Owners of modern Xiaomi smartphones often face the desire to free up maximum screen space for content. The bottom panel containing navigation buttons or a search bar can take up useful space and distract from watching videos or working with applications. Removing this element of the interface is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also functionally beneficial, especially on devices with extended screens.
MIUI and the new HyperOS have multiple layers of customization, so you can switch to gesture control completely, which hides the standard buttons, or you can leave the buttons but makes them less visible, and you can also remove the Google search bar that is built into the desktop bar by default, and let's look at all the methods available in detail.
Before making changes, it is worth understanding that completely hiding navigation elements requires getting used to. Android offers flexible settings that allow you to adapt the smartphone to the individual preferences of the user. Below we will consider step-by-step algorithms for different versions of firmware.
Switching to gesture control instead of buttons
The most radical and popular way to remove the bottom panel is to abandon the classic three buttons (Back, Home, Menu) in favor of swipes, a technique that frees up to 40 pixels of usable space at the bottom of the display. In modern Xiaomi models like the Xiaomi 13 or Redmi Note 12, this feature works most smoothly.
To activate, you need to go to the system settings section. Find the navigation section for the system. Here you will be asked to choose between buttons and gestures. When you choose the second option, the buttons will disappear instantly, and thin hints will appear on the edges of the screen, which can also be turned off.
It's important to note that when you use gestures, the logic of how you interact with the device changes, instead of tapping the Home button, you use a swipe from the bottom up, you swipe back from the edge of the screen, and you usually take one to three days to adapt, and then you don't want to go back to the buttons.
- 📱 Go to the settings of your smartphone.
- 🔍 Find the Desktop or Additional section (depending on version) MIUI).
- 🖱️ Select the item System Navigation.
- ✅ Activate Full Screen Mode.
⚠️ Warning: After you turn on gestures, make sure you remember the combination to exit apps.A swipe up with finger holding opens the multitasking menu, and a quick swipe up folds the app.
Setting up the hide strip scroll and hints
Even when you use gestures in some apps or scroll through long lists, you can see a scroll bar on the right or bottom, and although it disappears automatically, some users are annoyed by it flashing, and there are options in the Xiaomi interface settings to minimize visual noise.
It can also display thin bars at the bottom of the screen that point to the swipe area, and if you want to keep the image as clean as possible, these elements should be turned off, which is especially true for those who are watching horizontal video and want to avoid accidental touch.
The impact of the design topic
To fine-tune the visuals, go to the advanced settings, which allow you to adjust the animation speed and interface behavior, and optimize these parameters makes using your smartphone more enjoyable and removes unnecessary graphics.
- 🎨 Open the Settings. → Desktop.
- 👁️ Find the option to hide gesture hints.
- 📉 In some launchers, the option to hide the scroll bar is available.
- 💾 Apply the changes and check the result in the browser.
It's worth remembering that the complete absence of visual markers can be disorienting at the beginning, but current MIUI algorithms are smart enough to tell the user what the tactile recoil (vibration) can do with the right swipes.
Removing Google Search bar from desktop
Often, what users mean by "bottom panel" is not the navigation buttons, but the built-in Google search bar, which is located at the bottom of the home screen, which is a separate widget that occupies a significant amount of space, and you can remove it without root rights and complex manipulations.
The process of removing the widget is simple and takes a few seconds. You don't need to uninstall Google's app, just remove the widget from the desktop surface. This action will not affect the searcher's performance in other applications.
☑️ Checking before removing the widget
Once the line is removed, the space can be used to host app folders or weather widgets, the interface will become cleaner, and the bottom of the screen will no longer be overloaded with information.
| Action. | The result | Impact on the system |
|---|---|---|
| Removal of the widget | The search string disappears | Safe. |
| Disconnection through ADB | Complete removal of the component | Demands a PC. |
| Change of launcher | Full customization | Changes the interface |
Use of third-party launchers for customization
If standard MIUI tools aren't enough, third-party launchers will come to the rescue, apps like Nova Launcher or Microsoft Launcher allow you to completely reshape the bottom of the screen, you can resize the icons, remove the dock bar, or make it transparent.
Installing an alternative launcher gives you access to hidden animation and behavior settings on the bottom panel, so you can set the panel to appear only when swiping or hide it in certain applications, which gives you maximum flexibility in setting up.
However, it is worth considering that third-party launchers can consume more battery life than a standard shell. On low-end Redmi models, this can lead to micro-slowdowns.
- 📥 Download the launcher from Google Play Market.
- ⚙️ At the first start, click Apply.
- 🎛️ Go to the launcher settings via Long press on empty space.
- 🚫 Turn off the display of the bottom panel or dock bar.
⚠️ Note: Some new versions of HyperOS may have restrictions on third-party launchers (e.g. animation restriction.
Hiding the panel in specific applications
Sometimes you don't want to remove the bottom panel globally, but only in an application, like when you read or view photos. MIUI has a feature called Full Screen Mode for individual applications, which forcibly hides navigation and status bar.
This setup is especially useful for games and video players, where any interface element interferes with immersion, and the system itself suggests that this mode be enabled when running heavy applications, but for simple programs, you will have to adjust manually.
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For quick access to full-screen settings, use the search by settings: type "Full-screen" in the search box for phone parameters.
It takes a couple of seconds to activate the mode for each application, and you can pick out a dozen of the most commonly used programs and set them up to automatically hide the panels, and it creates a sense of seamless interaction with the content.
- 📱 Go to Settings. → Screen.
- 📲 Select the Full Screen Mode option.
- ✅ Put the boxes in front of the desired applications.
- 🔄 Restart applications to apply settings.
Solving panel sticking problems
Users sometimes encounter a bug where the bottom panel doesn't automatically hide in full screen or video, and this can be due to an application-specific bug or a system cache, and in such cases, a simple reboot of the device helps.
If the problem persists, check system updates. Xiaomi engineers regularly release patches that fix interface display errors, and it is also worth clearing the cache of the problematic application through settings.
In rare cases, the cause is a conflict of topics. If you use custom theme, try to temporarily switch to standard. If the panel stopped "glugging", then it was the wrong theme code.
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Most of the problems with displaying the bottom panel are solved by restarting the smartphone or updating the system component "System Navigator" through the Mi GetApps store or Play Market.