Users of modern Xiaomi smartphones often encounter an unexpected interface element: in the upper right corner of the screen, next to the signal and battery icons, three small dots of different colors appear. For many, this comes as an unpleasant surprise, as they overlap some of the useful space or simply annoy with their presence. This indicator is part of the Android Privacy Indicators system, implemented by Google and adapted into the shells of MIUI and HyperOS to increase the transparency of data use.
Despite the developers’ good intentions to protect user information, visual noise in the status bar is not for everyone, especially for owners of devices with camera cutouts or dynamic islets where every pixel counts. In this article, we will discuss in detail what these symbols mean, why they appear, and how they can be hidden or completely turned off without losing the functionality of the smartphone.
It is worth noting that the methods of disabling can vary depending on the version of the Android operating system and the specific version of the MIUI or HyperOS firmware. In some cases, standard system tools cannot remove the indicator, and require deeper settings or the use of special commands. We will consider all the available options, from simple switches in the menu to advanced methods for advanced users.
What do color indicators in the status bar mean?
Before we start removing unwanted items, we need to understand their nature, and the three dots that appear are not a bug or a system bug, but a conscious decision by security engineers, and each dot has a color that signals a specific type of access to sensitive data in real time.
A green dot indicates that an app is using a camera right now, an orange light light goes on when the microphone is active, and if you see a green or orange dot, it means that there is a video, audio or video call right now, and it's a critical security feature that allows you to instantly detect spyware.
The blue dot, which often appears as a small circle or icon, indicates geolocation access (GPS). However, in the context of the three dots, it is often a vertical ellipsis or a group of indicators that report background activity. Understanding the color coding helps to quickly identify the source of activity.
- 🟢 Green – Camera activated (Camera, Instagram, Zoom).
- 🟠 Orange color - a microphone works (dictator, voice input, instant messengers).
- 🔵 Blue – geo-location is used (navigators, maps, taxi services).
⚠️ Warning: If indicators are on when you're not using the relevant features, this could indicate malware.
It is important to distinguish between system privacy indicators and process notifications. Sometimes users confuse privacy points with notification indicators or background process icons. In Xiaomi, a separate system service is responsible for displaying these elements, which can be found in the settings.
Standard way to disable through system settings
The easiest and safest way to remove annoying points is to use the built-in interface settings. In the latest versions of the MIUI 13/14 shell and HyperOS, developers have left some of the status bar elements to be controlled, although they have hidden them quite deeply.
To start, you need to go to the main settings menu of your smartphone. Find the section responsible for Notifications and status bar. Depending on the regional version of the firmware (Global, Chinese, Russian), the path may be slightly different. Often this item is inside the category "Screen" or "Additional".
Inside the menu, find the item associated with Privacy Indicators or "Privacy Indicators." There may be a switch that allows you to hide the visual display of points while saving their functionality in the system log files. If there is no such switch explicitly, try to find the option "Display Notification Icons" and disable unnecessary items there.
⚠️ Warning: After updating the firmware settings may reset. Check this section again if the dots appeared again after the update.
In some cases, a standard switch may not be available to a user without root rights, as is the case for devices released for certain markets where security requirements are higher. If you don't find the right option on the menu, don't despair - there are alternative methods.
Using Developer Mode to Hide Elements
If the standard menu doesn’t give the desired result, you can resort to a more subtle setup through the developer mode.This mode is designed to test applications, but contains many useful features for advanced users who want to customize the interface.
To activate Developer Mode, go to Settings → About Phone. Find the MIUI Version (or OS Version) string and quickly click on it 7-10 times in a row. Once you have the message "You've become a developer," you can move to the next step.
Go back to the main settings menu and select Extra → For developers. Be very careful here, because changing some settings can lead to system instability. Find the section related to rendering the interface or "Drawing".
☑️ Activation of the developer mode
In the options list, look for the option to Show Touch Point or Display Item Boundaries. While they don't directly control privacy points, in some firmware versions, disabling overlays can affect the display of system indicators.
| Parameter | Recommended value | Impact on the interface |
|---|---|---|
| Window animation | 0.5x or Retraction. | Speeds up work, can hide transitions |
| Show touch | Off. | Remove white circles when pressed |
| Inactive applications | No restrictions. | Affects background work |
| Scope of typeface | Standard. | Can shift line elements |
Remember, developer mode is a powerful tool, changing settings you're not sure about can lead to unpredictable system behavior, and always write down the original settings so you can go back to them.
Shutdown through ADB-Teams for Advanced Users
The most effective way to remove system elements that are not hidden through the menu is to use the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) debugging method, which requires connecting a smartphone to a computer and having basic command line knowledge, but gives you complete control over the system.
First, you need to install Xiaomi drivers. USB Driver and platform SDK Platform-Tools on your computer. On your developer mode phone (which we activated earlier), turn on the option. USB-Debugging. Connect the device to the PC with a cable.
Open the command line or terminal in the ADB folder and enter the command to check the connection:
adb devicesIf everything is connected correctly, you'll see your device's serial number, and to hide the indicators, you can try turning off the system component that handles Privacy Indicators.
adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.android.systemui⚠️ Note: Disconnect system components through ADB This can cause a bootloop to crash. Use only commands designed to hide the interface. UI-Elements, not to remove system applications.
A safer option is to use commands to change global settings through settings, such as changing density or zooming, which sometimes hides unnecessary elements:
adb shell settings put global status_bar_disabled_features 1Specific commands can vary depending on the Android version. On Android 12 and above, Google has implemented strict restrictions, and completely removing the indicator may not be possible without modifying the system partition.
What if the ADB can’t see the phone?
Hiding Points with Third-Party Apps
If you don't want to mess around with code, and standard settings don't help, Google Play Market apps that specialize in customizing the status bar will come to the rescue, and they create a layer on top of the system interface, masking unnecessary elements.
One popular solution is SystemUI Tuner, which allows you to control the visibility of various icons in the status bar, and once you have installed and given the necessary permissions, you can manually disable the display of specific icons, including microphone and camera indicators.
Another option is to use launchers or apps to create Custom Overlays, which can completely replace the top bar with your own, where you decide which elements will be displayed and which will not, and this gives you maximum design flexibility.
- 📱 SystemUI Tuner – a classic tool for hiding icons.
- 🎨 Good Lock (analogues for Android) – deep customization of the interface.
- 🛡️ Privacy Indicator Remover – Specialized utilities (require security checks).
Using third-party software, be aware of security risks. Apps that require access to display over other windows or access to system settings can theoretically intercept your data.
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Before installing applications to modify the system, be sure to create a complete backup of the data so as not to lose important information in the event of a failure.
The Impact of Android and MIUI Version on Removal
It is important to understand that customization capabilities are directly dependent on the software version. On older versions of Android 10 or MIUI 11, such indicators simply did not exist, since they were introduced later. On Android 12, 13, 14 and HyperOS, security policies have been tightened.
Google makes these indicators mandatory at the operating system level.This means that on pure Android, it is almost impossible to remove them without root rights. In the MIUI shell, the situation is a little milder, as Xiaomi often adds its personalization tools, but with each update the number of options available decreases.
Users who upgrade to HyperOS may notice changes in status bar behavior. The new system is more aggressively implementing Google standards, so the chances of finding a simple "Remove points" switch in new firmware tend to zero. ADB third-party launchers.
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The newer the version of Android and MIUI, the more difficult it is to remove the system security indicators using standard methods.
If it is critical for you to have a clean screen without unnecessary characters, it may be worth considering rolling back on an older firmware version if your device model allows it, or using custom firmware (Custom ROM), where Google restrictions can be lifted.