How to change the notification curtain and its appearance on Xiaomi

The interface of the MIUI shell and the new HyperOS from Xiaomi provides users with a wide range of options for personalizing the appearance of a smartphone. One of the most commonly used areas of the screen is the notification and quick settings area, which is often called the “curtain”. Many device owners are wondering how to change its design to suit their visual preferences or be more functional.

An important technical nuance is that you can’t completely replace the system curtain with a custom curtain without rooting or deep modification. However, standard Android tools and developer tools allow you to radically change its style, behavior and composition of the displayed elements. In this article, we will discuss all the legal methods available for setting up.

Depending on the version of the operating system, whether it is old Android 9 or current Android 14, the algorithm of actions may vary slightly. However, the basic principles remain unchanged. We will consider how to switch to a modern style, how to edit quick access tiles and what hidden features are available through the debugging menu.

Switching between Android 9 and 10/11/12/13/14 curtain styles

Starting with the Android 10 version of MIUI 12, Xiaomi has introduced a new style of notification center management that visually and functionally resembles Apple’s solutions. In the classic version (Android 9), the swipe down opens a single space where notifications are on top and switches on the bottom. In the new style, the screen is divided into two independent zones.

You don't need third-party apps to switch between these modes, you just go to the system interface settings, and the path may be called differently depending on the firmware version, but the logic remains the same, usually a section that deals with notification management or the appearance of the system.

• 📱 Go to the Settings menu of your smartphone.
• 🔍 Find and open Notifications and Status bar (in some versions of HyperOS, this may just be Notifications).
• ⚙️ Select the option Notification format.
• ✅ Activate the switch New format if you want to split the curtain into two parts, or turn it off to return to the classics.

⚠️ Warning: Once the new format is enabled, the swipe down the left side of the screen will only open notifications, and the swipe on the right side will only open quick settings.

The new format allows for more convenient management of media and brightness without overlapping text messages, but on small-screen devices (Compact models), the classic look may be more familiar due to space savings.

Editing the tiles of fast settings

One of the most useful features to change the contents of the curtain is to edit quick switches, so you can remove buttons you don't need, like Read Mode or NFC, and bring to the fore some really important features like Flashlight or Screen Recording.

To enter edit mode, you need to deploy the notification curtain completely (double swipe down or click on the pencil/edit icon if visible). The edit button will appear at the bottom of the screen, often denoted by the pencil icon or the text "Change".

In the menu that opens, you'll see two zones: the top, where the active buttons are located, and the bottom, an archive of available but hidden switches, and you can drag and drop elements between those zones, changing their order and presence.

• 🗑️ Remove rarely used features from the active area by dragging them down.
• ➕ Add new useful tools from the list of available.
• 🔄 Change the order of the buttons for quick access with the finger of one hand.

It is important to understand that some system buttons, such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, can be fixed and cannot be removed, but their position can often be changed, allowing you to create a unique set of tools that are tailored to your use case.

Hiding confidential information on a locked screen

Often, users want to “change the curtain” by hiding the contents of incoming messages from prying eyes. Xiaomi provides flexible privacy settings to control what exactly appears in the drop-down menu when the phone is locked.

You can configure the system to display only the New Message notification without details instead of the text of the message (Confirmation Code: 1234), which is especially true for banking applications and instant messengers.

Configure it through the security section or directly in the notification menu, where you can set the rules for each application separately or apply a global ban on displaying content.

Using biometric unlocking in conjunction with the privacy settings of the curtain is the most effective way to protect data, and even if someone picks up your phone, they won't be able to read the correspondence until the device recognizes the owner.

Customize animations and transparency through (For Advanced)

For those who want to go beyond standard settings, there is a developer menu, and although it doesn't allow you to completely redraw the interface, you can change the speed of the animation of opening the curtain, which visually changes the perception of the system's performance.

To activate this menu, you need to click on the build number several times in the About Phone section, and after the status "You became a developer" appears in the main settings, a new item will appear.

Inside the menu, find the section related to drawing or windows, and we are interested in the options "Window animation", "Transition animation" and "Duration of animation".

Settings -> About Phone -> 7 times press "Version MIUI" -> Additional settings -> For Developers -> Animation Scale

Reducing the animation value from 1x to 0.5x or completely shutting down (without animation) makes opening the curtain almost instantaneous, creating a more responsive interface, although the physical speed of the processor does not change.

⚠️ Attention: Disabling animations completely can make the interface twitchy and less pleasing to the eye. It is recommended to experiment with values gradually, starting with a factor of 0.5.

Use of third-party launchers and themes

If standard MIUI and HyperOS tools don’t suit you, you can try changing the visual style with themes from the MIUI Themes store. Some author themes contain modified icons of system applications and, in rare cases, can affect the color gamut or transparency of interface elements, including the curtain.

However, the limitations are clear: the theme cannot replace the system file that handles the logic of SystemUI. It only changes graphical resources (pictures, colors) if the theme developer has provided such a possibility. Deep customization requires third-party launchers such as Nova Launcher or Microsoft Launcher, but even these have limited access to the system curtain of Android notifications.

To fully replace the curtain with a fully customized one (with widgets, weather, other designs), you usually need root rights and install modules in Magisk or use specialized applications like Notification Shade (works through Accessibility), which are difficult for the average user and can lead to unstable system operation.

• 🎨 Go to the Topics app.
• 🔍 Type “Transparent” or “iOS style».
• 📥 Download the topic and apply it by ticking the "Systma" component (if available).

Be careful when installing themes from unverified sources.They may contain ad modules or conflict with the current version of Android, causing the interface to reboot.

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Before you install a new theme, take a screenshot of the current icon and widget configuration. After applying the theme, the desktop layout is often reset, and it can be difficult to restore it from memory.

Frequent problems and their solution

Users may experience a situation where the curtain stops opening, freezes or displays incorrectly after a system update, often due to overflowing cache of the SystemUI system application or a conflict of the installed theme.

The first step should always be to clean the cache. You don't have to delete the data, you just have to clear the temporary files. If that doesn't work, try resetting the interface settings or removing the newly installed themes.

In case the curtain “twitches” or flashes, check whether the screen sensitivity mode or protective film is turned on, which may be misinterpreted by the touchscreen in the upper zone of the display.

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Most visual curtain bugs are solved by simply restarting the device or removing third-party themes that mimic iOS.

Questions and Answers (FAQ)