Xiaomi and Redmi smartphone owners often face the desire to speed up the device, especially if the device is not the newest or has a limited amount of RAM. One of the most effective ways to visually speed up the response of the system is to turn off or shorten the duration of the interface animations. The standard MIUI shell or the new HyperOS is saturated with beautiful, but sometimes redundant visual effects that create a delay between press and action.
Reducing the GPU load and eliminating the wait time for transitions to complete allows you to make navigation on the menu more “twitched”, but much faster. This is especially true for budget models of the Redmi Note or Poco M series, where every millisecond gain is felt physically. In this article, we will discuss in detail all available methods, from standard settings for developers to advanced debugging tools.
Before making any changes, it’s worth noting that the complete lack of animation can make the interface less visually pleasing, depriving it of smoothness. However, for many users, speed is the number one priority, and the compromise in favor of performance is a perfectly justified step in optimizing the gadget.
Why to turn off animation and how it affects speed
Animations in the Android operating system are not only for decoration, but also for creating a logical connection between user actions and system response. When you fold an application, it flies into an icon, creating a sense of continuity. However, the implementation of these effects requires computing resources and time. On powerful flagships like Xiaomi 14 or Xiaomi 13 Ultra, these delays are invisible, but on mid-range and budget devices they can be a tangible fraction of a second.
Turning off the animation actually removes the intermediate waiting stage. The system moves to the next state instantly, without rendering transitional frames. This creates a "turbo mode" effect, although the actual performance of the processor (core frequency) does not change. It removes the artificial delays that are laid down by the interface designers for smoothness.
⚠️ Warning: Disabling all visual effects completely can make the interface seem sharp and unusual. Eyes can get tired of abrupt changes in static images without smooth transitions.
Also, reducing the load on the GPU (graphics accelerator) can have a positive effect on the autonomy of the device. Less computing means less power consumption. Although the savings will not be enormous, combined with other optimization methods, this will provide additional battery life, which is critical for older batteries.
Activation of developer mode on MIUI and HyperOS
To access hidden animation settings in shells from Xiaomi, you need to activate the hidden menu "For developers" by default, this section is hidden from the eyes of the average user to prevent accidental change of critical system parameters. The activation process is simple, but requires accurate hitting on a certain menu item.
You need to open the standard Settings app and go to About Phone, and you should find the MIUI Version (or HyperOS Version) line here. You need to quickly click on this line 7-10 times in a row. Once you reach the right number of clicks, a pop-up notification will appear that you have become a developer, and the vibration will confirm the successful activation.
After that, a new option, Advanced Settings (in some versions, immediately For Developers), will appear in the main settings menu, usually at the bottom of the list or in the Additional section, and this is where the key levers for controlling system behavior, including the scale of animation, are located.
☑️ Activation of the developer mode
Customize the scale of animation through the developer menu
Once you log into the Developer menu, you'll see a long list of technical parameters, and we're interested in the drawing and interface block, and you'll need to scroll down to the drawing section, and there are three key parameters that control the speed of the interface.
The first is Windows animation scale, which controls how quickly applications open and close. The second is Transition animation scale, which regulates how quickly you switch between screens, such as when you enter the settings menu from the home screen; and the third is the animation duration scale, which affects the time you perform various actions within applications.
By default, all of these values are set to 1x. To speed up, we recommend changing them to 0.5x. This will reduce animation time by half, keeping the visual link of actions, but making the interface much more responsive. If your goal is maximum speed and you don't care about the visual component, you can set the value "Animation off".
| Parameter | Default value | Recommended value | The effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| The scale of window animation | 1x | 0.5x or Retraction. | Accelerating application launches |
| Scale of transition animation | 1x | 0.5x or Retraction. | Quick screen switching |
| Duration of animation | 1x | 0.5x or Retraction. | Accelerating internal processes |
| Minimum width | Depends on the model. | Change | Affects the size of UI elements |
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The changes do not require a smartphone restart to apply instantly, and they take effect immediately after switching the switch or selecting a new value in the list.
Use of special facilities for simplification
There is an alternative, more radical method of disabling animations that is built into Android as an accessibility feature, which is useful if the developer menu is unavailable or blocked by the carrier for some reason (although this is rare on global versions of Xiaomi), a feature called "Animation Removal" and is in the special features section.
To activate this option, go to Settings → Advanced Settings → Special Options. In the list that opens, look for Remove animations. When you turn on this switch, the system forcibly cancels all decorative transitions, replacing them with instant content.
Unlike the developer settings, where you can choose an intermediate value of 0.5x, this method works on / off. It completely removes visual effects, which can be useful for people with vestibular disorders or for those who want to squeeze out the device maximum performance in games, freeing up the resources of the GPU.
Note that newer versions of HyperOS may vary in their location, sometimes in a separate Security app or integrated into the theme. If you don't find this item, search for settings by typing in "animation."
⚠️ Note: Enabling the Remove Animation feature may conflict with some live wallpaper or widgets that rely on system transitions.
Advanced Method: Disconnecting via ADB commands
For users who are not afraid of the command line and want to gain full control of the system, there is a method to disable animations via the Android debugging bridge (ADB), which allows you to change hidden parameters that are not output to the graphical interface even in developer mode, and is especially useful for global reset animation settings immediately after flashing.
To start, you will need a computer (Windows, macOS or Linux) and an installed ADB driver. On the smartphone, USB debugging should be enabled in the Developer menu. Connect the phone to the PC with a cable and enter a command to check the connection:
adb devicesOnce you've confirmed the connection on your phone screen, you can enter commands to change the global settings. The following lines will set the animation scale to zero at the system level:
adb shell settings put global window_animation_scale 0
adb shell settings put global transition_animation_scale 0
adb shell settings put global animator_duration_scale 0These commands are equivalent to the "Disabled" option in the developer menu, but they are software-based. To get it back, you just need to replace 0 with 1 at the end of each line, or reset the settings through the phone menu, and this method also allows you to automate the setup process for multiple devices, which is relevant for service centers.