Owners of modern smartphones Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco often face a situation where after updating the system or buying a new device, the text on the screen becomes unreadable. This may be due to factory settings that are aimed at a wide audience, including people with visual impairment. MIUI interface and the new HyperOS shell have flexible display options, but they are not always intuitive at first glance. If the letters "float" in front of the eyes or occupy half the screen, this is easy to fix.
Changing character sizes not only affect menus, but also messaging, browsers, and system notifications. Text scaling is a system function that rewires the layout of most applications. It is important to understand the difference between font size and interface element size, as these settings are often confused. In this article, we will detail all the ways to reduce text, hidden menus, and possible compatibility problems.
Before we start to make changes, it's worth noting that the slider layout may be slightly different across different phones, but the logic of the Android shell in conjunction with MIUI remains the same for all devices of the brand, you can customize the screen to make it as comfortable as possible to read news and correspondence.
Standard display settings in MIUI and HyperOS
The easiest and safest way to resize text is to use the built-in tools. Xiaomi has put the basic control sliders in a prominent place so that users can quickly adapt the screen. First, you need to get into the main settings menu of your device, and here is the control center for all the visualization options.
In the list that opens, look for a item that might be called Screen or Display, and depending on the firmware version, the option you're looking for may be at the first layer of nesting, or hidden in the "Advanced" submenu, which is where the interface scale is adjusted.
- 📱 Click on the Settings icon (cog) on your desktop.
- 👁️ Select the "Screen" or "Display and brightness" section».
- 🔍 Find the subsection "Text size and display».
- ⬇️ Move the slider to the left to a comfortable value.
Once you move the slider, the changes are instantaneous, and you'll see the text in the menu and the app names shrink in real time. If the standard minimum isn't enough for you and the letters still seem too large, there's a deeper level of customization, which we'll talk about later. The system font in the HyperOS shell has become even more adaptive.
⚠️ Note: With a large scale reduction, some interface elements may overlap, making control uncomfortable.
Advanced settings through the menu "Special Opportunities"
If a standard slider isn't enough, the feature section comes to the rescue, and it's the hidden reserve of Android, which allows you to go beyond the usual constraints, and you can reduce the text to the lowest possible value available to the operating system kernel.
To access these settings, go back to the main settings menu and look for the “Advanced Settings” or “Advanced” section. In the options list, we are interested in the “Special Opportunities” item (sometimes called “Special Features”). Inside this menu, you need to find the “Visual” tab or immediately see the “Text Size” option.
Here you'll find a second slider that's often ignored by users, which works independently of the basic screen setting, and by combining both, you can create an extremely small typeface that can fit huge amounts of information onto a single screen.
☑️ Checking screen settings
Be careful with the minimum values. Readability is more important than the amount of information per inch. If you squint to make out the letters, you better get the settings back. Your eyes will thank you after a few hours of use.
Setting the font size in the browser and applications
Often users complain about large text not in the menu, but when surfing the Internet. Browsers such as Google Chrome or the built-in MI Browser have their own zoom settings that overlap the system. To reduce the font on web pages, you need to go to the settings of the browser itself.
In Chrome, click on the three dots in the top right corner, select Settings, then go to Special Opportunities, where you'll find the text scaling slider, and by moving it, you only change the font size inside that app without affecting the rest of the phone's interface.
The same situation is observed in messengers, for example, in Telegram or WhatsApp, the font size can be adjusted separately» → «chat» → «Font size. This allows you to make the correspondence comfortable, even if the rest of the system has small text.
- 🌐 In Chrome: Settings → Special opportunities → Scaling up the text.
- 💬 In Telegram: Settings → chat → Type size.
- 📱 On WhatsApp: Settings → chat → Type size.
- 📖 In Mi Browser: Menu → Settings → Web pages → Scope.
This autonomy of settings is convenient because it allows you to create a personalized environment for each application. You can read small text in the news and save large print in messengers for quick communication. Android flexibility allows you to implement any use case.
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Use the “Read” mode in your browser to automatically remove unnecessary advertising and format the text in a user-friendly way.
