What happens if you turn off MIUI optimization on Xiaomi smartphone: pros and cons

MIUI optimization is one of the key features of Xiaomi’s firmware, which automatically manages background processes, RAM allocation and power consumption. Many users, when they’re looking for a clean Android or trying to eliminate the lag, wonder if they just turn it off? At first glance, it seems like a logical move — less restrictions on applications, more freedom. But in practice, the consequences can be both positive and catastrophic.

In this article, we'll go into detail about how MIUI optimization works under the hood, what processes it controls, and what happens to your Redmi, POCO or Xiaomi after it is deactivated. Spoiler: results are highly dependent on the smartphone model, the firmware version and even the installed applications. For example, on flagships like Xiaomi 14 Ultra, the effect will be one, and on the budget Redmi Note 12 - completely different. Ready for experiment?

How MIUI Optimization Works: What’s Behind This Function

MIUI optimization is not a single setup, but a whole set of algorithms that work on three levels:

• 🔋 Battery management: limiting application background activity, aggressively “dropping” rarely used services (for example, messengers without notifications).
• 🖥️ RAM allocation: Forced cache cleaning of applications that have not been used in a long time, even if they do not create a load.
• ⚡ Performance: dynamic change of the clock speed of the processor depending on the scenario (games, video viewing, simple).

In essence, it’s a trade-off between speed and autonomy that Xiaomi has implemented to combat the main problems of Android: fragmentation of RAM and fast battery discharge. For example, without optimization, WhatsApp or Telegram can constantly hang in the background, eating up to 15% of charge per hour even in standby mode. But on the other hand, these same algorithms often “suffocate” useful services – for example, disable synchronization of Google Fit or interrupt the download of files in uTorrent.

It’s important to understand that MIUI optimization is not universal, and on smartphones with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, it works softer than on budget chips like the Helio G88, where aggressive process control is the only way to extend battery life. Moreover, in recent versions of MIUI (starting with MIUI 14), algorithms have become “smarter”: they analyze and adapt to user habits.

Immediate consequences of optimisation disabling

You'll notice the first changes within a few hours of deactivation, and this is what's guaranteed to happen.

1. Background apps will be more time-consuming, messengers like Viber or Signal will keep a connection to servers longer, and music players like Spotify won’t be interrupted when switching to other tasks.
2. On average, the battery will start to run down 10-30% faster — especially if you have a lot of applications with background activity (social networks, fitness trackers, cloud services).
3. Heat will increase. Without restrictions, the processor will run more often at maximum frequencies, which will lead to an increase in temperature (especially noticeable in games or multitasking).

But there are less obvious effects, such as that without MIUI optimization, some system services (e.g. miui.analytics or com.xiaomi.midrop) may start consuming more resources as they stop being blacklisted for limitations, paradoxically, you turn off optimization to free up RAM, but as a result, some processes start taking up even more memory.

⚠️ Attention: On devices with 4 GB of RAM or less (e.g., Redmi) 9A, POCO M3) Disabling optimization can lead to permanent reboots due to lack of memory, system_server), Which will cause the interface to crash.

Performance Impact: Will the Smartphone Be Faster?

The main motivation for turning off MIUI optimization is usually to speed up the smartphone, and the logic is simple: if the system doesn't strangle applications, they'll run faster, but in practice, the result is often the opposite.

Key point: performance depends on iron. On top-end chips (e.g., Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 in Xiaomi 13 Pro), optimisation disabling can give a 5-10% increase in benchmarks (e.g., Geekbench or AnTuTu). But on weak processors (e.g., Helio G35 in Redmi 9C), this will lead to the opposite effect: the system will start to “brake” due to the fact that RAM will be clogged with background processes.

Another nuance is thermal trottling, which, without the limitations of MIUI, will accelerate to maximum frequencies more often, which will lead to overheating. In games like Genshin Impact or Call of Duty Mobile, this can cause FPS drawdowns after 15-20 minutes of a game session, while in MIUI 14 and later, there is a separate setting called "Game Turbo Mode", which is designed to control performance in games - turning it off along with general optimization will exacerbate the problem.

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If you have disabled MIUI optimization but notice lags, try manually adding critical applications to the “No Limits” list in the battery settings to help balance background activity without completely deactivating the algorithms.

How to disable MIUI optimization: step-by-step instructions

If you do decide to experiment, here's how to do it right. Importantly, before you change, check the version of MIUI in Settings → About Phone. On some firmware (for example, MIUI Global for the European region), the path to settings may differ.

