How to control a Mi TV from a Xiaomi phone: the complete guide

Introduction: why control from the phone is more convenient remote

The era of traditional remote control is slowly fading into the past. Today's Xiaomi Mi TVs are fully controlled from your smartphone -- and it's not just a marketing ploy, it's a real convenience. Imagine no longer having to search for a remote control all over your apartment, change your batteries, or worry that your child will smash it against the floor. Your Xiaomi Redmi, POCO or Mi 11 is becoming a universal multimedia control center.

But how does it work in practice? Unlike the standard ones. IR-remotes (infrared), the smartphone controls the TV via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, which opens up additional possibilities: voice search, gesture control, fast text input from the phone keyboard. However, many users are experiencing connection problems or are unaware of hidden features.This article covers all the gaps from basic setup to solving non-obvious bugs.

How to connect Xiaomi phone to Mi TV

There are three main ways to control Mi TV from a smartphone, and each has its own advantages, depending on the model of the TV, the firmware version and even the generation of your Xiaomi device.

• 📶 Wi-Fi (Mi Remote) – the official way from Xiaomi, works on all TV series Mi TV Redmi Smart TV. Requires to connect your phone and TV to the same network.
• 🔵 Bluetooth – available for Mi models TV 4S/5 Pro (2020+) and Bluetooth smartphones 5.0. Suitable for management without the Internet.
• 🌐 Through third-party applications – universal solutions like Google TV Remote or Unified Remote, but with limited functionality.

The most reliable option is Mi Remote, but it requires pre-tuning, and if your TV supports Mi Home, you can use it as an alternative, and we'll break down each method with step-by-step instructions below.

Setup Mi Remote: step-by-step instructions

Mi Remote is Xiaomi’s native tool for managing brand technology, pre-installed on all Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones (in the Tools or Utility folder). If it’s not available, download it from Google Play or AppGallery (for Huawei).

Make sure your phone and TV are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

Update the TV firmware to the latest version

Enable Network Management in the Mi TV settings

Allow Mi Remote to access location (to search for devices)-->

Now we move on to the setting:

1. Open Mi Remote and click Add Device.
2. Choose the TV category, then the Xiaomi brand.
3. The app will automatically find your Mi. TV If that doesn't happen, type in. IP-Television address manually (you can find it in Settings) → On TV. → State of the network).
4. Confirm the pairing on the TV screen (a code of 4 digits will appear).
5. Now, the virtual remote control with the control buttons will be displayed on the phone screen.

If at the stage of searching the device there is an error "Can not connect", check:

• 🔌 Turn it off. VPN On the phone, it can block the local connection.
• 🔄 Restart your router and TV (sometimes resetting your network cache helps).
• 📱 Update the Mi Remote app to the latest version.

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If Mi Remote doesn’t find the TV, try connecting via Mi Home: add Mi TV as a smart home device, then use it to control it.

Bluetooth Control: When Wi-Fi is Unavailable

Bluetooth is useful in two cases: when there is no Wi-Fi access (for example, at a party) or when you want to save battery power (Bluetooth consumes less power than Wi-Fi). TV. Here is a list of supported TVs:

To connect via Bluetooth:

1. Turn on Bluetooth on your phone (Settings → Connections → Bluetooth).
2. On the TV, go to Settings → Devices → Bluetooth and activate the search.
3. Select your smartphone from the list of found devices and confirm pairing.
4. Open Mi Remote and select Bluetooth mode (if the option is available).

⚠️ Note: When controlling over Bluetooth, you may experience a delay of up to 0.5 seconds. This is normal for this type of connection.

Alternative applications for managing Mi TV

If Mi Remote doesn't work or work, you can use third-party solutions that don't always provide full functionality, but sometimes save in non-standard situations.-3 tested applications:

• 📺 Google TV Remote is the official app from Google, works with Mi TV Android-based TV. Supports voice search and keyboard.
• 🎮 Unified Remote is a universal remote with gesture and button customization.
• 🔧 Yatse: Remote for Android TV — Advanced solution with a widget on the main screen and support for automatic tasks.

To set up Google TV Remote:

1. Install the app on your phone from Google Play.
2. Open it and select your Mi TV from the device list (must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network).
3. Confirm the connection on the TV screen.
4. You can now use a virtual remote or voice input.

The main disadvantage of third-party applications is the lack of support for specific Mi TV features, such as:

• 🔊 Adjustment of sound modes (Dolby Audio, DTS).
• 📊 Color profile settings (Vivid, Cinema).
• 🔄 Quick switch between HDMI-port.

Advanced functions: voice control and gestures

One of the key benefits of mobile phone control is access to voice assistant and gesture input, which saves time and makes interaction with the TV more intuitive, for example, instead of manually searching for a movie, you can just say, "OK Google, turn on Game of Thrones on Netflix."

To activate voice control:

1. Open Mi Remote and click on the microphone icon in the upper right corner.
2. Allow the app to access the microphone (if requested).
3. Say command. Requests in Russian and English are supported.

List of supported voice commands:

• 🔍 "Find the Comedies of 2023 – Content Search.
• 📺 "Turn on Channel One – Switching Channels.
• 🔊 "Increase volume by 20%" - adjust the sound.
• 🎬 "Pass on pause” – playback control.

For gesture control:

1. Enable the function in Mi Remote settings: Settings → Gestures.
2. Select actions for swipes: ↑ - increase the volume. ↓ - decrease the volume. ← → - rewind the video.

Practice: gestures are only recognized when the phone is active.

⚠️ Attention: Voice control requires an active Internet connection on the phone, as requests are processed by the Xiaomi cloud service.

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Voice search only works with applications integrated into the Mi TV system (YouTube, Netflix, Prime Video), local files or third-party services (for example, Kodi) are not supported.

Solving common problems

Even with the right setup, users sometimes encounter errors, most of which are solved by standard methods, but there are also Mi TV-specific ones.

If none of these methods worked, reset the network settings on the TV:

1. Go to Settings → System → Reset.
2. Select Network Reset (not to be confused with a full reset!).
3. Connect to Wi-Fi again and reset Mi Remote.

Critical information: After resetting network settings, the TV may lose connection with your Xiaomi account. To avoid problems, untie the TV from your Settings → Xiaomi account before reset.

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions