Owners of the flagship smartphone Xiaomi Mi8 They often face aesthetic discomfort due to the notch at the top of the screen, which is called "notch," which was a structural element that was necessary to accommodate the front camera and sensors of the Face system. ID, But it visually eats away at usable space and it breaks the integrity of the image, and many users prefer to hide that area to enjoy it. AMOLED-black-screen.
Fortunately, MIUI provides flexible tools to manage this area, allowing you to customize the interface to your personal preferences. You can choose a complete cover that turns the top bar into a single black line, or leave it as it is, getting used to the original design. In this article, we will discuss all available methods, including system settings and third-party solutions.
It's worth noting that the process of changing the settings doesn't require root rights or flashing the device. All manipulations are safe to guarantee and can be reversed at any time by simply switching the slider to the menu. Let's look at a step-by-step algorithm to achieve the perfect look of your screen.
System settings for displaying the cutout
The easiest and most reliable way to change the look of the top of the display is to go deep into the operating system itself. Xiaomi engineers have a special section designed specifically to control this area. To get there, you need to go to the Settings menu, then select Advanced Settings and find the Notice option in the screen.
Within this menu, the user is usually offered several options for interface behavior. The first option is "Default", which leaves everything as it is, with characteristic "ears" on the sides of the camera. The second option is "Hide the notch", which paints the status bar black, visually hiding the boundaries of the hardware notch. The third option can be called "Hide in separate applications", which allows you to flexibly customize the view for different programs.
- 📱 Default: retains the original design with visible cutout.
- 🌑 Hide the cutout: Makes the top strip black by merging it with the screen frame.
- ⚙️ Applications: selective setting for specific programs.
If you choose the concealment option, you'll notice that the status bar has become wider, but the visually more solid screen, especially for those who use dark themes where the black bar is almost invisible, but when using light themes, the contrast can be noticeable, which is worth considering when choosing settings.
📊 How do you feel about the notch on the screen?
It's annoying and annoying.
I don’t notice it in everyday use.
I like it, it's stylish.
I would like to be able to change his shape.
Hiding the cutout in the Camera app
The front camera is particularly noteworthy, as this is the mode in which Xiaomi Mi8's notch can be the most uncomfortable. When you run the Camera app in selfie mode, the interface is often blacked out, interfering with framing. Fortunately, the app's settings have a feature to solve this problem.
To activate the desired mode, open the Camera app and switch to the front module. In the upper right corner, find the icon with three stripes or a gear that indicates the settings menu. In the list that opens, you need to find the item associated with "Reduce the Cutout" or "Hide the Cutout", activating this parameter forcibly changes the resolution and proportions of the previews, shifting the interface below the level of the hardware camera.
⚠️ Note: When you turn on the notch cover mode in the camera, the useful area for the frame may decrease slightly, since the portion of the image from above is programmatically cropped.
This feature is especially useful for video calls through messengers that use the system camera. The image becomes more neat, and you can't see your eyebrows or forehead covered by sensors. If you prefer maximum field of view and you don't get confused by the black bar, you can leave this feature off.
Full screen mode use
Another effective tool in MIUI's arsenal is to manage the aspect ratio for specific applications. Some programs, especially old or unoptimized ones, may not display correctly on the cutout screen, entering the sensor area with the interface, and full screen mode allows you to force the right proportions.
You can find this setting by going to Settings → Advanced Settings → Full-screen Mode. Here's a list of all the apps installed. There's a switch opposite each one. If you turn it on for a particular application, the system will force it to stretch over the entire screen, hiding the cutout in black fields or adapting the interface.
Why are some apps not on the list?
Some system applications or programs that do not have a windowed interface may not appear in the full-screen control list, as they use standard system resolutions.> It is worth experimenting with these settings for commonly used applications such as social networks or browsers. In some cases, enabling this mode can fix problems with scaling fonts or buttons that may have “got” outside the visible area due to the peculiarities of the layout by the developer. Third-party applications for customization If the built-in MIUI tools are not enough, you can find many Google Play Market utilities that promise a deeper interface. Apps like Notch Remover or launchers allow you to reshape and size the black area, and add additional widgets like a watch or battery indicator. However, you should be careful when installing such programs. They require extensive permissions, including access to system settings and display on top of other windows. This can lead to increased power consumption or conflicts with other applications. Before installing, be sure to read reviews and check the rights that the program requests. Solution type Safety Efficiency Battery Impact System settings High Medium No Camera settings High High (for photo) No Third-Party Applications Medium High Possible Root Modifications Low Maximum Depends on Mod Use of Third-Party Launchers, So, like Nova Launcher or Microsoft Launcher, they can also visually change the way you feel about the cutout, and they often have their own grid and indentation settings, which allows you to hide the icons under the black area, making it less visible in the overall desktop ensemble. The impact of design themes on perception is not to underestimate the power of visual perception. Often the problem with the cutout is not its physical presence, but the contrast between the color of the interface and the black bar of the speaker. MIUI Or installing black wallpaper can make the cut almost invisible. The Themes store has thousands of options where the top of the interface is specifically darkened or stylized to gradient. This creates the illusion of screen monolithy. In addition, many users forget about the system dark theme that is included in the Settings menu → Advanced Settings → Theme design. When using dark wallpaper and dark theme, the status bar merges with the rest of the content. This is especially true for the AMOLED matrix, which is equipped with Xiaomi Mi8. The black pixels on such a screen simply do not glow, which makes the boundary between the software shell and the hardware not visible to the human eye. ☑️ Checking the screen settings Go to Settings→Find the cutout in the screen→Choose to hide→Check in different applications Completed: 0 / 1 Interface compatibility issues and bugs Sometimes users notice that after updating the firmware, the cutout settings are reset or start to work incorrectly. MIUI. In such cases, you may need to manually reset the display settings, and there is also a bug where in some applications the status bar becomes translucent, and through it, icons or text are flashed, appearing directly above the camera. In this case, it helps to clean the cache of the problem application or reset the interface settings. → Advanced settings → Recovery and discharge → Resetting (be careful, this may affect other settings). ⚠️ Warning: Resetting all phone settings will delete your Wi-Fi passwords, alarm settings and Bluetooth connections, but save personal files (photos, contacts).If the problem is systemic and is observed in all applications at once, you may want to wait for a patch from the developers. The Xiaomi community is active on forums, and information about such bugs usually appears there faster than official updates come out (FAQ) Does hiding the cutout affect the proximity sensors? No, software hiding the cutout only changes the display of the GUI. Hardware sensors located in the bang area continue to operate normally, regardless of the color of the status bar. Can you completely remove the cutout software so that it becomes part of the screen? No, it's a physical part of the design of the screen. Software can only mask it in black or change the content around it, but the cutout itself is not going anywhere. Why is the cutout still visible in some games? Many games use their own full-screen display, ignoring the system settings. MIUI. In such cases, only enabling the full screen mode for a particular application in the system settings helps. Does hiding the cutout increase battery life? AMOLED In the case of black, displaying black requires less energy than light, so using dark themes and hiding the black cutout may theoretically save little charge, but the difference will be minimal. Mi8 — It's a matter of personal preference. Someone puts up with it for the functionality of Face. ID, Some people prefer a clean screen. Using the methods described above, you will be able to find a balance between the convenience and appearance of your device.