How to Remove or Reset “Remember Choices” on Xiaomi Phone: The Complete Guide

The MIUI’s “Remember Choices” feature on Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones is designed to make it easier to interact with the device — for example, automatically open the selected application for certain types of files or actions. However, sometimes this option starts to work incorrectly: the system stubbornly offers the same application even if you want to use another, or blocks alternative options altogether. In the worst cases, users face errors like “It is impossible to change the default action” or “You can not reset”.

In this article, we’ll look at all the possible ways to remove Remember Choices** on Xiaomi phones, from standard MIUI settings to hidden commands for power users. The instructions are relevant for all modern models (including Xiaomi 13/14, Redmi Note 12, POCO F5) and firmware versions (from MIUI 12 to MIUI 15 based on Android 13/14). If you tried to reset the settings through the menu, but nothing worked, here you will find solutions that are not written in the official documentation.

Before you start, consider: some methods require developer rights or access to ADB. If you are a beginner, start with simple methods (sections 1-3) and then move on to advanced ones (sections 4-6). For convenience, we have highlighted a unique way to reset through Security Mode that works even when standard settings are locked.

1.Reset "Remember Choices" through application settings

The most obvious and safe method is to use built-in MIUI tools. It is suitable for most cases where the system suggests "remember choices" when opening files (such as photos, PDFs or links).

1. Find the application you want to remove the “remembered choice” for (such as Gallery, Browser, or WPS Office) and click on it.

If this item is inactive (grey), then there was no default action saved for this application, in which case move to the next method.

Tap on a file that opens incorrectly (e.g. PDF)

Make sure the system offers to select the application rather than automatically opening it.

Remember the name of the application that is “fixed” by default

Check if the “Remember Choice” option is active in the dialog box-->

Method limitation: In some versions of MIUI (e.g. MIUI 14 for Redmi Note 11), the Application section may not be available by default, in which case, use an alternative path:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → All applications.
2. Select the desired app (like Chrome), then click Open by default.
3. Press Reset Settings.

2. Cleaning the cache and data of the Settings application

If the previous method failed, the problem may lie in the corrupted cache of the system application com.android.settings.This method helps in 60% of cases when MIUI “does not see” the change in default settings.

Instructions:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. In the search bar, enter Settings (or Settings in English firmware).
3. Select the Settings app (icon with gear).
4. Click Warehouse → Clear the cache and Clear the data.
5. Reboot the phone.

💡

After cleaning the Settings app data, you will need to reconfigure the display of the control panels (notification curtains) and some personal settings. Take screenshots of important settings in advance!

Warning: Cleaning the Settings app data will reset:

• 🔄 Location of elements in the control panel;
• 🔕 Sign settings and Navigation Bar;
• 📱 “For Left-handed” and Other Personal Parameters.

If the problem persists after the reboot, proceed to the next method.

3.Use of "Safety Mode" for discharge

This works even when standard settings are locked by the system. Safe Mode loads MIUI without third-party apps and temporary files, allowing you to reset "remembered choices" bypassing restrictions.

How to activate:

1. Press the power button before the turn off menu appears.
2. Press the Turn Off icon (or Reboot on some models) before a request to switch to Security Mode appears.
3. Confirm transition. The phone will reboot with the message Safe Mode at the bottom of the screen.

In this mode:

• 📱 Repeat the steps from Section 1 (reset via Default Apps»);
• 🔧 If it doesn’t help, clear the cache and Settings app data (as in Section 2);
• 🔄 Restart your phone in normal mode.

If this method didn't work, the problem goes deeper, into the MIUI system files. Go to advanced methods.

4.Dumping via ADB (for power users)

The Android Debug Bridge (ADB) tool allows you to manage Android settings via the command line.This method is guaranteed to reset all "remembered choices," but requires connecting the phone to a PC.

What you need:

• 🖥️ A computer with installed Xiaomi drivers and ADB Tools;
• 📱 Included Debugging by USB on the phone (Settings) → The phone. → Version. MIUI — Tap 7 times, then return to the additional → For developers);
• 🔌 Cable USB (preferably original).

Step-by-step:

1. Connect the phone to the PC and confirm the debugging permission.
2. Open the command prompt (Windows) or terminal (macOS/Linux) in the folder with adb.exe.
3. Enter the command to check the connection: Adb devices should appear the name of your device.
4. Run the command to reset all actions by default: adb shell pm clear-defaults
5. Reboot your phone: adb reboot

Important: The pm clear-defaults command resets all default actions, including:

• 📄 Applications for opening files (PDF, APK, picture);
• 🌐 Browser by default;
• 📞 Calling app (if used by third party).

If you only need to reset one specific action, use the command:

adb shell pm clear Applications

For example, to reset the settings of the Gallery:

adb shell pm clear com.miui.gallery

5 Manual editing of system files (root)

If you have root rights, you can manually delete the files that save the choices, and this is a risky method, because doing the wrong thing can cause the system to crash, and only use it if other methods don't work.

Instructions:

1. Install a file manager with root support (such as Root Explorer or Solid Explorer).
2. Click on /data/system/users/0/ or (on some firmware): /data/system/
3. Find and delete files: package-restrictions.xml default-preferences.xml

Reboot the phone.

💡

Before you delete system files, make sure to back them up! copy the files to a separate folder on your phone or PC.

Warnings:

⚠️ Warning: Deleting these files will not only reset the "remembered selections" but also other system settings, including application permissions and some security settings.

⚠️ Attention: on phones with MIUI 13+ Android 12+ The path to the files may be different. If you don't find the files, check the folders. /data/misc/user/0/ Or use the default keyword search in the file manager.

6. Reset all settings to factory

The extreme measure, hard reset, should be applied only if:

• 🔧 None of the previous methods worked;
• 📱 The phone is unstable (hangs, errors);
• 🔒 The system blocks any changes in settings.

How to reset:

1. Make a backup copy of important data (photos, contacts, messages).
2. Go to Settings → About the phone → Reset settings.
3. Choose Reset all settings (or Delete all data).
4. Confirm the action and wait for the reboot.

Once reset, the phone will go back out of the box, and all the memories will be deleted, and the downside is that all user data will be lost.

💡

If you're afraid of losing data, log in to Mi Cloud before reset and sync your contacts, notes and photos, and you can restore them once you reset them.

Comparison of methods: which one to choose?

Recommendation: Start with the simplest methods (1-3), and only if they don't work, go to ADB or reset. Use root methods only as a last resort.

FAQ: Frequent questions