How to change the alphabet in the phone book Xiaomi Redmi: from A to Z and back

Sorting contacts in the Xiaomi Redmi phone book by default is often confusing: Cyrillic names are at the bottom of the list, and Latin letters are at the top of the list. This is due to MIUI system settings, where the English alphabet is prioritized. But what if you want Russian contacts to be displayed at the top of the list? Or if you want to return the standard sorting after experimenting with settings?

In this article, we will discuss all the ways to change the order of display of contacts on the Redmi Note 12/13, Redmi 10/11 and other models running MIUI 12-14.

• 🔄 Switch between Cyrillic and Latin alphabet in sorting
• 📱 Change the language of display of names (Russian, English, Chinese)
• 🔧 Set priorities for specific languages
• ⚠️ Return the standard settings if something goes wrong

Important: the procedure may vary slightly depending on the MIUI version and regional firmware. If your Redmi runs on the global version of the software, some menu items may be called differently, we will specify alternative paths.

Why are contacts not sorted alphabetically?

The problem with the order of display of names in the phone book Xiaomi is associated with the encoding Unicode. MIUI system by default sorts characters by their Unicode values, where:

• 🅰️ Latin letters (A-Z) They have priority and go first.
• 🄰 Cyrillic (A-Y) follows Latin
• 🈳 The symbols of other alphabets (Greek, Arabic, Chinese) are placed at the end of the alphabet.

This means that the contact with Alexei will be lower than Zoe, even if the Russian alphabet A is first, a logic that is embedded in the Android core, but Xiaomi allows you to change it through hidden settings.

⚠️ Note: Some firmware (e.g. Chinese) may have the option of changing sorting blocked, in which case only the firmware reflashing to the global version will help. MIUI.

Method 1: Change the language of the system (the simplest method)

The fastest way to get a phone book to sort contacts in Cyrillic is to change the language to Russian, which automatically reorders the display order:

1. Open Settings → Additional → Language and input.
2. Select the language and set Russian (Russia) at the top of the list.
3. Reboot your smartphone (required!).

Once you reboot, the contacts will start to appear in Russian alphabetical order, and if this method doesn't work, move on to the next method.

Backup your contacts (via Google Account or MI Cloud)

Check the MIUI version (Settings → About Phone → MIUI version)

Make sure the language of the system matches the correct alphabet

Close all applications that work with contacts (Telegram, WhatsApp)-->

Method 2: Manually set up sorting in the Contacts app

If the system language change didn’t help, try to set up sorting directly in the Contacts app:

1. Open the Contacts app (a icon with a person's silhouette).
2. Tap on three points (⋮) in the upper right corner and select Settings.
3. Go to the Contact Management section → Sorting.
4. Choose one of the options: 🅰️ Named (A-Z) — standard sorting (Latin) → Cyrillic) 🄰 By name (A-Y) - priority Cyrillic (not available on all firmware) 📞 Phone number - an alternative option

Some versions of MIUI (e.g. 13.0.6) may not have the name option (A-Z), and the following method will help.

Method 3: Changing the region for proper sorting

Regional settings affect how MIUI processes alphabets, so that Cyrillic contacts are displayed first, you can set the region Russia or Ukraine:

1. Go to Settings → Additional → Language and Enter → Region.
2. Choose Russia (or another country with the Cyrillic alphabet).
3. Reset the device.

To transfer contacts to the new app:

1. Export contacts from the standard phone book (Contacts → Settings → Import / Export).
2. Install the selected application from Google Play.
3. Import contacts to a new app (usually an option is available on your first run).

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If the contacts are displayed in hieroglyphics after import, check the file encoding when exporting. In the export settings, select UTF-8 instead of ANSI.

Method 5: Reset the settings of the Contacts app

If after experimenting with the settings sorting went wrong, return the application Contacts to factory parameters:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find the contact and tap him.
3. Select Warehouse → Clear data and Reset settings.

Once reset, all sorting settings will return to factory-based, but the contacts themselves will remain intact (they are stored in a Google or MI Cloud account).If you haven't synced your contacts to the cloud, back up before reset!

Frequent problems and their solutions

Even after changing the settings, sorting may not work properly.

• 🔄 Contacts are not sorted alphabetically at all: Check if you have a sorting by date of addition or call frequency in the Contacts app settings.
• 🌍 After the region change, sorting hasn’t changed: Reboot your phone and wait for full cloud contacts sync (can take up to 10 minutes).
• 📵 Names are displayed in hieroglyphics: This means that the encoding has gone wrong. Try exporting contacts to a.vcf file, opening it on a PC, and re-importing it.

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If none of these methods worked, the problem may be with the firmware itself: Update MIUI to the latest version, or consider switching to custom firmware (like Pixel Experience), where sorting contacts works properly.

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions