How to speed up Xiaomi phone on Android: from cleaning to fine-tuning

Xiaomi smartphones are some of the most popular in the world due to their price-performance ratio, but even flagship models are slowing down over time, with apps opening for a long time, animations twitching, and the battery settings running out in half a day, not only because of the battery ageing, but also because of the clogged MIUI system, background processes and unoptimized settings.

In this article, 12 working ways to speed up Xiaomi without losing data and root rights. We will discuss both basic methods (clearing cache, turning off animations) and hidden MIUI features, which are not mentioned even in the official documentation. All instructions are relevant for the Redmi Note 12/13, POCO X5/F5, Xiaomi 13/14 and other models on MIUI 14/15.

1.Diagnostics: Why Xiaomi is slowing down?

Before you start optimizing, you need to identify the bottleneck. The brakes on Xiaomi fall into three categories:

• 🔋 Software – clogged cache, background processes, viruses or update curves MIUI.
• 🖥️ Hardware – worn-out battery (less than 80% capacity), processor overheating or faulty memory.
• 📱 System – incorrect settings of animation, energy saving or overclocking of cores CPU.

To identify the problem:

1. Open Settings → About Phone → System status and check the CPU/RAM boot in real time.
2. Install AnTuTu Benchmark and run a performance test. Compare the results with the benchmarks for your model (for example, the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ should score ~500,000 points).
3. Check battery health with ##4636## (Battery Information menu) and if your health is less than 75%, it’s time to change the battery.

⚠️ Note: If the Xiaomi phone started to brake immediately after the update MIUI — This is a sign of a "raw" firmware, in which case only a rollback to the previous version or waiting for a patch from the developers will help.

2. Cleaning the system: remove garbage and cache

MIUI is known for actively cacheing data and leaving behind the tails of remote applications, and even after uninstallation, its files can take up to 500 MB in /data/data and /cache folders.

How to clean:

• 🧹 Built-in utility: Go to Settings → Memory. → Clean up and click "Clean." Delete the cache of system and user applications.
• 🗑️ Manual cleaning: In the same menu, select Files» → «Unnecessary files" and delete: Application residues (.apk,.obb) System logs (.log,.tmp) Download and thumbnail cache
• 🔍 Hidden folders: Go to the file manager (e.g. Mi File Manager) /storage/emulated/0/Android/data and delete the folders of remote applications.

For deep cleaning, use CCleaner or SD Maid (requires root rights for a full scan).

⚠️ Warning: Do not manually delete folders of existing applications (e.g. com.xiaomi.market) – this will cause malfunctions in their work. Also avoid “cleaners” with aggressive algorithms (e.g. 360 Security), which can delete important system files. MIUI.

3. MIUI Optimization: Hidden Performance Settings

MIUI has hidden features that allow you to speed up animations, disable background processes, and even overclock the processor without root rights. These settings are hidden in the developer menu and engineering mode.

How to turn on the developer mode:

1. Go to Settings. → The phone.
2. Tap 7 times on the MIUI version.
3. Enter your Xiaomi account password if required.

Now in Settings → An additional item for developers will appear.

For models on Qualcomm Snapdragon (for example, POCO F5 or Xiaomi 13) acceleration is available through the engineering menu:

1. Dial ##4636###.
2. Select Battery Information → Test Menu.
3. Find the Settings CPU and increase the Max CPU Frequency by 10-15% of the standard value.

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If after changes in the developer menu, the phone began to overheat, return the settings to the factory settings or reduce the CPU frequency by 5-10%.

4. Application management: what can be disabled?

MIUI runs dozens of background services by default that eat up RAM and battery power. For example, miui.analytics sends data to Xiaomi, and com.xiaomi.mipicks shows ads in system applications.

How to disable unnecessary services:

• 🛑 System Applications: Go to Settings → Annexes → App management. Find: GetApps (Xiaomi app store), Mi Video (if you don't use), Mi Browser (replace with Chrome or Firefox) Security (antivirus) MIUI, Dubbed Google Play Protect) Click "Disable" (Do not delete!).
• 🔄 Download: In the same menu, select AutoStart and turn it off for all apps except instant messengers and banking clients.
• 📵 Notifications: B Settings → Disable alerts from unnecessary apps (such as games or news widgets).

