How to include a whitelist on Android Xiaomi: step-by-step instructions

Xiaomi’s modern smartphones are famous for optimizing power consumption, but often it turns into excessive aggressiveness to background processes. Users are faced with a situation where messengers stop sending notifications, and the navigator turns off the screen at the most inopportune moment. The solution to this problem is a white list that allows you to specify to the system which applications should work without restrictions.

In this article, we will discuss all the current ways to add programs to exceptions on shells. MIUI You will learn how to prevent forced process termination and ensure the stable operation of important services. POCO.

What is a white list and why you need it in Xiaomi

The Android operating system, in conjunction with the MIUI shell, uses complex algorithms to save battery power. When the screen goes out, the system tries to “sleep” or completely shut down applications that it believes are not in use at the moment. However, for messengers, smart alarms or activity trackers, this behavior is a critical failure.

Adding an app to this list gives it a privileged status, and the system stops applying tight energy saving restrictions to it, allowing processes to run in the background, which is especially important for Xiaomi, as its MIUI Optimization mechanism is known for its rigor to background activity.

⚠️ Note: Do not add all installed programs to the exceptions, this will lead to a quick discharge of the battery, as the system will no longer limit background activity even for heavy games and rarely used utilities.

Also, whitelisting is often confused with Allow AutoRun. While these settings are closely related, they are responsible for different aspects: AutoRun allows an app to start immediately after the phone is turned on, and a whitelist protects it from being closed while it is running.

Adding apps through battery settings

The most reliable and recommended way to set up is to use the built-in battery optimization menu, which ensures that the system will not kill the process, even if you haven't opened the application in a long time. The algorithm for actions may vary slightly depending on the version of MIUI, but the general logic is maintained.

You first need to go to the main settings menu on your smartphone, find the power section, and select a specific app from the list, and there are key switches that control the life of the process in the background.

Once you select the app, find Battery or Energy, and you'll be given three modes of operation, and to turn on the whitelist, you'll need to select No Restrictions, which removes all background bans.

• 🔋 Energy savings: Standard mode, system can limit background processes to save charge.
• 🚀 No restrictions: the application works in the background constantly, notifications come instantly (that’s what we need).
• 🔒 Fixed mode: occurs on older versions, fixes the application in memory, but can conflict with the system.

Importantly, on some firmware, this item may be called "Background Activity." If you see a "Background Start" switch, it also needs to be activated. Once you make changes, the system may show a pop-up warning of increased battery consumption - agree if the application is really important.

Autostart setting and locking in the task menu

The second critical step is auto-start permission, which means that without this permission, the app will not be able to start its services on its own after restarting the phone or cleaning up memory. On Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones, this option is placed in a separate security menu.

Open the Security app (green lightning icon). In the tool list, find Permissions and select Auto Start. Here's a list of all installed programs. Find the desired application and activate the slider opposite it. The blue color of the indicator means that autorun is allowed.

The third step is to manually lock the menu of running applications, which creates an anchor that prevents the system from closing the application when it clears the memory with the Close All button.

1. Open the menu of running applications (swipe from bottom to bottom with a delay or menu button).
2. Find the card of the desired application.
3. Press the card with your finger or pull it down (depending on the MIUI version).
4. The castle badge will appear 🔒 — This is a signal that the application is locked in memory.

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If the lock icon doesn’t appear when swiping down, try making a long tap on the app card in the recent task menu – the context menu may contain the desired switch.

The combination of these three actions (battery settings, auto-start and task lock) provides a 100% guarantee that the application will not be stopped by the system forcefully, which is especially true for messengers like Telegram or WhatsApp, where messaging is unacceptable.

Specifics of MIUI 13, 14 and HyperOS

With the release of new versions of the shell, the logic of the security system changes. In MIUI 13 and 14, Xiaomi engineers reworked the “Sleep Mode” algorithms. Now the system can automatically place rarely used applications in deep sleep mode, ignoring the whitelist settings if the user has not opened the program for a long time.

HyperOS, the newest Android-based shell, has a smarter memory management mechanism that analyzes user habits, and if you've added an app to a whitelist but haven't used it for a week, the system can suggest removing the restrictions, and you need to read the system's notifications carefully.

The newer versions also include Advanced Memory, which uses a portion of the storage as RAM, and if it is active, the system can more actively unload applications from physical RAM, relying on virtual RAM, where locking the task menu (lock) works less efficiently and battery settings become a priority.

Solving problems with notifications in messengers

A common problem for users is that there are no notifications from Viber, WhatsApp or banking apps, and even after turning on the whitelist, notifications may not come if permissions at the notification system level are violated, a separate layer of settings that is often overlooked.

Go to Settings → Notifications and Status bar → Notification Management. Find the problem app and make sure the Allow Notifications switch is active. Check below to see if specific notification categories are enabled (e.g. Messages or Sound).

⚠️ Attention: B MIUI There's a separate "Important" setting for notifications. If it's turned off, notifications can come without sound or vibration, even if the app is on a whitelist.

Another nuance is Do Not Disturb or Sleep, and check if the app has been added to the Do Not Disturb mode exceptions, and check the traffic saving settings: if the app is prohibited from background traffic, it won’t be able to receive a message until you manually open it.

For corporate users or those using working SIM cards, it is important to check the settings of data roaming and background data transfer on the mobile network.Telecommunication operators can block background traffic, and the phone settings here are powerless without changing the tariff or service at the operator.

Use of third-party utilities and ADB teams

For advanced users who don’t have the standard methods, there are deeper ways to manage the whitelist. Some Xiaomi system services have hidden settings that can be accessed via computer and USB debugging.

One effective method is to use ADB (Android Debug Bridge), which is to force a packet to be added to the battery optimization ignoring list with the command line, which is especially useful for system applications that are hidden from the user.

adb shell pm grant com.android.settings android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS

However, ADB requires caution, and changing system settings incorrectly can cause the device to run in an unstable manner, and for most users, the standard MIUI settings described above are sufficient.

There are also special modules for Magisk if your phone has an unlocked bootloader, which allow you to completely disable the mechanisms of aggressive closing of applications at the kernel level, but this requires firmware skills and removes the warranty.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Main conclusion: For stable operation of the application on Xiaomi, you need to configure three parameters: “No restrictions” in the battery, allow “Autostart” and put “Clock” in the task menu.