How to set up a quick dial on Xiaomi Redmi 9: from gestures to voice input

Xiaomi Redmi 9 is one of the most popular budget smartphones with rich customization capabilities, but not all users know how to unleash its potential for fast text input. Slow messaging, errors in printing and an uncomfortable keyboard can ruin the impression of even the most productive device. Fortunately, MIUI offers dozens of hidden features that will turn your Redmi 9 into a tool for lightning fast communication – you just need to know where to look for them.

In this article, we’ll look at all the ways you can optimize typing, from standard keyboard settings to little-known gestures and voice commands. You’ll learn how to reduce the number of typos by 70%, speed up printing by 2 times, and even set up automatic responses without third-party apps. And also, we’ll reveal the secrets of the hidden one-hand mode that is in MIUI 12+, but not documented in the official instructions.

Whether you're writing hundreds of messages a day or just want to make communication more comfortable, these settings will save you time, and yes, they all work without root rights and don't require the installation of questionable third-party apps.

1. Optimize the standard Gboard keyboard on Redmi 9

The default Xiaomi Redmi 9 has Google's Gboard keyboard — it supports gestures, voice input and responsive vocabulary — but most users don't even realize that 80 percent of its features are out of the box. Let's fix that.

The first thing you need to do is update the keyboard to the latest version. Go to Google Play → My apps → Gboard and check for updates. Even if the system says everything is up to date, sometimes forced reinstallation helps: remove updates to Settings → Apps → Gboard → Three dots → Remove updates, then update again.

• 🔄 Adaptive input: Enable in Gboard Settings → Text input → Adaptive input. The keyboard will adapt to your writing style and suggest words you use frequently.
• ✍️ Gesture control: Activate in Settings → Gestures → Sliding input. After training (5-10 minutes), the dial speed will increase by 30-40%.
• 🔊 Voice input: In Settings → Voice input, turn on the option "Quick Microphone Access." Now you can dictate text by holding the space button.
• 📱 One-hand mode: Press the gear icon on the keyboard and select "One Hand." The keys will move left or right for convenience.

⚠️ Warning: If the emoji prediction function has stopped working after the Gboard update, check the settings in Settings → Preferences → Show emoji sentences. In some versions MIUI, this parameter is reset.

Activate adaptive input|Insert sliding input (gestures)|Set up voice input|Check the one-handed mode|Update the user dictionary-->

2. Hidden functions of the MIUI keyboard: what the native keyboard Xiaomi

Many people don't know, but Xiaomi is developing its own MIUI keyboard, which is hidden by default in the system, it's lighter than Gboard, supports Chinese characters (good for multitasking), and has unique features that Google doesn't have.

1. Go to Settings → Additional → Language and input.
2. Press Current Keyboard → Keyboard Management.
3. Turn on the MIUI Keyboard (could be called the Xiaomi Keyboard).
4. Go back and select it as the default keyboard.

Now on the chips:

• 🎨 Keyboard themes: In the MIUI Keyboard settings, you can download dozens of themes, including transparent and AMOLED- options. Not only is it beautiful, it also reduces eye strain.
• 🔢 Number Series: Unlike Gboard, it is constantly visible here (optional in settings), which speeds up the input of numbers and characters.
• 📱 Quick Answers: You can set up response templates for messages (e.g., "I'm on my way" or "I'll be back in 10 minutes").
• 🌐 Instant translation: Select a word, click on it, and the translation option will appear (opts offline for major languages).

The MIUI Keyboard consumes 15-20% less RAM than the Gboard, which is critical for the Redmi 9 with its 3/4 GB of RAM in the basic versions. If your smartphone is slowing down when printing, try switching to it.

3. Gestures and hotkeys for lightning-fast dial

Redmi 9 supports hidden gestures that speed up not only navigation, but also text input, most of which are undocumented but work steadily:

• 👆 Swipe up the keyboard: Swipe up the space moves the cursor to the line above (useful for editing long messages).
• 👇 Double tap on Shift: Enables Caps Lock (in Gboard it is disabled by default - check settings!).
• 🔄 Swipe left by space: Instantly erases the last word (alternative to Backspace).
• 📋 Comma retention: Opens the menu of fast characters (dash, quotation marks, brackets).

