Modern Xiaomi smartphones, which are based on the shell MIUI or HyperOS, by default offer users to automatically store all data in the cloud. This is convenient for recovering information when you lose your device, but many owners value privacy over convenience and prefer to store phone numbers exclusively locally. In addition, constant synchronization can create duplicate records if you previously used other services or accounts.
Disabling this feature does not require a deep technical knowledge, but it is important to follow all the steps consistently to avoid losing already saved numbers.In this article, we will discuss in detail how to manage the settings of your Mi Account, Google and third-party applications to fully control the process of data exchange. You will learn how to safely transfer records and clear the cloud of unnecessary information, ensuring peace and order in the phone book.
Before we start to change, it is worth noting that the process may vary slightly depending on the version of the Android operating system and the modification of the MIUI interface. We will consider universal methods that work on most current models, including Redmi and Poco.
Why Disable Cloud Sync on Xiaomi
The main reason users are trying to restrict data sharing is to increase personal security. Keeping numbers in the cloud always carries a potential risk of leakage in the event of an account compromise or a breach of the provider's servers. By disabling automatic transmission, you ensure that your contacts will only remain on your physical device.
Another important aspect is to eliminate the confusion in the address book: Often, when changing a smartphone or recovering from a backup, users are faced with a situation where the same contact is displayed twice or three times. This is because Google Account and Mi Cloud can simultaneously try to upload the same data, creating duplicates. Manual control avoids this chaos.
⚠️ Note: Before disabling sync, make sure you have an up-to-date backup of contacts saved on the SIM-card or exported file to avoid losing important numbers in case of a crash.
Also worth mentioning is traffic and battery power. While contact synchronization consumes minimal resources, on older smartphone models or with a weak network signal, this background process can contribute to overall energy consumption. For those struggling for every minute of battery life, turning off unnecessary background services becomes part of the overall system optimization.
Managing synchronization through your Mi Account
Xiaomi’s ecosystem offers its own cloud service that is deeply integrated into the system. By default, when you create or sign in to a Mi Account, your phone automatically starts uploading contacts, photos and other data to the company’s servers. To stop this process, you need to log into the appropriate settings menu.
Open the Settings app and click on the top plaque with your name and avatar. This is the direct path to managing your profile. Next, select "Mi Cloud" (or "Mi Cloud"). Here you will see a list of all data categories that can be synchronized. Find in the Contacts list and turn the switch to the Off position.
After a shutdown, the system may suggest that you delete contacts that have already been uploaded to the cloud from the server, leaving them only on your phone, or vice versa. Read carefully on the screen. If your goal is to leave numbers only on your device, choose the option of saving a local copy. It is important to understand that after that, new contacts will not enter the Xiaomi cloud.
To fine-tune it, you can use the Advanced Settings feature inside the cloud menu, which sometimes hides the option of updating frequency or selecting specific groups for synchronization, but in recent versions of HyperOS, the interface has been simplified, and management has been reduced to a basic turn on or off service.
💡
If you plan to sell a phone, simply turning off sync isn’t enough – be sure to complete a full reset after you unbundle your Mi Account.
Set up synchronization of Google Account
Because Xiaomi uses the Android operating system, the second most important storage platform is Google, and users often forget that even when the Mi Cloud is disabled, their phone book is copied to Google servers, through the standard OS sync mechanism.
To check and change these settings, go to Settings → Accounts and Sync (the path may be called Users and Accounts). Select your Gmail email address. You will see a list of services associated with this profile. Find the Contacts line and uncheck or switch to an inactive state.
It's important to distinguish between synchronization and backup. When you turn off sync, you stop receiving updates from the cloud and sending them to the cloud in real time. However, if you've previously made a backup, it can stay on the server. To clean it completely, you may need to go to contacts.google.com from your computer and delete data manually from there.
☑️ Checking Google Settings
It's worth noting that some apps, like WhatsApp or Viber, can use access to contacts to find friends, and if you turn off access to a phone book or hide contacts, these messengers can stop displaying the names of the people they're talking to by showing only numbers, which is normal behavior when you restrict access rights.
Change of location of new contacts
Turning off sync is not enough if new numbers are created in the cloud by default. You need to change the settings of the Contacts app so that all new records are stored exclusively in the phone’s memory or on the phone. SIM-This ensures that even randomly turning on synchronization in the future will not lead to leakage of new data.
Open the standard Contacts or Phone app. Click three dots in the corner or the profile icon to open the menu. Select Settings. Find Account for New Contacts or Saving Place, and you will be asked to select your preferred option from the list of available storages.
| Type of storage | Accessibility without the Internet | Risk of loss on discharge | Synchronization |
|---|---|---|---|
| Memory of the device | Complete. | High-pitched | Absent. |
| SIM-map | Complete. | Low (physical map) | No. |
| Google Account | Requires a network | Low (there's a cloud) | Automatic. |
| Mi Account. | Requires a network | Low (there's a cloud) | Automatic. |
Choose the phone or the device option, and then all the numbers you add or pick up when you call will be physically only inside your smartphone, creating an isolated environment that you can control completely.
💡
Changing the default save location is a critical step that prevents new numbers from entering the cloud even when actively synchronizing.
Transferring contacts from the cloud to the device
If you have already disabled sync, but your contacts are still cloud-based (usually marked with a person with a Google or Mi logo), they need to be moved. While the contacts are in a cloud account, they can activate the sync process again or be deleted when the server is cleaned.
The most reliable way is to use the import/export function. Go to Contacts → Settings → Import/export contacts. Select Export to Device Memory or Export to Internal Memory. The system will create a.vcf file that contains all your records.
Once you have created the file, go back to the import menu and select “Import from device memory.” Specify the file you just created, and select “Phone” or “Local Storage” as your destination. Once you have successfully imported, old cloud contacts can be deleted, as copies of them are now safely stored in the smartphone memory.
⚠️ Note: Do not delete contacts from your cloud account until you have made sure that the phone memory import has been successful and all numbers are displayed correctly.
The alternative is to use a computer, and you can go to a cloud site, highlight all the contacts, export them to a file, and then transfer that file to your phone and import it through the contact menu, which is convenient because it allows you to visually check the list before you move it and delete the extra one.
Removing duplicates and cleaning the list
After all the manipulations with the sync disabling and data transfer, there is often a problem of duplication. The same number can be written twice: once as a local contact, the other as the remnant of the cloud record. Xiaomi shells have built-in tools to solve this problem.
In the Contacts app, find the settings menu or Contact Organization section, and it should have a function called “Combine duplicates” or “Delete repeats,” and the system will analyze the list, find the entries with the same numbers or names, and suggest combining them into one card or removing the extra ones.
What to do if your contacts are lost after disconnection?
It's also useful to check if there are any hidden contacts left. In some cases, when you turn off the sync, the contacts are marked as hidden» → «Display contacts" and make sure that all available sources are shown. Regularly cleaning the list helps keep the call app running at a high speed.