.parental.control⚠️ Attention: Use ADB-Removing system packets that are not related to parental control can lead to unstable system operation or a “brick” of the device.
Radical methods: Hard Reset and flashing
If none of the softer methods worked, the last resort is a full reset to factory settings (Hard Reset), which is guaranteed to delete all user data, settings and, accordingly, parental control passwords set at the user level, but this will not help if the Mi Account lock (Find Device) is activated.
To perform the reset, turn off your phone and press the Volume Up + Power button combination before the Mi logo appears. From the Recovery menu, select the language, then "Wipe Data" → "Wipe All Data." Confirm the action. The device will clear and reboot as new.
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Before performing Hard Reset, be sure to remove SD-card, if it is installed so as not to accidentally format external media with important information.
It's worth noting that once reset, the system will ask you to enter a password from a Google account or Mi Account that was synced to the device earlier, which is a FRP, and if you don't remember that, unlocking it will require you to contact the service center with a check to buy it.
Problems with corporate profiles and administrators
Sometimes the lock is not caused by parents, but by corporate security policies, if the device was issued by work or installed on it work email clients, in which case the security settings can activate the profile of the administrator of the device, which prohibits the installation of unknown applications or requires a complex password.
To check this, go to Settings → Passwords & Security → Privacy → Special Access Rights → Device Administrator Apps. Here you can see a list of applications with Administrator Rights. Disabling permissions for an unknown application often removes the lock.
If the admin application doesn’t let itself be removed (the Remove button is inactive), try turning off the internet first, then go to the app settings and click Stop, and then try to delete, and in some cases, resetting the network settings helps.
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The presence of administrator rights in an application is the most common reason for the inability to delete it by standard methods.