Xiaomi smartphone users often have to monitor how much time they spend in the digital space, or they need to know how long a particular program has been running in the background. Owners of devices with a MIUI shell or the new HyperOS have access to powerful built-in analytics tools that do not require the installation of third-party software, these features allow not only to monitor productivity, but also to optimize battery consumption, identifying “voracious” processes.
There are several levels of access to this information, from simple screen usage statistics to a detailed report on how each process works in the system. Android's digital well-being provides basic data, but Xiaomi's tools often go further by offering in-depth analysis of power consumption. Understanding how to read this data will help you prolong the autonomy of the gadget and better organize your day.
In this guide, we will take a look at all the monitoring methods available, hidden settings and nuances of system meters, learn to distinguish between active use time and background work, and learn how to limit application access to resources if they consume too much power. The accuracy of the data on the time depends on the version of Android and the specific shell build. MIUI/HyperOS.
Using the Digital Well-Being function
The most obvious and affordable way to know how much time you or a particular app have spent in active mode is through the standard Digital Wellbeing module, which is built into the Android core and is deeply integrated into the MIUI shell. It collects statistics for a day, week or month, providing visual graphs and diagrams.
To access the data, you need to go to the settings menu and find the appropriate section, which shows not only the total time spent with the phone, but also the detail for each program installed. The system automatically sorts applications by time of use, allowing you to quickly identify the main time eaters.
- 📱 Open Settings and find Digital Well-Being and Parental Controls.
- 📊 Click on the pie chart or the Data View button to see the full list.
- ⏱️ Select any app from the list to see detailed statistics for today and previous days.
It is important to note that the counter in this section only takes into account the time when the screen was on and the application was in focus or was in visible mode. Background processes, such as downloading files or listening to music when the display is off, may not be displayed here to the full extent, since the main focus of the module is to control the user's dependence on the screen.
Analysis of energy consumption as a time indicator
If your goal is to find out how long the app has been running, even when you haven’t used it directly (like a navigator or messenger), the most accurate source is battery statistics. The Battery section of Xiaomi’s settings contains information about the energy consumption of each process, which directly correlates with the time it’s been running.
The system calculates the percentage of charge that a particular application has consumed. Although the exact time in hours and minutes may not be explicitly stated here in some versions of the firmware, the percentage ratio allows you to understand the scale of activity. If an application used 20% of the charge in a day, it lasted significantly longer than the one that consumed 1%.
For detailed information, follow the following steps:
- 🔋 Go to Settings. → Battery.
- 📉 Click on the menu icon (three dots or gear) and select Battery Consumption.
- 📱 In the list of applications, find the right one – often there is a screen time and background activity.
⚠️ Note: The data in the battery statistics are reset after each full charge or reboot. If you want to record the exact time of operation over a long period, take screenshots before the charger is connected.
In addition, in this section, you can see the separation between Screen and Background, which is critical information for diagnosing autonomy problems. If the app shows high consumption in the background with minimal screen time, it is a signal of malfunction or excessive activity.
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Use Power Saving mode to limit the background activity of applications that you rarely use but that are constantly hanging in your memory.
Parental Control and Family Link
For parents who want to monitor the time a child spends on apps on their Xiaomi, the best solution is to link to Google Family Link, a tool that allows them to remotely monitor device activity, set time limits, and even block the launch of games or social networks after the allocated limit has expired.
Installing parental controls requires two devices: a parent and a child, and once you set up your app accounts on the parent's phone, you'll have detailed statistics, and you'll be able to see not only the total time, but also the number of apps you've launched, and the history of your actions.
Key monitoring features through Family Link:
- 👨👩👧👦 Set daily time limits for specific applications or devices.
- 🚫 Locking the device remotely at any time.
- 📍 Geolocation tracking and movement history.
The advantage of this method is that a child cannot simply turn off tracking or falsify statistics, because the control is done with a link to a Google account with administrator rights, which makes the data as reliable as possible for analyzing behavior.
What to do if your child has deleted the Family Link?
Engineering menu and hidden statistics
For advanced users who don’t have enough standard reports, there is access to hidden parts of the system through an engineering menu, and MIUI and HyperOS have special codes that provide access to deep statistics on the use of components and applications that are usually hidden from the eyes of the average user.
One of the useful sections is the statistics of how applications are used by the system, and to get there, you can use the special code in the Phone app, but it's worth remembering that the interface here can be presented in a raw form, without beautiful graphs, but the data will be as technical as possible.
Popular codes for accessing statistics (not work on all versions):
##4636##
##6484##The Usage statistics section that opens the Testing menu often shows the exact time of the last application launch and the total time it has been running since the last reboot or reset, and is an invaluable debugging tool if you suspect that an application is hanging and heating up the processor.
⚠️ Warning: Be extremely careful in the engineering menu. Changing the settings in the sections you do not understand (for example, Radio Info or Network settings) can lead to loss of communication or incorrect operation of communication modules.
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The engineering menu gives access to raw data that is not reset as often as battery statistics, allowing you to track the long history of the processes.
Comparison of time monitoring methods
The choice of method depends on what information you are looking for: the time you spent behind the screen, or the technical time of the process. Each of the systems discussed above has its pros and cons, which are conveniently summarized in a single table for comparison.
Below is a comparison of the main sources of data on the time of application operation on Xiaomi devices:
| Method | Accuracy of data | Background management | Difficulty of access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digital well-being | High (screen) | Low. | Low. |
| Battery statistics | Average (percentage) | Tall. | Low. |
| Family Link | High (control) | Medium | Medium |
| Engineering menu | Maximum | Complete. | Tall. |
As you can see from the table, for the average user who wants to limit their screen time, Digital Well-Being is ideal, and if your goal is to find an app that discharges the phone in their pocket, you should look at battery statistics or engineering menus.