How to turn off animation on Xiaomi Redmi 9: the complete guide

Smartphones of the line Redmi have long established themselves as affordable devices with rich functionality, but owners often face a sense of “reflection” interface. Visual effects designed to make transitions between screens smooth on budget processors can cause delays, creating the illusion of slow system operation. That is why the question of how to turn off animation on Xiaomi Redmi 9, remains one of the most popular among users who want to squeeze the maximum performance from their gadget.

Disabling or reducing animation coefficients is a proven way to visually speed up the response of the MIUI shell. When you click on an app icon, the system spends fractions of a second rendering it open; eliminating this step, you get instant access to features. This not only saves precious time with daily use, but also reduces the load on the GPU, which can positively affect the autonomy.

In this article, we will take a look at all the available methods, from standard developer settings to more advanced ways through ADB. You will learn what parameters affect the speed of transitions, how to safely change the system constants and what side effects can occur when you completely abandon visual decorations.

The Impact of Animation on MIUI Speed

The MIUI shell that is installed on Xiaomi smartphones is known for its heavy-duty interface. Animation effects play a key role in navigation here, but they require processing and RAM resources. On flagship models with powerful hardware, these costs are invisible, but for the Redmi 9 with its Helio G80 processor, every extra millisecond matters.

When you change the animation settings, you're basically telling the system to skip the transition frames, scaling the windows, hops between desktops, and opening the notification curtains, they all start happening instantly, and it creates a subjective sense that the phone is running twice as fast, even though technically we're just removing the visual latency.

⚠️ Warning: Disabling animations completely (value 0) can make the interface twitchy and unusual.Sharp transitions without smooth zooming can disorient a user accustomed to standard Android behavior.

Also, it is worth considering that some elements of the MIUI interface are tied to animation processes. Their complete absence in rare cases can lead to visual bugs, such as incorrect display of pop-ups or “sticking” of controls.

Activation of the developer mode on Redmi 9

Before you start changing system settings, you need to access the hidden menu. In Android, this section is hidden by default so that inexperienced users do not accidentally change critical settings that can disrupt the stability of the device. For Redmi 9, the activation procedure is standard, but has its own nuances in the MIUI shell.

The first step is to get to the About Phone menu, which is where you get information about the MIUI version and build number, which is the key to the hidden features. Click the build version icon several times in a row. It usually takes 7 to 10 quick taps.

Once you have completed the action, the system will notify you with a pop-up message, “You are a developer!” If you have not, check if you have MIUI Optimization enabled in special features, although new versions of MIUI 12/13/14 will open access in the standard way.

It’s important to understand that developer mode gives you access not only to animation settings, but also to debugging over USB, selecting a dummy location and other tools. Be careful when changing unfamiliar settings in this menu, as this can affect application performance and data security.

Customize the animation speed through the developer menu

The safest and most efficient way to speed up the interface is to use the built-in tools of the system. Once the developer mode is activated, a new item will appear in the settings menu. It is often more convenient to use the built-in search by settings in MIUI than to wander through deep menus to find the right parameters.

You need to find three main parameters that control different aspects of visual display: the scale of window animation is responsible for opening and closing applications; the scale of transition animation regulates the speed of movement between desktops and return to the main screen; the duration of animation affects the time the system allows to perform these actions.

By default, all these values are set in 1x. To speed up the work of Redmi 9, it is recommended to change them to 0.5x. This is the "golden mean", in which the interface becomes noticeably faster, but the transitions still look smooth and natural, without causing visual discomfort.

If you want to maximize performance, you can set 0x (Off), in which case the animation disappears completely. However, as mentioned earlier, this can make using a smartphone less enjoyable. Try both options and choose the one that seems more convenient for everyday use.

Use of special disabling capabilities

In some versions of MIUI, there is an alternative way to manage visual effects that does not require activation of the developer mode, which is in the special features section and is primarily intended for users with visual impairments who are interfered with by moving interface elements.

Go to Settings → Advanced Settings → Special Features. Here you need to find the item related to the removal of animation. Depending on the firmware version, it can be called "Delete animation" or "Disable animation." Activating this switch forcibly removes most visual effects in the system.

This is a bit more "rough" than fine-tuning through the developer menu. It turns off animation globally, and you won't have the option to choose a 0.5x ratio. Either there are effects or there aren't. However, for the highest possible speed of Redmi 9, this option is perfect.

⚠️ Note: Enabling the Remove Animations feature in special features may cause some apps to display incorrectly, as they are designed for standard Android transitions.

Also in this section you can find settings for people with cognitive impairments, which proposes to simplify the desktop, using such features also removes unnecessary graphics, but changes the appearance of the launcher beyond recognition, so this method is recommended only in extreme cases when you need maximum functionality to the detriment of design.

Advanced method: Disconnection via ADB

For users who are not afraid of the command line and want to gain full control of the system, there is a method of changing hidden parameters through Android Debug Bridge (ADB), which allows you to change values that are not available through the standard settings menu, including global interface constants.

You'll need a computer (Windows, macOS or Linux) and a USB cable to start with. On the smartphone in the Developer menu, you'll need to activate USB Debugging. Then install Xiaomi drivers and the ADB platform on your computer. Connect your phone and enter a connection check command.

adb devices

Once you have confirmed your connection on your phone screen, you can enter commands to change the global animation settings. These commands work directly with the Android settings database.

adb shell settings put global window_animation_scale 0.0


adb shell settings put global transition_animation_scale 0.0




adb shell settings put global animator_duration_scale 0.0

Using 0.0 completely removes the delay. If you want to return it to the way it was, use 1.0. This is a good technique because it is applied at the deep level of the system and often ignores the limitations imposed by the MIUI shell.

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Before using ADB, make sure to back up important data. While changing animation settings is safe, working with debugging mode always requires caution.

Possible problems and solutions

After making changes to your system settings, you may encounter a number of unusual situations, most often problems are visual in nature and do not affect the functionality of the device, but you need to know about them so you do not panic.

One of the common problems is the flashing of the screen when unlocking or running heavy applications, which is because the system tries to instantly switch the context of the display, and the frame buffering does not keep up with the processor, in which case it is recommended to return the animation value to 0.5x.

Some users also note that when the animation is completely disabled, navigation gestures (swipes instead of buttons) stop working correctly, and recent app menus can open in jerks, a feature of the MIUI gesture implementation that is tied to the time stamps of animation processes.

• 📱 Problem: Black screen when the game starts. Solution: Enable window animation back on 1x.
• 📱 Problem: Screen autorotation is not working.Solution: Check accelerometer settings, often unrelated to animation.
• 📱 Problem: Lags on menu after effects are turned off.Solution: Clear launcher cache, possibly graphics crash.

If you notice that the phone is not working properly, just reboot the device. In most cases, standard animation settings (1x) are restored automatically after restart, unless the changes were fixed through ADB or special features.

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The best setting for Redmi 9 is a 0.5x scale, which gives you speed gains without losing the visual integrity of the interface and bugs.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)