Modern smartphones, including the popular Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro, are increasingly moving away from the classic three-button control scheme at the bottom of the screen. Many users prefer more modern gesture control, which frees up the usable display area and makes interaction with the MIUI more smooth and intuitive. However, standard setting often leaves a visible strip at the bottom or the buttons themselves, which can interfere with the view or simply dislike aesthetically.
In this article, we will discuss how to completely remove the navigation buttons on your device, replacing them with hidden gestures. We will look not only at the basic settings of the system, but also at the nuances associated with how to make the navigation bar invisible, and also touch on the use of third-party applications for deep customization of the interface, which will allow you to adapt the Redmi Note 8 Pro to your personal preferences.
It’s worth noting that the process of switching to buttonless control requires some getting used to, especially if you’ve been using physical or screen buttons like Home, Back and Menu for years. However, after a couple of days of use, you’ll notice that navigation is much faster and one-handed phone is easier to control due to the lack of extra elements at the bottom of the screen.
Benefits of switching to gesture management
The abandonment of traditional buttons in favor of gestures is not just a tribute to fashion, but a real step towards improving the ergonomics of the device. On the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro, which features a fairly large screen, the release of the lower area of the display makes it easier to reach the interface elements with your thumb. In addition, the disappearance of static buttons visually increases the space for content, which is especially noticeable when watching videos or reading texts.
Guest navigation also speeds up multitasking, and instead of twice pressing the menu button and looking for the app in the list, you can swipe between programs that run, which reduces the number of touches on the screen and makes smartphone use more efficient, and for many users, this becomes a crucial factor when setting up a new device.
But there's a downside to this: the lack of visual cues in the form of buttons can be confusing at first. To minimize discomfort, the system offers different options for adjusting the sensitivity and appearance of the indicators, and it's important to adjust these parameters correctly at the beginning so that you don't have any problems later.
Basic navigation settings in MIUI
The button disabling process on the Redmi Note 8 Pro is built directly into the operating system and does not require superuser permissions. The first step is to go to the appropriate settings menu. To do this, open the Settings app and scroll down to the Additional Settings section, which is where the key interface management options are hidden.
Inside the menu, find Full-screen Mode. When you click on it, you'll see two main options: using three buttons or managing gestures. By default, many Xiaomi devices may already have a tick against gestures, but the buttons remain visible as a thin bar, and your task is not only to choose the method, but also to customize its display.
If you select Hide hints, there's no stripe at the bottom of the screen, and navigation becomes completely blind based on your finger movements, which cleans the screen as much as possible, but requires good muscle memory, otherwise the system will show a thin line, reminding you that you can swipe from the bottom.
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If you’re just switching to gestures, leave the prompt on for the first week – this will help you remember swipe zones faster.
How to completely hide the navigation strip
Many users are faced with a situation where even after the gestures are turned on, a thin gray or white bar remains at the bottom of the screen, which is the so-called home screen indicator. To remove the buttons on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro completely and make this bar invisible, you need to perform additional manipulation in the same settings menu.
Go to Settings → Additional Settings → Full-screen mode. Make sure you select Hide prompts. If this option is not explicitly available (depending on the version of MIUI), the switch may be called Hide Home Screen prompt or have a similar meaning. Once activated, the visual element will disappear.
⚠️ Warning: After completely hiding the clues, you may accidentally activate the menu of recent apps if you forget about the new control logic.Be careful when handing the phone to children or older people who are not familiar with gestures.
There's also a dark theme nuance. In some firmware versions, the stripe color may not match the background color, creating contrast. If you're using a dark theme, make sure the indicator also adapts, or hide it completely for the perfect picture. AMOLED-screens where black means off pixel and energy savings.
☑️ Checking the navigation settings
Setting up sensitivity and swipe areas
Once you have managed to remove the buttons, it is important to adjust the sensitivity of the edges of the screen. Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro has curved edges of the display (2.5D glass), which can sometimes lead to accidental pressing or, conversely, to ignore swipes if the finger lies down incorrectly.
Full-screen mode often has an additional setting to select swipe priority from the edge, which is useful if you often use applications where swipe from the edge causes a side menu (for example, in some browsers or readers), you can set the system so that it correctly recognizes the sinkings.
Also worth paying attention to the animation speed. In the section For developers who need to activate a single action (seven times pressing the version number MIUI), you can find the parameters of the window animation scale, the scale of the animation transition and the duration of animation. Setting a value of 0.5x will make the transitions between the screens sharper and faster, which compensates for the lack of a physical or visual home button.
| Parameter | Default value | Recommended value | The effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Window animation | 1x | 0.5x | Accelerating the opening of applications |
| Transition animation | 1x | 0.5x | Quick switching between screens |
| Duration of animation | 1x | 0.5x | General acceleration of the interface |
| Hide the clues | Off | On | The complete disappearance of the strip |
Using third-party launchers for navigation
If standard MIUI tools don't satisfy you, or you want a unique management experience, you can use third-party launchers. Replacing a standard desktop often entails changing the navigation logic, although system gestures usually remain a priority.
Popular launchers like Nova Launcher, Microsoft Launcher or Smart Launcher allow you to flexibly adjust gestures. You can assign a double tap across the screen to run apps, swipe up to search or open menus, which makes it possible to avoid using the bottom of the screen for navigation at all, moving all functions to the center or edges.
For advanced users, there is the ability to install apps that emulate the Home button as an Assistive Touch, similar to the one in older iPhones. Software like Assistive Touch from the Play Market store allows you to create a virtual button anywhere on the screen that you can move and customize.
Risks of using third-party launchers
Solution: Gesture problems after update
Redmi Note 8 Pro users sometimes report that after updating the firmware, navigation settings are reset or gestures start to work incorrectly. For example, a swipe from the bottom may not return to the desktop, and the strip may appear again, most often solved by rechecking the settings in the Full Screen Mode menu.
If the problem is software-related, cleaning the cache of System UI (System UI) can help. Go to Settings → Applications → All applications, find System UI (may need to enable system processes display) and select Clear cache. Don't confuse it with data cleanup, it can reset the design settings.
In the rare cases where the interface freezes and the buttons don't disappear, safe mode helps. Press the power button, and then hold your finger on the "Switch off" icon on the screen for a long time until you get a prompt to go to safe mode. If in this mode the buttons disappear correctly, then the problem is in one of the applications you install.
⚠️ Note: Do not attempt to delete system navigation files through root-righted file managers without creating a full backup).
Comparison of navigation methods
To determine whether to remove the buttons, let's compare two basic approaches: classic three-button navigation is common for most users who come with Android 8 and below. It provides a clear visual understanding of where the controls are located. However, it eats up useful space and often interferes with games or when watching videos in portrait mode.
The gesture controls we set up above are modern and minimalist, perfect for larger screens like the Redmi Note 8 Pro. Swipes allow you to perform faster actions like going back or switching apps, and the only downside is the adaptation period and the possibility of random pocketing if the case doesn't protect the edges of the screen.
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Choosing between buttons and gestures is a matter of taste, but statistics show that 85% of users return to gestures after a week, even on new devices.