The strip at the bottom of the screen on Xiaomi: how to remove, hide or customize for yourself

Have you just updated your Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 or POCO X5 Pro and suddenly noticed an annoying gray bar at the bottom of the screen? Or maybe it was always there, but now it’s wider with the MIUI 14 update? This bottom bar (aka navigation bar or gesture bar) appears on all Xiaomi smartphones with a frameless design – and its appearance does not always suit users.

In this article, we’ll look at all the ways you can work with the bottom bar on Xiaomi, from simple hiding through settings to deep tuning through ADB and editing system files, and learn how to make it transparent, reduce height, replace it with classic buttons or remove it altogether, depending on the version of MIUI and your device model, and also find out why the strip sometimes flashes, disappears on its own or changes color.

What is the bottom strip on Xiaomi and why you need it

The bottom panel on Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones is a MIUI interface element that replaces the physical navigation buttons ("Back", "Home", "Recent"). It appeared with the transition to gesture control (starting with MIUI 10) and performs several key functions:

• 🔄 Navigation gestures: holding a finger up returns to the main screen, holding and holding opens a list of recent applications, holding from the edge - returns back.
• 📱 Activity Indication: The strip is illuminated when touched, showing that the system recognizes your actions.
• 🎨 Visual Separator: Separates the content area from the gesture area so that the user does not accidentally activate the navigation.

On newer models (such as the Xiaomi 13T or Redmi K60), the strip can be translucent or completely hidden in some applications (such as games or video players).However, in older versions of MIUI (up to 12.5), it often looks like a solid gray line that eats up part of the screen.

It's important to understand that the strip is not a bug, it's a MIUI feature designed to improve the user experience, but if it interferes, it can be customized or removed. Then we'll look at all the methods available.

Method 1: Hiding the strip through MIUI settings (without root)

The easiest and safest method is to use the built-in MIUI options, which is suitable for most models starting with MIUI 12 and later.

1. Open the Settings → Display.
2. Select Full-screen Mode (or Screen Size on some firmware).
3. Activate Hide the lower navigation bar or Transparent Navigation Bar.
4. If you don’t have an option, try turning on Gesture (if it’s turned off) – sometimes the strip disappears automatically.

Some devices (e.g., POCO F4) may require an additional step:

1. Back to Settings → Additional (or Special Opportunities).
2. Find the Navigation Bar and select Hide when using gestures.

Note that on MIUI 14 and later, the strip may remain visible in some system applications (e.g., Settings or Phone) and this is normal behavior – this is designed for ease of navigation.

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If the gestures stopped working correctly after hiding the strip, return the settings back and try the ADB method (described below).

Method 2: Change the height of the strip through ADB (for advanced ones)

If the built-in settings don’t work, you can manually change the strip height using the Android Debug Bridge (ADB), which works on all versions of MIUI, but requires a connection to a computer.

You'll need:

• 🖥️ Computer with installed ADB Tools.
• 📱 Included Debugging by USB on a smartphone (in Settings) → The phone. → Version. MIUI Press 7 times, then return to Additional → For developers).
• 🔌 USB-cable (preferably original).

Instructions:

1. Connect your phone to your PC and open the command prompt (cmd on Windows or Terminal on macOS/Linux).
2. Enter the command to check the connection: Adb devices must appear serial number of your device.
3. Execute the command to change the height of the strip (value) 0 Adb shell settings put global settings force_fsg_nav_bar 1 adb shell wm overscan 0,0,0,-50 Here. -50 — This is a displacement in pixels (you can experiment with values from the -20 before -100).
4. Reboot the device: adb reboot

To get it back, use the command:

adb shell wm overscan 0,0,0,0

⚠️ Attention: Incorrect values in the wm overscan command can cause the entire interface to shift or part of the screen to disappear. If this happens, reset the settings through the same zero command.

Method 3: Using third-party applications (without root)

If you don't want to mess with ADB, you can use apps from Google Play that let you customize your navigation bar.

Example of settings in Nacho Notch:

1. Install and open the application.
2. Select Hide Cutout (Hide Cutout).
3. Activate Force Full Screen (forced full screen mode)
4. In the settings, add apps where the bar should disappear (such as YouTube or TikTok).

⚠️ Note: Some applications (e.g. Full Screen Gestures) require permission through the ADB, They don't even ask for root, they don't work without it, permissions team:

adb shell pm grant com.phoenixstudios.aiogestures android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS

Method 4: Edit system files (root only)

If you have root rights, you can manually edit the system files that display the strip, which gives you maximum control, but requires caution — an error can lead to a bootloop.

Instructions:

1. Install a file manager with root support (such as Root Explorer or Solid Explorer).
2. Go to /system/vendor/overlay/ Look for files with names like FrameworkResOverlay.apk or MiuiSystemUIOverlay.apk.
3. Copy the file to your device and open it in the APK editor (such as APK Editor).
4. Find the rows related to the navigation bar (search by keywords: navigation_bar_height, nav_bar).
5. Change the height values to 0dp or delete the corresponding rows.
6. Save the file, return it back to /system and reboot the device.

Alternative path (for some firmware):

• Open the file /system/build.prop.
• Add a line: qemu.hw.mainkeys=1 This will force the classic navigation buttons to turn on, and the bar will disappear.

⚠️ Note: Before editing system files, be sure to make a backup through TWRP If the phone doesn't boot after the change, you'll have to restore the firmware.

Make a backup through TWRP|Check for root rights|Install a file manager with root access|Download the original firmware (in case of recovery)|Charge your phone at least 50 times%-->

Method 5: Update MIUI or roll back firmware

Sometimes the lower bar appears or changes behavior after the MIUI update. If the problem has recently occurred, try:

• 🔄 Reverse Update: Go to Settings → The phone. → Update system, click on the three dots in the upper right corner and select Remove downloaded update (if it is not already installed).
• 📥 Install a stable version MIUI: If you have beta firmware, go to stable branch via Mi Flash Tool.
• 🔧 Resetting: In some cases, resetting to factory settings helps (but don’t forget about the data backup!).

To check if the appearance of the strip is related to a particular version of MIUI, check the reviews on forums (for example, 4PDA or XDA Developers).

Example: MIUI 14.0.3 for the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ had an error that made the strip black and didn't disappear even in full-screen applications.

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If the bar appears after the update, try to clear the system cache first (Settings → Memory → Clear cache).This often resolves interface problems without rolling back firmware.

Frequent Lower Strip Problems and Their Solutions

Even after adjustment, the strip can behave incorrectly, and let's look at typical situations and ways to correct them:

If none of the methods worked, it may be a hardware failure (such as a malfunctioning display module).

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions