Set up gesture management on Xiaomi: a complete guide with nuances

Handling your smartphone gestures instead of traditional navigation buttons has become the standard for modern Android devices, and Xiaomi is no exception. However, not everyone knows that there are several options for gesture navigation in MIUI - from the classic "swipe up" to branded solutions with additional features. Moreover, after system updates or resets, gesture parameters can be lost, and on some models (for example, POCO F5 or Redmi Note 12 Pro+), gesture algorithms differ from standard ones.

In this article, we will discuss not only the basic procedure for turning on / off gestures, but also hidden settings that allow you to fine-tune sensitivity, animations and even assign custom actions. Particular attention will be paid to the typical problems when gestures do not work after updating MIUI 14, conflict with shells from third-party manufacturers or do not work correctly in games. If you want to make the control of the phone as convenient as possible (or return familiar buttons), read further.

Why you should switch to gesture control

Traditional navigation buttons (Back, Home, Recent) take up precious space on the screen and are visually obsolete. Gestures solve this problem, but their benefits go beyond aesthetics:

• 📱 More screen area – especially for devices with a small display (for example, Xiaomi 13 mini or even a small screen). POCO X5).
• ⚡ Quick access to features: Swipe down for notification bar, retention for Google Assistant, etc.
• 🎮 Comfort in games – gestures do not overlap interface elements (important for Genshin Impact or GI). PUBG Mobile).
• 🔄 Flexible setting: in MIUI You can choose the gesture style (full screen or with an indicator), animation speed and even turn off vibration.

But there are also downsides to gestures, like the Xiaomi Pad 6 or the MIUI Pad tablets, standard gestures can conflict with multi-touch, and on some models (like the Black Shark 5 Pro), they turn off when Shark Space is activated, and if you encounter similar problems, you'll find solutions in the next sections.

How to turn on or off gestures on Xiaomi: basic instructions

The gesture activation procedure is the same for most devices on MIUI 12-14, but there are nuances for individual models. For example, on the POCO F4 GT, the path to settings may differ due to the custom shell of the POCO Launcher.

Standard algorithm:

1. Open the Settings → Display.
2. Select Full-screen mode (on some firmware - System navigation).
3. Slip by Navigation Type and select one of the options: Navigation buttons are the classic three buttons; MIUI gestures are a proprietary implementation with swipes from the edges; Android gestures are the standard swipe up (like on Pixel).

Confirm the selection and restart the device (recommended for stable operation).

On Xiaomi 12T and new flagships after selecting gestures will appear additional menu Setting up gestures, where you can:

• 🔄 Change the sensitivity of swipes (useful if gestures are triggered by accident).
• 🎨 Turn on/off the gesture indicator (thin bar at the bottom of the screen).
• 🔕 Turn off vibration when the gesture is triggered.

Important: On devices with an unlocked bootloader (for example, after firmware through Fastboot), gestures may not work properly until Mi Unlock is reactivated.

Hidden gesture settings: what can be configured additionally

Many users are unaware that MIUI has advanced gesture options available through Hidden Settings or Developer Mode, such as:

• 🔄 Change the animation speed when swiping (affects the smoothness of switching between applications).
• 📱 Assign custom actions for double tap on the back (works on Xiaomi) 11T Pro, Redmi K50 newer).
• 🎯 Disable gestures in individual apps (such as TikTok or YouTube, where swipes conflict with content).
• 🔍 Activate debugging of gestures for logs (useful if gestures are glitched after updating).

To access these functions:

1. Activate Developer Mode: Go to Settings → About Phone and tap the MIUI version 7 times.
2. Back to Settings → Additionally. → For developers.
3. Find the items: Full-screen gestures -- you can turn off the return animations here. You can turn on gesture debugging to collect logs (ADB required). Double tap to wake up -- works with gestures.

On Black Shark and gaming smartphones, there is a separate Shark Space menu → Gesture settings where you can assign swipes to run games or activate performance mode.

Typical gesture problems and how to solve them

Even when you're fine-tuned, gestures can work incorrectly, and here are the most common problems and solutions.

If the gestures stopped working after installing custom firmware (e.g. Pixel Experience or LineageOS), the problem may be the lack of sensor drivers.

1. Check the firmware version through Settings → About the phone.
2. Install a gesture patch (see the 4PDA or XDA Developers forum for your model).
3. Reset your settings via Recovery (the data will not be affected if you choose Wipe Cache).

💡

If gestures only bug one app (like Chrome or Instagram), try turning off full-screen mode for it: go to Settings → Apps → [App Name] → Full-screen mode and select Disable.

Features of customizing gestures on different models Xiaomi

Not all Xiaomi smartphones support the same set of gestures, and here are the key differences for the popular series:

• 📱 Redmi Note 11/12: Supports all types of gestures, but on the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G There may be no Android Gestures option due to custom firmware.
• 🎮 Black Shark 4/5: Have separate gestures for Shark Space game mode, which are customized through the Black Shark Control Center app.
• 📺 Xiaomi Pad 5/6: Gestures are optimized for the big screen, but can conflict with multi-touch (for example, when drawing in Xiaomi Smart Pen).
• 💎 Xiaomi 13/14 Ultra: Supports dynamic gestures (e.g. swipe on edge for quick camera start).

On the Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 and other foldable devices, gestures are customized separately for internal and external displays.

1. Turn your phone around and go to Settings → Display → Full-screen mode.
2. Select Settings for the external screen or Settings for the internal screen.
3. Set up gestures separately for each display (e.g., turn off swipes on the external screen if they interfere).

💡

On devices with AMOLED-screens (e.g. Xiaomi) 12S Ultra) gestures can be triggered even when the display is turned off if the Always-on Display function is enabled. To avoid this, turn off the Double-Tap option to wake up in the developer settings.

How to Restore Classic Navigation Buttons

If gesture control is not suitable for you, you can return traditional buttons (Back, Home, Recent) in two clicks:

1. Go to Settings → Display → Full-screen mode.
2. Select the navigation buttons.
3. Click More → The order of the buttons to swap them (for example, place Back on the right, as in iOS).

Some firmware (e.g. MIUI Global for Redmi 10) may lose the animation of the transition between applications after the buttons are returned.

• Activate Developer Mode (as described above).
• Enable options: Windows animation (set 1x). transition animation (also 1x).

If the navigation buttons don’t appear even after the change of mode, try:

adb shell settings put global policy_control immersive.full=*

This command will reset immersive mode policies (ADB and USB debugging enabled are required).

💡

On Xiaomi with MIUI 13+, you can hide the navigation buttons in individual apps. To do this, hold your finger on the Recent button and select Hide the navigation bar.

Additional tricks: custom gestures and automation

For advanced users, MIUI offers features that go beyond standard settings, such as:

• 🤖 Assign gestures to run apps via Automate or Tasker (requires Root or Root) ADB).
• 🔄 Create swipes for quick action (e.g. swipe up from corners to turn on flashlight).
• 📲 Use gestures on the locked screen (works on Xiaomi 13 Pro with a MIUI 14.0.4+).

For the implementation of custom gestures:

1. Install Fluid Navigation Gestures (Android 10+ is required).
2. Grant permissions for Special Features and Overlay over other applications.
3. Set up swipe zones and assign actions (e.g. swipe from the right edge to return back).

On the POCO F5 Pro and other 120Hz display devices, custom gestures can cause delays.

• Turn off Adaptive refresh rate in Settings → Display.
• Set a fixed 120Hz.

Important: Using third-party gesture apps can lead to bans in some games (such as Genshin Impact or Honor of Kings) as they are recognized as cheating utilities.

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions