How to change the country to Xiaomi: all the ways and nuances

Changing the country on Xiaomi devices is a procedure that users experience when moving, buying a gadget abroad or wanting to access regional features. However, MIUI imposes restrictions on the frequency of changing the region: officially this can be done no more than 1 time every 30 days. In this article, we will discuss all working methods - from standard settings to bypassing locks through ADB, and also explain why some functions (for example, Google Pay or Mi Video) can stop working after changing the region.

It's important to understand that changing countries not only affect the interface language, but also the services available, firmware updates, and in some cases, device performance. For example, when choosing India as a region on Redmi Note 12, banner ads may appear in system applications, and when choosing the EU, some Chinese services will disappear. We tested all methods on current versions of MIUI 14/15 (including HyperOS) and collected step-by-step instructions with nuances for different models.

Why Xiaomi is limiting the change of country?

Xiaomi has imposed a limit on the frequency of region change (1 time per month) for several reasons:

• 📊 Market statistics: Analyzing user activity by region helps optimize updates and advertising campaigns.
• 🔒 Counter fraud: The restriction makes it harder to use devices to circumvent geo-blocking (e.g., buying cheap smartphones in China to resell in Europe).
• 📱 Service compatibility: Some features (e.g. Mi Pay or Mi Cloud) are tied to local partners and may not work when region changes frequently.
• 📉 Error prevention: Frequent country changes can lead to conflict in system settings, especially on budget models (Redmi A2, Poco C55).

In practice, this means that if you have already changed the region in the past 30 days, the standard way through the settings will be blocked, in which case you will have to use alternative methods (about them in the following sections).

Method 1: Officially change region through MIUI settings

This is the easiest method, but it only works if:

• 📅 You haven't changed country in the last 30 days.
• 📶 Device connected to the Internet (Wi-Fi or mobile network).
• 🔄 The smartphone has an official firmware (not custom).

Instructions:

1. Open Settings → Additional → Region (on some models, the path may differ: Settings → System → Language and Region).
2. Click on the current country (e.g. Russia or China).
3. In the list, select the region you want. If the country is not on the list, search by name.
4. Confirm the change by following the prompts on the screen. The device can reboot.

After the change of region:

• 🔄 Update Google Play Services and Mi Account in the Play Market.
• 📱 Reboot your smartphone to make sure all changes are applied.
• ⚠️ Check the key services: Google Pay, Mi Video, Themes.

If the region change button is inactive or if you can only change the region once every 30 days, go to the following methods:

Method 2: Change of country through SIM-card (for new devices)

On some Xiaomi models (especially those released after the 2022 year), the region can be determined automatically by the SIM- card operator.

• 📱 You have a Redmi Note 11/12, Xiaomi 13/14 or newer.
• 📶 You use a local SIM- card (e.g., you buy it in your host country).
• 🔄 The device is not tied to the Mi Account with another region.

How it works:

1. Insert a SIM- card with a local operator (e.g. T-Mobile for the U.S. or Vodafone for Europe).
2. Connect to a mobile network (Wi-Fi is better to turn off).
3. Go to Settings → About Phone → MIUI version and tap 7 times to activate the developer mode.
4. Return to Settings → Additional → Region – if the method worked, the system will prompt you to update the region automatically.

⚠️ Warning: If after inserting the SIM- card, the smartphone offers to update the firmware, do not agree until you make sure that the new version supports your region. Otherwise, you risk getting a brick (dead device).

Method 3: Bypassing the restriction through ADB (for advanced users)

If standard methods don't work, you can change region through Android Debug Bridge (ADB), which requires a computer and basic command line knowledge, but bypasses the 30-day limit, tested on MIUI 14/15 and HyperOS.

What you need:

• 🖥️ Computer with Windows/macOS/Linux.
• 📱 Cable USB (preferably original).
• 🔧 Installed drivers ADB and Fastboot.
• 🔒 Developer mode enabled on a smartphone.

Step-by-step:

1. Activate Developer Mode: Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (shap 7 times).
2. Enable USB debugging in Settings → Additional → For developers.
3. Connect your smartphone to your computer and confirm the debugging permission.
4. Open the command prompt (or Terminal on macOS/Linux) and type:

adb shell


settings put global region [country code]

Where [country code] is the two-letter code of a region.

• RU - Russia
• US - USA
• IN - India
• DE - Germany

Once you have completed the command, restart the device. If the region has not changed, try the additional command:

adb shell am start -n com.android.settings/.Settings\$RegionSettingsActivity

⚠️ Warning: Some firmware (especially Chinese) may disappear from the ADB- region changes, requiring manual installation through APKMirror.

💡

If the ADB does not recognize the device, try reinstalling the drivers via the Mi Flash Tool or using another USB- cable, often with unoriginal cables with damaged contacts.

Method 4: Reset to factory settings (extreme case)

If no methods work, you'll have a hard reset, which will delete all the data from the device, but allow you to select a new region when you first set up.

• 📱 Devices with blocked region change.
• 🔄 Smartphones purchased abroad (e.g., Xiaomi 13 Pro with Chinese firmware).
• 🚫 Cases where ADB- teams are not helping.

How to reset:

1. Create a backup of important data (photos, contacts, messages).
2. Go to Settings → About Phone → Resetting → Delete all data.
3. After the reboot, follow the instructions of the customization wizard by selecting the desired region during the language selection stage.

Important nuances:

• 🔒 If the device was linked to the Mi Account, you will need to enter your account details after the reset.
• 📦 Some models (Poco F5, Redmi K60) may require Google Services to be re-activated after reset.
• ⚠️ On Chinese firmware (China ROM), resetting doesn't always help - the region may stay the same.

💡

Resetting to factory settings is the only way to change the region on China ROM, but it comes with the risk of data loss and problems with Google Services.

What if services stopped working after the change of the region?

Changing the country to Xiaomi can lead to problems with some features.

1.The Google Pay is not working.

The reason: Google Pay is tied to the Google Account and MIUI region, and if they don’t match, the service is blocked.

Decision:

• 🔄 Go to Google Account Settings and change the country to the same as in MIUI.
• 📱 Remove and re-add the card to Google Pay.
• 🔧 If it doesn’t work, reset your Google Play Services settings to Settings → Apps → Google Play Services → Storage → Clear the data.

2.Themes or wallpaper from Mi Themes have disappeared

Reason: The content in Mi Themes varies by region, for example, India has different themes than Europe.

Decision:

• 🔄 Reboot your device and update the Themes app.
• 🌍 Try using VPN with servers from the right region.
• 📥 Install themes manually through APK- files (e.g., with XDA Developers).

3. No firmware updates

The reason: Xiaomi is releasing updates for different regions with a delay, for example, the Global ROM can be updated later than the China ROM.

Decision:

• 🔄 Manually check for updates in Settings → About Phone → System Update.
• 📥 Download the firmware for your region from Xiaomi’s official website and install it through Recovery.
• ⚠️ Do not install firmware for other regions – this may result in the blocking of Mi Account!

Frequent Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

When you change region to Xiaomi, users often face typical problems, and we have collected the most common mistakes and ways to solve them:

⚠️ Warning: If you buy Xiaomi abroad (e.g. China or India), make sure the model supports region change.Some devices (e.g. Xiaomi 13T Pro for the Chinese market) may have hardware limitations that prevent you from changing the region even through ADB.

FAQ: Answers to popular questions