How to speed up Xiaomi Redmi 9A phone: the full guide

Budget smartphones like the Xiaomi Redmi 9A often fall victim to their own success: affordable prices attract millions of users, but over time, the standard 32 GB of memory and the Helio G25 processor begin to experience difficulties with modern heavy applications. If your device begins to noticeably slow down, open menus for a long time or suddenly close background programs, this is not a reason to immediately buy a new model. In most cases, the problem lies in the software “garbage” accumulated over months of use, and unoptimized settings of the MIUI interface.

There are a number of effective methods to significantly improve responsiveness without losing warranty or complex reflashing. Optimization starts with analyzing how you use the gadget and eliminating bottlenecks in the Android operating system. We will look at both standard cleaning tools and hidden engineering menus available to every owner.

Before you go to radical measures like a full reset, you should try a comprehensive software setup that takes no more than 20-30 minutes, but the result can be comparable to buying a new mid-range device. Let's take a step-by-step plan to reanimate your smartphone.

Analysis and release of system resources

The first and most obvious step is to free up RAM and internal storage. MIUI-based Android requires free space to create temporary files and cache. When memory is over 85-90% full, the speed of writing and reading data drops by many times, which causes those lags and friezes. You need to remove unnecessary applications, especially those that you downloaded just in case and never used.

And you have to pay special attention to the cache of social networks and messengers. Apps like Telegram, WhatsApp and TikTok tend to grow to giant sizes, taking up gigabytes of space with media files. Go to the storage settings and analyze which programs take up the most space. Often, it turns out that the gallery of junk screenshots or bad photos alone takes up more space than all the games installed combined.

To quickly assess the state of the system, use the built-in Security tool. It allows you to clear the cache (in one click), but for deep cleaning, you better use the manual method. APK-installer.

Remember that the physical memory of a smartphone has a limited resource of overwrite cycles. Constant work at the occupancy limit reduces the life of the drive. Regular cleaning is not only a way to speed up the phone, but also to extend its life.

⚠️ Warning: Do not use third-party accelerator apps from the Play Market with questionable ratings. They often consume resources in the background and show intrusive advertising, which only makes the situation worse.

Optimization of the interface and animations MIUI

The visuals of the MIUI shell are beautiful, but they are demanding on GPU resources. On budget models like the Redmi 9A, the smoothness of the animations of transitions between windows often suffers. Fortunately, the system provides access to hidden settings to turn off or shorten the time of these effects, which instantly creates a sense of faster operation.

To access these settings, activate the developer mode. Go to Settings → About Phone and click 7-10 times in a row on the MIUI Version. After the message "You became a developer" appears, go back to the main settings menu, go to Additional → For Developers. Here we are interested in the section related to drawing.

Find the options "Window animation scale", "transition animation scale" and "Animation duration scale." These are set to 1x by default. Change them to 0.5x or completely disable (0x) This will make the interface more "twitchy", but the response to touch will become almost instantaneous.

Also on the developer menu, find the item "Background limit of processes": set the limit "No more than 2 processes" or "No background processes" if you do not use multitasking, this will free up RAM for the active application, preventing it from being downloaded from memory when switching.

Managing Autoboot and Background Processes

One of the main reasons for the slow operation of a smartphone is the huge number of applications running with the system and running in the background: they consume CPU time, drain the battery and take up RAM. MIUI has a built-in control mechanism, but it requires manual adjustment.

Go to the Security app (green lightning icon) and select Permissions. Find Autostart here. Turn off this feature for all apps except instant messengers (if you need instant notifications) and alarms. Video storage, calculators, and games don't need to start immediately after your phone is turned on.

Next, in the same Safety menu, look for the Battery Savings section, select the app from the list, and set the No Limits mode for mission-critical programs only, and for the rest, choose Background Limitation or Freeze, which will prevent the system from keeping them active when you're not using them.

Some Xiaomi system services, such as Mi Credit or Mi Pay (if not used in your area), can also be disabled through the application settings. Find them in the list of all applications, click "Disable." This will free up a few more megabytes of RAM.

Cleaning DNS cache and network settings

Often perceived (feeling) slowness of the phone is not due to the processor, but to a long network response. The browser and applications can hang on the boot screen for a long time, waiting for a response from the server. DNS-servers to faster servers can significantly speed up page loading and online service response.

On modern versions of Android (and Redmi 9A gets updates), you can prescribe DNS. Go to Settings → Connection and Sharing → Private DNS. Select “DNS Provider Host Name” and enter a fast server address, such as dns.google or 1dot1dot1dot1.cloudflare-dns.com.

dns.google


1.1.1.1




8.8.8.8

This simple manipulation often solves problems with YouTube’s “dulling” or long-opening pages in Chrome.It’s also worth resetting your network settings if you haven’t done it in a long time.It won’t delete your data, but will return your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth settings to factory settings, eliminating possible software conflicts.

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Use Flight mode for 10-15 seconds if your phone starts to heat up and brake a lot, which will force the communication module to reconnect to the nearest tower and reset the network processes that are suspended.

Also check if Traffic Saving is enabled in mobile network settings, which can sometimes aggressively restrict background sync, making it impossible for apps to update content on time, creating the illusion of slow operation.

Resetting settings and radical methods

If the software cleaning and animation configuration did not yield the desired result, the last software method is a complete reset to factory settings (Hard Reset), which will delete all user data, photos, contacts and applications, returning the phone to the state of “out of the box”. Before starting the procedure, be sure to back up important data to the Mi Cloud cloud or to your computer.

To perform the reset, go to Settings → About Phone → Settings Reset → Erase all data. The system will request an unlock password and confirmation. The process will take 5 to 15 minutes. Once turned on, the phone will work as quickly as possible, since the system will not have accumulated debris and config conflicts.

⚠️ Warning: Make sure the battery charge is at least 50-60%. Interrupting the process of flashing the system due to battery discharge can damage the system partition and turn the phone into a “brick».

There is also a myth about the benefits of regular 0% battery discharge for calibration. For today's lithium polymer batteries in the Redmi 9A, it's not only not useful, it's harmful. Deep discharge destabilizes chemical processes. It's better to keep the charge in the range of 20-80% for longevity.

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A complete reset is the most effective tool to deal with software errors that have accumulated over the years of use, but it takes time to reset the phone.

Physical maintenance and temperature

The Xiaomi Redmi 9A has a plastic body that is worse at removing heat than metal or glass. When overheating, the processor automatically lowers its frequencies (trollite) to avoid burning, as manifested by sharp falls in FPS in games and interface lags.

Remove the protective case if it is dense and has no perforation. Check the charging connector: if there is a dust and pile, the contact can be unstable, causing voltage surges and sluggishness of the touch screen. Carefully clean the port with a wooden toothpick or antistatic brush.

Also check if there is a low-quality protective film on the screen: Cheap hydrogel glass can lose sensitivity over time, especially around the edges, causing you to push harder on the screen or make repeated touches, which is perceived as lag.

If the phone is constantly hot even in a simple, it may be a problem with a “blown” battery or a malfunction of the power controller, in which case the software methods are powerless, and a visit to the service center for hardware diagnostics is required.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)