Xiaomi smartphone owners often face the need to adapt the interface to their individual needs, especially when it comes to vision or hand motor skills. Standard sizes of input elements can seem too small on screens with high pixel density, which leads to frequent typos and discomfort during long correspondence. Fortunately, the Android operating system in conjunction with the shell of MIUI or HyperOS provides flexible tools for scaling.
Enlarging the keyboard is not just a matter of aesthetics, but an important accessibility setting that makes the device more efficient. In this article, we will examine all the available methods, from the built-in settings of popular applications to system changes affecting interface density, you will learn to adjust row height, font size and general display parameters without losing functionality.
The customization process can vary depending on the firmware version and the keyboard model installed. We will look at the most relevant solutions for modern smartphones Redmi, Poco and Black Shark, providing versatility tips. Get ready to turn your screen into a convenient space for fast and error-free typing.
Basic Keyboard Height Adjustment in Gboard
The most common typewriter solution on Xiaomi devices is Google’s standard Gboard keyboard, which is preinstalled on most global firmware versions and offers a simple but effective sizing mechanism. You need to open any application that requires text input, such as Messages or Notes, to call the input panel on the screen.
When you have a keyboard, look for a four-square icon or a gear in the top row of the icons. If you don't have the icons, click on the down arrow or the menu icon to the left of the space. In the menu that opens, select Settings, then go to Preferences, and that's where the slider that regulates the height of the keyboard is hidden.
When you move the slider, you can choose from five preset options, from "Very Small" to "Very Large." The "Very Large" option increases the height of the buttons by 20-25% compared to the standard size, which significantly reduces the number of hits on neighboring characters. Changes are applied instantly, allowing you to immediately evaluate the result and adjust the settings if necessary.
It's worth noting that increasing height doesn't change the size of the font on the buttons themselves, but only expands the area of pressing, which is especially true for users with large fingers or hand tremors. If standard zoom is not enough, you will need to turn to deeper system settings or third-party software.
Scaling Font and Buttons in Microsoft SwiftKey
An alternative to the standard solution is often Microsoft’s SwiftKey keyboard, which is also popular with Xiaomi owners due to its predictive set and flexible customization. The sizing process here is implemented through the themes and layouts menu, giving even more control over the look than Gboard.
Open the SwiftKey app from the smartphone settings menu or through the icon on the input panel. Go to the Layout section. Here you will see the Keyboard Size option, which allows you to stretch the input panel not only vertically but also in width if you use split keyboard mode. The height slider works similarly, offering gradations from 80% to 120% of the original value.
A lot of people don't know that in some third-party themes, interface elements, including character fonts, can be visually larger. By creating your own theme through Creating a theme, you can manually size the font for letters, numbers and characters, making them as readable as possible.
⚠️ Note: When using custom themes from third-party developers, make sure they are compatible with your version of SwiftKey, otherwise you may shift buttons or disappear characters.
For those who want to maximize detail, the Split Keyboard is available, and by activating it in the layout settings, you can push the two halves of the keyboard around the edges of the screen, which automatically increases the size of each button by filling in the empty space, which is ideal for using a smartphone with one hand on large diagonals.
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Use split keyboard mode on Xiaomi phablets – this is not only convenient for one-handed input, but also visually increases the size of each button.
Systemically increasing font through accessibility settings
If the changes to the keyboard apps themselves don’t work, you can use Android’s system settings. This method affects the font size throughout the interface, including keyboard button signatures, if they support system fonts. To access these options, go to Settings → Advanced Settings → Special features.
In the feature menu, find text size. By moving the slider to the right, you zoom in on all text elements in the system, affecting menus, messages, browsers and, in many cases, virtual keyboard keyboard keyboards. But be careful, too much value can cause some applications to stop fitting in the designated areas.
There is also a hidden setting available through the developer menu called Smallest Width, which is measured in dp (density-independent pixels), which reduces this value (for example, from 392 to 360) will make the system think the screen is smaller than it really is, and will increase all interface elements, including the keyboard accordingly.
