Owners of Redmi smartphones often face an annoying situation: you turn on the track in your favorite player, lock the device and put it in your pocket, but after a few seconds the music stops. On models like Xiaomi Redmi 9 with a shell MIUI, this problem is especially acute due to the aggressive battery saving system, which by default “kills” background processes.
Many users mistakenly believe that the speaker or the application itself is faulty, but the root of the evil lies in software optimization algorithms: the system believes that if the screen is turned off, active use of the application is not required, and forcibly stops it from working to save energy. To enjoy audiobooks or tracks without interruptions, you need to manually adjust.
In this tutorial, we’ll take a look at all the available methods for solving the problem, from simple switches in settings to a deeper system configuration. Proper background settings will allow your Redmi 9 to work exactly the way you want it to work, not the way the automation decided.
Reasons for stopping sound on MIUI
The MIUI shell, which is installed on the Xiaomi Redmi 9, is famous for its unique approach to resource management. Unlike “pure” Android, there are many restrictions that should prolong battery life, but often interfere with the normal functioning of multimedia.
The main culprit is the built-in power saving mechanism, where when the screen goes out, the system goes into standby mode and starts scanning running applications. If the program is not high priority, it is labeled as "resource consuming in the background" and forced to close, which is standard behavior for budget and medium-budget devices, where optimization is the first thing.
⚠️ Warning: Aggressive memory cleanup can affect not only music players, but also navigators, voice recorders or workout tracking apps if they work with the display off.
There are also limits on the number of applications running simultaneously, and if you have many tabs open, the system can choke the background sound to free up RAM for the software that is being used, and understanding this logic helps you set exceptions correctly.
Setting up battery limitations for applications
The first and most important step is to turn off the power restrictions for a particular music application, which tells the system not to interrupt the program, even if the screen is off for a long time.
To perform the settings, go to the Settings menu, then select the Application and click All Applications. In the list that opens, find your music player (for example, Yandex.Music, VLC or Spotify). You will need to log in to the Charge Savings menu (or Activity Control in older versions of MIUI).
In the window that opens, you'll see three behaviors, and the default is often "Saving Charge (Recommended)" and you need to switch that to "No Limits," which allows the application to run in the background without time constraints or power consumption.
☑️ Checklist of energy saving settings
Once this parameter is changed, the system will no longer consider the player a “parasitic” process, but in some cases this may not be enough if the general austerity regime is included.
Working with auto start and background processes
Another critical parameter in Xiaomi’s ecosystem is autorun management. Many users are unaware that without autorun permission, an app may not properly restore its operation after locking the screen or switching to other tasks.
You need to find the App option in the settings and select AutoRun. In the installed program list, find your audio player and turn on the switch for it, which ensures that system services keep the process “live” even with minimal user activity.
Also worth paying attention to the function "Accumulation in memory", although it is not a panacea, its use helps:
- 📱 Open the menu of running applications (swipe from the bottom up and retention).
- 🔒 Click on the lock or lock icon next to the player window to lock it.
- 🔄 Make sure the application does not disappear when you clear the memory with the Crestick button».
Using a task blocker for specific applications is an effective way to store them in RAM, but it is worth remembering that attaching too many programs can lead to general instability of the system.
Impact of the Developer Regime
MIUI optimization and system services
In the depth of Redmi 9’s settings, there’s a hidden MIUI optimization menu that controls how the system behaves, and it’s accessed through the Developer Menu, which is hidden by default.
To activate this mode, go to Settings → About Phone and quickly click 7 times on the MIUI Version. After the notification that you have become a developer, return to the Advanced Settings → For Developers menu.
Scroll down to the section beginning with "Enable MIUI Optimization." Make sure this switch is active. If it's off, turn it on. paradoxically, in some cases, switching it back (off-off-on) helps to reset errors in the background services.
| Parameter | Recommended value | Impact on music |
|---|---|---|
| Optimization of MIUI | Included. | Stabilize services |
| Background process | Standard limit | Does not limit the number of processes |
| Not to keep up the action | Off. | Prevents the closure of applications |
| Window animation | 0.5x or 1x | Reduces the load on the CPU |
Changing these parameters requires caution: improper configuration of system flags can lead to increased battery consumption or unstable interface operation.
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After changing the settings in the developer menu, be sure to perform a full reboot of the device so that the changes take effect correctly.
Specificity of the work of popular players
Different audio playback applications have their own settings that can override system settings, such as Yandex.Music or Spotify may include their own “traffic savers” or “optimizers” that conflict with MIUI.
Inside the app’s settings, find a section related to playback or data. Make sure it doesn’t have a “Stop When Locked” check check or a similar feature. Also check the stream quality settings: sometimes switching to higher quality makes the system think the app is consuming too much resources.
For a standard MIUI Music player, it's very integrated, but it's often plagued by update bugs. If you only have a problem with a standard player, try:
- 🎵 Clear the app cache through settings.
- 🔄 Update the Music Effects component through the GetApps store.
- 🗑️ Remove app updates and use factory version.
⚠️ Warning: Be careful when cleaning app data – this may remove your local playlists or equalizer settings saved inside the app.
Third-party players like PowerAmp or VLC often have more flexible settings in the background, and it’s worth looking for the “Wake Lock” option, which forces the processor to be active to decode the sound.
Additional methods and updates
If none of the above methods worked, the problem could lie in an outdated firmware version or a specific bug version of Android. Xiaomi Redmi 9 received several major updates, and in newer versions of MIUI, the algorithms for working with background processes were reworked.
Check for system updates in the About Phone menu. Sometimes waiting for a new security patch or shell update to arrive solves the problem globally, and it’s also worth checking if you have a cleaner app from third-party developers (Clean Master and similar) that may have their own aggressive settings.
At the very least, you can try resetting your network and application settings, but this is a radical measure, and a softer option is to remove the problem app, restart the phone and install it again, immediately giving you all the permissions you requested.
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Integrated approach: The combination of removing battery constraints, enabling auto-start and memory fixing gives a 99% guarantee of solving the problem on the Redmi 9.