How to increase buttons on Xiaomi: font, navigation and interface

Modern Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones feature huge high-resolution displays, which is certainly a media advantage. However, for many users, especially those with low vision or the elderly, the standard font size and controls can be too small. Navigation buttons, app icons and text on the menu become difficult to distinguish, causing discomfort when using the device every day. Fortunately, the Android operating system, in conjunction with the shells of MIUI and HyperOS, provides powerful tools for personalizing visual style.

In this article, we will discuss in detail all the available ways to increase the buttons on shaomi to make the control of the gadget as comfortable as possible. You will learn to change not only the size of text messages, but also the scale of the buttons, icons and system elements themselves. Deep interface customization will allow you to adapt even a budget smartphone to the needs of a particular person, turning it into a convenient tool for communication and work.

Before we get to specifics, it's worth noting that zooming in can affect the display of some third-party applications. The interface can get wider and some elements can move beyond the visible area. However, in most cases, the system automatically rewires the desktop grid and menus, keeping it ergonomic. Let's start with the basic settings that are available to each user without installing additional software.

Configure font size and display in the system

The first and most obvious step is to change the system font, which affects the size of the text in the settings menu, messages, contacts and most preinstalled applications. To get to the desired menu, open Settings and find the Screen section. In some versions of the firmware, this item may be called the Display or be entered in the subsection Additional depending on the version of Android.

Inside the menu, you'll see a slider that adjusts the size of the text, and if you move it to the right, you'll see a real-time preview of the changes. It's important to understand that zooming in the font automatically changes the scale of some buttons, because they adjust to the size of the content. If a standard slider isn't enough, click on the display size (or Scale) button, which works like a digital magnifier, increasing all interface elements, including the indentions between the buttons.

💡

Use the "enlarged text" function in the Special features section if standard font enlargement is not enough - this makes the letters as large and contrasting as possible.

Consider that maximizing the size of the screen can leave less information on the screen, the desktop can lose some icons, and the browser will have to scroll through the pages more often, but for people with visual impairments, this is a necessary sacrifice for the sake of readability. After setting up, be sure to check what the important applications look like for you, such as instant messengers or banking clients.

Increase navigation buttons and system elements

One of the most important areas for the user is the bottom navigation bar, where the back, home and menu buttons are located. In modern versions of MIUI and HyperOS, these elements are thinner and slimmer, which is not always convenient. To change their size, go to Settings → Additional → System Navigation. Here you can switch from gesture control to classic buttons, which are visually larger.

If you prefer buttons, but they still seem small, try changing the theme. Themes app has special sets where the interface elements are specifically enlarged. Look for themes marked HD, Large or Senior. Installing such theme changes the graphical assets of the system buttons, making them more massive and visible without changing the screen resolution.

Also worth paying attention to is the size of the keyboard. The standard Gboard or Sogou keyboard, often used in shaomi, has its own height settings. By going into the keyboard settings (usually through the gear icon on the word prediction bar), you can select High keyboard mode or manually raise its border, which will significantly increase the area of the letter buttons, reducing the number of typos.

Use of the “Extended” regime and special facilities

For users who are critically important to large elements, Xiaomi smartphones have a special mode. It is located in the Settings → Advanced Settings → Special features → Visual. Here you can activate the zoom function, which allows you to scale any part of the screen on a double tap, as in the gallery application.

Special attention should be paid to the section Enlarged text in the same menu special features. Unlike the usual typeface setting, this mode ignores the limitations of some applications and force the text to be as large as possible. The interface may look a little "broken", but readability will be absolute. There is also an option Color Inversion, which can help people with certain types of color blindness better distinguish buttons against the background of the image.

⚠️ Warning: Activating the “Enlarged Text” mode may cause buttons in some applications to become too large and override other controls, making the application unusable.

In the same section, you can adjust the size of the cursor, so if you're connecting a mouse to your smartphone or using a touchpad, increasing the cursor will help you see where you're clicking, and for touch control, this is less relevant, but for older people who are moving from button phones and using a stylus, it can be useful.

Second Space Mode and Simplified Interface

The MIUI shell offers a unique feature called Second Space, but for our purpose, Simple Mode (or Lite Mode) is more interesting. To turn it on, go to Settings → Advanced Settings → Simple Mode and activate it. Once you turn on the smartphone interface, the fonts will become huge, and the application icons will take up a third of the screen.

In simple mode, the buttons get as big as possible, unnecessary animations and complex menus disappear. This is ideal for transferring a smartphone to an elderly relative. Navigation is simplified to a minimum, and random clicks are reduced to zero due to the large distance between elements. The exit from this mode is also simple - just click on a special "Exit" button on the desktop or in the settings menu.

It's worth noting that in Simple Mode, some features can be hidden, like widgets that may not display correctly and the themes will stop working, that's a price for maximum readability, and if you want a balance between normal and simple mode, you'd better use the combination of zooming in and changing the theme that I talked about earlier.

Comparison of interface scaling methods

To make it easier for you to choose the right method, we have prepared a comparison table that will help you assess the pros and cons of each way to increase the buttons and text on your Xiaomi, Redmi or POCO device.

As you can see from the table, Simple Mode is the most radical interface change, whereas a type slider is the most textually affected type, and combining techniques like using a large theme with a larger scale display gives the best visual result for people with poor vision.

Remember that after any changes to the system, it may be necessary to restart the device to apply all parameters, and restarting also helps the system recalculate the sizes of the cached interface elements, removing possible display artifacts.

Third-party launchers for button customization

If standard tools aren't enough, third-party launchers come to the rescue, programs that completely replace the desktop and app menus, popular options like Launcher 10, Big Launcher or Simple Launcher are available on Google Play, and they allow you to create desktops with giant buttons to assign contacts or launch applications.

Installing a launcher like this is a great way to create a personalized interface, and you can make it so that there are only 4-6 huge buttons on the screen: Son, Daughter, Ambulance, WhatsApp. Navigation in such launchers is often simplified to a minimum, eliminating the possibility of confusion in the menu, a solution often used to set up phones for children or people with dementia.

⚠️ Note: When installing a third-party launcher, the system may ask for confirmation to change the main screen several times. Be careful and select "Always" to make sure the settings are applied correctly.

However, it is worth remembering that third-party launchers consume more battery and RAM resources. On older or budget Redmi models, this can lead to small delays when opening applications.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

💡

A comprehensive approach to customization – a combination of increasing the font, the scale of the interface and choosing the right theme – allows you to make the Xiaomi smartphone convenient for any user, regardless of visual acuity.