Owners of Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 smartphones often face the sudden appearance of a floating icon in the form of a man or hand in the corner of the display. This element of the interface can greatly interfere with watching videos, reading news or working with applications, blocking important control buttons. The appearance of such an indicator usually means that one of the special features designed for people with disabilities was accidentally activated.
Don't panic if you think your device is infected or out of order. It's actually a regular feature of MIUI or pure Android called Touch Assistant or Special Menu, designed to allow users who have trouble pressing physical buttons to control their smartphone through the screen interface, but for the average user, this icon becomes a redundant and irritating factor that needs to be eliminated.
In this article, we will discuss in detail all possible causes of this element and provide a step-by-step algorithm of actions to disable it. You will learn how to find hidden settings in the Special Opportunities menu, how to distinguish system functions from third-party applications, and what to do if standard methods do not help return comfortable use of the gadget.
Identification of the floating element on the screen
Before you start disabling the feature, you need to understand exactly what exactly is displayed on your Redmi Note 9. Visually, this can be a translucent circle with a human silhouette, an arm with an index finger, or just a round button with several dots inside. Identifying the type of icon will help determine which service is activated, since there may be several of them in the MIUI shell.
Most people confuse the Special Opportunity Menu with Quick Commands or third-party launchers, and if you click on a person, you open a menu with items like "Block Screen," "Loudness," or "Screamshot," you're talking about a system assistant, and if the icon responds to voice commands or offers a search, maybe Google Assistant or Google Lens is activated.
It's important to pay attention to the behavior of the element. Some icons can be dragged around the screen, others are fixed in the corner. The exact shape of the icon (human silhouette against the palm) indicates a particular version of the MIUI installed on your Redmi Note 9. Understanding this difference will save time when searching for the right switch in the depth of the settings.
- 🔍 Check the reaction of the icon to a short and long press - this will tell its functionality.
- 📱 Note whether the icon appears immediately after the phone is turned on or only in certain apps.
- ⚙️ Try to pinch the icon – there is often a quick settings menu with a shutdown button.
Why does the icon appear again after the reboot?
Disabling the menu of special features
The most common source of human appearance is the Accessibility Menu, which is part of Google Play and is built into Xiaomi's shell, and to remove this element, you'll need to go to deep system settings. First, open the Settings app on your smartphone.
In the menu that opens, look for the Additional Settings section or go straight to Special Options. Depending on the MIUI version, the path may vary slightly, but the logic remains the same. You need to find a subsection called Special Options Menu, and inside you'll see the switch that's most likely in the active position.
Turn the slider to off. The system can request confirmation of the action, warning that the function will no longer be available. Accept this, because that is what you want. After that, the icon should disappear instantly from the screen. If this does not happen, check if the shortcut is fixed in the quick access panel.
☑️ Checklist to turn off availability menu
It is sometimes useful to know what other features can be activated in this section, and here is a table of the main accessibility services that can affect the display of interface elements:
| Name of function | Screen impact | Does the average user need it? |
|---|---|---|
| Special Opportunity Menu | A man or hand button | No. |
| TalkBack | Touch voice, green frame | No. |
| Increase | Three-point or zoom magnifier | Rarely. |
| Conclusion of the text | Voice control panel | No. |
| Choice for voiceover | Selection of areas of text | No. |
Set up quick commands and gestures
The second most popular reason for floating elements on the Redmi Note 9 is the Quick Commands feature, which allows you to trigger actions by double tapping or swiping your finger on the screen, often by a small icon in the corner that resembles a palm or set of dots.
To manage this function, go to Settings → Additional Settings → Special Features → Quick Commands. Here you will see a list of all active commands. If you see an activated item associated with the display of the menu or assistant, click on it. In the window that opens, you can turn off the display of the icon on the screen, while leaving the gestures active if you like.
Be careful when turning off all functions at once. Gestures can be useful for quick access to the camera or flashlight. However, if your main goal is to have a clean screen without unnecessary distractions, feel free to turn off the display of the visual indicator. This will not affect the stability of the rest of the system.
⚠️ Warning: Disabling all accessibility services may make it impossible to control your phone in the event of a touchscreen or button breakdown, as some of these features duplicate physical control.
In some versions of MIUI firmware, quick command settings can be made into a separate subsection of the settings menu.Look for an item called "One-Hand Management" or "One-Hand Mode" if the standard path didn't work. Xiaomi's interface is constantly updated and the location of items can change.
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If you accidentally activate the screen zoom function (triple), quickly press the power button 3 times to deactivate it without logging into the settings menu.
Third-party applications and launchers
If Xiaomi’s system settings are off, but a little person or similar icon is left, the problem may be hidden in third-party software. Often users install memory cleanup applications, antiviruses or alternative launchers that implement their floating widgets, examples of which may be Clean Master, Du Speed Booster or various management assistants.
Check the list of newly installed apps. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps. Go through the list and look for programs that have permission to “Map on top of other apps” or “Floating window.” This is the permission that allows the program to draw an icon on top of the desktop and other windows.
To remove this item, find the culprit in the list, click on it and select Permissions, disable the right to display over other windows, or delete the app altogether if you don't need it. Often these programs are disguised as system, so read the titles and descriptions carefully.
- 🛡️ Check out antivirus apps, they often add floating security shields.
- 🧹 Memory cleaners like to place speed widgets RAM screen-corner.
- 🎮 Game boosters can leave a badge even after the game closes.
If you can’t remove an application through the normal interface (the delete button is inactive), it may have received device administrator privileges, in which case go to Settings → Password and Security → Device administrators and uncheck the suspicious application. Only then it can be fully removed.
Ball function and one-hand control
There's a separate feature in the MIUI shell, often called the Ball or the Floating Button, which is a translucent sphere that moves across the screen and contains shortcuts for commonly used applications. Although it's not always a "human," users often confuse these concepts because they share the same goal: fast access.
To turn this off on Redmi Note 9, go to Settings → Settings → Settings → Floating button (or “Ball”). Here you will find the master switch. Turning it off, you will remove the ball from the screen. Also in this menu you can adjust the transparency or hide the button if you only need it for certain actions.
It's important to distinguish between MIUI's system Ball and Android's Touch Assistant. The first looks like a colored sphere with icons inside, the second looks like a human silhouette or hand. They have similar shutdown mechanisms, but they're in different subsections of the special features menu. If you've disabled one item and left the other, check both sections.
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The MIUI Floating Button and Android Special Features Menu are two different services that require separate shutdowns in settings.
Some users are leaving this feature to customize, but if your goal is maximum performance and no visual noise, turning off all floating elements is the right solution, and it can also slightly increase battery life, since the system does not need to constantly render an additional interface layer.
Resetting and extreme measures
In rare cases, the icon may be the result of a software failure or system file conflict after the MIUI update. If none of the above methods helped remove the person, and it continues to appear even in safe mode, a more radical intervention may be required.
The first step is to reset the special features settings. Go to Settings → Special features and find a menu item (usually three dots or a gear) that offers to reset the availability settings to the default values. This action will not affect your personal photos or contacts, but will return all accessibility options to their original state.
If this does not help, there is a complete reset of the device to the factory settings. ⚠️ Warning: Before performing a full reset, be sure to back up all important data, as the phone will return to a "store-like" state and all files will be deleted. → Resetting settings → Erase all data.
After the reset, take your time to install all the apps at once. Check the clean phone for an icon. If it's not there, then the problem was in one of the installed applications. Start installing the programs one by one, checking the screen after each to identify the culprit.