How to manage Xiaomi devices: from a smartphone to a smart home

Managing Xiaomi’s hardware seems intuitive at first glance, and in fact, even experienced users often miss half the capabilities of their devices — whether it’s a MIUI smartphone, a Yeelight smart lamp, or a Mi Robot Vacuum robot vacuum cleaner. The problem is that the brand’s ecosystem brings together dozens of gadgets with different interfaces, and the documentation is often fragmented or machine-translated.

In this guide, we systematize all the ways to manage Xiaomi equipment - from basic (buttons, gestures, voice) to advanced (hidden menus, ADB-Teams, automation through Mi Home, and we will focus on the difference between global and Chinese firmware. MIUI, If you've ever heard of "youtube showed one feature and I don't have one," here's an explanation and a solution.

1. Basic management of the Xiaomi smartphone: buttons, gestures and navigation

Modern Xiaomi smartphones (Redmi, POCO, Mi series) support three types of navigation: classic buttons, MIUI gestures and “clean” Android gestures. The choice between them depends not only on the habit, but also on the firmware version. For example, MIUI 14 introduced a new gesture “swipe down the edge of the screen” to call notification panels, which is not available in older versions.

To change the type of navigation:

1. Go to Settings → Display → Navigation panel
2. Choose one of the options: 🔘 Navigation buttons – classic “Back”, “Home”, “Recent” (suitable for beginners) 👆 Gestures MIUI — swipes at the bottom of the screen (recommended for screens with a cutout) 📱 Android gestures – swipes around the edges (similar to Pixel or Samsung)

Additional settings → Sensitivity of gestures

Important: on some models (for example, POCO F5) Android gestures are disabled by default. To activate them, you need to switch to developer mode and turn on the option. force_fullscreen_output through ADB. More about this in the section on hidden functions.

⚠️ Note: On devices with Chinese firmware MIUI (Xiaomi 13 Pro China, for example ROM) Android gestures may not work properly due to manufacturer restrictions, in which case it is recommended to install global firmware or use Xiaomi.EU ROM.

2.Voice Control: Alice, Google Assistant and Hidden Commands

Voice assistant Alice (from Yandex) is integrated into the firmware MIUI for the Russian market, but not everyone knows that he can control not only a smartphone, but also other Xiaomi devices through Mi Home.

• 💡 "Alice, turn on the light in the living room (for Yeelight lamps)
• 🧹 "Alice, start cleaning up (for robot vacuum cleaner)
• 🔊 "Alice, put the music on the speaker (for Mi Smart Speaker)

To set up voice control:

1. Install the Yandex application and log in.
2. In Mi Home, go to Profile → Settings → Voice Assistants and link accounts.
3. For advanced commands, activate the developer mode in Mi Home (5 times click on the App version in the settings).

Hidden possibility: If you have a smartphone with an infrared port (for example, Redmi Note 11 Pro+), you can control household appliances (air conditioners, TVs) through voice commands.

Download the database of remotes in Mi Remote

Connect Mi Remote to Google Assistant via Settings → Voice Assistant

Say, "OK Google, turn on the air conditioner at 22 degrees."

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3. Xiaomi Smart Home Management: Mi Home vs Home Assistant

The Mi Home app is a central hub for managing Xiaomi's entire ecosystem, but it's limited by the manufacturer's logic, like you can't create a scenario where a Yeelight lamp flashes when you notify an email, or a robot vacuum cleaner starts cleaning when you leave the house by geolocation, and you'll need a Home Assistant, an open automation platform.

Basic settings in Mi Home:

1. Add the device via + → Add the device (hold the button on the device until the indicator flashes).
2. Group the devices into rooms in a smart home → Rooms.
3. Create automation in automation → Create automation → If...

Examples of useful automation:

• 🌅 "If the sun is rising, open the curtains of the Mi Smart Curtain at 50%"

⚠️ Note: Xiaomi devices with Aqara prefix (e.g. Aqara Hub) M2) They require a separate Aqara Home app and are not always compatible with Mi Home.

