How to turn on and adjust the keylights on Xiaomi Redmi 4A

Many budget smartphone users are faced with the question of how to turn on the keylight on the Xiaomi Redmi 4A to comfortably use the device in the dark. This model, despite its popularity and availability, has a number of features in the MIUI software that are not always obvious at first glance. The lack of light indication of the navigation buttons can significantly complicate typing or interface management in low light conditions.

In this article, we will discuss in detail all available ways to activate the glow, and also consider software methods for emulating this function if the hardware of your device does not provide backlighting. You will learn how to set up a shutdown timer and what hidden settings can affect the operation of the touch screen.Warning: not all Redmi modifications 4A equipped with physical LEDs under the buttons, so software emulation will be the only solution.

Hardware features of the Redmi 4A model

Before you get into the settings, it’s important to understand the physical design of your device. Xiaomi Redmi 4A is a budget smartphone released in 2016, and in the pursuit of lower cost, manufacturers often economized on secondary components. In some revisions of this model, there are simply no LEDs under the three touch buttons (Menu, Home, Back), which means that no software manipulation will make them glow, since there is nothing physically to emit light there.

However, even if LEDs are present, they can work in different modes. Standard MIUI firmware for this series of devices often only implements temporary backlighting when touched or notified. Permanent glow may not be available at the factory level to save battery power. If you notice that the buttons only light up when you receive a notification or when you call, this is the standard behavior of the system.

To check for physical lighting, you can use the following method: turn off the phone completely and place it under a bright lamp, carefully watching the area of the lower buttons. If you see the gaps or the structure of the diodes, then there is hardware for the backlight. Otherwise, the only way out is to use software crutches.

Configure standard parameters of the MIUI interface

If your device is a version with LEDs, the first step should be to check the basic system settings. MIUI has a flexible interface management system, but access to certain parameters can be hidden. Go to the Settings menu, then select the Additional section and find the Buttons or Navigation option.

You can find the light switch here, often called button lighting or light display, and depending on the MIUI version you have on your Redmi 4A, the interface may be different. Older versions of Android (based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow) could have these settings in a separate Special Features menu.

It is also important to check the energy saving settings. The system can force the button lighting to turn off if the battery charge has dropped below a certain threshold (usually 15-20%). Make sure that the Power Saving mode does not block the LEDs. To do this, go to Settings → Battery and Performance and check the active profiles.

⚠️ Note: If the button highlighting item is completely missing from the settings menu, it is 99% likely that your particular smartphone build is physically free of LEDs.

Use of third-party emulation applications

If you don't get backlighting, Google Play apps come to the rescue, and they create the illusion of glow by putting a translucent layer on top of the bottom of the screen, and it's a software solution that doesn't require root rights, but consumes extra battery power.

One of the most popular solutions is the Software Keys app or analogues like Navigation Bar. Once installed, Xiaomi's standard touch buttons can be replaced or augmented with virtual counterparts that have customizable backlighting, you can choose color, brightness and even glow effect.

• 📱 Virtual Assistant: allows you to create a floating button with backlight anywhere on the screen.
• 🎨 Button Mapper: allows you to reassign button functions and add visual indications to them.
• 💡 LED Notification: Some apps use a flash or screen to simulate an event indication.

When using such programs, this can lead to faster battery discharge, which for a budget Redmi 4A with its capacity of 3100 mAh can be critical.

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Use dark themes in combination with button emulator apps to reduce contrast and make the glow less noticeable but more effective for the eyes.

Button inversion mode and navigation

There is a useful feature in the MIUI shell that changes the location of navigation buttons. Although this does not directly include backlighting, it changes the logic of interaction with the device. In some regions and firmware versions, changing the order of the buttons can "wake up" hidden backlight drivers if they were preserved for a particular market.

To change the order, go to Settings → Additional → Buttons. Here you will see the layout. Try swapping the Menu and Back buttons. After applying the settings, restart the device. Reboot is mandatory for full reallocation of management system resources.

Also worth mentioning is hidden navigation mode. Some versions of MIUI allow full-screen gesture mode to be enabled, completely eliminating the bottom buttons. In this mode, you don't need backlighting, because swipes are used, which can be a great compromise if you're very annoyed by the lack of button light.

Compatibility table for MIUI versions and backlighting functions

The behavior of the backlight system is highly dependent on the version of the operating system installed, and the following is a table showing how the different versions of MIUI available for the Redmi 4A handle backlight requests.

As you can see from the table, the most stable backlight performance was seen on versions of MIUI 9. If you have a newer version installed but no light settings, it may be worth considering rolling back on the previous firmware version, although this requires unlocking the bootloader.

Solving problems with touchscreen and false positives

Sometimes users are looking for a way to turn on the backlight because the buttons have stopped responding to the touches and they think they just don't burn. In fact, the problem may be contamination or a software bug in the touchscreen. If the buttons don't light up or work, try calibrating the sensor.

To do this, select Touchpanel from the engineering menu (available under code ##64663## in the Phone app) and test the bottom of the screen, and if there is no reaction, the plume may have moved away or a touchscreen replacement is required, in which case the backlight will not help.

• 🧹 Cleaning: thoroughly wipe the lower face of the smartphone with an alcohol napkin.
• 🔄 Reboot: Completely reboot the system, not just turn off the screen.
• 🛡️ Protection: Check if the protective glass covers the sensor area.

⚠️ Note: Using the engineering menu codes may change the critical settings of the device%.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

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If the standard settings of MIUI do not allow you to turn on constant lighting, and there are physically LEDs in the device, the most effective solution is to install a third-party emulator application with a customizable glow timer.