How to bring back the standard theme on Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro: the complete guide

Owners of the popular Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro smartphone often face the desire to personalize their device by installing third-party themes from the Themes store. However, not all downloaded designs are quality: icons can be poorly drawn, fonts can be unreadable, and system sounds are annoying. There is a natural desire to immediately fix everything and return everything as it was, but standard methods sometimes fail or the user simply forgets where the reset button is.

The problem of returning to the classic design of MIUI is also relevant because some third-party themes can cause unstable interface work, up to periodic freezes or the disappearance of icons on the desktop. In this article, we will discuss in detail all the available ways to restore the factory appearance of your gadget, from standard settings to deeper methods of resetting through the engineering menu.

Don’t panic if the phone starts to behave strangely after installing a new theme. In most cases, a software failure is easily fixed by simply switching the design. We’ll look at the algorithms that will help you quickly and safely restore the familiar Redmi Note 9 Pro environment without losing personal data.

Why you should go back to the standard MIUI

Custom themes are a great way to stand out, but there's a downside to the coin. Often, unofficial skin designers don't take into account optimization for a particular version of the shell, which leads to increased battery consumption. Background heavy themes can constantly load the processor, seeking to draw complex animations, which is especially noticeable on mid-range models.

In addition, Xiaomi’s standard theme ensures perfect compatibility for all system applications. When using third-party skins, the layout often floats in the settings menu, notifications are incorrectly displayed, or quick-setting icons disappear in the curtain. Returning to factory design is the first step in diagnosing any visual glitches.

⚠️ Warning: If after changing the theme you lost access to the settings menu or stopped responding to the touchscreen in certain areas, do not rush to make a complete reset. Often the problem is solved by a forced reboot or entering safe mode.

Also worth mentioning is security: Some topics from unverified sources may contain malicious code or scripts that collect data about user activity. The standard Default theme is rigorously tested and does not pose hidden threats to your privacy.

Method 1: Classic reset via the Topics app

The easiest and safest way to get back to the original state is to use the Themes app, which is pre-installed on every Redmi Note 9 Pro device. This method requires no connection to a computer and takes only a couple of minutes. First, you need to find an application icon, which is usually called "Themes" or "Themes" and looks like a brush on a colored background.

Once you start the app, go to the profile section, which is most often indicated by the little guy icon in the bottom right corner or in the top menu, and it stores your entire download history and current activations. Find My Themes, which will show you a list of all the designs you've ever installed.

In the list, select a theme called Classic, Default, or Basic. It's usually first on the list or marked with a special "Default" label. Click on it, then select the "Apply" button. The system automatically redraws the interface, returning all icons, wallpapers and sounds to factory values.

Importantly, after applying a standard theme, it is recommended to restart the device, which is necessary to ensure that the system cache is completely cleared of the residual files of the previous design. If this is not done, in some rare cases, artifacts may be saved as old icons in the menu of recent applications.

Method 2: Change the theme through screen settings

If Themes doesn't start for some reason or doesn't work properly, you can change the design directly through the MIUI system settings. This method is useful when the interface is severely distorted and it's difficult to get into the app menu. Go to the main smartphone settings menu by finding a gear in the app list or in the notification curtain.

In the settings menu, scroll down to the "Signature Theme" section (or simply "Themes"). In the window that opens, you'll see a preview of the current active theme. Click on it to open the detailed description. There should be a deletion or change theme button. Choose the option to return to the standard MIUI theme.

Sometimes the same menu has an advanced mode that allows you to customize individual elements such as fonts, lock screen wallpaper and sounds. Make sure that the default values are selected everywhere. If the system offers to update the theme components, agree with this action, as this can correct display errors.

Resolving Icon and Widget Problems

Even after returning to the standard Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro theme, users sometimes notice that some app icons are left behind from the previous skin or look distorted. This is because the icon cache is not updated instantly. To fix the situation, you need to go to the theme settings and force the components to update.

