How to increase icons on Xiaomi: settings MIUI and HyperOS

Xiaomi smartphone owners often face the need to visually adapt the interface to their needs, especially for older users or people with visual impairments who feel the standard size of elements is too small. Modern shells MIUI and the new HyperOS provide flexible tools to customize the appearance of the desktop without installing third-party programs.

Changing the scale of the display affects not only app shortcuts, but also text, indentations and system widgets. This makes navigation on the menu more comfortable and reduces eye strain during the day. Properly adjusting screen settings allows you to turn any smartphone into a convenient device for any age.

In this article, we will take a look at all the available methods, from simple menu switches to advanced settings through the engineering menu, and you will learn how to safely change the display settings to achieve the perfect balance between the amount of information on the screen and the ease of reading it.

Standard icon size settings in MIUI and HyperOS

The first and most obvious way to resize shortcuts is to use the built-in design theme capabilities. Xiaomi shells allow you to scale items directly from the settings menu without requiring deep knowledge of the system. This is the basic level from which to begin familiarization with customization.

To access the desired settings, you need to go to the Settings section and select Screen. In some versions of the firmware, this block can be called Display or be entered in the Additional subsection, and this is where the sliders that regulate the global font size and interface elements are located.

As you move the font size slider, you'll notice that not only do the letters change, but the app icons grow proportionally. This is a feature of Android that ensures the integrity of the visual style. However, it's worth remembering that zooming in too much can cause some interface elements to go beyond the visible area.

⚠️ Note: As the font is maximized, some buttons in applications may become unreadable or cropped. It is recommended to select a value at which the text is clearly visible, but the functionality of the system is not disturbed.

And there's also a feature on this menu that's often called "Size of display elements," which works independently of the font, and allows you to stretch all the graphic elements, making them larger, but keeping the text legible, which is especially useful for people with farsightedness.

“Simple” regime for the elderly

For older users or those who are just mastering smartphones, Xiaomi has a special feature — Simple Mode. When it is activated, the phone interface changes dramatically: the icons become huge, the font increases to the maximum possible size, and unnecessary functions are hidden.

You can activate this mode via the Settings menu → Advanced Settings → Simple Mode. In some versions of MIUI, the path may be different: Settings → Desktop → Mode. After switching, the phone will ask you to confirm the action, and the interface will restart.

In this mode, the desktop looks like a set of large tiles, simplifies the structure of the menu, eliminates unnecessary widgets, and the phone book and messages are brought to the fore, which is the ideal option for transferring a smartphone to your grandparents.

• 📱 App icons are increasing in 2-3 time-to-time.
• 🔊 The sound of the call and notifications automatically becomes louder.
• 🛡️ Accidental removal of important system applications becomes almost impossible.

You can exit Simple Mode as easily as you can log in. Usually, a special button or icon appears on your desktop to return to the classic look, which gives flexibility to use the same device by different family members.

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In Simple Mode, you can often change the standard calls to louder and more melodic ones, and if you don't like it, you can change the sound settings under Sound and Vibration.

Setting up the desktop grid and widgets

If the standard magnification isn't enough, you can change the density of the items on your desktop, and if you reduce the number of icons in the row, you automatically make the system increase their size to fill the space.

You can do this by clamping the empty space on your desktop with your finger or pinching it with two fingers, and you can open an editing menu where you can select Settings (cogs), and you can find a Grid setting that allows you to choose a configuration, like 4x5 or 5x6.

Choosing a grid with fewer cells (like 4 columns instead of 5) will make shortcuts larger, but it will reduce the total number of apps you can put on a single screen, and you will have to use swipes or folders more often to organize space.

Also worth noting are widgets. In newer versions of HyperOS, widgets can be stretched out. A large weather or watch widget is not only informative, but it takes up a lot of space, visually unloading the screen from small parts.

Using Developer Mode to Scale

For advanced users who lack standard settings, there is a hidden developer menu that allows you to change the DPI (dots per inch) parameter that determines the density of pixels, changing the DPI forces the system to recalculate the size of all interface elements.

To get to this menu, go to Settings → About Phone and quickly click 7-10 times on the field version of MIUI (or OS Version). After the message "You became a developer" you need to go back, log in to Additional → For developers.

In the list of parameters, you need to find the item Minimum width (or Smallest width). The default value is usually about 360-400 dp. Reducing this number (for example, to 300) will make all the elements larger. Increasing the number, on the contrary, will reduce the interface.

⚠️ Note: Be extremely careful when changing the value DPI. Too low (less than 200) can make the interface unusable and the buttons become so big that you can’t click Back or log into the settings menu to return everything as it was.

Write down the original value before you change it! If you change the screen, you'll have to do a full Hard Reset to bring the phone back to life. It's a powerful tool, but it requires care.

Increased font in specific applications

Global font augmentation doesn’t always work perfectly within third-party apps. Messengers, browsers, and social networks often have their own display settings that prioritize the system, so it’s important to set each service you use separately.

For example, in Telegram or WhatsApp, text size is adjusted in Settings → Chats → Text Size. You can make the correspondence larger independently of the system. In Chrome or MIUI Browser, the page scale is changed through the browser settings menu in the Special Opportunities section.

Some apps, such as YouTube or Facebook, can ignore the system settings of the font, relying on their design, in which case only the “Loop” or “Augmenter” feature built into Android for people with visual impairment helps.

• 🔍 Enable the function of the Magnifier in the settings of special. possibilities for zooming any part of the screen on the triple tap.
• 📱 In the YouTube app, use horizontal mode or video quality settings where the description font can scale.
• 📖 In reading apps (Mi Reading, Kindle), the font size is always customized inside the book itself.

Remember, it takes time to adapt each application separately, but it will provide maximum comfort.

Frequent problems and their solution

When you change the system settings, users may encounter artifacts, sometimes icons grow larger but the text inside them remains small, or vice versa, because some Xiaomi themes have rigidly defined element sizes that are not scalable.

So the solution is to change the theme to the standard one. Go to the Themes app, find a Classic or Default theme and apply it. Standard themes are the best ones that support system accessibility and zoom settings.

Another problem is that you can desync the sizes after you update your firmware, and you can reset your MIUI or HyperOS update, so you'll have to do the same thing again, and you'll want to check if you use third-party launchers after you upgrade.

⚠️ Warning: If the phone is slowing down after the settings change, or the interface is slowing down, try reducing the number of widgets on the desktop.

In rare cases, cleaning the cache helps. Go to Settings → Applications → All applications, find the System Interface (or System UI) and click Clear Cache. This will not delete your data, but update the display of the graphical shell.

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Changing the theme to the standard (Classic) often solves problems with incorrect display of enlarged fonts and icons in third-party applications.

Comparison of methods of increasing elements

So to sum up, the choice of method depends on the specific purpose, and if you want an older person to use a phone, Simple Mode is the best option, and if you just want to make the interface a little bit bigger for yourself, you can just set up the screen or the grid.

Using developer mode is a last resort, and should only be used when the regular funds do not produce the desired result, remember that there are risks in interfering with the system parameters of the DPI.

Remember that in addition to size, perception is influenced by contrast and brightness. Xiaomi’s screen settings have Read mode and color temperature settings, which can also improve text readability in the sun or in the dark.