How to turn off the flashlight when calling Xiaomi: the complete guide

Many owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones face an unexpected situation: during an incoming or outgoing call, an LED flash lights up, a feature conceived as a useful indicator for people with hearing impairments or for use in noisy places, often becomes a source of irritation.

Fortunately, MIUI and the new HyperOS have a flexible setup system to manage this behavior, not through a standard call menu, but through a dedicated accessibility section, and the system algorithm activates this option by default in some regions, but the user can change this behavior in a couple of clicks.

In this article, we will discuss in detail all the ways to turn off flashlight flashing on Xiaomi devices. We will consider both standard methods through settings and hidden options that can be useful to owners of different versions of firmware.

Why do you need a flashlight when you call?

Before we go to shutdown, we need to understand the logic of the developers: the notification flash function was originally designed to increase the availability of the interface, and it allows users with hearing impairments to visually detect an incoming call, even if the phone is lying down on the screen or in the bag.

In addition, in noisy clubs or at high-profile events, the beep may be silenced and the light indication remains visible, but in everyday use cases, especially in the cinema, at a meeting or in bed, the light signal becomes an extra element that you want to remove.

Some users confuse this feature with a flashlight that is switched on by a swipe in the curtain, and it is important to understand the difference: in our case, we are talking about short-term pulses of light from the flash camera at the time of the call.

• 🔦 Visual accessibility: Helps hearing-impaired users keep calls from being missed.
• 📢 Noisy environment: effectively replaces sound in high noise areas.
• 🌙 Night mode: may serve as a weak night light, but more often interferes with sleep.

The main way to disable through accessibility settings

The most reliable and versatile method, which works on most Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones, is hidden in the special features menu, and this is where the global switch responsible for lighting the system events.

To start, you need to open the main settings menu of your device, find an item called "Advanced Settings" or "Special Features" (depending on the version of MIUI), inside this section we are interested in a category related to hearing.

Click on Hearing, then select Flash for notifications. Here you will see the switch that is most likely active now. Put it in the inactive position to deactivate the blinking for incoming calls and messages.

Once the setting is changed, the system can request confirmation of the action. Agree, as this will disable the function for all applications using the standard notification mechanism.

⚠️ Note: Some versions of the HyperOS shell may have slightly different paths. If you don't find "Hearing," try searching for the settings by typing the phrase "flash».

Setting up flash behavior in the Phone application

In some cases, standard system settings can be overridden by the settings of the call app itself. Xiaomi's standard caller (Mi Dialer or Google Dialer) has its own settings, which are worth checking if the first method has not yielded the full result.

Open the Phone app and click on the three dots in the top right corner (or menu button). In the drop-down list, select Settings. Next, look for the section related to incoming calls or phone responses.

You may have Flash on an incoming call, make sure the check box is removed, and check your video calling settings if you use WhatsApp or Telegram frequently, as they may have their own camera permissions.

It is important to note that third-party messengers often ignore the flash system settings and use their own mechanisms if given permission, so access control is also important.

Management of notifications in messengers

Users often complain that the flashlight flashes not only when a regular call is made, but also when calling via WhatsApp, Viber or Telegram. The mechanism of work here is slightly different, since these applications use the Android notification API.

To turn off the flash for a particular messenger, go to Settings smartphone, then to the section Notifications -> Notification Management. find the list of the desired application (for example, WhatsApp).

Inside the notification menu, find the Incoming Calls category. Click on it to reveal additional settings. There may not be a direct flash switch, but you can change the importance of the notification to No Sound or turn off its visual display, which often blocks the LED from working.

An alternative way is to prevent an app from using the camera in the background, but this can disrupt video calls. The best way to work is to turn off the system flash for notifications + set the notification priority of the application itself.

Use of the "Do Not Disturb" mode

If you need to temporarily turn off all light and sound effects, such as during a movie or sleep, there is no need to go into deep settings every time.

You can activate it through a notification curtain (the crescent icon) or through the sound settings. When this mode is on, the system forcibly blocks the light indication and audible signals for most events, ignoring the individual settings of the applications.

You can set the schedule to turn on automatically at night, which ensures that the flashlight does not catch fire in the middle of the night from a random call or advertising message.

• 🌙 Automation: set up the turn on schedule (for example, from 23:00 to 07:00).
• 🤫 Complete silence: blocks sound, vibration and light.
• ✅ Exceptions: You can set up call skip from selected contacts.

⚠️ Warning: In Do Not Disturb mode, the flash does not flash even on repeated calls unless you add the contact to the exclusion list.

Hidden settings and engineering menu

For advanced users who do not find the right option in the standard menu, there is access to the Xiaomi engineering menu, but use it with extreme caution, as changing the wrong settings can lead to unstable operation of the device.

To get into the test menu, open the Phone app and type ##6484##. This will open the CIT (Customer Interaction Test) interface.

Find a partition associated with LED or Flashlight. In some older versions of firmware, you could find a Flash on call switch here. If you have one, you can control it directly. If you don't have one, your version of MIUI doesn't support manual control through that interface, and you should rely on standard settings.

CIT login code: ##6484###


LED verification code: ##3424### (not available on all models)

Remember, resetting your phone to factory settings will also return all flash settings to default, meaning it can turn on again.

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Before entering the engineering menu, take a picture of the current settings for a screenshot. This will help to return everything as it was if you accidentally change the excess.

Possible problems and solutions

Sometimes you turn everything off, but the flashlight keeps blinking, which can be caused by an application conflict or an error in the Android system process.

The first thing you should do is reboot the device, and the simple reboot clears the cache of temporary files and resets the suspended notification services, and often this is the solution.

If the reboot didn't work, check if you have third-party apps installed for calling or contact management. They may have their own permissions and ignore system bans. Try uninstalling newly installed programs.

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If nothing helps, check if Pocket or Smart Case mode is turned on, which can mistakenly activate sensors and flash.

In rare cases, a bug of a particular firmware version becomes the culprit, in which case you have to wait for a system update or use third-party flash-blocking apps from Google Play, which force the LEDs to be extinguished when an active call is made.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)