Night mode on Xiaomi: a complete guide to setup and features

Have you ever noticed that your Xiaomi screen gets warmer and less bright in the evening? It's no coincidence that night mode works, one of the key features of MIUI, designed to protect your eyes from harmful blue radiation. But what exactly is behind this option? Why are smartphone makers including Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO so actively promoting it in the latest versions of firmware?

In this article, we will explore how night mode differs from dark mode, how it affects eye health and battery power, and reveal hidden settings that are not even written about in the official instructions. You will learn how to correctly calibrate color temperature to your needs, why the mode can spontaneously turn on and what to do if it does not work on your device.

The material is relevant for all modern models - from the flagship Xiaomi 14 Ultra to the budget Redmi Note 13, running on MIUI 14/15 or HyperOS. If you want not just to enable the function, but to understand its principles and optimize for your tasks - read more.

What is a night mode and why it is needed

Night Mode is a software filter that automatically adjusts the color palette of the screen depending on the time of day, and its main goal is to reduce the amount of blue light, which, according to research, inhibits the production of melatonin (the sleep hormone) and can cause insomnia with prolonged evening use of gadgets.

In Xiaomi, this feature is integrated at the system level and works independently of the applications. Unlike the dark theme, which simply inverts the colors of the interface, the night mode changes the spectral composition of the backlight of the screen, adding yellowness, which mimics natural light at sunset, signaling the brain to approach sleep time.

• 🔹 Research from Harvard Medical School (2015) showed that 2 hours of use of blue light gadgets before bed reduces melatonin production by 22%
• 📱 Xiaomi has an adaptive system that takes into account not only time, but also geolocation for accurate calculation of sunset time
• ⚡ Additional bonus: The mode can save up to 5-7% battery-charge AMOLED-screens by reducing the brightness of blue pixels

It's important to understand that night mode is not just a yellow filter. MIUI algorithms analyze: current time → geoposition → history of use → light level

It's designed to get the optimal color temperature, and it even takes into account the individual settings of the user, if you've manually adjusted the settings.

Night Mode vs Dark Theme: What's the Difference?

Many users confuse these two functions, even though they solve completely different problems.

The key difference is that nighttime is a physiological function, and dark is an ergonomic theme, one that cares about your health, the other that cares about your comfort, and ideally, they should be used together:

Interesting fact: in Xiaomi 13T Pro and later, the system can combine both modes, automatically switching the dark theme when the night filter is activated, a feature called Smart Dark Mode and hidden in the MIUI lab.

⚠️ Attention: On devices with LCD-screens (e.g. Redmi) 10A) night mode has little or no effect on battery consumption, but it can impair color reproduction in games and videos.

How to turn on and set up night mode on Xiaomi

The activation process varies depending on the version of MIUI, but the general scheme is the same for most models.

1. Open the Settings → Display
2. Select Night Mode (or Night Light in global versions)
3. Activate the switch at the top of the screen
4. Set up a schedule: 🕒 Schedule: Set a fixed time (e.g, 21:00-07:00) 🌅 From Dusk to Dawn: Automatic Geolocation Detection ⏱ Manual: The mode will only work when manually enabled

intensity

color-temperature

For advanced users, hidden settings are available:

Settings → About the phone → MIUI version (shap 7 times)


→ Additional settings → Laboratory → Night mode.

You can also include Adaptive Night Brightness and Smooth transition between day/night profiles.

On HyperOS models (e.g. Xiaomi 14), the path has changed a little: Settings → Screen → Color and brightness → Nightlight

Here comes a new option – Adaptive Night Mode, which analyzes your usage habits of the device.

⚠️ Note: On some devices (especially custom firmware) night mode may conflict with reading apps (e.g. Moon)+ In such cases, add the problem application to the exceptions in the mode settings.

Hidden features of the night mode in Xiaomi

Few people know, but MIUI has some non-obvious night mode features, and here are the most useful ones:

• 🎨 Individual profiles: You can create separate settings for weekdays and weekends. For this, select Set up days of the week in the schedule.
• 📡 Geolocation: The system can take into account not only the sunset time, but also the altitude above sea level (useful for mountainous regions)
• 🔋 Energy conservation: On AMOLED-The screen mode automatically reduces the brightness of black pixels, saving charge
• 👁 Adaptation for colorblind people: In the laboratory MIUI There is an option for color correction for people with color perception disorders

One of the most interesting hidden features is the night mode for notifications, which if you turn it on in Settings → Notifications → In addition, in the dark, notifications will come with a muffled sound and yellow screen backlight, which is especially useful for those who sleep with their phone nearby.

Another little-known possibility is smart lamp synchronization, and if you have a Xiaomi Mi Home device (like a Yeelight), the night mode on your phone can automatically dim the lights in the room.

1. Connect the lamps to the Mi Home app
2. In the night mode settings, choose Synchronization with a smart home
3. Set up a script for Evening Holiday

💡

If you don't like the yellow shade of night mode, but you want to protect your eyes, set the color temperature to 4500K and the intensity to 30%, and it will give a barely noticeable warm hue, which still reduces the load on your eyesight.

Effects of nighttime on health and battery

So let's address two key questions: Is nighttime really good for the eyes, and how does it affect the autonomy of the device?

Eye benefit:

• ✅ Reduces eye fatigue with prolonged use in the evening
• ✅ Reduces the risk of digital myopia (according to the American Optometric Association)
• ✅ Helps you fall asleep faster when using your phone before bedtime

However, there is a downside: when excessive intensity (above 80%), the regimen can cause discomfort in people with astigmatism or increased light sensitivity.

Impact on the battery:

On devices with AMOLED-All Xiaomi flagships starting with Mi 10) nighttime can extend the working hours 5-12% expense:

1. Reducing the load on blue subpixels
2. Automatically reduce brightness in dark times
3. Optimization of the graphics processor

Nana LCD-The effect of the screens (budget models) is minimal - the savings will be no more 1-2%.

It's important to understand that nighttime is no substitute for proper sleep hygiene, and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends:

• 🛏 Complete the use of gadgets 1 hour before bedtime
• 📵 Use the "Do Not Disturb" mode from 22:00
• 🌙 Combine night mode with dark theme for maximum effect

💡

Night mode is most effective in combination with other measures: reducing brightness to 30-40%, using a dark theme and regular breaks in the screen (rule 20-20-20).

Problems with night mode and their solutions

Despite the obvious benefits, Xiaomi users sometimes face nighttime problems, and here are the most common ones and ways to fix them:

• ❌ Mode does not turn on automatically Check: Permissions for the Geolocation Service in the application settings Time and Date Settings (should be automatic) Updates MIUI (In the old versions, there was a schedule bug)
• ❌ Colors look unnatural Adjust color temperature manually.Optimum value for most users — 3600K. If the problem persists, try calibrating the screen to Settings. → Display. → Color profile
• ❌ Daytime mode: Reset geolocation settings or check time zone. Sometimes the failure is due to incorrect timing of sunset. Manually set a schedule if the automatic mode is not working correctly.
• ❌ Does not work on some apps Add the problem app to the exceptions in the night mode settings or upgrade it to the latest version, PUBG Mobile blocks system color settings.