For advanced users, you can uninstall system applications without rooting permissions through ADB. Connect your phone to your PC and do:

adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.xiaomi.mipicks

List of safe to remove MIUI packets:

com.miui.analytics # Analytics collection


com.xiaomi.discover #Tape of recommendations




com.miui.videoplayer #MIUI Video Player




com.miui.player #Music player

5.Memory Optimization: How to Free RAM?

Xiaomi actively uses RAM to caching applications, but sometimes this leads to the “killing” of background processes (for example, music stops playing when you open a game), this is solved by setting up LMK (Low Memory Killer) - a memory management mechanism.

How to set up an LMK:

1. Install Kernel Adiutor (requires root rights).
2. Go to the Memory section.
3. Find LMK settings and install Foreground App: 1024 MB Visible App: 512 MB Secondary Server: 256 MB

For devices without root rights will help:

• 🔄 Reboot: Once in a while 2-3 Reboot your phone, it cleans up. RAM hung-up.
• 📱 Light shell: Install a Nova Launcher or Lawnchair launcher – they consume less memory than a standard one MIUI.
• 🗃️ ZRAM: Enable memory compression in Settings → For developers → Virtual memory (ZRAM). Recommended size — 1.5-2 GB.

⚠️ Note: If after the changes LMK The phone started spontaneously rebooting -- bring the settings back to factory settings. Wrong values can lead to high-load "flights" of the system.

6. Accelerate games and heavy apps

For gamers, Xiaomi has special tools: Game Turbo and hidden graphics settings, which allow you to increase FPS, reduce input delays and even overclock the GPU.

How to set up Game Turbo:

1. Open Settings → Special features → Game Turbo
2. Turn on the mode and add games to the list.
3. Activate options: Improved touch (reduces screen latency) Block notifications Network Optimization (traffic priority for the game)

For models on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (for example, Xiaomi 13 Pro or POCO F5 Pro), GPU overclocking is available through the engineering menu:

1. Dial ##36446337## (for MediaTek - #36446339##).
2. Select a GPU and increase the GPU Frequency by 10-15%.
3. Save the settings and restart the phone.

The pros and cons of custom firmware:

How to install custom firmware:

1. Unlock the bootloader through Mi Unlock Tool (you need a Xiaomi account and wait 7 days).
2. Install TWRP Recovery for your model.
3. Download firmware (like LineageOS) and GApps (Google services).
4. Using TWRP, run Wipe → Format Data, then run the firmware and GApps.

⚠️ Note: On Xiaomi models with MediaTek (e.g. Redmi Note 12), unlocking the bootloader can lead to loss IMEI. Before the procedure, keep it through MTK Engineering Mode.

8 Hardware methods: when software does not help

If the phone is slowing down even after all the optimizations, the problem may be in the hardware:

• 🔋 Battery: With capacity below 70% The phone starts trattling to save energy. Replace the battery with the original one (cost for the Redmi Note — ~1500-2000 ruble.).
• 🔥 Overheating: If the processor is heated above 70°C, the protection is triggered and the frequency of the cores is reduced. Clean the phone of dust (especially the charging and speaker connector) and replace the thermopaste (you need to disassemble the device for this).
• 💾 Memory. eMMC/UFS: On cheap models (Redmi) 9A, POCO M3) Slow eMMC memory is used 5.1, It's a health test that degrades over time. A1 SD Bench, if the reading speed is lower 100 MB/s – it’s time to think about replacing your phone.

For an interim solution:

• 🧊 Refrigeration: Use a cooling stand or play in a cool room (temperature below 25)°C).
• ⚡ Fast charging: Turn it off in Settings → Battery → Fast charging – this will reduce heating when charging.
• 🔄 Replacement of thermal paste: On models POCO X3 redmi K40 Thermopaste often dries up. The cost of replacing it at the service center — ~1,000 rubles.

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If you have brakes left after you replace the battery or thermopaste, it could be a degraded chipset, in which case it's cheaper to buy a new phone than to repair an old one.

FAQ: Frequent questions about Xiaomi acceleration