How to completely disable or remove FaceMoji Keyboard on Xiaomi: a detailed guide

Xiaomi’s FaceMoji Keyboard is often the default keyboard on the brand’s smartphones, but not everyone likes it. Many people complain about automatic emoji replacement, slow operation or intrusive animations. If you want to get rid of this keyboard, our guide will help you do it quickly and without consequences for the system.

In this article, we’ll break down the three official ways to disable FaceMoji: through MIUI settings, deactivate in the app menu, and completely uninstall (if your device supports this option), and learn how to return a standard Google keyboard or SwiftKey if they suddenly disappeared after the update. All methods are tested on Xiaomi 11/12/13/14, Redmi Note 10/11/12 and POCO F3/F4/F5.

Warn in advance: some actions may require rebooting your device or temporarily disabling the main keyboard.If you use FaceMoji as your only input method, install an alternative from Google Play first.

Why do users want to remove FaceMoji Keyboard?

Despite the striking design and integration with MIUI, the FaceMoji keyboard has several critical flaws that make Xiaomi owners look for ways to turn it off:

• 🐢 Slows down text input: Users note delays in printing, especially on budget models (Redmi) 9A, POCO M3).
• 🤖 Intrusive animations: Emojis and stickers automatically replace words, which is annoying when you're texting a business.
• 📱 It conflicts with other keyboards, such as blocking Gboard or SwiftKey after an update. MIUI.
• 🔋 Battery drains. Keyboard background processes are consumed to 5-7% Charge per day (according to GSMArena tests).
• 🛑 You can't turn it off through the standard menu. Unlike the Google keyboard, FaceMoji is hidden in the system settings.

According to a survey by the Mi Community forum, 68 percent of users tried to remove the keyboard in the first three months after buying a smartphone, the main claim being to impose the service without the possibility of an easy shutdown, which contradicts Xiaomi's policy on "clean" Android.

Method 1: Disconnect via MIUI settings (without deleting)

The safest method is to deactivate the keyboard in system settings, which does not require super-user rights (root) and works on all versions of MIUI starting from 12.0.

1. Open Settings → System and device → Language and input.
2. Slip on the Current Keyboard (or Keyboard Management in older versions).
3. In the list, find the FaceMoji Keyboard and switch the slider to the “Off” position.
4. Confirm the action by selecting an alternative keyboard (e.g. Gboard).

If FaceMoji is not on the list, try an alternative route:

Settings → Applications → Application Management → Three points (menu) → Show system → FaceMoji Keyboard → Disable

Install an alternative keyboard (Gboard, SwiftKey)

Make a backup copy of important messages

Close all active chats (Telegram, WhatsApp)

Reboot the smartphone after disconnecting-->

⚠️ Note: On some devices (Xiaomi) 12T, POCO X5) FaceMoji may not be able to access the system emojis after it's disabled. To get them back, reinstall the keyboard from the Mi App Store.

Method 2: Remove via ADB (for power users)

If deactivation isn’t enough, you can completely remove the keyboard using Android Debug Bridge (ADB), a technique that requires connecting your smartphone to your PC and basic command line knowledge, and the advantage is that FaceMoji will disappear from the system forever, freeing up to 150 MB of memory.

Instructions for Windows/macOS/Linux:

1. Download ADB Tools and unpack the archive.
2. Turn on the smartphone Developer Mode (7 times tap the version of MIUI in Settings → About phone).
3. Activate Debugging by USB in Settings → Additional → For developers.
4. Connect the phone to the PC and enter in the terminal:

adb devices


adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.miui.facemojikeyboard

If the command fails, try an alternative package:

adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.sohu.inputmethod.sogou.xiaomi

⚠️ Attention: Removal through ADB It may cause updates to fail. MIUI, If the keyboard is integrated into the firmware, you can only return it via fastboot or reset.

💡

Before using ADB, check if the partition /system is blocked on your device. To do this, type the command adb shell mount | grep system - if there is ro (read-only) in the answer, deletion is impossible.

Method 3: Reset keyboard settings (if it does not turn off)

Sometimes FaceMoji continues to appear even after deactivation, due to cached data or conflicts with other applications, in which case the reset will help:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find the FaceMoji Keyboard and tap it.
3. Select Warehouse → Clear cache and Clear data.
4. Reset the device.

If the keyboard is still active, try resetting the input settings:

Settings → System and device → Language and input → Additional (three points) → Resetting

This will return all keyboards to factory settings, but will not remove custom dictionaries.

How to Restore Google’s Standard Keyboard After Deleting FaceMoji

After deactivating FaceMoji, some users are faced with a problem: the system keyboard (Android Keyboard AOSP or Gboard) disappears to return it:

1. Install Gboard from Google Play.
2. Go to Settings → System and Device → Language and Input → Current Keyboard.
3. Activate Gboard and set it with the default keyboard.

If Gboard doesn’t appear in the list, check:

• 🔄 Is the installation blocked from unknown sources (Settings) → Annexes → Special access → Installation of unknown applications).
• 📥 Google Play service updated (Go to Play Market) → Settings → Auto-update of applications).
• 🔧 Are system applications disabled through ADB (Check the adb shell pm list packages -d).

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If you don't have a keyboard after all the manipulations, try temporarily activating FaceMoji, then turning it off again, and immediately select Gboard as the primary keyboard, which resets the input priorities.

Frequent Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

When you turn off the FaceMoji Keyboard, users often make errors that lead to loss of functionality or system failures, and here are the most common ones:

Another common problem is that the keyboard comes back after the MIUI update, and that's because the system restores the system applications, to prevent this from happening:

1. After the update, immediately disable FaceMoji through Settings → Applications.
2. Use ADB to lock the packet: adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.facemojikeyboard

FAQ: Answers to popular questions