How to speed up the work of Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus: expert guide

Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus, which was released in early 2018, was once considered the king of the budget segment. The powerful Snapdragon 625 processor and huge battery provided excellent autonomy and stable operation in any task. However, time goes on, applications become heavier and the operating system acquires new features, which inevitably affects the speed of the device. Many owners notice that the interface is starting to slow down, and the launch of games takes longer than before.

Before you think about buying a new gadget, you should try a comprehensive optimization of the system. In most cases, the problem lies not in the physical wear of iron, but in the software "garbage" and the wrong settings. MIUI allows you to significantly extend the life of the device and return it to its former frolicity.

In this article, we’ll look at proven methods to help your Redmi 5 Plus run faster, touching on both the secure, regular tools and the deeper settings available through the engineering menu, and following these guidelines will unlock the hidden potential of your smartphone.

Analysis and cleaning of internal memory

The first and most critical factor affecting the speed of any Android smartphone is the internal memory filling. When free space on the system partition drops below 10-15%, the speed of writing and reading data decreases sharply. The Android operating system uses free space to create temporary files and cache, and if there is no space, lags and freezes begin.

Redmi 5 Plus owners with 32GB or 64GB of storage need to regularly audit files. Often users do not notice how instant messengers like Telegram or WhatsApp accumulate gigabytes of media files, and it is worth checking the download folder, where old APK installation files and unnecessary documents may lie.

⚠️ Note: Do not delete files from system folders with names like Android, data or obb unless you know exactly what they are responsible for. Deleting important system caches can cause applications to malfunction.

You can use the built-in Security app to clean up quickly, and it automatically finds temporary files and cache that can be safely deleted, but manual control is always more effective than automatic scanning.

• 🗑️ Remove old screenshots and videos from the gallery by moving them to your computer or cloud storage.
• 📱 Clear the heavy social media cache through the app settings in the Settings menu → Annexes.
• 📦 Remove unused games and programs that only take up space and hang in the background.

Optimization of the interface and animation MIUI

MIUI is famous for its visual component, but the abundance of animations can create the illusion of a device running slowly on processors of the past. Decreasing the duration of animations or eliminating it is one of the most effective ways to visually speed up the response of the system. Changes take effect instantly and do not require root rights.

To access these settings, you need to activate the developer mode, make five quick clicks on the build number in the About menu, and then the Developer Forward option will appear in the advanced settings, and that's where the interface speed controls are hidden.

Find the section that's related to drawing, and rescale the animation. The standard value is usually 1x. Changing it to 0.5x will make the transitions between the windows sharper, and the value of "No animation" will remove them completely, which will maximize subjective speed.

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If you've turned off the animation completely, the interface may feel twitchy. Try leaving the 0.5x value to balance speed and visual comfort.

Managing Autoboot and Background Processes

One of the main reasons for the waste of resources and brakes is the excessive number of applications running in the background. In the Xiaomi ecosystem, the auto-start mechanism is responsible for this, many programs prescribe themselves in the start-up to constantly hang in memory and send notifications, which loads RAM and processor.

You can control this process through a special settings menu. It is recommended to leave auto-start only for messengers and alarms. All other applications, especially stores, newsfeeds and games, should be launched only on the user's request.

Also worth noting is the memory extension feature, which some firmware versions for the Redmi 5 Plus offer the option of using part of the internal memory as virtual RAM. While this sounds useful, on older types of eMMC memory, it can, on the contrary, reduce overall performance due to low read speed.

• 🚫 Turn off auto-run for all apps except WhatsApp, Viber and system services.
• ⚙️ Check the Battery section and limit background activity for rarely used programs.
• 🔄 Reboot your smartphone at least once a week to reset accumulated system errors.

Resetting and clean installation

If software cleaning and customization fails to produce the desired results, the radical, but often most effective, method is a complete factory reset, and over the years of use, residual files, library conflicts, and registry errors accumulate in the system that cannot be removed by standard means.

Before you start, make sure to back up all your important data. Reset will delete everything: contacts, photos, apps and settings. Use Mi Cloud or Google Drive cloud services to save information.

The reset process takes 10 to 20 minutes, and once turned on, you'll get the device out of the box. The first half an hour, the system will do internal optimization of applications, during which time the phone can warm and run slowly, which is normal.

⚠️ Warning: Do not interrupt the reset process or turn off the phone until it is fully loaded onto the desktop. Interrupting system file writing may make it impossible to turn on the device.

Hidden possibilities of the engineering menu

For advanced users, Android provides access to an engineering menu where you can control the parameters of the processor and network. In Redmi 5 Plus, based on the Snapdragon processor, you can try to change the energy saving settings, which sometimes has a positive effect on performance.

Sign in to the menu via the code ##3646633## in the T Call app, and be careful that changing unknown parameters can cause the modem to run unstable or overheat.

In the Hardware Testing → Power section, you can find power script settings, but it's safer for the average user to limit yourself to turning off unused communication modules, for example, if you're not using NFC or Bluetooth, it's best to keep them off so that the system doesn't waste resources looking for devices.

Impact of Android Updates and Versions

Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus owners often face a choice: upgrade to the latest available version of MIUI or stay on the old firmware. On the one hand, new versions contain security patches and optimizations, on the other hand, heavier versions of the shell can work slowly on the old hardware.

If your smartphone is stable on the current version and you don’t need new features, you can refrain from updating. However, if you experience bugs, the update can fix them.

Updates are checked in the Settings menu → About Phone → System Update. If official support is already terminated, some users resort to installing custom firmware such as LineageOS, which can be lighter and faster than stock.

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The safest way to accelerate is to use a combination of memory cleaning, animation shutdown and autoboot control, and use radical methods only when necessary.

Table of comparison of optimization methods

For ease of perception, we have put together the basic methods in a summary table, which will help you choose a strategy depending on your situation and level of training.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)