Modern smartphones have long moved away from the usual buttons that occupied usable screen area and often interfered with immersion in content. Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO devices often wonder how to activate gesture control to get that same “clean” screen without unnecessary interface elements. Swipes not only make control more aesthetic, but also significantly speed up navigation, allowing you to get to the desired functions with a single movement of your finger.
The process of switching to gestures can seem difficult only in the first minutes of use, until muscle memory is developed. In the shells of MIUI and the new HyperOS, this feature is implemented with the most flexibility, allowing you to adjust the sensitivity and appearance of indicators. In this article, we will discuss all the nuances of the setting so that you can fully adapt the smartphone to your style of use.
Turning on gesture navigation isn't just a visual trick, it's a change in the logic of interacting with the Android operating system. You stop reaching for the bottom edge of the screen behind virtual buttons, which is especially true for devices with large diagonals. Let's look at a step-by-step algorithm that will help you quickly master a new control method.
⚠️ Warning: When you switch to gestures, the old navigation pattern (buttons) will disappear completely. If you are used to a certain location of the buttons, the first days may be random swipes instead of pressing.
Where to find navigation settings in MIUI and HyperOS
The first thing that you need to do for a Xiaomi smartphone owner is to locate the correct menu path. The path to settings may vary slightly depending on the firmware version, but the logic remains the same. You need to open the Settings app and find the section that deals with the appearance and system settings.
In most current versions of the shell, the path is as follows: go to Settings, then select the Desktop (or additionally in new versions) and look for System Navigation, which is where the switch between the classic buttons and modern controls hides.
- 📱 Open the smartphone settings.
- 🔍 Find the Desktop section or additional settings.
- 🖱️ Select the item System Navigation.
- ✅ Activate the option Full-screen control.
When you activate the full screen interface, the Home, Back and Menu buttons will disappear, giving way to thin stripes or disappearing completely, depending on the display settings you choose. It is important to note that in some regions or older versions of MIUI, this item may be immediately in the main settings menu.
☑️ Pre-switch check
Basic gestures for interface management
Once you have swipes, you have to learn how to use them, and the logic is simple: the left and right edges of the screen become zones for navigating "Back", and the bottom of the screen takes over the functions of the home button and switching tasks.
To return to the previous screen, just swipe from the left or right edge of the display to the center, which is a duplicate of the "back" button. If you need to fold the current application and go to the desktop, make a short swipe from the bottom up. That's the equivalent of pressing the "home" button.
⚠️ Attention: Swipes only work from the very edge of the screen. 1-2 See from the border, the system may perceive this as a scroll of content, not a navigation command.
To open the menu of running applications, you swipe from the bottom up and hold your finger at the top for a split second, you'll see a list of running programs cards, and you'll also have a quick switch: swipe from the bottom up and hold your finger in the center of the screen, and you can instantly switch between the latest apps.
- ⬅️ Swipe from edge to center: back to back.
- ⬆️ Swipe from bottom up (short): access to the desktop.
- ⏸️ Swipe from the bottom up (with a delay): menu of running applications.
- 🔄 Swipe from bottom to bottom (long): switching between applications.
Mastering these four movements usually takes no more than one day of active use, and the brain quickly adapts to new mechanics, and soon you'll find that the control has become much faster and more convenient than with buttons.
Setting up the concealment of the navigation strip
Many users turn on gestures, but are unhappy with the thin stripe at the bottom of the screen, which reminds of the control mode. Xiaomi has the ability to completely remove this indicator, making the screen truly frameless.
To do this, in the same menu System navigation you need to find the switch Hide full-screen prompt (or "Hide the indicator full-screen mode"). Once activated, the lower bar will disappear, and the screen will look as clean as possible.
| Parameter | The strip is visible | The strip is hidden | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aesthetics | I can see the indicator. | Clean screen. | Hide for beauty |
| Training | I see where to swipe. | We need to remember the zone. | Leave it to the newcomers. |
| Random swipes | Fewer mistakes. | Possible in games | Depends on habit. |
| Availability | Always on hand. | Requires memory. | Hide experienced |
But one thing to consider is that if you hide the strip, the visual reference for doing the Home swipe will disappear. 5-10% The screen is the active area. For most users, this is not a problem, but in the first hours of use, there may be misses.
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If you often play games that use swipes from the edges (shooters, races), it is better to leave the strip visible or use the Game mode to avoid random exits on the menu.
Solving problems with gesture sensitivity
Sometimes users are faced with situations where swipes do not work or react with a delay, this can be due to individual features of the touchscreen calibration or installed protective glasses. MIUI provides fine sensitivity setting.
The navigation menu often features a slider called the speed of animation or edge sensitivity settings. If swipes from the edge of the screen are difficult to perform, try to increase sensitivity or, conversely, reduce it if there are accidental returns when scrolling the tape.
Settings → Desktop → System navigation → Gesture settingsProblems can also arise from cheap protective glasses that have thick edges or poor oleophobic coating, in which case the system may not recognize the beginning of the touch at the very edge of the display.
- 🛡️ Check the quality of the protective glass or film.
- ⚙️ Calibrate the touchscreen through the engineering menu (code # #6484##).
- 🧹 Clean the screen of fat and moisture that interfere with the slip.
- 🔄 Reboot the device to reset the drivers of the touch.
In rare cases, resetting interface settings helps, and it won't delete your data, but it will return the location of widgets and launcher settings to factory values, which can eliminate the software glitch that blocks gestures.
Engineering menu for checking touchscreen
Comparison: Buttons vs. Swipes
Should you switch to gestures if you've been using buttons for years? Let's compare the two methods objectively: buttons give you a clear visual sense of what to press and eliminate "wrong hit" errors, but they take up space on the screen and require a wider grasp of the device.
Swipes, in turn, free up space and allow you to control your phone with one hand even on large screens. Ergonomics here wins, but there is a disadvantage: in some applications with a non-standard implementation of the interface, the swipe back can conflict with the internal menus of the program (for example, in some readers or maps).
⚠️ Note: In some banking applications or games, gestures may not work properly, in which case the system will prompt you to switch to buttons temporarily or hide the swipe area.
For those who type a lot, the presence of buttons at the bottom sometimes gets in the way, because fingers fall into this area, and the transition to gestures solves this problem by shifting the comfort zone of typing higher, but the habit of looking for the back button with your eyes can persist at first.
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The switch to gestures is an investment in ergonomics. The first 2-3 days will be unusual, but after a week you probably won't want to go back to the buttons because of the increased speed.
Additional settings and hidden functions
Newer versions of HyperOS and MIUI 14 add advanced customization options, such as setting up double tapping on a switched-off screen or changing the swipe behavior down the center.
You also need to look at the one-handed function, which is more fluid when gestures are enabled, where a swipe away from the home button (imaginary) narrows the screen, making the top accessible to the thumb, which is especially useful for owners of the Pro and Ultra models with huge displays.
Remember that in Do Not Disturb or Sleep mode, swipes can be blocked to prevent accidental awakenings. If you notice that gestures stopped working after a certain time, check the schedule of energy saving modes.
- 🌙 Check the settings of the "Do not disturb" mode".
- 🖐️ Activate "One-Hand Management" in additional settings.
- ⚡ Make sure that the energy saving mode does not limit background processes.
- 🎨 In the themes. MIUI You can change the style of the bar indicator.
Using third-party launchers can make adjustments. Some shells from third-party developers have their own gesture settings that can conflict with system ones, in which case the priority is always given to Xiaomi system settings.