Animations on Xiaomi: how to enable, configure and speed up the interface

System animations on Xiaomi smartphones are not just visual decorations, but a key element of the user experience. They make transitions between applications smooth, add responsiveness to the interface and even can affect the perception of the device’s performance. However, many owners of Redmi, POCO or Mi face a situation where animations suddenly turn off, work with delays or are not in the settings at all, the reasons can be different from activating the energy saving mode to failures after the MIUI update.

In this article, we’ll look at all the ways to enable and customize animations, from standard settings in the developer menu to hidden ADB commands for advanced users. We’ll focus on the problems that arise on mid-range devices (such as the Snapdragon 6xx or MediaTek Helio G), where the smoothness of animations often suffers due to system optimization.

Why Xiaomi animations may not work?

Before you turn on animations, it's important to understand why they're disabled or not working properly.

• 🔋 Battery savings mode: MIUI It automatically reduces the smoothness of animations to reduce the CPU load and extend battery life, especially on models with a battery less than 4000 mAh.
• ⚙️ Developer Settings: If you or a previous owner previously disabled animations through the Developer Menu, they will remain off even after resetting the settings.
• 📱 Update MIUI: After major updates (for example, with the MIUI 13 on MIUI 14) the system may reset some animation parameters to default values.
• 🚫 Productivity Limits: On Budget Models (Redmi) 9A, POCO M3) animations can be forced to be simplified for stable operation.

If your smartphone suddenly starts to twitch when switching between apps, first check Settings → Battery → Power Saving Mode. Even if it has a “High Performance” profile, some background processes could change the priorities of animations.

⚠️ Attention: On devices with MIUI Global Stable some animation options can be blocked by the manufacturer, in which case only unlocking the bootloader and installing custom firmware (for example, Xiaomi.eu) will help).

Method 1: Enabling animations through standard settings

On most Xiaomi smartphones (except for the most budget models), animations are enabled through the special features menu.

1. Open the Settings. → Special facilities.
2. Scroll down to System Settings and select Remove Animations.
3. Make sure the slider is turned off (grey – animations are enabled).
4. Restart the device to apply the changes.

If this item is not on the menu, then your model uses a different approach. For example, on POCO F3 or Xiaomi 12T animations are controlled through Settings → Display → Additional → Smooth animations. Here you can choose from three options:

• 🐢 Low – Minimum latency (suitable for weak devices).
• 🏃 Average – Balance between smoothness and productivity.
• 🚀 High – maximum smoothness (can cause lags on budget smartphones).

After changing the setting, check the smoothness of transitions in recent apps (swipe up with a delay on the home screen).If animations are still missing, move on to the next method.

Method 2: Configure through the developer menu

The developer menu hides the advanced animation options that are not available in the standard settings to activate it:

1. Go to Settings. → The phone.
2. Find the MIUI version and tap it 7 times in a row (you will receive a notification "You became a developer").
3. Return to the main settings menu and open a new section → For developers.

In the developer menu, scroll down to the Drawing block. Here you're interested in three things:

If the animations are too slow, try setting a 0.5x value, which will speed up transitions without completely turning off the visuals. For maximum smoothness, choose 1x, but be prepared to increase the load on the processor.

⚠️ Attention: On some firmware (MIUI China) changing these parameters may cause the system launcher to fail. If the screen starts to flicker after the changes, return the values to the 1x and reboot the device.

Backup settings |Remember the current settings |Recharge your phone at least 50% |Connect to Wi-Fi (in case of reset)

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Method 3: Using ADB to unlock hidden animations

On some Xiaomi devices (especially MIUI Global), some animations are locked at the software level, and you’ll need a computer and an ADB (Android Debug Bridge) utility to unlock them.

First, turn on the USB debugging:

1. Go to Settings. → For developers.
2. Activate Debugging via USB and confirm the resolution.
3. Connect your phone to your PC via the original cable.

Now run the following commands in ADB (via Command Prompt or Terminal):

adb shell settings put global window_animation_scale 1.0


adb shell settings put global transition_animation_scale 1.0




adb shell settings put global animator_duration_scale 1.0

If you want to speed up animations, replace 1.0 with 0.5. Use 0 to completely disable (but this will make the interface less responsive visually).

For devices with MIUI 14+, an additional command may be required to unlock hidden effects:

adb shell settings put secure miui_animation_scale_enabled 1

After completing the commands, restart your smartphone. If the animations do not appear, check if the installed theme blocks them (for this, see the next section).

Method 4: The Influence of Design Themes on Animation

Many users are unaware that the installed theme can override system animations, such as minimalist themes that often turn off unnecessary visuals to speed up the work.

1. Open the Topic app.
2. Go to My subjects. → Current theme.
3. Click theme settings and find the animation item.

If there are ticks opposite Turn off animations or Simplified transitions, remove them. Also pay attention to the style of animations - some themes offer unique effects (for example, "Morfing" or "Morfing "3D-transitions”) that may conflict with systemic.

If the animations are gone after the theme change, try returning the standard MIUI theme:

• 🎨 Get into Themes. → Recommended.
• 🔍 Find a theme called Default or Standard.
• 📥 Apply it and restart the device.

On POCO models with custom firmware (POCO Launcher), you may need to adjust the launcher menu. To do this, hold your finger on the home screen, select Settings → Additional → Animations and activate Show System Animations.

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If the animations don't work properly after changing the theme, clear the theme app's cache in the storage settings. This often helps to reset conflicting settings.

How to speed up animations without losing smoothness?

On weak devices (Redmi 8A, POCO C31), turning on animations can lead to lags and slowdowns. Instead of completely turning off visual effects, try to optimize their performance:

• ⚡ Reduce the scale of animations to 0.5x The Developer Menu (as described above).
• 🗑️ Clear the system cache: go to Settings → Warehouse → Clear the cache.
• 🔄 Turn off background activity for unnecessary apps in Settings → Annexes → Permits → Auto-start.
• 📵 Use Light Mode (if available) in the display settings – it simplifies visuals without completely turning off.

For devices with a Snapdragon processor 4xx Or MediaTek Helio. A/G It is also recommended to disable the animation of downloading applications. ADB:

adb shell settings put global animator_duration_scale 0.3

This team will reduce the time of screensavers when opening programs, but will keep the transitions between tasks smooth.

If even after optimization, the animations are unstable, check the temperature of the processor using the CPU Monitor application. Overheating (> 60 ° C) often causes the system to force the visual effects to be simplified.

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On Xiaomi’s budget smartphones, the optimal balance is the animation scale of 0.5x + disabling background activity of unnecessary apps. This gives smoothness without drawdowns of FPS.

Frequent problems and their solutions

Even after you set up the animations correctly, Xiaomi users may face typical problems, and consider the most common ones and how to fix them:

If none of these methods worked, try resetting to factory settings, saving the data beforehand.

1. Go to Settings → About the phone → Reset settings.
2. Select Reset all settings (does not delete files, only system settings).
3. After the reboot, re-set the animations.

On devices with an unlocked bootloader, you can try installing an alternative launcher (for example, Nova Launcher or Hyperion Launcher), which supports its own animation settings, independent of the system.

FAQ: Answers to popular questions