How to Set Up Notification Icons on Xiaomi: From Basic Changes to Hidden MIUI Features

Notification icons on Xiaomi are not just indicators of new messages; they reflect the style of interaction with the device, affect usability and even save battery life. In MIUI 14/15, the notification management system has become more flexible, but many users still do not know about all the possibilities: from simply hiding unnecessary icons to fine-tuning their appearance through the developer.

In this article, we’ll look at all the ways you can customize notification icons, from standard menu options to hidden features available through adb or engineering menus. We’ll focus on the challenges that Redmi, POCO and Xiaomi owners face after updates when icons suddenly disappear or duplicate. If you want the notification bar to work perfectly, read on.

Why are Xiaomi notification icons acting weird?

Before you set up, it is important to understand why icons can disappear, duplicate or display incorrectly. 80% of the time the problem is related to:

• 🔄 Updates MIUI — After major updates (for example, from 13 to 14 version) reset individual application settings.
• 📱 Battery optimization – the system automatically limits the background activity of “non-faith” applications (WhatsApp, Telegram), which affects the display of notifications.
• 🛠️ Launcher Conflicts – Third-party shells (Nova Launcher, Apex) can block system notifications.
• 📵 Cache errors – corrupted data from com.android.systemui application leads to failures in the notification panel.

Another common reason is for app-specific power saving settings, such as if Viber is enabled with Background Activity Limit, the notification icon may be late or not displayed at all, and you can check this in the Settings menu → Battery → Application selection.

Basic configuration of notification icons through the MIUI menu

To start with, the standard settings are available without root rights or adb, which is suitable for all Xiaomi models on MIUI 12 and later, including the Redmi Note 12, POCO X5 and Xiaomi 13.

To change the display of icons:

1. Open Settings → Notifications and Status bar.
2. Select the Notifications Management option.
3. Tapping on the desired application (for example, Telegram or Gmail).
4. Activate the Switch Show notification icons.
5. In the Style of the icon, select one of the options: 📌 Number: The number of unread notifications (e.g., “3"). 🔘 A point is a minimalist label without numbers. 🖼️ Application icon – displays the logo of the messenger or social network.

Note that some apps (like Facebook or Instagram) may ignore system settings and use their own icons, in which case only manually configuring the app itself or using adb (more on this below) will help.

Make sure notifications are included in the app settings

Check permissions for the application (access to notifications)

Disable battery optimization for critical messengers

Reboot the smartphone after the changes-->

Hidden settings: engineering menu and adb commands

If standard methods don’t work, it’s time to move on to advanced tools. MIUI It hides some of the features, but you can activate them through adb or an engineering menu, and it's a way for users who are willing to do a little bit of digging.

First, make sure that your Xiaomi has USB debugging enabled:

1. Go to Settings. → The phone.
2. Tap 7 times on the MIUI version to activate the developer mode.
3. Back to Settings → Additionally. → For developers.
4. Turn on USB debugging and confirm the action.

Now connect your smartphone to your PC and execute commands via adb (if you don’t know how, use Google’s Platform Tools utility):

adb shell settings put global notification_icon_style 1 # Includes numerical icons


adb shell settings put global notification_icon_style 0 # Includes point icons




adb shell settings put global notification_icon_style 2 # Shows app icons

To reset all notification settings to factory use:

adb shell cmd notification reset_all

How to hide unnecessary notification icons forever

If you're annoyed by icons from system applications (such as Mi Video, Mi Browser or Security), you can turn them off completely. Importantly, this won't remove notifications from the curtain, it will only hide the icons in the status bar.

Method 1: Through application settings

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Select an unused app (such as Mi Music).
3. Tap Notifications. → Categories of notifications.
4. Turn off all categories or select Do Not Show Notifications.

Method 2: Through adb (for system applications)

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.videoplayer # Disable Mi Video


adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.android.browser # Disables Mi Browser

⚠️ Warning: Disabling system applications may lead to unstable operation MIUI. For example, once Security is deactivated, virus databases will no longer be updated. Before executing commands, back up through Settings. → Additionally. → Backup.

Problems and Solutions: Why Notification Icons Don't Work

Even after you set it up properly, icons may not show up, freeze or show up with errors. Consider typical scenarios and their solutions:

If none of these methods worked, try resetting the notification settings to the factory.

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Slip on the three dots in the upper right corner and select Reset app settings.
3. Confirm the action. This will return all permissions and notifications to the post-purchase state.

💡

If the problem occurred after the MIUI update, try to roll back to the previous version via the Mi Flash Tool.Instructions for rollback look at the official Xiaomi group on 4PDA or en.miui.com.

Fine tuning through third-party apps

If the built-in MIUI tools aren't enough, you can use third-party tools that allow you to:

• 🎨 Change the color and shape of icons.
• 🔍 Hide notifications from specific contacts (e.g. WhatsApp).
• 📊 Grouping notifications by category.
• 🔕 Block notifications at certain times (Do Not Disturb mode").

The best apps to set up notifications on Xiaomi:

• Notification History Log - keeps a log of all notifications, even deleted ones.
• Heads Off – removes pop-up notifications (headers) for selected applications.
• Noto – customizes notification icons (requires root or adb).
• AutoNotification – allows you to create rules for notifications (e.g. vibrations only for important contacts).

When using third-party applications, consider:

• Some features (such as changing the color of icons) require root rights.
• Applications may conflict with MIUI Optimization – Disable it with adb: adb shell settings put global hidden_api_policy 1
• After the MIUI update, you may need to reconfigure third-party utilities.

💡

Third-party notification apps can reduce battery autonomy. Regularly check charge consumption in Settings → Battery → Battery use and disable unnecessary services.

Features of setting up on different Xiaomi models

While MIUI is committed to unification, some models have unique nuances in managing notifications.

For POCO-And the problem with the lack of notification icons in the status bar when you turn on "No frames:

1. Go to Settings → Screen → Screen resolution.
2. Turn off the Full Screen Mode option.
3. Reset the device.

FAQ: Frequent questions about setting up notifications on Xiaomi

Important: On devices with MIUI 15 and later, some adb commands may require additional permissions. If nothing changes after the command is executed, check the logs through adb logcat | grep notification for diagnosis.