Battery charge of at least 50%|Created a backup copy of important data|All background applications closed|Verified version. MIUI (settings may differ)-->

Instructions for MIUI 12-14:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Slip on the three dots in the upper right corner and select "Special Permits".
3. Find the item "Battery Optimization" (on some firmware it is called "Autostart" or "Background Activity").
4. Select the app (or click All Apps to Global Shutdown) and deactivate the Optimize slider.
5. To completely disable system optimization, go to Settings → Battery and Performance → Performance Mode and select “No Limits”.

On MIUI 15 (beta), the path has changed: now go to Settings → Battery → Battery settings → Energy Optimization. There is also the option “Adaptive Optimization”, which tries to balance between performance and autonomy – it can also be turned off.

⚠️ Note: On some models (e.g, POCO F5 Xiaomi 13T) When you turn off the optimization, you may notice "CPU activity is high." This is normal, but if the notification does not disappear within a day, return the settings back, as this is a sign of system overload.

Xiaomi models where optimisation is particularly dangerous

Not all Xiaomi smartphones are equally well tolerated by MIUI optimization deactivation. Below is a list of models where this can lead to critical failures:

• 📱 Redmi 9/9A/9C (2–3 GB of RAM, Helio processor G35/G25): the system will start to "fly" into system_server memory-lack.
• 📱 POCO M2/M3 (4 GB of RAM, but weak Helio chip G80): overheating and trottling already through 10 minutes of intensive use.
• 📱 Xiaomi Mi A3 (Android One, but with hardware from Mi CC9): Due to the lack of native optimization MIUI Background processes will conflict with Android.
• 📱 Redmi Note 8/8T (Snapdragon processor 665): Memory management bugs lead to black screens when multitasking.

On the other hand, on flagships like the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, 13 Pro or 14, disabling optimization can be even useful – provided you manually adjust the restrictions for unnecessary applications. For example, on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with 12 GB of RAM, the system is able to manage processes without aggressive “sleeping down”.

If you have one of the “problem” models, but you still want to try, do the following:

1. Turn off optimization selectively only for critical applications (messengers, navigators).
2. Install Greenify or Brevent for manual background control.
3. Watch the temperature through AIDA64 – if the CPU heats above 60°C in idle, return the settings back.

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On weak smartphones (up to 4 GB of RAM), disabling MIUI optimization almost always leads to a deterioration in stability, and alternative methods (for example, manually adjusting background processes) are better used.

Alternatives to completely disabling MIUI optimization

If the goal is to improve the performance of specific applications without risking the system, there are safer ways to do this:

• 🔧 Adding to "No Limits": In the battery settings for each application, you can manually disable optimization. This solves the problem point by point without affecting the system as a whole.
• 🛠️ Use of the ADB-Adb shell dumpsys deviceidle whitelist +com.example.app adds the app to the whitelist, excluding it from the "sleeping down" list".
• ⚙️ Setting up "Performance Mode": In Settings → Battery. → You can choose “Balanced” instead of “Energy Saving".
• 📱 Custom firmware installation: For example, Pixel Experience or LineageOS are not aggressively optimized MIUI, but require unlocking the loader.

For advanced users, there is another option – changing configuration files. MIUI. In the file /system/build.prop You can write down parameters like ro.miui.optimization_disabled=True, but it requires root rights and can lead to bootloop, and a safer way is to use Magisk modules, like this. MIUI Optimization Disabler.

If you're not ready for radical measures, try resetting your optimization settings to factory settings.

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.


2. Slip on three dots → "Reset application settings."




3. Confirm action.

This will return all permissions to default values, which sometimes resolves the lag problems without completely disabling optimization.

What to do if after switching off the optimization of the smartphone began to work worse

If you notice slowdowns, overheating or rapid battery discharge, follow the following algorithm:

1. Return the settings. To do this, turn on optimization again in Settings → Battery → Optimize power consumption.
2. Clear the cache. Go to Settings → Storage → Cache data and delete temporary files.
3. Reboot the device. Sometimes, after changes in system settings, a cold reboot is required (press the power button for 10 seconds).
4. If your smartphone heats up above 50°C in plain, use the Throttling Test CPU from Play Market to identify the problem process.

If the problem persisted, it could be that MIUI optimization masked hardware problems, such as battery wear or processor failure.

• 🔋 Check the battery health through AccuBattery. If the capacity has dropped below 80%, replace the battery.
• 🔍 Run iron diagnostics in Mi Diagnostics (hidden menu is called by code ##4636##).
• 📉 Reverse to the previous version MIUI, If the problem occurs after the update.

⚠️ Note: If after disabling the optimization of the smartphone began to spontaneously restart, immediately return the settings back and perform a reset to the factory through Settings → The phone. → Resetting. This is a sign of a critical lack of RAM that can damage system files.

FAQ: Frequent questions about MIUI optimization