How to add a page to your desktop in Xiaomi Android

Personalizing the smartphone interface is not just a way to make the device look more beautiful, but also an opportunity to significantly improve the efficiency of the gadget. Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO devices often face the desire to put the most important information on the home screen so that it is always at hand. However, standard application installation does not always meet the needs of advanced users who want to see the weather, currency rates or notes immediately after unlocking.

The process of adding new design elements to the MIUI shells and the new HyperOS has its own features that differ from pure Android. Widgets function as full-fledged mini-applications, occupying different spaces and requiring the right positioning. Understanding the logic of the launcher will allow you to create a unique menu structure where each icon and each block of information are in its place.

In this article, we will discuss in detail all the available ways to expand the functionality of the home screen. We will discuss not only standard methods, but also hidden features that will help you organize the digital space as conveniently as possible. Unlike other manufacturers, Xiaomi allows you to place widgets on top of application icons without creating separate pages if you use grid mode.

The main ways to add widgets to the main screen

The most obvious and common way to place new items is to use a built-in widget menu, which requires a long-term finger tap on the free portion of the desktop, and the bottom menu that appears should select "Widgets," and a library of all available components that can be installed on the current page will open.

The widget library interface in HyperOS has been significantly redesigned and now resembles the style of iOS, offering convenient categorization. You can flip through horizontal tabs, choosing between hours, weather, tools or system utilities. Drag and drop the item is done by simply touching and shifting it to the desired area of the screen.

⚠️ Note: Some widgets require an active internet connection to display data correctly. If the item displays an error or a blank screen, check your network access settings for a particular application.

An alternative way is to use the settings menu of the app itself, so if you want to add, for example, the Notes widget, you can go to the Notes app settings, find the Widgets and select the size you want, and the system automatically takes you to the desktop to host the object.

It is important to consider that different versions of the shells can have different grid layouts. In older versions of MIUI, the grid pitch was fixed, while in new releases more flexible binding is available, which allows you to combine large and small elements, creating complex compositions without creating empty "holes" in the interface.

Using folders to organize space

As the number of apps installed grows, the desktop becomes a chaotic pile of icons, so the solution is to create folders, to create a new folder, you just drag and drop one app icon over another, and the system automatically creates a container where you can put up to a few dozen programs.

Xiaomi folders have advanced functionality, so when you open a folder, you can rename it by clicking on the name, or change the background color scheme, which allows you to visually group the applications according to their intended purpose: Social Networks, Work, Games or Finance.

• 📁 The standard folder can hold up to 9 icons on one page without scrolling.
• 🔄 When you add a tenth element inside the folder, a second page is automatically created.
• 🎨 The background of the folder can be made transparent or colored through the editing menu.

There is also the possibility of creating smart folders, although in the stock shell this functionality is limited to basic grouping, but using third-party launchers compatible with Xiaomi devices, you can achieve the effect of the folder itself offering to launch the application at a certain time of day.

Remember, folders take up a screen space equal to one cell of an application, regardless of the number of nested elements, which makes them the perfect tool for saving space. You can free up an entire page by hiding rarely used utilities in neat groups.

Set up the grid and scale of the desktop

To position the elements accurately, you need to set the grid settings correctly. Go to Settings → Desktop or pinch with two fingers on the home screen and select Settings. Here is the key "Grid" parameter that determines the number of rows and columns.

The standard value for most smartphones is 5x6 or 6x6 configuration. Increasing grid density allows more icons to be placed, but makes them smaller. Reducing the number of lines, on the contrary, makes elements larger and easier to click, but requires more pages to host all the content.

Changing the scale also affects the display of widgets. Some interface components can jump or change their size when the pixel density changes. If you notice that after changing the grid, the widgets are displayed incorrectly, try resetting the launcher settings or selecting a different configuration.

⚠️ Note: Changing the system grid may cause the widgets already installed to shift. It is recommended to take a screenshot of the location of the elements before making global changes.

Newer versions of HyperOS allow you to independently scale some widgets, and when you hold the widget, you can see a marker frame that allows you to stretch or compress an object within the permissible grid values, which gives you flexibility that was lacking in previous versions of the software.

Working with application widgets and folders

One of the most useful features of the Xiaomi shell is the ability to turn app icons and folders into interactive widgets, so you don't have to search for a component in the shared library, just by clicking on an app icon for a long time, like Calendar or Weather.

In the context menu, select Add a widget (or Add to the desktop if it's a feature shortcut) and the system will offer a range of display options, from a simple logo to a data dashboard, which will display a meeting schedule, a task list, or a current temperature on the home screen.

Folders also support widget functionality. If you created a Music folder and added players to it, the folder itself can display the cover of the last track or play button, and this is achieved by selecting the appropriate display style in the folder settings.

It is important to distinguish between the app shortcut and the app widget. A shortcut is simply a login to a program, sometimes with an additional feature (like New Message), while a widget is a standalone unit that can be updated regardless of the main application running and consumes more battery life.

• 📱 The app shortcut opens the program immediately on a specific screen.
• 🌡️ Weather widget is updated in the background without user participation.
• ⚙️ The settings widget allows you to switch Wi-Fi or Bluetooth with one touch.

Adding Contact Labels and Functions

For quick access to frequently used contacts, you can display them directly to your desktop, especially for emergency numbers, close relatives or colleagues, and the process of adding is simple: go to the Contacts app, select the entry you want, and find the Add to Desktop option.

You'll see a contact icon on the screen that you click on immediately starts a call, and you can choose the type of action you want to do, whether it's a voice call, a video call, or a message, and visually, these shortcuts often look like round avatars, which will vary the stringent row of square icons.

In addition to contacts, you can shortcut specific system functions to your desktop. Go to Settings → Additional Features → Shortcuts (the path may vary depending on the version of MIUI).

• 🔦 Lighting up the flashlight.
• 📷 Launching the camera in selfie mode.
• 📡 Flight mode switching.
• 🔇 Silent mode.

These shortcuts work as separate mini-apps, and they're conveniently placed at the top of the screen or in a dedicated Tools folder, so you don't have to go deep into the settings menu every time you do a simple action.

💡

Create a Transport folder and add your bank's taxi shortcuts, maps and apps for quick fares, and place this folder in the dock bar below for instant access.

Solving problems with the display and disappearance of widgets

Users sometimes experience a situation where the added widget disappears after a reboot or starts to work incorrectly, most often due to aggressive battery optimization in MIUI. The system “kills” the widget process to save energy, considering it to be a background task.

To fix this, you need to go to the battery settings and find the problem application. In the "Start" and "Energy Savings" section, set the value "No restrictions" and this will prevent the system from forcibly shutting down the process responsible for updating data on the desktop.

⚠️ Warning: Turning off battery limitations for widgets can slightly increase battery consumption. Use this option only for really important widgets such as watches or mail.

Another common problem is a lack of RAM, where if you have a lot of heavy live animation widgets on your device, your smartphone may start to slow down, so you should remove the dynamic wallpaper and leave only static images.

If the widget "flys out" or displays a black square, try removing it and adding it again. Sometimes cleaning the launcher cache through the Settings menu helps. → Annexes → All applications → Desktop → Memory. → Clear the cache. Please note that clearing the data (not the cache) will reset all icon location settings.

💡

The stability of widgets depends on auto-start permissions and running in the background. Without these settings, battery savings will block updates.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)