How to see how long Xiaomi phone has been used: all the ways

Want to know how many hours a day you spend on a Xiaomi smartphone? Or maybe you plan to sell the device and honestly specify the actual time of operation? In this article, we will analyze all available methods, from standard MIUI functions to hidden engineering menus and third-party utilities.

Many users mistakenly think that it requires installing additional software or disassembling a phone, and in fact, most of the data is already collected on the system — it just needs to be extracted correctly. And if you want to get the most accurate statistics (including screen time, application activity, and even charging cycles), we will show you how to do this without risking the device.

It's important to understand the difference between total uptime (from the first on) and active use (when the screen was on), the first one shows the actual age of the phone, and the second one shows how much you're using it, and both can be useful: the first one is for evaluating battery wear, the second one is for monitoring digital hygiene.

Standard statistics in MIUI: "Time of use"

The easiest way to do this is to use a built-in MIUI feature called Digital Well-being (or Use Time in older versions), which shows not only the total screen time, but also the distribution by application.

To find this data:

1. Open Settings → Digital Well-Being and Parental Controls.
2. Slip on the icon "Handglass" (or "Time of use").
3. Choose a period: Today, Yesterday or Week.

Here you'll see:

• 📱 Total screen time for the selected period.
• 📊 Application statistics (how much time has been eaten).
• 🔄 Number of phone unlocks.
• 🌙 Time of inactivity (when the phone was turned on but the screen is off).

⚠️ Note: This data is reset after resetting your settings or replacing your Mi Account. If you have recently performed Hard Reset, the statistics will start from scratch.

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To save your usage history before reset, take screenshots of the stats screen or export the data to PDF via the Report feature (if available in your version of MIUI).

2. Engineering menu: hidden data about working hours

For those who want to know the exact time of the phone from the moment of the first turn on (in hours), the engineering menu will help.This method works on all Xiaomi devices, but you need to be careful - do not change the other options in this menu!

Instructions:

1. Open the Phone app.
2. Enter the combination: ##4636## (for new models, see the alternative below).
3. Select the phone information (or Usage statistics).
4. Scroll down to the Time Since Boot or Uptime section.

If the code doesn’t work, try an alternative method:

• 🔧 Install the app MTK Engineering Mode (for MediaTek processors) or Shortcut Master (for Snapdragon).
• 📲 In the application, find the Engineering Mode section → Hardware Testing → Usage Time.

⚠️ Note: The engineering menu displays the time of the current session (from the last restart).To find out the total time of the device, you need to add the data from the logs (see the next section).

3. System logs: where the history of use is stored

For advanced users, there is a way to get a complete history of the phone’s activity, including running time, charging time, and even CPU temperature, which is stored in system logs, but it will require ADB (Android Debug Bridge) to extract it.

Step-by-step:

1. Turn on USB Debugging in Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (tap 7 times on version, then go back to Additional settings → For developers).
2. Connect your phone to your PC and execute the command: adb shell dumpsys batterystats
3. In the conclusion, find the lines: Screen on: +{time in ms} Screen off: +{time in ms}
4. Translate milliseconds into hours (divided by 3.6 million).

An alternative method is to use the AccuBattery app (available on Google Play), which analyzes the log files and shows:

• 🔋 Battery life (including screen and background processes).
• 📉 Discharge and charging schedules.
• 🔄 Number of charging cycles (important for estimating battery wear).

Install ADB PC-only|Enable debugging on USB|Connect your phone to the original cable|Download Logcat Reader (optional)-->

Third-party annexes: detailed statistics

If the built-in MIUI tools aren't enough, you can use third-party utilities that not only show you when you're using them, but also provide analytics on habits, notifications, and even optimization tips.

Top.-3 apps:

⚠️ Note: Some applications (e.g. ActionDash) require permission to access Special Data Capabilities. Do not provide access to unknown utilities - this may violate privacy.

Important: Third-party apps can show usage times with an error of up to 10-15% due to Android’s limitations on data collection in the background.

5. via Mi Account: the history of device activity

If your Xiaomi is tied to a Mi Account, some of the usage time data is synced to the cloud, which is useful if you want to look at statistics from past months or after a phone reset.

How to get data:

1. Go to account.xiaomi.com and log in.
2. Select the Device tab → find your phone.
3. Click the Activity Journal (or Usage History).

Here you'll see:

• 📅 Date of first connection of the device to the account.
• 🔄 Recent activity (including timing).
• 📱 Phone models that were linked to your account (useful if you changed devices).

Limitation: Xiaomi will store this data for no more than 6 months, and for a longer history you will need to use local logs (see section 3).

6.To Sell Your Phone: How to Honestly Specify Your Use Time

If you are selling Xiaomi and want to specify the actual operating time, combine several methods:

1. Total operating time: Engineering menu + batterystats logs.
2. Charging cycles: data from AccuBattery or adb shell dumpsys battery.
3. Screen time: statistics from digital well-being.

An example of an honest description for an announcement:

The phone has been in use for 1.5 years, with a total screen life of ~ 1,200 hours (MIUI data) and has completed 350 charging cycles (88% of the original one, according to AccuBattery).

⚠️ Note: Some buyers are asking for screenshots from the CPU-Z or AIDA64, This data can be forged, so it's better to provide complex information from multiple sources.

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The combination of MIUI data, the engineering menu and AccuBattery gives the most objective picture of how a phone is used.

7. Frequent mistakes and how to avoid them

Many users are faced with inaccurate data or can't find the information they need, and here are the most common problems and solutions.

Problem 1: The “Digital Well-Being” shows the time of 0 hours.

• 🔹 Possible reason: statistics dropped after update MIUI.
• 🔹 Solution: Check the data in Google Digital Wellbeing (if installed) or in logs via ADB.

Problem 2: The engineering menu does not open with ##4636##.

• 🔹 Possible reason: Xiaomi has blocked this code in new firmware.
• 🔹 Solution: Use the Shortcut Master app or MTK Engineering (depending on the processor).

Problem 3: The data from ADB seems incomplete.

• 🔹 Possible reason: Log files are rotated and only stored for the last 30 days.
• 🔹 Solution: For long-term statistics, use third-party cloud backup apps (e.g. QualityTime).

FAQ: Answers to popular questions