How to Remove Widgets on Xiaomi: The Complete Guide

Modern Android shells like MIUI and HyperOS offer users a variety of personalization tools, but this often leads to a cluttered desktop. Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones regularly face a situation where the screen turns into a chaotic mosaic of weather widgets, news feeds and service shortcuts. Removing these elements not only frees up space, but can improve the performance of the device by reducing the consumption of RAM.

The process of cleaning the interface is not always obvious, as some widgets are built deep into the system or have hidden control settings. Unlike standard applications, widgets are often not removed through the program management menu, requiring specific actions directly on the desktop. ADB-Teams for Advanced Users.

Basic methods of removing widgets from the desktop

The most obvious and common way to get rid of unnecessary elements on the screen is to use the standard interface mechanism. On most devices running MIUI 12 and later, just touch the widget and hold your finger until the context menu appears, at which point the screen can shrink, showing the general desktop grid, and the widget itself will stand out as a frame.

If you have a classic theme installed, you'll have a basket icon or cross at the top of the screen after a long press, and if you drag the widget into that area, you'll instantly delete it. However, newer versions of the HyperOS shell may have different logic: sometimes you need to click the "Delete" button in the pop-up menu that appears, or select the "Widget Settings" option to find the switch there.

It is worth noting that some system widgets, such as the "Clock" or "Calendar" on the first screen, may not have the delete button as usual. In such cases, the system often suggests replacing the widget with another or hiding it by moving it to a free desktop, this is done so that the user is not left completely without navigation elements if he accidentally deletes everything useful.

• 📱 Make a long press on the widget to activate the editing mode.
• 🗑️ Drag the object to the top corner of the screen to the basket icon or click "Delete" in the menu.
• ⚙️ Check the widget settings if the delete button is missing from the main interface.

Managing widgets through the system settings menu

When standard desktop removal fails, you need to go to the operating system's deep settings. There's a special section in the MIUI shell that displays interface elements. To get there, go to Settings, then select Desktop or Always on screen, depending on the firmware version.

You can find the switches that display global search, right swipe widget tapes and other system blocks, and disabling these features completely remove widgets that otherwise take up space even after you try to delete them, especially for Google Discover tape or Mi Video news feed, which often return after you update the system.

In some cases, accessing the full list of widgets requires activating the developer mode, this is done by repeatedly clicking on the build number in the About section. Once activated, a Developer's Device menu will appear, where you can find options related to animation and window display, which indirectly affects the widgets' performance.

⚠️ Note: Changing the settings in the "Developers" section may affect the stability of the system. Do not change the parameters, the value of which you do not know, especially those relating to the scale of windows or processes in the background.

It is important to understand the difference between removing a widget and disabling its service. If you just remove the icon from the screen, the process can continue to work in the background. To completely clean, you need to go to Settings → Apps → All applications, find the appropriate service (for example, “Weather” or “Music”) and select the option “Stop” or “Disable”.

Removal of system widgets and built-in services

The most difficult are system widgets that are part of the Android shell core or Xiaomi’s proprietary services, including security widgets, memory cleaner, virus scanner and various marketing recommendations, which are not normally removed because they are system applications.

There are two main ways to work with these objects: One is to use the built-in theme manager. In the Themes app, you can download a third-party theme that either doesn't have these widgets or is replaced with blank stubs. After applying the theme and returning to the standard layout, some elements may no longer appear.

The second, more radical method, involves using a computer and an ADB (Android Debug Bridge) tool, which allows you to remove or freeze the system packages responsible for widgets, by enabling USB debugging in the developer menu and connecting the smartphone to the PC.

The command to remove or disable a particular packet is as follows:

adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 name packet

For example, to disable the security widget, often use the package com.miui.securitycenter, but this should be done with extreme caution, as you can disrupt the entire security system.

Setup of Widget Ribbon and Negative Screen

One of the things that deserves a special attention is the Negative Screen, which is the space that swipes to the right of the home page, which usually houses Google widgets, steps, weather, and quick action, and many users want to turn off the tape completely so they don't open it accidentally.

To do this, you need to pinch the empty space on the desktop to go into editing mode, and select Add screen or Settings (cog icon). In the menu that opens, you need to find the Widget Ribbon switch or Google Discover and move it to the "Off" position. This action will instantly remove the additional screen.

If you use a POCO Launcher or a third-party shell like Launcher 10 or Nova Launcher, the logic may be different, and in such cases, widgets are managed through the launcher settings itself, where you can flexibly adjust the number of screens, their location and content.

• 🔍 Click the empty area on the desktop to enter the editing menu.
• 📉 Find the settings of "Negative Screen" or "Widget Tapes".
• 🚫 Turn off the display of news feeds and recommendation blocks.

Remember that after updating the firmware, the launcher settings may reset and the widget tape will appear again, so after each major MIUI update, it is recommended to check this setting again.

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If a standard launcher doesn’t let you remove the widget, try installing a third-party launcher (like Nova Launcher), removing the extra there, and then returning to the standard one – sometimes this helps reset the interface cache.

Using third-party launchers for complete cleaning

When the built-in capabilities of the system are exhausted and the desire to have a clean desktop remains, third-party launchers come to the rescue. Applications like Nova Launcher, Microsoft Launcher or Smart Launcher completely replace the standard Xiaomi interface, providing more flexible management tools.

The main advantage of such launchers is the ability to create desktop profiles where widgets are either absent or replaced with minimalist counterparts, and they also allow you to hide the icons of system applications that often come with widgets, creating the illusion of their complete absence.

However, switching to a third-party launcher has its own peculiarities: some MIUI features, such as gestures of control or double-touch to turn on the screen, may not work correctly or require additional permission adjustments.

⚠️ Note: When installing a third-party launcher, the system may periodically suggest returning the default standard launcher. To avoid this, you need to find the item "Other settings" in Xiaomi settings" → "Select the application by default" and secure the selected launcher.

Using an alternative interface is a great way to breathe new life into older smartphone models, as modern launchers often work easier than an overloaded ad and widget stock shell.

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Third-party launchers give maximum freedom, but can conflict with system gestures and MIUI features, requiring careful permissions customization.

Possible problems and solutions

When removing widgets, users may encounter a number of technical difficulties. The most common problem is the widget's "resurrection": you delete the item, reboot the phone, and it reappears in the same place. This is often because the widget is tied to a particular slot in the desktop configuration file that is not updated correctly.

To solve this problem, try to clear the Desktop (or System Launcher) data. Path: Settings → Apps → All Apps → Find Worker → Memory → Clean. Importantly, this action will reset all icons and widgets to factory status, so pre-take screenshots to remember where everything was.

Another common problem is the lack of response to long-pressing, and if the widget doesn't stand out or move, it's possible that the phone has activated "Block layout" or "Protection from changes" mode, which is often turned on by default to prevent children from accidentally shifting icons.

You can check this by holding back the blank space on the screen and seeing if there's a "Blocking the layout" switch on it. If it's active, the widgets won't be removed. It's also worth checking if the "Simple Mode" (for older people) mode is on, which limits the ability to change the interface.

• 🔄 Reboot the device after removing the system widgets to apply the changes.
• 🧹 Clear the launcher cache if the widgets behave unstable or disappear on their own.
• 🔒 Check if the lock of the change of the desktop in the settings is activated.

If nothing helps, and the widget continues to take up space, you can use the "bone" method: place on top of it another, larger widget or group of widgets, overlapping the unwanted element visually.