Modern smartphones in the Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO line offer users a huge amount of personalization functionality, but the interface of the MIUI shell (and the new HyperOS) sometimes hides the obvious controls. Many device owners face a situation where the usual clock, weather or calendar disappear from the desktop, or new widgets are simply not added in the standard way, which is often puzzling, since the logic of the menu can differ from pure Android.
In this article, we’ll take a look at all the ways you can activate and add widgets on your device. We’ll look at both the classic methods and the hidden settings you might need after you upgrade or reset. Understanding the structure of the MIUI shell menu will help you quickly regain your smartphone usability.
We'll focus on the differences between the software versions. What worked on Android 11 can be moved to another location on Android 13 or 14. We'll analyze the current algorithms for all firmware versions so you can easily customize your desktop to your needs.
The main ways to add widgets through the menu
The most obvious and frequently used method is to access the main widget menu of the system, which, depending on the version of the MIUI shell, can be accessed in two ways. The first option is typical for older versions and Classic mode: you just need to pinch the empty area on the desktop.
The second option, which has become standard for HyperOS and the latest versions of MIUI 13-14, involves swiping. If you use the standard icon style, just swipe to the right of the left icon or pull the screen down (depending on the gesture settings), and the "Mi Widgets" panel opens, where all available elements are collected.
- 📱 Click the blank space on the screen and select "Widgets" in the bottom menu.
- 👆 Swipe to the right of the left edge of the screen to open the widget gallery.
- ⚙️ Use the search in the settings by entering the "Widgets" query to find the desired section.
When you open the gallery, you'll see a list of all the items available, which is the clock, the weather, the step counters, the music players and the app shortcuts, and to add an item, you have to click on it and hold it, and then drag it to the right place on your desktop, and if the item doesn't move, there may not be enough space on the screen.
It's worth noting that some system widgets, such as Security or Scanner, can be blocked to delete or move in certain design themes, and this is done to ensure that system utilities work in a stable way. If you've changed theme to custom from GetThemes, check if it supports standard MIUI widgets.
Set up the clock widgets and weather on the desktop
The most common problem faced by users is the disappearance of the watch and weather widget, often after a system update or accidental deletion. Unlike third-party applications, Xiaomi’s system clock is closely integrated with weather services, so restoring it requires a comprehensive approach.
To start, make sure you have the Weather app installed and updated. Without it, the time widget often doesn't show correctly or isn't added at all. Go to the GetApps store or Google Play and check for updates for system components. If the app has been removed, it needs to be returned via the system app recovery menu in the settings.
💡
If the weather widget shows scrolls instead of temperature, check the permission to access geolocation in the Weather app settings.
The widget is added via the standard menu described above, but if you want to change the style of the watch, you'll need the Themes app. In Profile -> Widgets, you can download additional sets of watches that will be available in the shared gallery, which makes the lock screen and desktop unique.
It is important to remember the limitations of the energy saving system. If the weather widget stopped updating, the system may have limited the background activity of the application. Go to Settings → Apps → All Apps → Weather → Battery Savings and select No Limits mode.
Use of widget folder and third-party launchers
The MIUI shell allows you to create special widget folders that take up less space but retain functionality, which is especially true for smartphone owners with screen sizes up to 6 inches. To create such a folder, just drag one widget to another, and the system will suggest combining them into a compact group.
If you don’t like standard functionality, you can install a third-party launcher, such as Nova Launcher or Microsoft Launcher, which provide more flexible grid and widget size settings. However, when using third-party launchers on Xiaomi, you can have problems with displaying the “curtain” of widgets when swiping, since this is a specific feature of the native shell.
| Type of widget | Standard size | Impact on the battery | Demands the Internet. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Analog clock | 2x2, 4x2 | Low. | No. |
| Weather. | 4x2, 4x4 | Average. | Yes. |
| Stepper | 2x2, 4x1 | Low. | No. |
| News (Mi Video/News) | 4x4 | High. | Yes. |
When installing widgets from third-party developers (like Google widgets or Play Store widgets), make sure they are given permissions. Often beautiful calendar widgets don’t work simply because they’re not allowed to access your account events.
☑️ Checking the widget settings
Solving the Widget Disappearance Problems
The situation when widgets spontaneously disappear from the desktop after a reboot or update is a common disease of optimized Android builds. The system can find the widget “heavy” and unload it from memory to free up resources for running games or instant messengers.
⚠️ Warning: If widgets are permanently missing, check to see if you have Ultra-Energy Saving mode, which is where most widgets are forcibly locked to save charge.
To solve the problem, try clearing the launcher cache. Go to Settings → Apps → All applications, find the list “Luncher” (or “System Launcher”) and click “Clear Cache”. Do not confuse “Clean Data” with “Clean Data”, as this will reset the location of all your icons.
Another reason could be overcrowded RAM, which means that if your device has a lot of heavy applications that run in the background, the system doesn't have enough resources to render the widgets, which can help to close unused applications or use the Virtual RAM feature, if it's available in your model.
Hidden animation setting
Working with widgets in HyperOS mode
With the release of the HyperOS operating system, Xiaomi completely redesigned the architecture of widgets, now they are more interactive and lightweight. The main difference of the new system is the ability to deep customize without installing third-party themes. With a long press on the widget, an edit button often appears, allowing you to change the color, font or display data.
HyperOS also has a smart folder of widgets that offers items based on the time of day and your location, such as the weather and calendar in the morning, and the widgets of music and alarm clock in the evening, which can be managed through the Smart Recommendations settings in the widget menu.
Users who have switched from MIUI 14 may notice that some older widgets have stopped working, because developers have abandoned support for legacy code, in which case it is recommended to remove the broken element and add it again from the updated HyperOS gallery.
💡
In HyperOS, widgets are part of the system kernel, so their removal through the ADB-The commands can lead to unstable operation of the interface.