How to find out the date of the first switching on the Xiaomi Redmi phone: official and hidden methods

The date of the first switch on Xiaomi Redmi is not just a number in the documents; it determines the beginning of the warranty period, helps to check the history of the device when buying from hand, and can even affect the cost of resale.

In this article, we will analyze all available methods - from official (through settings and service centers) to technical (engineering menu, ADB-Specialized applications and teams. We will focus on nuances for different versions. MIUI Redmi models, including the budget series Redmi Note, Redmi A and the flagship Redmi K. Also you will learn why sometimes the date in the system does not match the real one and how to fix it.

Why is it important to know the date of the first inclusion of Xiaomi Redmi?

This information is critical in three cases:

• 🔄 Warranty repairs: Xiaomi service centers count warranty from the first launch, not from the date of purchase.
• 💰 Buying a used phone, and sometimes sellers drop the counters or change the firmware to hide the actual age of the device.
• 📱 If the phone starts to glittle a year after first turning on, it may indicate battery wear or software errors of a particular firmware version.

For example, in the Redmi Note 10 Pro (2021) and Redmi 12 (2023), the first turn-on date is fixed in the persist partition of memory that is not reset during a normal factory reset, but in older devices (before MIUI 12), it can be forged through an engineering menu — more on that later.

⚠️ Warning: If you buy a Xiaomi Redmi handheld and the seller refuses to show the date of the first switch on, this is a reason to be wary.In 80% of cases, this means that the phone has already been repaired or its firmware has been changed.

Method 1: Official method through MIUI settings

The easiest way is to use the built-in MIUI tools. It works on all Xiaomi Redmi devices with a firmware version at least 11 (released after 2020).

1. Open the Settings app (cog icon).
2. Go to the About Phone section (in older versions – About the device).
3. Tap a few times on the line MIUI version until the wording “You are a developer!” appears (this unlocks hidden options).
4. Return to the main settings menu and open a new section Additional → Special features.
5. Select Warranty Information (or Warranty Status in MIUI 14+).

Here you will see the Date of First Use (or Activation Date in English firmware) bar, if it is not available, then your model does not support this method (see alternatives below).

Check out the MIUI version (should be 11+)

Update the firmware through OTA

Try changing the region to China (in the developer settings)

Use alternative methods (see below)-->

On some devices (e.g. Redmi 9A or Redmi 8), instead of the exact date, only a month and a year can be displayed, due to the peculiarities of logging in budget models, in which case we recommend using method 3 (via the engineering menu).

Method 2: Check through Xiaomi Service Center (online and offline)

If the phone is officially purchased (via Mi Store, Messenger, M.Video or authorized partners), the date of the first turn on can be found in two ways:

• 🌐 Online. Go to Xiaomi warranty check site, type in IMEI (You can find it by command *#06#) and serial number (under the battery or in the settings.
• 🏢 Offline. Xiaomi service center will provide you with a full report on the device, including repair history and date of first launch, at your request.

Important: If the phone was bought abroad (e.g., the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G from China), online verification may not work, in which case contact the service center with the purchase documents.

⚠️ Note: Some sellers on Avito or OLX They fake checks, but the date of the first switch on Xiaomi can't be changed!

Method 3: Engineering menu (for advanced users)

This method is suitable for Redmi models based on Qualcomm processors (for example, Redmi Note 10 Pro, Redmi K40) and Mediatek (Redmi 9C, Redmi A1). It allows you to get raw data about the time of the first launch, but requires caution - wrong actions can lead to a system failure.

Instructions for Qualcomm:

1. Open the Phone app and enter the code: ##4636##.
2. In the menu that opens, select Battery Information (or Battery Information).
3. Scroll down to the System block – the First boot time bar can be displayed here.

For Mediatek:

1. Enter the code ##36446337## (MTK Engineering Menu will open).
2. Go to the Connectivity section → Logs and Debugging.
3. Find the file. boot_log — It may have a record of the first inclusion.

On Redmi with Snapdragon processors 8xx (Like Redmi. K60 Pro) the engineering menu may be blocked. In this case, use method 4 (ADB).

Method 4: Use ADB-teams (for technical specialists)

If previous methods have failed, you can extract the date of the first turn on through the ADB (Android Debug Bridge), which is universal, but requires a computer and basic command line knowledge.

Step-by-step:

1. Download and install Google’s Platform Tools.
2. Turn on USB debugging on your phone (Settings → About Phone → MIUI version → 7 taps → For developers → USB debugging).
3. Connect Redmi to your PC and execute the command in the terminal: adb shell dumpsys batterystats first_install_time — This is the timestamp of the first onset in milliseconds.
4. To convert it to readable format, use the command: date -d @$(echo "1672531200000 / 1000" | bc) (replace 1672531200000 with your value).

Alternative command for new MIUI versions:

adb shell getprop ro.boot.firstboot

It runs on the Redmi Note 12 and later.

💡

If ADB Does not recognize the device, try reinstalling Xiaomi drivers USB Drivers or using other drivers USB-cable (preferably original).

On some firmware (e.g. MIUI EU), batterystats may be restricted, in which case only method 5-third-party applications will help.

Method 5: Specialized applications (without root)

If you don't want to dig into settings or commands, use Google Play apps, which analyze system logs and pull out the date of first turn on.

• 📱 Phone Info SAM — First Boot Time is featured in the Device section.
• 🔍 DevCheck – displays the date in the Hardware block.
• 🛠️ AIDA64 — Search for First Installation Time in Android.

An example of a report from DevCheck for the Redmi Note 11S:

Device: Redmi Note 11S (fleur)




First Boot: 15.03.2022 14:23:45




MIUI Version: 13.0.4 (SKYEUR)

Note that apps can show the date of first installing the current firmware, rather than the original turn on. If the phone is reflashed, the data will be inaccurate.

💡

Applications like AIDA64 or DevCheck don’t require root rights, but their accuracy depends on the version of MIUI. On custom firmware (like LineageOS), they can be wrong.

Frequent problems and their solutions

Sometimes the date of the first turn on is not displayed or seems suspicious.

• ❌ Date missing in settings → Check the version. MIUI (upgrade to 12.+). If it doesn’t help, use it. ADB.
• ⏳ The date coincides with the date of the last discharge → So the phone was dropped via fastboot.
• 🔄 Date changes after firmware update → It's a bug. MIUI 14 on some models (Redmi) 10C, Redmi 9T). Solution: rollback MIUI 13.

If you bought Redmi from hand and found a discrepancy in dates, check:

1. IMEI matching on the box and on the phone (*#06# command).
2. The presence of autopsy marks (for example, damaged fillings on the battery).
3. Update logs in Settings → About phone → System update → Update history.

⚠️ Note: Xiaomi Redmi with Snapdragon processors 4xx (Like Redmi. 9A) The first-on date can be reset when the battery is deep (below 3%), a well-known bug that Xiaomi has not fixed so far.

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions