How to Increase the Icons on Xiaomi Phone Screen: The Complete Guide

Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones today have powerful high-resolution displays that allow you to display a huge amount of information on a single screen. However, for many users, especially those who prefer minimalism or have difficulty with vision, the standard size of icons may seem too small. In the shells of MIUI and the new HyperOS, developers have provided flexible personalization tools that allow you to customize the visual style to your individual needs without losing functionality.

Changing the scale of the interface is not just a matter of aesthetics, but also a way to improve the usability of the gadget every day. Large controls are easier to press, which reduces the number of errors in navigation. In this article, we will take a detailed look at all the available methods, from basic settings to advanced developer modes, so you can perfectly adapt your Xiaomi to yourself.

Using the “Simple” regime for the elderly

The fastest and most effective way to change the interface is to activate the built-in simplicity mode, which was originally designed for older users, but it's great for anyone who wants to maximize the size of icons and fonts. When you switch to this mode, the desktop transforms: icons become huge, captions readable, and unnecessary visual elements disappear, giving way to large widgets.

To activate this option, you need to go to the device settings. Find the section for special features or personalization, and select the appropriate item. Once the selection is confirmed, the phone will restart the launcher, and you will see an updated interface with increased controls. This solution is ideal if you need to temporarily or permanently simplify the management of your smartphone.

It's important to understand that this mode changes not only the size, but also the logic of some menus. The functionality remains the same, but access to it can be organized differently. For example, folders with applications can open to the full screen, and widgets take up more space. If you're used to dense icon layout, this option may seem too radical, but for the purpose of maximum expansion, it is the leader.

⚠️ Warning: In simplicity mode, some features, such as gestures or hidden menus, may work differently or may not be available. Make sure the new interface fully meets your needs before you get used to it.

Setting the font size and display elements

If switching to simple mode seems redundant to you, the MIUI-based Android system offers finer customization through the display menu, where you can independently adjust the size of text and the scale of interface elements, which allows you to maintain the usual desktop structure, while making the signatures under the applications and system text larger and readable.

To access these settings, go to Settings → Screen → Text and Item Size. You'll see sliders that move around in real time changes how content is displayed. By zooming in, you effectively force the system to recalculate the desktop grid, which automatically increases the distance between the icons and their visual size. This is a more delicate method than full simplicity mode.

However, be careful when you zoom in too much. If you spin the slider to the maximum, some interface elements can drive or overlap. In applications that are not optimized for large fonts, text can crop. So balance plays a key role. It is recommended to increase values gradually, checking the display in commonly used applications such as messengers and the browser.

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Before changing the settings, take a screenshot of the current screen to return to the original values of the sliders if necessary.

Changes in screen resolution and DPI density

For advanced users who don't have enough standard settings, it's possible to change the pixel density (DPI) through the developer menu. This parameter determines how many pixels the screen is allocated to display a single logical element. Decreasing the DPI makes the system think the screen is less resolution, which visually increases all interface elements, including icons.

To access these settings, you must first activate the developer mode. Go to Settings → About Phone and quickly click 7 times on the MIUI build number. Once the notification appears, go back to the main settings menu, find the Advanced Settings → For Developers. In the list of options, look for the "Minimum Width" or "Smallest Width".

Here lies an important nuance: the standard DPI value for most Xiaomi smartphones varies in the range of 360-411. Reducing this number (for example, to 320) will lead to an increase in icons. However, changing this parameter requires caution. Too low a value can make the interface unreadable or cause malfunctions in some applications that can not scale.

⚠️ Note: Write down the initial value DPI If the interface becomes unreadable, you can only reset it by resetting it or typing a command. ADB, if the screen does not respond.

Setting up the desktop grid and widgets

Another effective way to make icons visually larger is to change the desktop grid, and the MIUI launcher allows you to choose the number of rows and columns, and obviously the fewer cells you choose, the more space each individual icon will have, and it's a simple but powerful method that doesn't require much technical tuning.

To change the grid, press the empty space on your desktop with your finger to open the edit menu. At the bottom of the screen, a Settings button or gear icon will appear. Select Grid and reduce the number of rows and columns. For example, switching from a 6x5 to a 4x4 configuration will instantly increase the size of all application shortcuts.

And also, using large widgets can help navigate, and you can put large-format App Shortcuts widgets on the home screen that occupy a large portion of the display, and this allows you to create a personalized quick access panel to the most important features, making them huge and visible, an approach that is often used to create interfaces for people with disabilities.

• 📱 Press the empty area on the screen to enter the editing mode.
• ⚙️ Click on the settings (cogs) in the lower menu.
• 📐 Choose a smaller grid value, for example, 4x5 instead 6x5.
• ✅ Confirm the changes and evaluate the results.

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Reducing the number of grid cells is the safest way to increase icons without risking disrupting the system.

Use of themes and third-party launchers

Xiaomi’s ecosystem is famous for its store-themed, which allows you to completely change the appearance of the system. Among the thousands of themes available, there are those that use enlarged icons by default or a specific style that makes controls more massive. Searching for a theme on request for “Large icons” or “Big icons” can give you a great result without having to change the system settings.

If the built-in MIUI launcher is not enough, you can always turn to third-party solutions. Installing an alternative launcher, such as Nova Launcher or Niagara Launcher, gives you complete control over the size of the icons. In the settings of these applications, you can set the exact size in percentages or pixels, ignoring the limitations of the standard shell.

However, when installing a third-party launcher on Xiaomi, there may be nuances: the system may require additional permissions or reset the energy saving settings for a new application to work consistently. It is also worth considering that animations and gestures may differ from the usual ones.

Frequent problems and their solution

In the process of setting up, users may find that after updating the system, all settings are reset, which is the standard behavior of Android for major firmware updates. In this case, the settings will have to be repeated. It also happens that in some applications, icons remain small despite global changes, which is due to the fact that application developers fix the size of elements inside their code.

Another common problem is to desynchronize the size of the icons in the menu of all applications and on the desktop. In MIUI, these settings can be adjusted separately. If you change the grid on the desktop, check if you need to separately configure the display in the All Apps menu.

Remember that the increase in interface elements directly affects the amount of information that fits on one screen, you may not have enough space for all the shortcuts, in which case it is recommended to use folders or move rarely used applications to the second screen, leaving only the most important and large elements on the main.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions