How to change the screen resolution on Xiaomi: settings and hidden settings

Owners of modern smartphones Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO often face the need to optimize the display for specific tasks. Standard settings set by the manufacturer by default, do not always provide the perfect balance between image quality and autonomy of the device. Sometimes the user needs to change the screen resolution or frame rate to run a demanding game or, conversely, save battery power on a long trip.

Android, which underlies the MIUI and HyperOS shells, has a flexible management of graphics options, but many important options are hidden from the eyes of the average user in the standard settings menu. To access them, you need to understand the architecture of the display settings and know where to look for engineering menus or special commands. In this article, we will discuss in detail all the available ways to manage resolution.

It should be noted right away that the physical resolution of the matrix cannot be changed – this is a hardware characteristic. We are talking about software zooming or changing the pixel density (DPI), which affects the size of interface elements and graphics rendering. Properly configured these parameters can significantly improve the performance of the interface and visually adapt the smartphone to the needs of the owner.

Standard resolution settings in MIUI and HyperOS

In the latest firmware from Xiaomi, the company has introduced the ability to select the resolution directly from the standard menu, but it is not available on all models. OLED-To check the available options, you need to go to the Settings section and select the Screen item.

You should look for a subsection here, which may be called Screen Resolution or Resolution Settings. If your smartphone supports software switching, you'll see a list of available modes, such as Full HD+ or HD+. Switching between them is instantaneous, but may require confirmation of action. This is the most secure way, not requiring third-party software.

⚠️ Note: Many of the Redmi budget models and POCO This menu item may not be available. This is not a bug, but a manufacturer's restriction on a particular processor or matrix model.

Changing the resolution in the standard menu affects how the operating system renders the image. When choosing a lower resolution, the interface may become less clear, but the load on the graphics accelerator will decrease, and this is true for games where every frame counts, and the system tries to give maximum smoothness.

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If you don’t find the resolution change item in the standard menu, don’t rush to install third-party apps – try the engineering code method described below, it’s often more effective.

Using the CIT Engineering Menu for Diagnostics and Customization

A deeper level of customization is the engineering menu, known as the Calibration Information Test (CIT), which is designed for service centers, but is also available to ordinary users. To get there, open the Phone app and type in the combination ##6484##. The screen will show a list of tests where you can check the performance of the display.

While direct resolution change is rare here, this section is useful for color calibration and checking broken pixels. In some firmware versions, you can reset the display settings to factory settings through the CIT menu if the DPI experiments render the image unreadable, an important diagnostic tool.

To access hidden graphics settings, another code is often used. Enter ##4636##. The Check menu will open, where you can select Phone Information or Wi-Fi Information (the menu may vary depending on the Android version), and there are switches that affect the radio module and sometimes rendering options.

• 📱 Code ##6484## opens the full engineering test menu.
• 🔧 Code ##4636## gives you access to hidden system settings and battery information.
• ⚙️ In the check menu, you can find options for resetting the screen calibration.
• 🚫 Do not change the settings in the Network menu if you do not understand their purpose - this can lead to loss of communication.

Change DPI through Developer Settings

The most effective way to influence how content is displayed on the screen is to change the density of DPI (Dots Per Inch).This does not change the physical number of pixels, but makes the system think that the screen has a different density, scaling all the elements. To do this, you need to activate the developer mode. Go to Settings → About the phone and quickly press 7 times on the MIUI version or OS version.

When activated, a new section will appear in the settings menu Additional → Advanced Settings → Developer. Find Minimum Width (or Smallest Width) on the list. Write down the initial value before making changes! Increase the number will make items smaller, decrease will make them larger.

⚠️ Attention: Critical change of meaning DPI (For example, setting a value below 200 or more than 800 may cause the interface to become unreadable and you will have to do a complete data reset.

This is often used to cram more information onto the screen or to increase fonts for people with poor vision, and the density change also affects some applications that can redesign their interfaces thinking they are running on a tablet or smartwatch.

Setting the screen refresh rate (Hertsovka)

Special attention should be paid to the refresh rate parameter, which directly affects the smoothness of the picture. Modern Xiaomi smartphones support 90, 120 and even 144 Hz. Management of this parameter is in the Settings menu → Screen → Update frequency.

There are usually two modes available here: Default (automatic choice by the system) and Maximum (constant operation at high frequency). Selecting the maximum value provides better animations in menus and games, but significantly increases energy consumption. Automotive tries to balance between smoothness and savings.

For some applications, you can customize it. The same refresh rate menu often has Settings for individual applications, which allows you to, for example, leave social networks at 60 Hz to save, and the shooter to turn on 120 Hz for an advantage in reaction.

Hidden opportunities through ADB teams

For advanced users who are not afraid of the command line, there is a way to change the resolution through debugging. USB (ADB). This method allows you to set up precise resolution values without the standard constraints of the system. USB and installed package ADB Platform Tools.

First, turn on USB debugging in the developer menu. Connect your phone to your PC and type a command to check the connection. Then use wm size to view the current resolution and wm density for density. To change the resolution, you use a syntax that indicates the width and height in pixels.

adb shell wm size 1080x2340

This command will force the resolution of 1080 to 2340 pickels. To reset the changes and return the factory settings, just type in the command adb shell wm size reset. Similarly, the command for density works: adb shell wm density reset. It's a powerful tool, but it requires caution.

• 💻 The wm size command shows the current physical and software resolution.
• 🔄 Reset is performed by the reset command at the end of the line.
• ⚡ Changes through ADB apply instantly without rebooting.
• 🛡️ Antivirus on PC can block the work ADB, add an exception.

⚠️ Attention: When in use ADB And if you're not able to read the numbers, you can make the image on the screen unreadable, and you can only get it back through reconnecting to the computer.

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Using ADB is the only way to set a custom resolution that is not provided by the manufacturer in the standard menu, but it requires a PC and basic command line knowledge.

Impact of Permit on Performance and Battery

Many users are wondering if it's worth lowering the resolution to save energy, and in practice, the effect of this parameter on autonomy depends heavily on the type of matrix. OLED-In the same way that many Xiaomi flagships use, each pixel glows independently. The lower resolution may not have a significant effect, since the backlight works differently than on the backlight. IPS.

However, lower resolution or DPI density can unload the GPU. If the smartphone is old or overheating, reducing the load on the interface rendering can make the system more responsive. In games, this often gives an increase in FPS, since the system needs to handle fewer points on the screen.

On the other hand, on today’s high-powered processors, the power difference between Full HD+ and HD+ can be as low as 2-3% per day of use, so you should only change the settings if you’re experiencing specific performance issues or interface inconvenience.

Frequent problems and their solution

In the process of experimenting with screen settings, users may encounter artifacts, incorrect font display or “got” layout of applications, most often solved by simply returning to factory values through the developer menu or reset command in ADB.

If the screen turns black or the image disappears after the DPI changes, don't panic. Try to quickly connect the device to your computer and send a reset command. If that's not possible, downloading in Recovery mode (clutching the volume button up and power) and selecting the Wipe Data item will help, but this will delete all personal data.

Also, remember that some applications, especially banking ones, may not work properly when the system settings of the screen are changed. In such cases, the security system may block the application from starting.