MIUI 12 was a landmark update for Xiaomi, with a new design, improved security and a host of visual effects. However, many users have found the interface to be slower and the background processes to be more battery-intensive, especially on previous generations, where hardware resources are limited compared to today’s flagships.
There are many reasons why your smartphone might start to slow down. Often the problem isn’t hardware, but software conflicts, accumulated debris, or incorrect animation settings. In this article, we’ll look at proven ways to help you get back to the edge of the interface and apps.
Before you go to radical measures like a complete data reset, you should try to optimize the current configuration of the system. Most of the methods described below are safe and do not require Root rights or flashing the device. You can perform all the actions yourself using standard menu tools.
System workload analysis and resource release
The first step to speed up Xiaomi should be to audit what’s going on in the background. The MIUI-based Android operating system tends to keep a lot of running processes in mind that the user isn’t using right now, resulting in a lack of RAM and slowed response.
Start by looking at the installed application list. Often, the device has years of software that you haven't used in months, and removing it isn't just freeing up storage, it's also reducing the CPU load, because many of them have background services.
- 🚀 Go to Settings. → Annexes → All applications and carefully study the list.
- 🗑️ Remove rarely used games and heavy services that you don’t need.
- 📉 Turn off auto-runs for instant messengers that don’t require instant notifications.
- 🧹 Use the built-in Cleanup tool to delete temporary files.
Special attention should be paid to the cache of social networks and instant messengers. Apps like Telegram, Viber or Instagram can take up gigabytes of space, storing thousands of images and videos viewed. Clearing the cache through the settings of a particular application often gives instant performance gains.
☑️ Checklist for quick cleaning
Customization of animations and visual effects
The visual component of MIUI 12 is based on complex transition animations that are designed to make the interface smooth. However, on mid- and low-end processors, rendering these effects can take too long, creating a sense of lag. Fortunately, the system can be made to work faster by changing the parameters of the animation speed.
To access these settings, you'll need to activate the developer mode, which is a standard procedure that opens up hidden system functions, and don't be afraid to change those settings, because they're completely secure and reversible at any time.
Log in to Settings → About Phone and quickly click 7 times on MIUI Version. After you have become a developer, go to Settings → Advanced Settings → Developer. Find the section related to animation and change the values.
What values should be set for animation?
There is also a hidden setting that allows you to increase animation speed by 10% without going to developer mode. To do this, go to Settings → Advanced Settings → For developers (if enabled), or search by settings by entering the phrase “Animation Speed.” In some versions of MIUI, this menu is placed separately in the “Advanced Settings” section.
| Parameter | Standard value | Recommended value | The effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| The scale of window animation | 1x | 0.5x | Acceleration of opening/closing applications |
| Scale of transition animation | 1x | 0.5x | Quick switching between screens |
| Duration of the animator | 1x | 0.5x | Accelerating system dialogues |
| Background processes | By default. | No more than 2-3. | Reducing the RAM load |
💡
Useful tip: If the interface started twitching after the animation scale change, return the value to 1x. This may mean that your smartphone's GPU can't handle rendering frames at high speed.
Optimizing battery and background processes
Xiaomi is known for its aggressive energy-saving system, which often works too hard to close down applications or, conversely, allows unnecessary processes to “eat” charge. In MIUI 12, battery management has become more detailed, but requires manual adjustment to achieve the perfect balance between autonomy and speed.
Go to Settings → Battery and Performance. It’s not just about choosing Performance mode, as it keeps the processor at high frequencies all the time, leading to heat and trottling (reduced frequencies due to overheating). The best option is Balanced mode with manual restrictions setting.
⚠️ Attention: Performance mode does not speed up the system in the long run. On the contrary, constant heating of the processor leads to trottling, which causes the smartphone to use the device. 10-15 Minutes of active work begins to work slower than usual.
In the application management menu, set up a power saving strategy for each important service. For instant messengers that should always work, select No Limits. For games and heavy applications that you rarely run, you can set tight limits so that they don’t hang in your memory.
It’s also worth disabling Memory Extension if it’s available in your version of MIUI. While the idea of using part of the internal memory as RAM sounds good, in practice, the flash memory speed is lower than that of real RAM. This can lead to micro-latency when switching tasks.
Disabling Advertising and System Garbage
One of the hidden reasons for the slowdown is the constant loading of MSA (MIUI System Ads) advertising modules, even if you don’t see pop-ups, the system’s services constantly turn to the servers to receive advertising data, consuming Internet traffic and processor resources.
To speed up Xiaomi MIUI 12, you need to turn off ad personalization. Go to Settings → Passwords and Security → Access to personal data. Find the msa list and turn off the slider. The system will ask you to wait 10 seconds and confirm the action. Similarly, you should do with Mi Video, Music and Browser if you do not use them.
- 🚫 Turn off “Receive recommendations” in the Security app settings».
- 📵 In the “Conductor” app, turn off the display of news and recommendations.
- 🛑 In "Music" and "Video" remove the boxes from the items "Receive recommendations».
- 🔍 In search of the system, turn off “Search on the Internet” and “Hot topics».
When you turn off system ads, you'll notice that folders and menus are more responsive, because the system stops spending resources analyzing your behavior and loading content in the background.
💡
Disabling MSA service and advertising modules is one of the most effective ways to reduce the load on the processor in the background without losing functionality.
Work with storage and file system
The speed of the smartphone depends on the internal storage capacity. When the free space runs out, the file system starts to work slower due to fragmentation of data. For normal operation, MIUI 12 is recommended to keep 15-20% of the total memory free.
Use the built-in Explorer app to analyze the occupied space. Often users forget about downloaded files in messengers or large videos shot accidentally, deleting such files is the fastest way to free up space.
If you have a MicroSD card installed, make sure it has a high speed class (minimum Class 10, preferably U3). Slow memory cards can slow down the entire system, especially if they have applications installed or the cache of the system is stored.
⚠️ Warning: Never use a memory card as internal storage (formatting for internal memory) on older smartphone models.Read/write memory card speeds are significantly lower than internal memory, leading to persistent interface lags.
Clean Downloads regularly. Many applications, especially browsers and instant messengers, save all downloaded files there, creating huge lists that the system has to index every time it starts.
Hidden opportunities and resetting settings
If software optimization didn’t work, it may have accumulated configuration errors, and MIUI has an application reset feature that doesn’t delete your personal data (photos, contacts) but returns system settings to factory values.
To do this, go to Settings → About → Settings → Reset → Erase all data. Importantly, make sure to back up before you do this. This method is the last but often the only way to completely remove the software “glitch” that arose after updating or installing many applications.
There is also a "cold reboot" method that helps to reset static charges and clear the temporary buffers of memory controllers: Turn off the smartphone completely, wait 1-2 minutes, then turn it on again.