Reduce the size of all interface elements
It's important to distinguish between font size and interface size (buttons, icons, input fields). Sometimes text shrinks, but buttons stay huge, taking up useful space. MIUI and HyperOS have a separate setting to zoom in on the whole picture.
It's on the way: Settings → Screen → Size of UI elements (or Screen Size) and has three modes: S (Small), M (Medium), L (Large) and Switching to S mode reduces all objects on the screen, making the interface denser and more informative.
This setting is especially relevant for owners of large-screen smartphones, such as the Redmi Note series or Xiaomi Mix. On large displays, standard elements can seem bloated. Switching to S mode visually reduces the phone to the size of a compact flagship.
| Parameter | Impact on the system | Where to find out. | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Size of text | Letters and numbers only. | Screen. → Size of text | For accurate readability settings |
| Size of elements | Buttons, icons, fields | Screen. → Size of elements | For compact interface |
| Scale in the browser | Web pages only | Browser settings | For comfortable surfing. |
| DPI (Engineering) | Global scaling | For developers | Only for experienced users |
Combining these two things makes it a perfect balance, but remember that if you reduce the interface elements a lot, it's going to be harder to hit the little Close or Back buttons, and the ergonomics of the controls can get hurt.
Engineering menu and DPI change (For advanced)
For those who lack standard tools, there is the option of changing the screen density (DPI – Dots Per Inch), a system parameter that forces Android to redraw all elements with new pixel density, and this is the most powerful way to reduce the font and all elements to a minimum.
To access this feature, you need to activate the developer mode. Go to About Phone and quickly click 7 times on either MIUI Version or OS Version. Once you have "You've become a developer," go back to the main settings menu.
In the Advanced Settings section, you will see a "Developers" option, and inside you will find the "Minimum Width" option. The default value is usually 360-400 dp. Reducing this number will increase elements, and increasing it will decrease.
Recommended value: 320-340 dp
Hazard zone: above 500 dp (may break the interface)⚠️ Attention: Change DPI This can cause some applications to be displayed incorrectly that are not adapted to non-standard resolutions!
It is not recommended to change the value by more than 20-30 units at a time. If you set a value too high, the interface can become so small that you can not press the back button or enter the settings to return everything as it was, in which case only resetting the phone will help.
What to do if the interface is lost?
Frequent problems and their solution
When you change the font settings, you may encounter display artifacts, and text may crop, go beyond the buttons, or become unreadable in individual applications, because some programs have a rigid layout.
If you notice that text has become unreadable in an application, try resetting the zoom settings for that particular application. Go to Settings → Apps → All Apps, find the problematic application, and click Clear → Clear All Data (pre-saving important data if it is not synchronized).
Another problem is font desynchronization, some menus have small text, others have large text, which is often treated by restarting the device, and restarting the system causes all services to re-read the configuration files.
- 🔄 Restart your smartphone after changing your system settings.
- 🗑️ Clear the cache of the problem app.
- 📉 Bring it back. DPI to the factory value, if the interface "got».
- 🔍 Check the system updates, it may be a bug version MIUI.
Also, consider that installing third-party design themes can override your font settings. If you like customization, choose themes that respect system zoom parameters. Third-party launchers can also have their own icon and text size settings.
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The optimal font size is a subjective parameter, but the middle ground is where you read text without eye strain and without having to bring the phone closer to your face.
The influence of the topic and style on the perception of the text
Remember, not only is the size of a font affected by the size of the font, but also by the style. MIUI has a shop where you can choose a font with narrower or wider characters. Replacing the system font with a more compact one (such as a narrower font) will visually reduce the text without changing the scale settings.
Dark theme also plays a role. On a black background, white text often seems thinner and smaller than black text on a white background. Including a dark theme in the Screen section can subjectively improve the perception of fine print, reducing eye strain.
Experiment with a combination of size, element density and font style. Only by choosing a unique combination will you make your Xiaomi as comfortable as possible. Remember that vision is a resource to be cherished, so don't try to make text extremely small for aesthetics.