How to turn on a pedometer to Xiaomi: the complete guide

Modern smartphones from Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO are equipped with built-in accelerometers that allow you to track physical activity without buying additional gadgets. However, users often face a situation where the device does not count steps, or the data is not synchronized with wearable electronics, this is due to the aggressive policy of energy saving the shell MIUI or HyperOS, which by default limits the background operation of applications.

To make your phone work properly as a fitness tracker, you need not only to install the app, but also to properly configure the system permissions. In this article, we will discuss how to activate automatic step counting, how to link your smartphone to a bracelet, and what to do if the numbers on the screen are no longer updated.

It's important to understand that there are several health software solutions in the Chinese giant's ecosystem: You can use a pre-installed Mi Fitness (formerly Mi Wear), a third-party Google Fit, or a system meter built into the shell, each of which requires a customized configuration approach to work in the background.

System counter and built-in MIUI functions

Many owners don't even realize that step counting is built right into the operating system. You don't have to run any apps to get the phone to keep statistics. The data is collected by a system service called Health or Mi Health, which is at the Android core level. However, to see this data, you need to visualize it.

The best way to display statistics on the home screen is to use widgets, which are small blocks that display the current number of steps you've walked in real time. To add this, press the empty area on your desktop and select the widget menu. Find Health or Mi Fitness in the list and drag the desired format to the screen.

⚠️ Note: If the widget shows "0" steps after active walking, check if the geolocation is turned off. GPS for precise determination of the type of movement.

Also worth paying attention to is the lock screen. In the theme and lock screen settings, you can often activate the progress bar display, which motivates you to move more, because you see your progress every time you pick up your phone. The system meter consumes minimal energy because you don't use the screen all the time.

For a deep setup, go to Settings → Password & Security → Privacy → Permissions Management → Offline Start. Find the Health app here and make sure the switch is activated. This will allow the system to collect data about your activity, even if you haven’t opened the corresponding menu in a long time.

Setting up the Mi Fitness (Mi Wear) app

Xiaomi’s main tool for smart wristbands and watches is the Mi Fitness app (older versions called Mi Wear), which is where data synchronization between the phone and the wearable is done. If you don’t have a wristband, the app will still work as a standalone tracker using smartphone sensors.

Once you have installed and registered your Mi Account, you need to give the app all the permissions you request. Without permission to use motion and geo-position sensors, you can't count correctly. The app can request access to physical activity - be sure to select the "Always Allow" option.

Inside the app, there's a Profile or Mine section where you can set your daily goals, and here you can see the week-month story, and the important feature is that you can share your achievements with friends or export your data, and to work properly in the background, do the following:

• 📱 Open the application and go to the profile settings.
• 🔔 Find the Notifications section and allow all types of alerts.
• 🔋 In the Battery section, select the "No Limits" mode».
• 📍 Make sure location access is enabled for accurate route tracking.

If you use a smartphone + bracelet bundle, remember that the bracelet is often given priority. To make the steps from the phone count, check the sync settings. Sometimes you need to manually press the update button, pulling the screen down. This is especially true if the Bluetooth connection was unstable.

Integration with Google Fit and third-party services

Google's ecosystem offers Google Fit, which combines data from different devices and applications, which is convenient if you use different gadgets or plan to change the brand of your smartphone in the future, retaining the history of activity, integration occurs through the Health Connect API or direct synchronization.

To set up, link accounts in the Mi Fitness app. Go to profile, find the Add Accounts or Linked Apps section, and select Google Fit. Once authorized, step data will be automatically transmitted, allowing you to use Google analytics and get personalized recommendations based on your activity.

However, users often experience desynchronization. Steps may not be transmitted or transmitted with a delay. In this case, try to break the connection and log in again. Also make sure that in the Google Fit settings in the Data Sources section, your phone and the Mi Fitness app are marked as active sources.

Using third-party services gives you more flexible statistics, but requires more battery resources. Double data counting (when both the phone and the app count steps separately) can lead to distortion of statistics.

Optimization of the background and battery

The most common reason why the pedometer on Xiaomi stops working is aggressive battery optimization. The system seeks to keep charge by killing background processes, including activity tracker. To pedometer to work constantly, you need to add the application to exceptions.

Go to Settings → Applications → All apps. Find Mi Fitness or Health. Click on Energy Saving and select No Limits. This is a critical step without which the system will regularly stop counting steps when the screen is off.

You should also lock the application in memory. Open the menu of running applications (swipe from the bottom up and hold or menu button), find the tracker window and click on the lock or anchor icon, which will prevent the application from closing when cleaning the memory with the "Trump" button.

⚠️ Warning: Do not use third-party memory cleaners and antiviruses that can force background processes to close, often labeling step trackers as malicious or resource-intensive processes and stopping them from working.

Also check the settings under Advanced Settings → Auto Start. Make sure the switch opposite your fitness app is on, which will allow the system to start the step counter immediately after the phone is turned on without waiting for your intervention.

Use of widgets and screens always included

For maximum ease of activity monitoring, use desktop widgets that not only show the current number of steps, but often have a beautiful design that fits into the interface design. MIUI has a variety of themes that offer its own health widgets.

Owners AMOLED-The screens can be used to evaluate the Always On Display function (AOD). These screens are constantly displaying the time, the date and, importantly, the number of steps taken, so you can control the activity without even unlocking the phone. AOD You can find the menu "Wallpaper and design» → «Always On Display».

In Always On Display, select a style that displays steps. You can set your schedule so that the screen doesn't burn all night, but only on daylight or schedule, which will save battery power while maintaining functionality.

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Use large widgets for the home screen if you want to see detailed statistics (calories, distance), and compact widgets-digits for desktops with many icons.

Remember that widgets also require work permits. If the widget shows bars or zeros, try removing it and adding it again, re-registering all the permissions the system requests. Sometimes the widget cache may overflow, requiring an update.

Comparison of applications for tracking activity

There are many steps-counting solutions on the market, but not all of them work equally well on Xiaomi devices. Below is a table comparing the main characteristics of popular apps so you can choose the best one for yourself.

The choice of the app depends on your goals. If you want statistics, you have to use a system solution. If you're an athlete and you use pulsemeters, scales and bracelets, you'd better choose a specialized app from a gadget manufacturer. The key to stable operation is not so much the app itself, but the right setup of Android resolutions.

Regularly update your apps through the GetApps store or Google Play. Developers are constantly improving step recognition algorithms and optimizing code for new versions of Android. Older versions may not work correctly on the latest HyperOS firmware.

Solutions and malfunctions

Even with the right setup, there can be failures, and if the pedometer stops working, the first thing you do is check whether the Flight or Energy Saving mode is on at the system level, and these modes block the motion sensors from operating to conserve charge.

Try clearing the app cache. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps → Mi Fitness (or Health) → Clear → Clear the cache. Don’t confuse it with Clear All Data, or you’ll lose your account history and settings. The cache contains temporary files that may have been corrupted.

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If nothing helps, do a full reset of network settings or reinstall the application cleanly, saving important data in the cloud.

In rare cases, the problem can be hardware: If the phone fell, the accelerometer sensor could fail, you can check this with the help of an engineering menu or special diagnostic applications from the store that test the sensors. Type the code ##6484## in the dialer to get into the engineering menu (the code may vary depending on the model).

Also make sure the phone has the correct time and date. Network time synchronization is mandatory, as step timestamps must match server time for proper sorting of data in the cloud.