Today’s users spend a significant portion of their time on mobile devices, often without even noticing how their watches turn into days. Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphone owners face the need to control digital consumption to keep their eyes productive and healthy. MIUI and the new HyperOS provide built-in activity monitoring tools that allow them to analyze their use in detail.
In this article, we'll look at all the ways you can get statistics, from standard system settings to hidden engineering menus, and learn to not just look at numbers, but also manage them effectively, limiting your access to distractions. Understanding where your time is going is the first step to digital minimalism.
Many users are looking for this information, suspecting that the battery is running out too quickly because of background processes. Screen time is directly correlated with battery consumption, so monitoring is useful for diagnosing the autonomy of the device. Let's take a look at the basic methods of obtaining data.
Using the Digital Well-Being function
The main and most informative tool in the Android ecosystem is the built-in Digital Wellbeing service, which is integrated deep into the system on Xiaomi devices and provides a detailed breakdown by hour and minute. To access this data, you need to go to the Settings → Digital Wellbeing and Parental Controls menu.
This shows a pie chart showing the total smartphone usage time for the current day, and if you click on a graph or select a specific day on the calendar from the top, you'll see a list of apps sorted by activity time, which allows you to instantly identify time eaters, whether they're social media or gaming.
It's important to note that the statistics are not updated instantly, but with a slight delay, usually a few minutes. If you just closed an application, it may not immediately appear in the overall balance, but in a detailed list of programs, the data appears faster.
⚠️ Note: Data in the Digital Well-being section can be reset when the data of the Security system application is cleaned or when the phone settings are completely reset to factory.
This section is not limited to just browsing, you can set application timers that will block access to the program after the limit is exhausted, and you can also use Sleep Mode, which limits your phone use at night, which helps normalize circadian rhythms.
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Use Do Not Disturb mode in conjunction with app timers to completely eliminate notifications during work or rest.
Analysis through the Security Application
A unique feature of the MIUI shell is the availability of a system-based Security application that combines antivirus, memory cleanup and battery monitoring. This is often where you find more technical energy consumption data that indirectly indicates screen time. Open the app and select the Battery section.
In the window that opens, you'll see a discharge graph and a list of applications that are consuming. Although this shows the percentage of consumption, the ratio of screen time to background activity often allows you to calculate real numbers. If an application consumed 10% of charge in 2 hours, that's one scenario, and if it consumed 10 minutes, it's a completely different scenario.
For a deeper analysis, click on the settings icon (three dots or gear) in the upper right corner and select Usage Statistics. Here, the system can provide a week or month summary, which is not available on the standard Android menu. This is especially useful for comparing device usage dynamics on different days of the week.
☑️ Checking battery statistics
It's worth remembering that MIUI's counting algorithms can be different from pure Android. The system can assign background services to the main application, so the numbers sometimes seem inflated. Always double-check the data if it seems counterintuitive to you.
Hidden Codes and Engineering Menu
For advanced users who are not enough standard reports, there are special USSD-Entering code ##4636## opens the test menu, where you can find raw data about the launch of applications in the Usage statistics section.
However, on modern versions of HyperOS and new Android security patches, access to this data through code may be restricted or require additional permissions through ADB. If the code does not work, this means that the manufacturer has closed access to debugging information for security purposes.
An alternative way to access hidden statistics is to use the ##6484## command, which runs hardware engineering testing, and although the main purpose of this menu is to check the sensor and display, some firmware has log files that contain information about the time of the components.
⚠️ Warning: Never change the settings in the engineering menu unless you are sure of their purpose.This can cause communication modules or screen calibration to malfunction.
Using these methods requires caution. Changing the parameters in the engineering menu can lead to software blocking some of the phone's functions, requiring flashing, and use these tools only to read data without making changes.
Third-party monitoring applications
If built-in tools are not enough, Google Play offers a variety of alternatives, with QualityTime, ActionDash, and Your Hour leading the way, running on top of system statistics but providing more flexible reports and synchronization across devices.
The main advantage of third-party solutions is the ability to export data in detail to CSV or Excel, which allows you to build your own charts, analyze trends over the year and compare productivity over different periods, some applications even gamify process, rewarding the user for reducing the time of use of the phone.
- 📊 QualityTime: Offers detailed reports on how many times you unlocked your phone and which apps you opened the most often.
- 🎯 ActionDash: Provides Digital Well-Being features with an enhanced interface and the ability to back up history.
- ⏱️ Your Hour: Focuses on fighting addiction by showing the 'diagnosis' of your smartphone use.
When installing these programs, be sure to check the permissions you request, they require access to the Usage History and, in some cases, the right to draw over other windows, and without these permissions, the functionality will be limited or inoperable.
Comparison of monitoring methods on Xiaomi
Different methods of obtaining information have their pros and cons: System tools are more stable and consume less battery, as they are a native part of the OS. Third-party solutions provide more analytics, but require constant permissions and can conflict with aggressive optimization of MIUI.
Below is a table comparing the main features of screen time tracking methods on Xiaomi devices:
| Method | Accuracy of data | Impact on the battery | Difficulty of use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digital well-being | Tall. | Minimum | Low. |
| Security Annex | Medium | Minimum | Low. |
| Third-party annexes | Very high. | Medium/High | Medium |
| Engineering Menu (ADB) | Maximum | Absent. | Tall. |
For most users, a bundle of built-in Digital Well-Being and periodic battery checks are the best choice, enough to build healthy digital habits without installing too much software.
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Xiaomi’s built-in tools provide 95% of the information you need without the need to install additional apps, which keeps the device autonomous.
Frequent problems and their solution
Users often experience a situation where statistics are not updated or incorrect, most often due to the aggressive operation of the MIUI energy saving system, which kills the statistical collection processes, and to correct this, you need to go to the battery settings and select the No Limits mode for Google Play system services and Digital Well-being.
Another common problem is the discrepancy between screen time and app statistics, which happens when you use split screen or floating windows, and the system can attribute time to just one active window or add it up incorrectly.
If the statistics are completely gone, try to clear the Settings and Security app cache. Don't be afraid to do this, as your personal data (photos, contacts) are not affected, only temporary interface configuration files are reset.
⚠️ Attention: If you reset your network settings or completely reset your phone, all your accumulated screen time history will be permanently deleted.
In rare cases, custom firmware devices (Global on Chinese ROM or vice versa) may experience time synchronization bugs that distort statistics. Make sure that the date and time settings are automatically determined via the network.