How to make a curtain in a Xiaomi phone: the complete guide

The interface of MIUI and its successor HyperOS offers users a huge range of personalization options, but many features remain hidden from the eyes of the average owner. When users ask how to make a curtain in a Xiaomi phone, they often mean not just opening the notification panel, but expanding its functionality or changing the appearance. The standard alert bar contains basic switches, but it can be turned into a powerful device management tool.

In this article, we will discuss how to activate hidden controls, change the appearance of the notches under the camera and add additional buttons for quick access to applications. You will learn to customize the control panel so that it fully matches your smartphone usage habits. Deep system configuration allows you to go beyond the standard interface.

It is worth noting that the layout of the elements may vary depending on the version of the Android operating system and the MIUI shell. Some features require superuser rights or the use of special applications, but most of the methods described are available out of the box or through standard system settings.

Hiding the cutout under the camera (Notch)

One of the most popular modifications users are looking for is to change the appearance of the area around the front camera. Many want to visually “make” a smooth curtain, hiding the black island of the speaker and sensors. In Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones, this feature is built into the system and does not require the installation of third-party software.

To activate this option, you need to go to the settings menu. Find the Screen or Display section, then select the Notch Control option (sometimes called the Notch in the Screen or Notch) Here you will be offered several options for displaying the top of the interface.

• 📱 By default, the cutout remains open, the status bar bends around the camera, creating the effect of “shangs».
• 🔲 Hide the cutout – the black stripe expands to the entire width of the screen, visually making the upper curtain flat and rectangular.
• 🎨 Adaptive – the system decides how to display content better depending on the running application.

⚠️ Attention: When choosing a cutout concealment mode, the useful screen area decreases slightly as the upper band of the status bar gets wider, and this can be noticeable in games or when watching full-screen video.

Using the cutout concealment mode is especially relevant for those who prefer a symmetrical interface design, changing this parameter does not affect the approach sensor or the front camera, changing only the software display of pixels at the top of the display.

Expanding the Quick Settings Panel

The standard set of switches in the notification curtain is often not enough for advanced users. MIUI 12, 13, 14 and HyperOS, Xiaomi has allowed you to edit the number and location of the tiles in the control panel. You can add buttons for the calculator, voice recorder, scanner. QR-codes and other system utilities.

To edit the list, you need to unlock your smartphone and swipe from the top right corner of the screen down to open the control center. At the bottom of the switch list, find a button with a pencil or an edit menu icon. When you click on it, you go to sort mode.

In the menu that opens, you'll see two sections: "Not Added" (Available buttons) and "Added" (Active buttons). Drag the items from the bottom list to the top to activate them in the curtain. You can also change the order of the tiles, placing the most important ones at the top of the list for quick access.

• 🔦 flashlight – often required to adjust the blinking mode or SOS, if supported by the model.
• 🌙 Reading Mode – Instantly switching to eye protection without going into deep settings.
• 📶 Mobile hotspot – quick start of distribution of the Internet without unnecessary clicks.
• 🎮 Game mode – blocking notifications and optimizing resources for games.

The number of buttons available to add is limited only to the list of system applications. If you install an app from GetApps or a third-party store that supports system integration, its switch can also appear on this list, which makes smartphone management really flexible.

Setting brightness and sound in the curtain

One of the most convenient features in the MIUI shell is the ability to adjust screen brightness and sound level directly from the notification panel without opening the volume slider or setting the display. This is implemented through vertical sliders that appear when certain interactions with the switches.

To change the brightness, open the curtain and find a tile with a picture of the sun. Instead of pressing it to turn on or off autobrightness mode, try swiping your finger up or down directly on the icon, you will see a vertical scale that allows you to smoothly adjust the level of lighting.

And the same way you do it, you find a Sound switch, and you swipe it vertically, and you get access to a media volume slider, and that interactivity makes it much faster to work with multimedia content.

⚠️ Note: Some models with a simplified shell or in the “Simple Mode” mode for older people, these features may be disabled or work differently.

If vertical scrolling doesn't work, it's possible that your version of the system uses the old style of the notification bar (as in Android 9 and below).In this case, brightness sliders are usually located separately at the bottom of the screen and can be moved horizontally. In newer versions of Android 11-14, vertical control is the standard.

Use of third-party launchers and applications

If standard functionality is not enough for you, and you want to make the curtain in your Xiaomi phone really unique, Google Play apps will come to the rescue. They allow you to completely replace the system notification panel with a custom one, adding widgets, large watches, weather and even the ability to run applications via swipe.

One of the most popular solutions is the Notification & Status Bar app or analogues like Material Status Bar. Once installed and provided with the necessary permissions (access to notifications, on top of other windows), you can customize the appearance of the curtain beyond recognition.

In such applications, you can change:

• 🎨 Color scheme – make the background transparent, blurred or colored.
• ⏱ Time format – add seconds, date, day of the week in large print.
• 🚀 Quick Start – Assign a double tap to the status bar to launch the camera or flashlight.

However, it is worth remembering that using third-party panels can consume additional battery power, since the application must be constantly hanging in memory.In addition, on new versions of Android, the system can aggressively unload such applications from memory, which will lead to a reset of the curtain settings to standard.

Display problems and MIUI bugs

Xiaomi users sometimes experience a situation where the curtain stops opening, freezes or displays incorrectly (for example, a black screen instead of a notification list).This can be due to overflow of the cache of the System UI system process or a conflict of a recently installed application.

The first step in solving the problem is to clear the cache. To do this, go to Settings → Applications → All applications. Find the System Interface (or System UI) list, click on it and select Clear → Clear cache. This is secure and will not delete your personal data.

If cleaning the cache didn't work, check to see if Do Not Disturb or Sleep Mode is on, which can hide the contents of the curtain. You should also pay attention to the design topic: some third-party themes can be buggy and break the layout of system elements. Try switching to the standard Classic or Default theme.

In rare cases, the problem may be that system files are damaged after a failed update. If nothing works, you may need to reset to factory settings, but this is an extreme measure, most often a simple restart of the device or update the system to the latest available version.

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If the curtain is buggy after installing the update, try resetting all the app settings in the Advanced Settings menu → Settings Reset → App Settings Reset, which will return the permissions and settings of the system components to their original state without losing personal files.

Additional features and hidden capabilities

There are a few more features in Xiaomi’s arsenal that are associated with managing notifications and curtains that not everyone knows about, such as the Pocket Mode feature or the smart lock that prevents accidental taps in the curtain when the phone is in your pocket.

Also worth mentioning is the option of sorting notifications: In newer versions of MIUI, you can (long-press) the notification in the curtain to access additional settings: turn off the sound for a particular application, hide its contents on a locked screen or completely disable the display.

For those who like minimalism, there is a feature available to hide sensitive data. In the notification settings, you can set a rule that the text of messages from messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS) is displayed as “Content is hidden”, which increases privacy when you open the curtain in the presence of outsiders.

⚠️ Warning: Be careful when giving permissions to third-party apps to access notifications.Attackers can use this to steal confirmation codes from SMS Or messages from banks. Use only proven high-ranking apps.

The ability to properly configure the curtain turns it from a simple list of missed events to a digital wellbeing control center; the ability to configure it better helps you get less distraction and faster access to the right functions; experiment with settings to find the perfect balance.

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The correct setup of the notification curtain and control center in Xiaomi reduces the number of unnecessary touches of the screen and speeds up access to frequently used functions by 30-40%.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions