How to stretch the application to the full screen Xiaomi: the complete guide

Owners of modern Xiaomi smartphones often face a situation where their favorite app or game does not occupy the entire display area. Instead of immersive experience, the user sees black stripes on the top and bottom, which is especially annoying on devices with elongated screens of 20:9 format. This is due to the fact that many software developers optimize their products for standard proportions, ignoring the features of the hardware of new gadgets.

Fortunately, the MIUI shell and the Android operating system provide powerful tools for forced interface scaling, so you don't have to be a programmer or root-rights to fix the display, but you just have to use the built-in features that allow you to stretch content across the entire screen, ignoring standard compatibility limitations.

In this guide, we will take a look at all the customization methods available, from simple menu switches to advanced manipulations through the engineering menu. You will learn to eliminate black fields in games, video and social networks, making smartphone use as comfortable and aesthetic as possible.

Why the app doesn’t stretch to the full screen

The main reason for the black fields is the difference in aspect ratios between the software and the physical display: older apps were created for 16:9 screens, while modern flagships Xiaomi and Redmi use more elongated formats. The system by default retains the original proportions of the picture, so as not to distort the interface, adding empty areas.

In addition, some apps have rigidly defined restrictions in their manifesto that prohibit full-screen operation on certain resolutions. Android respects these developer settings, prioritizing the correctness of displaying elements over filling space.

⚠️ Warning: Forced UI stretching can cause some controls (buttons, menus) to be outside the visible area or to be cropped.

It's important to understand that not all applications respond equally to scale changes. If simple games just stretch the picture, then complex interfaces with a fixed layout can go design, so before a global change in settings, it is worth testing the behavior of a particular program.

Set up full screen mode in MIUI

The first and easiest way to solve the problem is to use the standard settings of the MIUI shell. Xiaomi engineers have provided a special section where you can manually specify to the system which applications should work in full size.

To access these options, you need to go to the settings menu and find the partition responsible for display. The path may vary slightly depending on the firmware version, but the logic remains the same. You need to find Full-screen mode or Applications in full-screen mode.

In the list that opens, you'll see all the programs that are installed. Opposite those that don't support the full screen by default, there'll be a switch. If you activate it, you force the application to run in stretched mode, and the system will automatically apply the changes the next time you run the software.

• 📱 Open the settings on your smartphone.
• 🔍 Go to the Screen (or Display) section).
• 📺 Select the Full Screen Mode option.
• ✅ Include switches opposite the desired applications from the list.

After doing this, restart the application, and in most cases, the black bars disappear and the content takes up the entire matrix area available, and if the standard method didn't work, a deeper intervention in the system settings would be required.

Use of Engineering Menu and ADB

For advanced users who lack standard features, there is a method of changing the minimum screen width (dp) that fools the app into thinking the screen is narrower than it really is, resulting in automatic stretching of the interface.

Changing the density of dots per inch (DPI) is an effective but risky step. The wrong value can make the interface unreadable or cause system failures. Before starting the procedure, it is strongly recommended to remember the original value of the parameter to be able to roll back.

adb shell wm density 400

To execute the command, you need to connect your smartphone to a computer with ADB installed and USB debugging enabled. By typing a command in the terminal, you change the global interface density. To return everything as it was, use the command adb shell wm density reset.

⚠️ Attention: Do not set the value DPI Extreme values below 300 or above 600 without needing to.Extreme values can lead to inability to control the smartphone and require resetting settings.

An alternative to a computer might be to use special terminal applications on the device if root rights are available, but for most users, a PC + ADB bundle remains the most stable and controlled way to make system changes.

Hidden Developer Settings

There's a hidden developer menu in Android that contains a lot of useful debugging and fine-tuning tools, including options that affect window behavior and interface scalability, and you need to activate this menu separately.

To get to the hidden section, you need to click on the build number in the About Phone section several times in a row, and after the developer mode activation message appears, a new item will appear in the settings menu, and you can find parameters related to element size and compatibility.

Minimum width is a very important consideration, and reducing this visually zooms in on all the elements, which can help stretch the interface of older applications, but it affects the entire system at once, not the individual application.

Third-party applications for scaling

If system methods seem too complex or do not produce the desired result, specialized applications from Google Play come to the rescue. Programs like SecondScreen or Universal Zoom allow you to create display profiles for different tasks.

These utilities often require special permissions through ADB when they first run, but then they work autonomously, changing screen resolution, pixel density, and even emulating a notch under the camera to hide it in games.

• 🚀 SecondScreen: A powerful tool to change resolution and DPI.
• 🔍 Universal Zoom: allows you to scale individual areas of the screen.
• 🎮 GameTools: Game Tweakers for Optimizing Display.

Using third-party software provides flexibility but consumes additional battery resources, and some anti-cheat systems in online games can block the launch of an application if active overlays or screen modifiers are detected.

Solving problems with specific applications

Some popular programs, such as Instagram or older versions of VK, can behave unpredictably even after all the settings, in which case cleaning the app cache after changing the screen settings helps, and the system must recalculate the size of the interface elements.

It’s also worth checking for updates to the app itself, and developers often release patches that add support for new screen resolutions, and if only one game is affected, try running it through the built-in Game Turbo, which has its own zoom settings.

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If after stretching the application, the control buttons are no longer available, try to enable navigation with gestures instead of buttons in the settings - this will free up additional space from the bottom.

As a last resort, you can use console emulators or special launchers for older games, which wrap the application in its window with the right parameters, and this creates a virtual environment with the right aspect ratio.

⚠️ Note: Using modified versions of apps (mods) to change the interface may result in an account being blocked from online services.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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The best way to stretch the application is to use the built-in switch in the MIUI settings, as it guarantees the stability of the system and does not require complex manipulations.