MIUI also has keyboard hotkeys that work in any application:

• 🔑 Ctrl + A: Emphasize all text.
• 🔑 Ctrl + C/X/V: Copy, cut, paste (works even on WhatsApp and Telegram).
• 🔑 Alt + Shift: Switching the language (if enabled in the system settings).

Secret Lifehack: If you need to quickly enter an email or password, create a text template in Settings → Additional → Language and Input → Text templates. For example, the acronym @my can unfold in your example@gmail.com. This will save minutes daily!

4. Voice input and dictation: how to dictate text 2 times faster

Voice input on Redmi 9 is often underrated, although it can speed up typing by 1.5-2 times, and the main thing is to set it up correctly.

1. Open Google Settings → Voice input.
2. Turn on the option "Offline speech recognition" and download the language (Russian weighs ~50 MB).
3. In Settings → Special Options → Voice Control activate Voice Access (allows you to control your phone with your voice even with your screen off!).
4. Return to Gboard or MIUI Keyboard and enable quick access to the microphone (the microphone icon will always be visible above the keyboard).

Now, a few advanced techniques:

• 🎤 Voice punctuation: Say comma, point, or new paragraph – the signs will be automatically inserted.
• 📤 Voice: In Telegram or WhatsApp, you can say "send" after dictation, and the message will leave without clicking.
• 🔤 Error correction: If voice input has misrecognized a word, say "fix [word]."

⚠️ Warning: Voice input is not in the background if power saving mode is on. Before dictating long texts, turn it off in Settings → Battery → Power saving mode.

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If voice input doesn’t recognize your speech well, get trained in Google Settings → Voice Input → Voice Adaptation. Read 5 sentences and the accuracy will increase by 20-30%.

5.Setting up auto-replacement and dictionary: how to get rid of typos

Even with the fastest keyboard, typos consume 30% of editing time, and fortunately MIUI and Gboard have tools to minimize them.

Step 1: Cleaning the dictionary

Over time, the keyboard remembers the errors and starts to suggest them.

1. For Gboard: Settings → Dictionary → Personal words → Delete unused.
2. For MIUI Keyboard: Settings → Language and input → User dictionary → Clear.

Step 2: Adding frequently used words

If you often write specific terms (such as names or professional jargon), add them manually to the dictionary.

• In Gboard: Settings → Dictionary → Personal words → Add.
• In MIUI Keyboard: Settings → User dictionary → Add a word.

Step 3: Set up auto-replacement

In Gboard Settings → Text Correction → Auto-Replacement:

• 🔘 Insert "Automatic spaces" (adds spaces after punctuation marks).
• 🔘 Turn off Automatic Capitals if you write a lot in English (this interferes with abbreviations).
• 🔘 Activate "Casual Press Blocking" - this will reduce the number of typos when printing fast.

6.Alternative keyboards: when standard keyboards do not fit

If neither the Gboard nor the MIUI Keyboard suits you, consider alternatives. Here are the TOP-3 keyboards for the Redmi 9, optimized for performance:

To install an alternative keyboard:

1. Download it from Google Play.
2. Go to Settings → Additional → Language and input.
3. Press Current Keyboard → Keyboard Management and turn on a new one.
4. Go back and select it as the default keyboard.

⚠️ Warning: Some keyboards (e.g. AI.type) contain ads and collect typing data. Check Google Play permissions and user reviews before installing.

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SwiftKey and Fleksy support cloud sync – your vocabulary and settings will be available on all devices after you sign in.

7. Reset keyboard settings: if everything breaks

Sometimes, after updating or experimenting with settings, the keyboard starts to slow down, mispredict words, or stops working altogether.

For Gboard:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Gboard → Storage.
2. Click Clear the cache and Clear the data.
3. Reboot the phone.

For MIUI Keyboard:

1. Go to Settings → Additional → Language and input → MIUI Keyboard.
2. Select Resetting (the option can be hidden under Additional).
3. Confirm the action and restart the device.

If the keyboard has stopped opening completely, try:

• 🔄 Install another keyboard from Google Play and make it the main one.
• 📱 Reset MIUI to factory settings (Settings → About Phone → Reset, but this will delete all data!).
• 🔧 As a last resort, try to flash your phone over Fastboot (instructions are on 4PDA).

After resetting the keyboard settings, all custom words and templates will be lost. To avoid this, export them in advance through Keyboard Settings → Backup (if the feature is supported).

FAQ: Frequent questions about fast dialing on Redmi 9