Xiaomi and Redmi smartphone owners often face the need to reduce eye strain with prolonged use of the device. The standard blue spectrum of the display radiation can cause fatigue, headache and disrupt circadian rhythms, especially in the evening. To solve this problem, the company's engineers have implemented a special software filter known as reading mode.
This feature not only changes color temperature by adding warm shades, but also optimizes the display of text, making it more contrasting and like a paper book.Vision protection becomes a priority for many users who spend hours reading e-books or news feeds. In this article, we will detail how to activate this tool, what hidden settings exist, and how to fix common color rendering problems.
Modern MIUI shells and the new HyperOS offer advanced screen management capabilities. You can customize individual profiles for different applications or use automated scripts. Understanding how these mechanisms work will allow you to keep your eyes healthy without sacrificing user-friendliness. Let's look at the technical details and practical steps to set up.
Principle of work and benefits for vision
The main task of the reading mode is to filter the blue part of the spectrum, which is most aggressive for the retina. When activated, the smartphone software recalculates the color gamut, shifting the balance towards yellow and orange tones. Blue light is suppressed, which visually makes the picture warmer and softer. This is especially true in low light conditions, when the contrast between a bright screen and a dark room is maximum.
In addition to changing color rendering, the system’s algorithms can apply additional effects that mimic the texture of paper, which reduces glare and makes fonts clearer, reducing the need to strain focus. Xiaomi has implemented this feature at the system level, allowing it to work in almost all applications, from standard notes to third-party browsers.
⚠️ Attention: Long-term use of maximum intensity reading mode can distort color perception in graphic editors or when viewing photos.
And it's important to note that the effect is done by software, without using any physical filters on the matrix, which means you can flexibly control the level of protection, and that a person's circadian rhythms are directly dependent on the amount of blue light that they get, so using the filter in the evenings can help them fall asleep faster.
How to turn on the read mode of Xiaomi
Activation of the function in Redmi and Poco smartphones is done through the standard settings menu. The path may vary slightly depending on the version of the operating system, but the logic remains the same. You need to go to the section responsible for the display parameters.
You can use the control panel for quick access. Swipe from the top edge of the screen down to open the notification curtain. Find an icon with an eye or a book symbol. If the icon is hidden, tap on a pencil or an edit button to add it to the active switches. This is the fastest way to turn on eye protection at any time.
More detailed settings are available through the system menu.
- 📱 Open the settings of your device.
- 🔍 Go to the Screen (or Display) section).
- 📖 Find the Read Mode and activate the switch.
- ⚙️ Click on the function name to access advanced options.
In the menu that opens, you'll see a slider that adjusts the intensity of the effect, and by moving it around, you can get a comfortable level of heat on the screen, and there's also the Add Effect option, which overlays a paper-like texture, and the system automatically remembers the parameters you selected for each application separately if the corresponding function is enabled.
☑️ Checking screen settings
Set up individual applications and schedules
One of the most useful features in Xiaomi’s ecosystem is the ability to flexibly configure the read mode for specific applications, so you can set the filter to turn on automatically only when you run certain programs, like readers or news aggregators, and this allows you to save natural colors in games or a gallery.
To set up, go to the Read Mode menu and select “Separate Apps” (or “App Settings”). Here you will see a list of all installed programs. Just tick the right software. Now, when you log in to Kindle or Yandex.News, the screen will warm automatically, and when you switch to YouTube, the colors will return to standard.
Time-scheduling is also available, so you can set up automatic eye protection at certain hours, like 20:00 to 7:00, so you don't have to manually switch every night, and you can monitor the time and activate the blue light filter at a given time.
| Setup parameter | Description of function | Recommended value |
|---|---|---|
| Intensity | Degree of screen yellow | 40-60% for reading |
| The effect of paper | Adding texture and noise | Included for books |
| Separate annexes | Automation by programme | Readers, Browsers |
| Schedule | Time of day inclusion | 21:00 – 07:00 |
Elimination of yellowness and color distortion
Many users complain that the screen becomes too yellow after reading mode is turned on, which interferes with the normal perception of content. Standard settings do not always achieve perfect balance. However, there is a hidden calibration mechanism in MIUI that helps to correct the situation.
Some firmware versions have the option of “Tune Color” inside the read mode itself. If the intensity slider is at a minimum and yellowness is still noticeable, try changing the color profile of the screen in the general display settings. Switching from “Saturated” to “Standard” or “Classic” often reduces the aggressiveness of the yellow filter.
There is also an engineering method that requires caution: you can adjust white balance through the engineering menu, but it is risky for inexperienced users. A safer option is to use third-party screen calibration applications that overlay their color profile over the system. However, built-in color correction is limited to the intensity slider.
⚠️ Note: Do not attempt to modify the system color profile files without root rights and a full backup. Errors in the display configuration files can cause incorrect display of colors throughout the system.
If yellowness seems unnatural to you, try to lower the brightness of the screen before turning on the reading mode. Often the combination of high brightness and a warm filter gives an excess effect. The optimal brightness for reading indoors is about 30-40% of the maximum.
Comparison with night mode and other functions
Users often confuse reading with night mode or the "Limitless Night Mode" feature. While their goals are similar - to reduce eye strain - implementation methods differ. Night mode primarily inverts colors (makes the background dark and the text light), while reading mode works with color temperature and texture.
Reading mode retains the light background (as standard), but changes the shade. Night mode radically changes the contrast of the interface. Using these features together can yield an interesting result: a dark background plus a warm color gamut. This is ideal for reading in complete darkness.
Let’s look at the main differences in more detail:
- 🌙 Night mode: Inverts colors, makes backgrounds black. Saves charge on the background. AMOLED screen.
- 📖 Read mode: Adds yellowness, imitates paper, retains the familiar light interface structure.
- 🛡️ Vision protection: A general term combining both methods, as well as the adjustment of the brightness and frequency of PWM.
The choice between them depends on your preferences and the time of day. Daytime or in good lighting, you should use reading mode to keep the text readable. Nighttime, in a dark room, the combination of night mode and a blue light filter is more effective. Xiaomi allows you to combine these settings for maximum comfort.
Impact on autonomy and productivity
The question of how the battery is affected by the read mode is often a concern for users, because it is a software filter, it consumes little (additional) energy, the process of recalculating color channels takes place at the level of the video driver and does not create a noticeable load on the processor, so you should not worry about battery discharge due to this feature.
However, if you use the effect of "paper" with active texture, theoretically, you can have a micro-load on the graphics accelerator when you scroll through the pages. In practice, in modern Snapdragon and MediaTek processors, this effect is invisible. Interface performance does not suffer, animations remain smooth.
The only scenario where you can see the impact is using third-party reader apps with their own rendering engines that can conflict with the system filter, and in these cases, rare micro-freezes are possible, but for system applications and browsers, optimization is done at a high level.
It's also worth mentioning that on AMOLED screens, using dark themes in combination with reading mode can significantly extend the device's life, and the black pixels on these arrays simply turn off without consuming energy, and the warm filter in this case only changes the shade of white and gray areas without affecting the black areas.