How to speed up Xiaomi Redmi 9A: proven methods

The Redmi 9A has become one of the most popular budget phones on the market due to its availability and autonomy. However, over time, owners often notice that the interface begins to slow down and applications open longer than usual, a natural process associated with the accumulation of system debris and the increasing requirements of modern programs for iron resources.

Owners of MIUI-based devices know that Xiaomi’s shell is rich in features, but some of them can negatively affect the performance of weak processors. Fortunately, there are many ways to return the device to its former speed without the need to flash or replace the gadget. In this article, we will discuss specific steps that will help significantly improve the responsiveness of the system.

Before you start taking any drastic steps, it’s important to understand that optimization is a complex process, it involves both software customization and changing usage habits, and the right approach will allow your Redmi 9A to work steadily even after a long period of service.

Analysis and cleaning of system memory

The first and most obvious step is to free up internal storage. When the disk space is running out, the Android operating system starts to run much slower due to data fragmentation and the lack of a buffer zone for temporary files. It is recommended to keep at least 15-20% of the total memory free.

To start with, you should use the built-in Cleanup tool, which is in the Security app, which automatically finds cache, advertising files and remnants of remote programs, but you should not rely on it alone, since it does not always find the largest folders.

• 📱 Go to Settings. → Storage and manually analyze which apps take up the most space.
• 🗑️ Delete unnecessary videos and photos or transfer them to Google Photos cloud storage or memory card.
• 📦 Uninstall pre-installed games and programs you don’t use (bloatware).

⚠️ Note: When cleaning through third-party file managers, be careful not to delete files with the.obb extension or folders with the names of installed games, otherwise progress in applications may be lost.

Special attention should be paid to messengers like Telegram or WhatsApp, which tend to accumulate gigabytes of media files that are automatically stored in the memory of the phone, and inside the settings of these applications there is a cache cleaning feature that is safe for your correspondence.

Managing Autoboot and Background Processes

Many apps tend to start right after the smartphone is turned on and continue to run in the background, consuming RAM and CPU resources. For the low-cost MediaTek Helio G25 processor installed in the Redmi 9A, this is critical. Limiting background activity is one of the most effective ways to speed up the interface.

Modern versions of MIUI don’t have a single autoload menu for all programs, but you can control permissions. Go to the settings of each heavy app and prevent it from autorun if this feature is available, or limit background activity.

There's also a hidden but powerful tool for advanced users, the Developer Settings, which you have to click on the build number several times in the About Phone menu to activate, and when you have a new item in the settings, look for the section that's associated with the background processes.

• ⚙️ Find the limit of background processes and set the limit "No more" 2-3 processes».
• 🚫 Turn off sync for rarely used accounts in the Accounts and Sync menu.
• 🔋 Use Power Saving Mode not only for the battery, but also to limit the background activity of applications.

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Turn on the “Do Not Save Actions” option in the developer settings if you need to free up memory as much as possible when working with one heavy application, but note that this will close the application immediately after you leave it.

Don’t keep dozens of tabs in your browser or apps in the menu of recent tasks open. While Android can manage memory, on devices with 2 or 3 GB of RAM, as in the case of the Redmi 9A, manually cleaning the menu of recent applications gives a tangible performance boost.

Visual effects and interface animation

MIUI's graphics shell is famous for its beautiful but heavy animations. Smooth transitions between screens create the illusion of speed, but on budget hardware they often cause micro-latency. Reducing or completely turning off animation is the fastest way to make the phone visually "live."

This will require the Developer Settings menu again, and find the section that is responsible for drawing, and change the three key scales: window animation, transition animation, and animation duration.

Once you have these changes, the phone will respond to touch instantly, the viscosity of the interface will disappear, and if you find the complete shutdown too sharp, the 0.5x value will be the perfect compromise between speed and visual pleasantness.

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Reducing the scale of animation does not increase the power of the processor, but reduces the time of rendering frames, which subjectively makes the work with the smartphone much faster.

It’s also worth considering a lighter theme: Heavy themes with live wallpaper and complex desktop widgets are constantly consuming GPU resources. Standard static wallpaper and minimalistic launcher are the best choice for the Redmi 9A.

Disabling Advertising and System Recommendations

One reason the system may seem slow is because of MSA (MIUI System Ads) advertising modules, which periodically upload content to system applications, which not only annoys, but also consumes Internet traffic and CPU time.

To get rid of this, you need to turn off recommendation receipt. Go to the Security settings, find the Receive recommendations section and turn off the switch. A similar operation should be done for the Explorer, Music and Themes application.

• 🚫 In the account settings MIUI Turn off msa (you may need to wait 10 seconds before confirming).
• 📵 Turn off personalized recommendations in the Settings menu → Password and security → Confidentiality.
• 🌐 In Mi Browser, turn off notifications and news feed in the homepage settings.

⚠️ Attention: When you try to turn off the msa service, the system may show a mistake several times or ask you to wait. This is a protective mechanism, just try to turn off again in a couple of minutes.

Disabling these services will also have a positive impact on battery life, since the phone will not need to constantly check the ad servers for new banners, which is especially true when using the mobile Internet.

System update and resetting

Xiaomi regularly releases security and optimization updates for its devices, including budget models. Often newer versions of MIUI fix bugs that cause memory leaks or unstable performance. Check for updates in the About Phone menu.

However, if the phone is stable, don’t rush to upgrade to a major version of Android (like Android 10 by 11) if the device is not new.New OS versions may be too heavy for the old hardware.

If no methods work and the phone is unbearably slow, the last resort is a complete factory reset, which will return the device to the “out of the box” state by removing all the accumulated software debris.

Before the procedure, be sure to back up important data, as everything will be deleted irrevocably. Reset can be done via the Settings menu → About phone → Reset settings or through Recovery mode by clamping the volume buttons when turned on.

Additional technical nuances

There are more subtle settings that can affect speed, such as using a low-end memory card (Class 4 or 6) as internal storage can severely slow down the system, and applications installed on a slow card will run for a long time.

Also worth mentioning is the Memory Extension feature, which has appeared in some versions of MIUI, which uses some of the internal memory as a virtual RAM. On the Redmi 9A with fast UFS memory, this may not work or even harm, as it will put extra strain on the memory controller, and it is better to experiment with turning this feature on and off, comparing the result.

• 💾 Don’t store dozens of widgets on your desktop, they’re constantly updated and eating resources.
• 🌡️ Watch the temperature: when overheating, the processor automatically reduces the frequencies (trotling), and the phone begins to brake.
• 📶 Disable unnecessary communication modules (GPS, NFC, Bluetooth, if not in use right now.

⚠️ Warning: Don’t use the Play Market accelerators and boosters that promise miraculous acceleration, 99% of the time they are viruses or miners that only put more stress on the system.

To sum up, the Redmi 9A is a reliable device that requires proper maintenance. Regular cleaning, disabling unnecessary animations and controlling autoload will allow you to comfortably use the smartphone even years after purchase.