How to increase icons on the Xiaomi Redmi desktop

Modern Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones are equipped with high-resolution displays that allow you to display a huge amount of information. However, for many users, especially those who are used to standard sizes of elements or have problems with vision, fine detail is becoming a problem. Standard application icons can be too small for a comfortable finger tap, especially on screens larger than 6 inches. Which is why the question of how to increase icons on the Xiaomi Redmi desktop remains one of the most pressing in the MIUI and HyperOS community.

Android, which has shells from a Chinese manufacturer on top of it, has multiple levels of zoom. Changing icon size doesn't always require third-party launchers or superuser rights. Often, it's enough to fine-tune the built-in Availability settings or change the system font, which automatically affects the dimensions of the interface elements. It's important to understand that increasing some elements can visually reduce the workspace of the screen, so finding a balance is a key task.

In this article, we’ll look at all the available methods, from simple menu switches to deeper settings through an engineering menu or third-party themes. You’ll learn how to make the interface bigger without losing image quality and text readability. We’ll look at the nuances of working with the MIUI shell and the new HyperOS, as the location of some items may vary depending on the software version of your device.

Using built-in design themes to resize

The easiest and safest way to change the visual perception of the desktop is to change the theme of the design. In the Themes store, which is preinstalled on all Xiaomi, Redmi and other smartphones. POCO, thousands of designs where author's stylizations can presumption�It's not a system scaling, but often it's stylized big icons that solve the problem of poor visibility.

To find the right design, you need to open the Themes app and search for keywords. Type in queries like “Large icons”, “Big icons” or simply “Large icons”. When viewing the preview, pay attention to the size of the application shortcuts. Once you install the theme, the system will suggest using only the design or also changing the icons and fonts. To achieve maximum effect, it is recommended to use all components.

⚠️ Note: Some third-party themes may not properly display icons of new apps that appeared after the theme itself, in which cases icons may look blurry or have a standard small size, breaking out of the overall style.

If the standard theme store does not offer a suitable option, you can use the function of creating your own theme or download a ready-made.mtz file from trusted sources on the Internet. These files are installed through the Profile section in the theme application, selecting Import. This allows you to use modified system files, where the sizes of graphic elements are manually changed by developers.

Adjust font size and screen scale

Android has a direct relationship between the font size and the size of many interface elements, including app icons. By increasing the text content of the system, you often automatically zoom in on graphic elements. It's a standard method that requires no additional software installation and is completely secure to guarantee the device.

To use this method, go to the Settings menu, then select the Screen (or Display) section. Find Text Size. As you move the slider to the right, you will notice how not only the text in the menu changes, but also the icon signatures and the application icons themselves on the desktop, and in some versions of MIUI, this option is called "UI Element Size."

Also available in this section is the screen size (or scale) setting, which affects how much content is placed on the display. As you zoom in (the slider shifts to reduce content), all elements, including icons, get larger, but their number on one desktop page decreases, which is a trade-off between the size of objects and the capacity of the screen.

It's worth noting that over-expanding font can cause text in some applications to be cropped or overlaid. The system tries to adapt the layout, but not all third-party software developers take these use cases into account. So it's recommended that you choose a value at which the icons become comfortable, but the interface remains functional.

Change the screen resolution through the engineering menu

A more advanced method available to power users is to change the logical resolution of the screen (DPI — dots per inch), which determines the pixel density that the system uses to render the interface. By changing the DPI, we make Android think that the screen has a different density, which directly affects the size of all objects, including icons, buttons and windows.

To access these settings, activate the Developer Mode. Go to Settings → About Phone and quickly press 7-10 times on the MIUI Version (or OS Version) until you have a message that you have become a developer. Then go back to the main settings menu, go to Additional → For Developers.

In the list of engineering options, find Minimum width (or Smallest width). Remember or write down the original value so you can get it back to where it was. Reducing this number makes the interface elements larger. For example, if it's 392, try changing it to 360 or 320. It's not recommended to put values below 300, because the interface may become unreadable or some buttons will disappear outside the screen.

Example of changing DPI through ADB (for advanced):


adb shell wm size density 320

⚠️ Warning: Be extremely careful when changing the Smallest width setting. If you set too low, the interface can become so large that you can't press the Back button or log into the menu to return the changes.

Use of third-party launchers

If standard MIUI or HyperOS shell tools don't work, third-party launchers come to the rescue, and these are shell applications that completely replace the standard desktop, application menu and control panel, and provide maximum flexibility in customizing the look and feel, allowing you to make the icons really huge.

Popular options are Nova Launcher, Microsoft Launcher or Smart Launcher. Once you install such an application and assign it to the main one, you get access to detailed settings of the desktop grid. You can reduce the number of cells in the grid (for example, from 5x6 to 4x4 or 3x5), which automatically increases the size of each cell and, accordingly, the icons inside it.

Most launchers have a separate section on the look of the icons, where you can set a specific size as a percentage of the cell, add indentations or change shape, and many launchers support the installation of individual icon packages that are initially drawn in large sizes.

It is worth considering that using a third-party launcher can affect the operation of some system functions, such as control gestures or widgets of specific Xiaomi services.

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When installing a new launcher, the system may constantly suggest returning the standard one. To avoid this, select the "Always" option for the new application when switching.

Simple management for the elderly

Xiaomi and Redmi have a special mode designed specifically for people with low vision or older users, called Simple Mode (or Second Space/Lite Mode in some firmware), and when you activate this mode, the interface changes dramatically: the fonts become as large as possible, and the application icons occupy a significant part of the screen.

You can activate this mode through the Settings menu. Search by settings, type "Simple Mode" or find this item in the Advanced Settings section. Once turned on, the phone will prompt you to confirm the action. The desktop will be transformed: only the most necessary applications will remain, the call and message buttons will be huge, and the unnecessary items will disappear.

This mode is ideal not only for the elderly, but also for situations where you need to temporarily increase the readability of the screen, for example, in bright sun or glasses with diopters, in this mode, simplified navigation, removed complex menus, which reduces the likelihood of accidental pressing, exiting the mode is through a special button or through settings, returning the familiar appearance of the system.

Problems of compatibility and scaling of applications

Even after successfully scaling up desktop icons, you may find that some applications have small interfaces, which are because many programs have their own zoom settings that are more important than the system ones. App developers can rigidly size items in dp (density-independent pixels), ignoring the system preferences of the user.

For these cases, the developer settings have the option of Scaling the interface. However, using it on the MIUI shell can lead to unstable system operation. The safer option is to check the availability settings inside the application itself, if any. Often messengers or browsers have their own text and element size slider.

⚠️ Note: Do not try to enlarge the icons of system applications (Phone, Messages, Settings) by replacing files in the system partition without root rights and deep knowledge. This can lead to a "boot" (cyclical reboot) of the smartphone.

Also worth remembering are adaptive icons that were introduced in Android 8.0 and higher, which are dynamic and can react differently to zoom depending on the launcher. If the icon looks strange after zooming in, try turning on the option “Use adaptive icons” or, conversely, disable it by replacing it with a static background.

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Complex font enlargement and changing the DPI gives the best result, but requires caution when setting up so as not to disrupt the layout of applications.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)