Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphones often encounter various icons at the top of the screen that can be confusing. One of the most frequent searches in search engines is the question of what the three dots located in the status bar area or next to the camera mean. The appearance of these characters can indicate both the background processes and the functionality of the MIUI or HyperOS interface.
Don't panic if you notice new graphics on the screen, and in most cases, it's a regular work of the operating system to inform the user about the state of the device, but if these indicators interfere with the view or consume excessive attention, their appearance or presence can be easily adjusted through the settings menu.
In this article, we will discuss in detail all possible options for the emergence of grouping from three points, explain the difference between notification indicators, modes of operation and system markers. You will learn to control the visual design of your smartphone, making its use more comfortable and understandable.
Indicators of the mode of operation and game accelerator
More often than not, three dots, horizontally or vertically in the top corner, indicate that a special mode of operation of the device is activated. In the Xiaomi ecosystem, Game Turbo is often responsible for this. Even if you are not in the game, the background process can be started, and the system displays the corresponding icon, which, when pressed, opens the performance control panel.
Sometimes users confuse three dots with a Do Not Disturb or No Sound mode indicator. In MIUI, these statuses can be displayed differently depending on the firmware version. For example, a crossed bell can look like a group of small dots when a certain typeface zoom or design theme. You can check the active modes by swiping the notification curtain down.
⚠️ Note: If the three dots only appear when running certain applications, check the autostart and battery optimization settings.
To manage these indicators, you need to go to the Safety app, and inside you will find the Accelerate Games section, where you can turn off the sidebar display or change the style of the status display, which will help remove unnecessary visual elements if you do not need them.
☑️ Checking game settings
And I also have to mention the developer mode, and if you've previously enabled USB debugging or other engineering features, there might be a little robot icon or a set of symbols in the corner that, when you look closely, resemble dots. You can turn that off from the Settings menu → Advanced Settings → Developer.
Notification Indicators and MIUI Status Bar
The second most common reason is standard missed event indicators. In modern versions of HyperOS and MIUI 14, developers often group notifications. Three dots can mean that you have multiple unread messages from different applications that the system has combined into one group to save space.
Let’s look at the main types of indicators that can occur at the top of the screen:
- 📱 System Notifications: Messages from Google Services, App Updates or System Alerts.
- 💬 Communications: SMS, MMS or messages from messengers, if allowed to display in the status bar.
- 📶 Network and communication: indicators 4G/5G, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth can sometimes be displayed as compact points when space saving mode is enabled.
To explore in detail what lies behind these points, just click on them or swipe down. If this is a group notification, you will click on a list of all events. The management of the display of such icons is located in the Settings section → Notifications and status bar → Icons in the status bar.
It is important to note that some third-party launchers or themes can change the standard look of icons. If you have recently changed the theme in the Themes app, try returning the standard design to check if the three dots are a design artifact.
Android 12 Privacy Indicators and Newer
Since Android 12, Google has made important changes to its security system, with app access to the camera and microphone. In the upper right corner of the screen, right above the network icons, small colored dots can light up. Although it is usually one green or orange dot, when system fonts or rendering bugs are overlaid, they can be perceived as a group of three elements or flashing signals.
A green dot means that an app is using a camera right now. An orange dot signals the microphone. It's a critical security feature that lets you know instantly if malware is spying on you. At Xiaomi, these indicators are integrated into the shell and work at the system level.
How do I know which app is using the camera?
Users often notice that the dots increase when you run a video application, such as Zoom, Telegram or a standard Camera. If the indicator is on when you are not using any applications, this is an excuse to check the device with an antivirus.
| Color of indicator | Meaning | User action |
|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Green. | Camera's active. | Check running applications |
| 🟠 Orange | The microphone is active. | Check the recorder or calls |
| 🔵 Blue | Access Point/Hotspot | Check the distribution of the Internet |
You can't turn off these indicators completely, because it's a security requirement for the Android operating system itself, but you can limit the access of apps to the sensors through the privacy menu.
Hidden settings and engineering menu
There is a less obvious reason for the strange characters to appear – activation of engineering modes or test features. Xiaomi phones have a hidden menu available by code ##6484#. Random login to some testing sections (such as the display test or touch buttons) can leave temporary markers on the screen.
Also, three dots can be part of a logo or watermark if you have screenshots with device information enabled. Check the settings of screenshots in the gallery or through a search by settings by typing in a "screenshot" query.
Another option is accessibility indicators. Android has features that can display floating buttons or markers for people with disabilities. Check Settings → Advanced Settings → Special Options. There may be features like Access Switch or Virtual Controller that show up as dots in the corner.
⚠️ Note: Do not disable system processes through ADB Or an engineering menu if you're not sure what it's supposed to be, and it can cause the interface to work in a way that's unstable or you can lose communication.
If you suspect that the dots appeared after installing a particular app, try to start the phone in Safe Mode. To do this, press the off button, and when the "off" button appears on the screen, press it and hold your finger until the prompt to go to Safe Mode appears.
Setting up the display of the cutout and bangs
On models with a cutout in the screen (hole camera or bang), the system sometimes suggests choosing a style of displaying the area around the camera. In some themes or with certain zoom settings, the area around the front camera may visually look like a group of three dots or a black stripe with artifacts.
To change this parameter:
- 🖥️ Go to the Settings of the main menu.
- 📱 Select the screen or display option.
- 🔍 Find the notch section in the screen (Notch).
- ⚙️ Try changing the setting from “Hide” to “Show” or vice versa.
This setting is especially relevant for the Redmi Note and Mi models with a drop-shaped cutout. Changing the setting will redraw the status bar, and unnecessary artifacts may disappear.
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If changing the cutout setting didn’t help, try changing the theme to a standard one. Third-party themes often have errors in the layout of the status bar, which causes system icons to overlap.
Resetting settings and eliminating interface glitches
If none of the above methods helped identify or remove the three points, SystemUI may have crashed, an Android component that renders the interface, status bar, and navigation bar, and often solves visual bugs.
You don't have to reset your phone completely to reset the interface settings, but you just have to clear the cache of the system applications.
- Go to Settings → Applications → All applications.
- Click on the three dots in the top right corner of the app list.
- Select Show System Processes.
- Find System UI (or System Interface) in the list.
- Click Clear → Clear cache (not data if you’re afraid of resetting your screen settings, although the cache is usually secure).
After this operation, the phone can blink the screen for a second -- that's OK, the interface reboots. If the dots were a rendering bug, they should disappear.
In extreme cases, if the dots are intrusive and permanent, you can reset all settings to factory. Remember that a full reset (Wipe Data) will delete all your photos, contacts and applications, so be sure to back up the data to the Mi Cloud cloud or to your computer before this procedure.