How to Remove Navigation Buttons and Go to Gestures in Xiaomi: The Complete Guide

Xiaomi’s current smartphones offer two main ways of navigating: classic virtual buttons (Back, Home, Recent) and intuitive gestures, which not only free the screen from unnecessary elements, but also make interaction with the device smoother. However, many users are still hesitant to switch to gesture navigation for fear of inconvenience or technical difficulties.

In this article, we’ll discuss how to turn off navigation buttons and adjust gestures on Xiaomi running MIUI 14/15 or the new HyperOS. You’ll learn what types of gestures exist, how to activate them on different models (including Redmi, POCO and Black Shark), and how to return buttons back if the new method is inconvenient.

Why should you switch to gestures instead of buttons?

Gesture navigation is not just a fashion trend, but a practical solution with several advantages:

• 📱 More useful screen area: disappears the panel with buttons, which is especially important for devices with a small diagonal or notches under the camera.
• ⚡ Quick access to features: for example, swipe up with pause opens a list of recent apps, and diagonal swipe – Google Assistant.
• 🎯 Less random taps: virtual buttons often trigger when holding a smartphone in your hand, gestures require conscious action.
• 🔄 Universality: The same set of gestures works in most modern Android shells, including HyperOS and the like. MIUI.

In addition, gestures are better adapted for full-screen applications (games, videos, reading books), where every extra button is distracting. For example, in PUBG Mobile or Genshin Impact, accidentally tapping the navigation bar can be worth a win. Gestures solve this problem.

What types of gestures does Xiaomi support?

In Xiaomi smartphones, there are three main types of gesture navigation, each of which has its own characteristics:

1. MIUI gestures (full screen) are a proprietary solution from Xiaomi, where swipes are performed from the bottom edge of the screen. Supports additional functions, such as calling the quick action menu.
2. Android gestures (from Google) are a standard implementation from Google, which appeared in Android 10. Less customizable, but more familiar to users of other brands.
3. Side gestures are an alternative option where the main actions are tied to swipes on the left or right edge of the screen (relevant to Black Shark and some POCO models).

It’s important to understand that not all models support all gesture types, for example, the budget Redmi may not have side gestures, and the flagship Xiaomi 14 offers advanced sensitivity settings.

If you are not sure what type of gestures are installed on your device, check this in the Settings menu → Display → Navigation Bar. It will indicate the current mode.

Step-by-step: how to turn on gestures on Xiaomi

The process of activating gesture navigation takes no more than 2-3 minutes. Follow the instructions below to avoid errors:

1. Open Settings (the gear icon on the home screen or in the application menu).
2. Go to the Display section (some models may call it Screen or Display).
3. Select Navigation Bar (or System Navigation in HyperOS).
4. Click on Full-screen gestures (or Gesture navigation).
5. Choose the preferred type of gesture: 🔹 Swipe up - a classic version from Xiaomi. 🔹 Android Gestures – If You Want a Standard Implementation.

Confirm the choice and wait for the application of settings (the device can slow down for a short time).

Learn the basic gestures (swipe up, down, diagonally)

Check out the MIUI/HyperOS version in the About Phone section.

Close all applications before changing settings

Backup important data (in case of failure)-->

Once the gestures are activated, the navigation buttons will disappear immediately, but they can be returned at any time by repeating the steps and selecting the Navigation Button option. If the gestures are not working correctly (for example, returning back does not work), try restarting the device - this often solves the problem.

💡

If the screen becomes too sensitive to casual touches after the gestures are turned on, reduce the sensitivity in the section Additional settings → Gesture sensitivity.

Advanced gesture settings: fine adjustment

The basic MIUI gestures offer limited functionality, but MIUI 14+ and HyperOS have hidden settings that allow you to customize the behavior of the system.

• 🔧 Swipe sensitivity: regulates how much you need to swipe to make a gesture work, useful for users with protective glass or covers.
• 🔄 Reverse swipe: allows you to swap the places of action "Back" and "Recent" (relevant for left-handers).
• 📱 Ignoring Edges: Disables gestures in the lower corners of the screen (useful for gaming).
• ⚡ Fast Switching: Speeds up animations when swiping between apps.

To access these settings:

1. Go to Settings → Display → Navigation panel.
2. Click on Additional Settings (or Advanced in HyperOS).
3. Activate the sliders or select the desired options.

For example, if you play Call of Duty Mobile or Honor of Kings frequently, it is recommended to enable Ignoring Edges so that swipes diagonally do not conflict with game controls, and for older users or those with limited motor skills, it is useful to reduce sensitivity to avoid false positives.

Frequent problems and their solutions

Even when properly tuned, gestures can not work properly, and here are the most common problems and ways to fix them:

⚠️ Attention: If the screen starts to twitch when you scroll, it may be due to a conflict with the launch shell. MIUI Launcher or HyperOS Launcher.

If none of these methods worked, try resetting your gesture settings to the standard.

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find the Launcher (or MIUI Home)
3. Press Warehouse. → Clear the data.
4. Reset the device.

This procedure will return all navigation settings to factory, but will not affect personal data.

How to return navigation buttons if you don’t like the gestures?

If the gesture navigation is uncomfortable, you can return the classic buttons at any time.

1. Open the Settings → Display → Navigation panel.
2. Select the Navigation Button option (or Three-button Navigation in HyperOS).
3. Confirm the change.

The buttons will appear immediately, but their appearance can be customized:

• 🎨 Transparency: Make the panel translucent for a less intrusive look.
• 🔄 Order of buttons: swap "Back" and "Recent" (relevant for left-handed people).
• 📱 Auto-hide: buttons will disappear in full-screen applications.

⚠️ Note: On some models (e.g, POCO F5 Xiaomi 13T) After returning to the buttons, you may need to reboot the changes to take effect completely. If the buttons do not appear, check if the running application (for example, a game or video player) blocks their display).

Comparison of Xiaomi gestures and standard Android gestures

Many users are unsure which type of gestures to choose: branded from Xiaomi or standard from Google. Below is a comparative table that will help determine:

If you use Google Assistant frequently, standard Android gestures may be more convenient — they are better integrated with Google services. For example, diagonal swipe from the corner calls the Assistant by default, whereas in MIUI this action needs to be configured separately.

For gaming smartphones (such as Black Shark 5 or POCO F4 GT), it is definitely worth choosing MIUI gestures – they are optimized for gameplay and support ignoring random touches during the game.

💡

MIUI gestures are suitable for most Xiaomi users due to their high customization and optimization for the shell. Standard Android gestures should be chosen only if you are actively using Google services or often switch between devices of different brands.

FAQ: Answers to popular questions