How to remove permission icons on Xiaomi: hiding privacy indicators

Xiaomi’s current smartphones, which run MIUI shells and the new HyperOS, feature advanced privacy protections, such as status bar indicators that light up when an app uses a camera or microphone, and these permission icons are designed to tell users that audio or video is being recorded.

For many device owners, however, the constant blinking of green or orange dots becomes an annoying distraction from the main content on the screen. Xiaomi does not provide a direct button to completely disable this feature in the standard settings menu, which often causes bewilderment among users accustomed to deep customization of the interface.

In this article, we will discuss proven ways to hide or remove these indicators, and we will look at both secure methods through system settings, and more sophisticated options for advanced users who want to gain full control of their interface.

The Nature of the Privacy Indicators in MIUI and HyperOS

Since Android 12, Google has made it mandatory for all smartphone manufacturers to display sensor activity, and on Redmi and Poco devices, this is done through a system of indicators that appear in the upper right corner of the screen, with a green dot signaling the camera's performance and an orange dot signaling the microphone's activation.

The system layer of these notifications means that they are integrated deep into the operating system. They are not just app icons that can be hidden through a standard theme manager or status bar settings, but they are part of a security mechanism designed to prevent hidden surveillance by malware.

⚠️ Warning: Turning off these indicators completely reduces your digital security, and you will no longer have visual control over which app is currently using your personal data.

Despite its protective function, having these icons can be a hindrance when watching videos, reading books, or using navigation, where every pixel area of the screen matters. Understanding how this mechanism works is the first step to properly adjusting or masking it.

Standard Status Bar settings

Before you resort to complex methods, it is worth checking the basic configurations of displaying interface elements. In some versions of MIUI firmware, it is possible to hide certain elements of the status bar, although this functionality is often limited.

Find the look and notification section. The path may vary slightly depending on the shell version, but it usually looks like this: Settings → Notifications and status bar. Here the user can control the visibility of the watch, battery level and icons of running applications.

• 📱 Open Settings on the main screen.
• 🔍 In the search, type the word “status” for quick access.
• 👁️ Find the "Show Network Speed" option or similar options.
• 🔘 Try disabling the display of notification icons if such option is available.

Unfortunately, most current HyperOS and MIUI 14 builds don’t have the option to hide the privacy indicators (camera and microphone) specifically so that users can’t accidentally turn off an important security element. If you don’t have a corresponding switch on your menu, move on to the following methods.

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Use a Settings search by entering keywords, as menu item names may differ from region to region (e.g., "Status bar" instead of "Status bar").

Using Developer Mode to Disguise

A more effective way to influence system indicators is to use a hidden menu for developers, which contains many parameters that are hidden by default from ordinary users, but allow you to fine-tune the behavior of the system.

To activate this mode, you need to go to the About Phone menu and quickly click on the build number several times. Once you have become a developer, a new section will appear in the settings menu, Additional Settings → For developers, and this is where the keys to managing some visual elements lie.

Inside the developer menu, you have to be very careful. If you change the settings incorrectly, you can get the system to work in an unstable way. We're interested in the debugging or visualization section. Sometimes you'll find options that affect overlays on top of other windows.

While there may not be a direct Hide Microphone Indicator button here, changing the interface or font zoom settings can visually shift icons, making them less visible or moving beyond an important area of the screen. Experiment with Least Width (DPI) but write down the original value to get it all back.

Use of third-party utilities to hide elements

If system methods don’t work, specialized applications from the Google Play store come to the rescue. There are programs that create their own layer on top of the system interface, overlapping or masking unwanted elements, such as permission icons.

One popular solution is to use status bar customization apps, which work by creating a black or transparent overlay at the top of the screen that literally closes the system indicators, such as utits like Status Bar Modifier or similar tools for Android.

• 📥 Download the proven application for modification of the status bar.
• 🔐 Provide the necessary permissions to display over other windows.
• 🎨 Customize the color and transparency of the overlapping stripe.
• 📏 Adjust the height of the masking area to cover only the indicators.

It is important to understand that using such programs requires constant permission to work in the background and access to special features, which can slightly increase battery consumption, and when updating Xiaomi system, the mechanism of such applications may be disrupted and they will need to be reconfigured.

⚠️ Note: When installing apps that require drawing rights over windows, check developer reviews and ratings.

Modification of system files through Root rights

For users with deep knowledge of Android, there is a radical method, direct editing of system files, which requires obtaining superuser rights (Root) through Magisk or similar utilities, the only way to permanently remove the code responsible for rendering indicators.

The process begins with unlocking the bootloader, which is officially allowed by Xiaomi, but requires waiting (usually 7 days) and bringing the device to a clean state. After receiving Root access, you need to use a file manager with system rights, for example, Root Explorer or MT Manager.

adb shell


su




mount -o rw,remount /system

We need to find the file that is responsible for the system UI (often SystemUI.apk or resources in framework-res.apk). Inside these files, you need to find the strings responsible for the "privacy indicator" or "camera mic icon" and either delete them or replace them with transparent plugs. This requires skills with resource decompilers such as APKTool.

This is the most effective method, because it removes the problem at the root level, but it is also the most dangerous. A mistake in one byte of code can lead to a bootloop (infinite reboot) of the phone. Always do a full backup of data before starting such manipulations.

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Root-rights work 100 percent, but it's not guaranteed, it's highly skilled, and it's safer for the average user to use cloaking.

Alternative Solutions and Notification Management

If removing icons seems too risky, you can try to minimize their impact on the user experience in another way, such as using themes that visually change the style of the status bar, making it denser or darker, which can dissolve the bright points of the indicators.

It’s also worth revising the list of apps that have access to the camera and microphone. Often the icon burns constantly because a background application (such as a voice recorder or messenger) holds the resource. Go to Settings → Privacy → Permit Manager and revoke unnecessary access.

• 🚫 Disable microphone access for applications that don’t need it (calculator, flashlight).
• 🔒 Use the One App mode for suspicious programs.
• 🧹 Clean your memory regularly by closing the background processes.

Another option in new versions of HyperOS is to see which app is using the sensor when you click on the icon, which helps you quickly identify the troublemaker and close it, removing the icon.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)