Double clock on the lock screen Xiaomi: how to remove forever

You turned on a Xiaomi smartphone and found that the lock screen displays two sets of time?This bug occurs on devices with MIUI 12-14 and is associated with a conflict of system widgets or synchronization errors. Duplicate watches not only spoil the appearance, but can signal deeper firmware problems.

In most cases, the problem is solved without resetting the settings — just adjust the lock screen settings correctly or clear the cache of system applications. However, in 15% of cases (according to the 4PDA and Mi Community forums), more radical interventions are required, such as rolling back updates or manually editing configuration files. In this article, we will discuss all current methods, including hidden MIUI settings that are not dokumented in the official help.

Note: If you have a Xiaomi model older than 2019 (like the Redmi Note 7 or Mi 9), first check the MIUI version in Settings → About Phone. On older firmware (below MIUI 12.5), some methods may not work due to the lack of the necessary options in the menu.

Why are there double watches on Xiaomi?

Duplicating the clock on the lock screen is not an accident, but a consequence of specific systemic conflicts.

• 🔄 Time sync failure: If a device is connected to multiple accounts (e.g. Mi Account and Google), their servers may send conflicting time data.
• 📱 Widget error MIUI: firmware MIUI 13-14 bug is associated with duplication of the system widget com.miui.home, which is responsible for displaying time.
• 🔧 Incorrect Update: After Installation OTA-Updates to the Redmi Note (especially on the Redmi Note) 10/11 and POCO X3) You may have “tails” of old firmware.
• 🛠️ Manually modifying system files: If you previously edited themes or patched themes through Magisk, it could have compromised file integrity /system/priv-app/MiuiSystemUI.

According to an analysis of user logs (source: XDA Developers), 60% of the time the problem occurs after installing custom themes from the Mi Theme Store, which is that some themes override standard lock elements, but do so incorrectly, leaving the original widget active.

⚠️ Note: if the double clock appeared after the update to MIUI 14, don't try to roll back to the previous version via Fastboot - this can block the bootloader.First try the methods from this article.

Method 1: Reset the lock screen settings

The safest method, which works 80 percent of the time, doesn't affect user data, but resets all the lock screen's appearance settings to factory settings.

1. Open the Settings → Lock screen.
2. Scroll down and select Reset (or Restore Default Settings on older versions of MIUI).
3. Confirm action. The phone will reboot automatically.

After rebooting, check the lock screen. If the watch is still duplicated, move to the next method. On some models (for example, Xiaomi 12T or Redmi K50), this menu item may be hidden.

If the reset didn’t help, the reason goes deeper – perhaps the cache of system applications is damaged or synchronization services conflict.

Method 2: Cleaning the cache of system applications

The cache of com.miui.home and com.android.systemui applications often becomes a source of visual bugs, including clock duplication.Cache cleaning does not delete user data, but may require reconfiguration of the weather widget.

Turn off time synchronization in Settings → Additional → Date and time

Close all background applications

Connect your phone to charge (recommended)

Take a screenshot of the current lock screen settings-->

Instructions:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. In the search box, type com.miui.home and select the MIUI Launcher app.
3. Press Warehouse. → Clear the cache.
4. Repeat steps 2-3 for the com.android.systemui application (the name may appear as System Interface).
5. Reset the device.

On Xiaomi models with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1/2 processor (for example, Xiaomi 12 Pro or Redmi K60) after cleaning the cache, unlock animation may temporarily disappear. It will recover after 1-2 reboots.

⚠️ Warning: If the watch has disappeared completely after cleaning the cache (instead of duplicating), don't panic. → Lock screen → Watch style and choose any option - it will return the display of time.

Method 3: Disabling Time Synchronization

The conflict between Xiaomi and Google time servers is one of the most common causes of clock duplication, especially for users who use both vendors’ accounts.

How to check if synchronization is to blame:

1. Open Settings → Additional → Date and time.
2. Turn off the options: 🔄 Autodetermining date and time 🌍 Time zone autodetermination

Manually set the correct time and date.

Restart your phone and check the lock screen.

If the double clocks were gone, the problem was server conflict, and now you can get back automatic synchronization, but only through one source:

💡

To avoid a recurring conflict, select one sync service in Settings → Accounts and disable the second one. For example, leave only Mi Account or only Google, but not both at the same time.

Some firmware (e.g. MIUI 14 Global) may display a notification, "Time Sync is disabled" after auto sync is disabled. This can be ignored - it does not affect the operation of the device.

Method 4: Remove custom themes (if you use them)

Themes from the Mi Theme Store, especially third-party ones (not from Xiaomi), often contain errors in files. lockscreen_clock.xml, And that leads to duplication of elements, and even if you changed the theme a long time ago, the residual files could have been saved to the system.

How to remove the topic completely:

1. Go to Settings → Design → My themes.
2. Find an active topic and click on it.
3. Select Remove (if the option is not available, tap and hold the theme icon).
4. Return to the Design → Lock screen and select a standard theme (Basic or MIUI).

If the problem remains, you need to clear the cache of the Topics application:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find the com.android.themes app (or Themes).
3. Click Warehouse → Clear the cache and Clear the data.

💡

After deleting the theme, check the /sdcard/MIUI/theme folder through the file manager. If there are files with the.mtz extension, delete them manually and restart the phone.

Method 5: Manual editing of system files (for advanced ones)

If none of the previous methods worked, the problem could be in corrupted system interface files, which requires an unlocked bootloader and root rights (or temporary access via Magisk).

Warning: Incorrect editing of system files can lead to bootloop (a looped reboot).

Instructions:

1. Install a file manager with root support (such as Solid Explorer or FX File Explorer).
2. Go to /system/priv-app/MiuiSystemUI/MiuiSystemUI.apk/res/layout
3. Find the file. miui_lockscreen_clock.xml (or similarly-named).
4. Copy it into a backup folder (for example, on the SD-map).
5. Open the file in the text editor and find lines with duplicate elements (usually <ClockView> blocks).
6. Save the file, return it, and set the rights to 644 (rw-r--r---).
7. Reboot the phone.

In such cases:

1. Make a backup of the data through Settings → Additional → Backup.
2. Try resetting to factory settings (Settings → About Phone → Resetting).
3. If the reset doesn’t help, try the Mi Flash Tool (see instructions for your model on 4PDA or XDA).

According to Xiaomi service centers, 95% of the time, the problem is solved software, and only on devices with physical memory damage (for example, after a fall) may need to replace the motherboard.

FAQ: Frequent questions about double watches on Xiaomi