Where to Find a Touch Assistant on Xiaomi: The Complete Guide

Modern Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones come with a huge number of features designed to make it easier to control the device. One of these features is the touch assistant, which is often confused with the usual quick action menu or virtual navigation button. Users often look for this tool to simplify the screen, activate hidden functions or simply make navigation more comfortable for one hand. However, finding it in the wilds of a MIUI or HyperOS system is difficult, since developers regularly change the location of settings.

In this article, we will take a look at exactly where the touch assistant is hiding on your device, how it differs from other interface elements, and how to properly customize it to your needs. You will learn how to activate a floating button, adjust gestures, and use additional accessibility features that are hidden from the eyes of the average user. This guide will help you personalize your smartphone and make interaction with it as effective as possible.

Differences between Touch Assistant and Menu Button

Before looking for settings, you need to clearly understand what you are looking for. In the terminology of Android and Xiaomi shells, there is often confusion between the Touch Assistant and the Menu Button. The Touch Assistant is a floating widget that moves around the screen and contains shortcuts for screenshots, locking the screen or launching apps. The menu button, in turn, is part of the system navigation and replaces the physical or on-screen Home, Back and Menu buttons.

Many users mistakenly believe that they are the same, but technically they are different services of the system. Touch assistant refers to the special features section, whereas the menu button is in the screen and navigation settings. If your goal is to get an additional floating button with a set of functions, you need the accessibility section. If you want to change the view of the lower control buttons, the path will be different.

In recent versions of MIUI 14 and HyperOS, Xiaomi has begun to implement its own solutions more actively, sometimes hiding Google’s standard features. So it’s important not to confuse Google’s standard Assistant with the system touch assistant. The first works with voice and search, the second works exclusively with touch interface management. Understanding this difference will save you time when you find the right switch in the settings.

⚠️ Warning: Activating too many floating elements on the screen can lead to accidental taps while playing or watching videos.

It is also worth noting that on some global versions of firmware, the standard touch assistant can be replaced or supplemented with the Quick Ball function, which is analogous to this feature in the MIUI shell. Depending on the region of your firmware (China, Global, European), the names of items may differ slightly, but the logic of the work remains the same.

Activation path through availability settings

The main and most reliable way to turn on the touch assistant is through the system settings menu. This path is universal for most Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO devices, regardless of the version of the operating system. You will need to follow a sequence of steps to get to the desired switch. First, open the main application menu and find the Settings icon (usually a gray gear).

The algorithm of actions is as follows:

• 📱 Select Additional Settings (in some versions it may be simply called Advanced Settings»).
• ♿ Find and click on the Special Opportunities (or Accessibility) section).
• 🖱️ In the list that opens, find the Touch Assistant).
• ✅ Move the slider to the position Included.

Once turned on, a translucent circle or square will appear on the screen, which is the assistant you want, and you can drag and drop it to any point on the screen, except for system zones (such as the status bar on top or the navigation area on the bottom), and clicking on this element will open a menu with predefined actions that you can customize.

It is important to note that in some cases the path may be slightly different. For example, in newer versions of HyperOS, the option “Special features” is sometimes displayed in a separate main settings menu, bypassing “Additional settings.” If you do not find the desired section along the specified path, search within the settings menu by entering the request “assistant” or “accessibility”.

Configure the functions and gestures of the assistant

Once the control is activated, a wide range of personalization options opens up for the user. The standard feature set is often redundant or, conversely, does not contain the right shortcut. To change the configuration, you need to go to the settings menu of the assistant itself. To do this, click on the button that appears on the screen, then select the gear icon or go to Settings → Additional settings → Special. features → Touch Assistant → Settings.

In the configuration menu, you can change the following parameters:

• 🛠️ Actions: Assign up to 6 shortcuts for quick access (screenshot, screen recording, lock, memory cleanup).
• 🎨 Appearance: Change the size, transparency and position of the button on the screen.
• ⚡ Gestures: Set up a reaction to a long press or double tap (such as a long press to start the camera).

The long press feature is a big one, and it can be turned off by default, but if you activate it, you get a powerful tool to quickly run frequently used applications, like double tapping can open a calculator, and long tap can open a voice recorder, which is especially true for owners of large smartphones, where reaching the top corners of the screen can be difficult.

And don't forget Shake or other triggers that might conflict with the assistant. If you notice that the smartphone is reacting strangely, check to see if the same action is assigned to different controls. System priority in MIUI is given to the last action that is running or the most specific, which sometimes leads to unpredictable results.

Alternative: Quick Ball (Fast Ball)

Owners of Xiaomi devices often encounter another feature that visually and functionally resembles a touch assistant, but has its own name – Quick Ball. MIUI Before the standard touch assistant became available, you can find it on the Settings path. → Additional settings → Fast ball.

The main differences between Quick Ball and the standard assistant:

Quick Ball is often considered a more advanced tool, as it allows you to create entire folders with shortcuts inside the menu, a mini launcher. If the standard touch assistant seems too simple to you, try switching to Quick Ball. It also knows how to hide in the side of the screen without taking up the useful area of the display when it is not needed.

⚠️ Warning: Simultaneous activation of Quick Ball and Touch Assistant can create visual noise on the screen and confuse navigation.

In some regions, Quick Ball may be called the “Floating Button” or “Assistive Touch,” which doesn’t change the point: it’s an alternative way of managing that many Redmi and POCO users find even more convenient than standard Android tools.

Use through a hidden menu of engineering tests

For advanced users who have not found a standard switch or want to access advanced sensor testing features, there is an engineering menu that is logged in via a set of special code in the Phone app, but be very careful: changing the settings in this section can affect the screen calibration.

To enter the test menu, enter the code:

##6484##

Once you enter the code, you will see the CIT (Customer Information Test) menu, where you can find the Single Touch Test, Multi Touch Test, and although this won't directly include the assistant, these tools allow you to check if the sensor is working properly before you can set up the support functions. If the sensor is floundering, no software assistants will help, you will need calibration or repair.

Also on the engineering menu, there's sometimes a clause that allows you to reset the touchscreen to factory values, which can be useful if you notice that the pressing areas have shifted or the phone has stopped responding to touches at certain corners of the screen, and you'll need to reset the device after reset.

Solving problems with display and work

Despite the usefulness of the feature, users may encounter situations where the touch assistant disappears, stops responding to touches or blocks important interface elements. Often the problem lies in conflict with other applications that have permission to “mask over other windows.” If you installed any launcher or application to clean up memory, check their settings.

Typical problems and ways to solve them:

• 🚫 No button visible: Check to see if Do Not Disturb or Game mode is enabled that may hide extraneous elements.
• 👆 No Touch Response: Restart the device. In rare cases, cleaning the cache of the Special Opportunity service through the app menu helps.
• 📉 Click Zone Displaced: If the button is not where you are pressing, you may need to calibrate the screen or reset special features.

Another common cause of failure is a lack of RAM: On budget Redmi models with 3-4 GB of RAM, the system can force the assistant process to be offloaded from memory to free up resources for an active application, in which case it makes sense to disable aggressive battery optimization for system services.

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If the assistant is constantly turned off by itself, add the application “Special. capabilities” to the list of power saving exceptions (Settings → Battery → Battery Protection).

As a last resort, if the software methods don't work, you can reset all the special features settings, which will return them to factory status, but will not affect your personal data, photos or contacts. Reset path: Settings → Special features → Menu (three dots) → Reset.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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The Touch Assistant on Xiaomi is a powerful ergonomics tool that, when set up correctly, greatly speeds up routine activities like screenshots and app switching.