For advanced users:

4. Hidden features and ADB commands for power users

MIUI hides a lot of features that can be activated via ADB (Android Debug Bridge) or engineering menus, for example, most Xiaomi smartphones have disabled the tablet mode, which allows you to multitask like on the iPad, or one-hand mode with additional settings.

Popular ADB-teaming:

# Enable tablet mode (reboot required)


adb shell settings put global force_desktop_mode_on_external_displays 1




Disable ads in MIUI (not working on all versions)



adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.miui.systemAdSolution




Unlock FPS in games (e.g. for 120Hz on Redmi K50)



adb shell setprop debug.hwui.render_dirty_regions 0

To execute these commands:

1. Enable Developer Mode (7 times click on the MIUI version in Settings → About Phone).
2. Activate Debugging by USB in Settings → Additional → For developers.
3. Connect your smartphone to your PC and execute commands via Terminal or Platform Tools.

💡

Before using ADB, back up your data via Settings → Additional → Backup and Reset. Some commands (such as uninstalling system applications) can lead to unstable operation.

Another hidden possibility is the engineering menu, so you can get in.

1. Open the Phone app.
2. Enter the code ##4636##.
3. Go to Testing → Battery information for a detailed battery diagnosis.

5. Camera Control: Hidden Modes and Manual Settings

Xiaomi’s Camera app hides a number of professional features that can be enabled through ADB or third-party modifications, such as flagships (Xiaomi 13 Ultra, Mix Fold 3) that have RAW mode with full exposure control, but it’s disabled by default.

How to activate hidden modes:

• 📸 Professional Video Mode: Enable persist.camera.HAL3.enabled=1 through ADB.
• 🎥 Entry in 8K: Some models require you to change region to India in camera settings.
• 🔍 Macro mode without restrictions: turn off automatic lens switching via Camera Settings → Additionally. → Switching cameras.

For shooting in ProRAW format (similar to Apple ProRAW):

1. Install GCam (a modified version of Google Camera for Xiaomi).
2. In GCam settings, activate RAW + JPEG.
3. Use Lightroom Mobile for post-processing RAW-file.

⚠️ Note: On devices with a Mediatek processor (such as the Redmi Note 12), modified versions of the GCam may not work stable due to the closed source code of the camera drivers. 4PDA.

6 Control over PC: Mi PC Suite and Alternatives

The official Mi PC Suite software allows you to control your smartphone from a computer, but its capabilities are limited by basic functions (file transfer, backup).

• 🖥️ Scrcpy – broadcasting the screen of the smartphone on a PC with support for mouse / keyboard control.
• 📂 AirDroid – Remote File and Notification Management.
• 🔧 QTADB — graphical interface ADB-team.

Instructions for setting up Scrcpy:

1. Download Scrcpy from GitHub.
2. Connect your smartphone via USB and allow debugging.
3. Run scrcpy.exe from the command line with the following parameters: scrcpy --bit-rate 8M --max-fps 60

To transfer files without wires:

Enable Wi-Fi File Transfer in Settings → Connections → File Transfer

On PC, open \\IP-ADRESS-SMARTFON\ in Windows Explorer

To speed up, turn off VPN on both devices

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7. Battery management: how to extend the life of the battery

Xiaomi smartphones are often criticized for fast battery discharge, but the problem is usually not a “weak battery”, but in the wrong settings. For example, aggressive optimization of MIUI can close the background processes, which causes applications (for example, messengers) to constantly restart and waste charge.

Checklist for optimization:

• 🔋 Turn off Auto Brightness and set a fixed value (optimum — 40-60%).
• ⚡ Enable Lean Mode in Settings → Battery. → Power regimens.
• 🚫 Disable auto-run of unnecessary applications in Settings → Annexes → Autostart control.
• 🔄 Turn off device search and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth-scanning.

For advanced users:

FAQ: Frequent questions about Xiaomi management