To access this function:
- 📱 Go to Settings. → The phone.
- 🔢 Press 7 times in a row on the item Version MIUI or OS version until a notification appears to enable developer mode.
- ⚙️ Return to the Advanced Settings → For developers.
- 📏 Find the smallest width and reduce it by 10-20 unit.
⚠️ Warning: Be extremely careful when changing the "Least Width" setting, setting a value too low can make the interface unreadable or cause system failures, requiring resetting.
How do I return the developer’s settings back?
Using a One-Hand Mode to Temporarily Increase
MIUI and HyperOS have a handy One-Hand Mode feature that can serve as a temporary solution to increase the size of input elements. Although the main purpose of this feature is to move the contents of the screen into a corner for easy access with the thumb, it also visually scales the interface, making the keyboard larger relative to the display area.
You can activate this mode in a number of ways, the fastest is to swipe right or left on the lower navigation bar (depending on the gesture settings) and hold it, and you can set it up with a double light tap on the Home button or through the control panel, and once activated, the screen will shrink and the keyboard will occupy a proportionately large portion of the visible area.
In one-hand settings (Settings → Additional → One-hand mode), you can choose how the keyboard will behave. Some firmware versions allow you to turn off keyboard scaling when active, so make sure this option is enabled. This is especially useful in situations where you need to quickly type a long message while holding the phone with one hand.
The advantage of this method is that it's reversible: you go back to the standard look in one motion, and it doesn't require any additional software or deep intervention, which keeps the Xiaomi smartphone running smoothly.
☑️ Checking the settings of one hand
Comparison of popular keyboards for users with poor vision
Choosing the right typer app is key to making your smartphone comfortable. Different keyboards are different for scaling and contrast settings. Below is a comparison of the three market leaders that work great on Xiaomi devices.
| Parameter | Gboard | SwiftKey | Facemoji |
|---|---|---|---|
| Size flexibility | Middle (5 steps) | Tall (slideer) | Maximum (themes) |
| Type size | Depends on the topic. | Customizable | Depends on the topic. |
| Support for topics | There is. | There (extended) | A huge library. |
| Impact on the battery | Low. | Average. | High (animation) |
Gboard remains the gold standard thanks to its stability and integration with Google services. It is ideal for those who value minimalism and do not want to waste time on complex setup. SwiftKey benefits from text prediction and the ability to fine-tune the height and width of the buttons, which is critical for people with motor impairment.
Keyboards like Facemoji or Kika are visually oriented, offering thousands of themes where letters can be huge and contrasting, but such apps often contain ads and consume more CPU resources, as can be seen on Redmi's budget models.
When choosing a solution, focus not only on size but also on speed. Heavy animation themes can cause delays in input (lag), which will negate all the benefits of increased button size.
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The optimal balance between size, performance and functionality on Xiaomi is most often provided by a bundle of the MIUI shell and the Gboard or SwiftKey keyboard.
Solving scaling problems in applications
Sometimes users are faced with a situation where the keyboard looks normal in some applications but becomes too small or, conversely, is cropped in others, this is due to the way a particular application (App) handles pixel density (DPI) and scaling requests from the system.
MIUI has a forced app scaling feature. If the keyboard in a particular messenger doesn't look right, try changing the display settings for a particular application. Go to Settings → Apps → Select the desired application → Additional → Screen Compatibility (if available in your version of the OS).
The problem can also be in the resolution of the screen: on smartphones with high resolution (2K, 1.5K) elements can be physically small. In Settings → the screen can change the resolution to standard (FHD+), which will automatically increase the size of all interface elements, including the keyboard, without losing font clarity thanks to subpixel smoothing technology.
Another nuance is the floating window, so if you type in multitasking mode, the keyboard can automatically shrink, leaving that mode or opening the window to full screen will return the standard, larger button sizes.