Open the Themes app, go to profile and click on the gear icon (Settings) in the upper right corner. Find the "Update" or "Check Updates" option. The system will suggest updating theme components, wallpaper and fonts. Confirm the action and wait for the download to complete.

If the icons are still not in place, try to scale the desktop grid. Click the blank space on the screen, select Settings, and change the grid size (e.g., from 5x6 to 4x5 and back), which will cause the MIUI system to redraw all the shortcuts again using the correct images from the standard set.

⚠️ Note: Do not delete the Themes system application even if you do not use it. its absence may lead to the fact that you will not be able to change the wallpaper or font at all in the future, and also disrupt some system services.

For widgets, the situation is similar. If the weather or watch widget is not displayed correctly, remove it from the desktop and add it again through the widget menu (pressing your finger on the screen → Widgets). Standard MIUI widgets should fit perfectly into your native theme.

Advanced Method: Reset via Engineering Menu (CIT)

For users who experience severe disruptions when the interface is not responsive to touch or cyclically reboots after a theme change, there is a deeper method: It involves using the CIT diagnostic menu, but requires caution. This method is not always available on all versions of firmware, but on the Redmi Note 9 Pro often works.

Open the Phone app and dial the secret code: ##6484##. If the code is correct, the testing menu will open. We're not interested in testing the hardware, but in resetting the interface settings if this option is available in your version of MIUI. However, most often in this menu you just need to check the status of the display.

A more effective method for advanced people is to use ADB (Android Debug Bridge) from a computer, and you'll need to connect your phone to USB by enabling debugging over USB in the Developer menu, and then you can send a command to reset the theme settings via the command line.

adb shell pm clear com.android.thememanager

This command cleans the manager's data by effectively returning it to the "post-install" state. Once the command is complete, the phone can reboot itself or require a manual restart, guaranteed to remove all third-party design settings.

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Before executing any commands through ADB, make sure to back up important data. Although the command is safe for personal files, interference with system processes always carries minimal risk.

Frequent mistakes and ways to solve them

When you go back to a standard theme, Xiaomi users often make common mistakes, and one of the most common is trying to remove a theme that is currently active, and the system won't let you do that until you apply another theme, and always use Classic first, and then remove the problematic skin.

Another problem is the conflict of versions: if you upgraded your MIUI firmware (e.g., version 12 to version 13), the old themes may become incompatible, in which case going back to the standard is the only solution. If the standard theme looks "broken" after returning, try clearing the launcher's cache.

• 📱 Go to Settings. → Annexes → All applications.
• 🔍 Find the list of "Desktop" (Launcher) and "Themes" (Themes).
• 🗑️ For each of them, select "Memory" → "Clear the cache" (not data if you are afraid of losing the location of the icons, but for a complete reset, you can also clean the data).
• 🔄 Reset the device.

If nothing helps and the phone continues to behave unstable, perhaps the problem goes deeper than just the theme. check for system updates in the Settings menu → About phone → MIUI version. Updating to the latest available version often contains fixes for interface rendering bugs.

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Cleaning the cache of the Themes and Desktop applications solves 90% of problems with visual artifacts after changing the design.

Optimization after returning to the standard

Once you’ve successfully returned a standard theme to the Redmi Note 9 Pro, it’s recommended that you do a little optimization. The standard theme consumes less resources, but over the years, the system accumulates a lot of garbage.

Also check the animation settings. In the Developer menu (if enabled), you can adjust the speed of the window animation, transition and animator duration. For the Redmi Note 9 Pro, the optimal value is 0.5x or 1x, which makes the interface responsive, but not too fast.

⚠️ Warning: Do not install multiple apps to change themes from Google Play at the same time. They can conflict with each other and with the Xiaomi theme system manager, causing constant crashes.

Now your smartphone should look and work as Xiaomi engineers intended.The standard theme provides the best balance between performance and visual component, ensuring that all the features of the device work smoothly.