Permanent location access on Xiaomi: how to configure without failure

Xiaomi’s MIUI-based smartphones are known for flexible privacy settings, but sometimes this flexibility plays against the user. One of the common problems is that apps lose access to geolocation after rebooting, updating the system, or after a few days of use, which interferes with navigators, activity trackers, and even system services like Google Maps or Mi Fit.

The reason is MIUI's aggressive policy of managing background and power consumption, which automatically restricts location access to "battery optimization," even if you've manually authorized it before, and in this article, we'll look at all the ways to secure permanent access to geodata, from basic settings to hidden developer settings.

Important: the procedure may vary slightly depending on the version of MIUI (12-14) and the model of the smartphone (Redmi Note 12, POCO X5, Xiaomi 13T, etc.).

Why is Xiaomi blocking location access?

The MIUI system limits geolocation for three main reasons:

• 🔋 Energy conservation: continuous GPS-The signal is using up the charge, so MIUI suspends background processes after 3-5 minutes without activity.
• 🛡️ Privacy: by default, applications are prohibited from accessing exact coordinates without explicit user permission.
• 🤖 Optimizing RAM: MIUI Closing “unnecessary” services unless they are included in the list of exceptions.

For example, Google Maps can work correctly, and Yandex.Navigator can lose a signal every 10 minutes, and this is not a bug, but a feature of MIUI: the system ranks applications by "importance" and blocks less popular ones, the solution is to manually assign priorities.

⚠️ Attention: After resetting settings or updating MIUI Repeat the procedure after each major system update (for example, when switching from a new system to a new system). MIUI 13 on MIUI 14).

Step 1: Basic Location Resolution Settings

Start by checking the basic parameters:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Select the application you want (e.g. 2GIS or Waze).
3. Go to Permits. → Location.
4. Set the switch to Always (not Only during use!).
5. Activate the "Exact Location" option (if available).

For Android 12+ and MIUI 13/14, add the app to the battery optimization exceptions:

• 📱 Settings → Battery and productivity → Optimizing the battery.
• 🔍 In the search bar, enter the name of the application.
• ⚡ Select "No restrictions".

Selected "Always" in location permissions

Included "Exact location"

Appendix added to battery exceptions

Rebooted smartphone to apply changes-->

If after these actions, access still disappears, proceed to the next step - set up autostart and background activity.

Step 2: Setup Auto Startup and Background Processes

MIUI blocks access to GPS if the app is not allowed to run in the background.

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Select your target app (like Google Maps).
3. Go to Permissions → Autostart and turn on the option.
4. Go back and activate Background Activity (or Background Work in older versions).

For MIUI 14, the path may be different:

Settings → Applications → Special Accesses → Autorun

After activating these options, the application will be able to:

• 📍 Get coordinates even when folded.
• 🔄 Update data in the background (for example, for jogging tracking).
• 🔔 Showing geofence notifications.

⚠️ Note: some applications (e.g. SberBank Online) may conflict with geolocation settings due to internal security policies).

Google Maps

Yandex.Navigator.

2GIS

Waze

Other-->

Step 3: Turning off energy saving for GPS

MIUI Has hidden energy saving settings that affect work GPS-To turn them off:

1. Go to Settings → Battery and Performance → Battery Mode.
2. Select "Performance" (or "No Limits" in older versions).
3. Open Settings → Additional → Special Opportunities.
4. Activate "High Accuracy" in the Location section.

For models with Qualcomm Snapdragon (e.g. POCO F5 or Redmi K60) additionally:

Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (click 7 times to activate developer mode)


Settings → Additional → For developers → Disable "Optimize MIUI for GPS"

These actions are enforced to include GPS-module at maximum power, but can increase battery consumption by 5-10%.If autonomy is critical, use adaptive mode (see table below).

Step 4: Hidden Developer Settings for GPS

If standard methods don't work, use the developer mode. Activate it:

Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (click 7 times in a row)

After activation, open:

Settings → Additional → For Developers

Find and turn on:

• 📡 "Keep it down. GPS "In the background" (or "Lock" GPS in background" in English-language firmware).
• 🔄 "Not optimize GPS" (Disables energy saving for the module).
• 🛠️ "Debugging by USB" (required ADB-Teams if previous steps have not worked).

On models with a MediaTek processor (such as the Redmi Note 11), an additional command may be required to unlock the GPS:

adb shell settings put global gps_lock_enabled 1

Step 5: Checking hardware constraints

If none of the methods worked, the problem may be:

• 📶 Weak signal GPS: In cities with tall buildings or underground parking lots, accuracy is falling.
• 🔧 Damaged. GPS-Module: Physical defects (e.g. after a fall) may disrupt antenna performance.
• 📱 Unofficial firmware: custom ROM (For example, LineageOS sometimes breaks drivers. GPS.

For diagnosis:

1. Install the GPS Status & Toolbox app from Google Play.
2. Run the Satellites in Mind test.
3. If the satellites are not detected for more than 5 minutes, the problem is hardware.

💡

To speed up your satellite search, turn on Plane Mode for 10 seconds before you travel, then turn it off, which will reset the GPS cache and speed up the location fixing.

If you suspect a hardware failure, contact the service center. For Xiaomi, with a valid warranty, repair of the GPS module is free (defect code: GPS-002).

Step 6: Alternative solutions

If the MIUI setting does not work, try:

• 🔄 Resetting location settings: Settings → Annexes → Application management → Three points (⋮) → Resetting permits
• 📱 Use of external GPS-receiver (e.g. Garmin) GLO 2) via Bluetooth.
• 🌍 Switching to GLONASS: Settings → Location → Regime. → Set "Device Only" Then manually select "GPS + GLONASS" in the engineering menu (#4636##).

For corporate users: if restrictions are imposed MDM-policy (for example, in work phones), ask the administrator to unlock the parameter android.permission.ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION.

1. The resolution "Always" in the application settings.

2. an exception to battery optimization.

3. activate "Do not turn off GPS in the background" in developer mode.

This is 95% of the success on all Xiaomi models.

FAQ: Frequent questions