How to Include a Dark Theme on Xiaomi Phone: The Complete Guide

Modern smartphones, especially devices with OLED-screens, provide users with the opportunity to significantly save battery power and reduce the load on the eyes when using the gadget in low light conditions. Owners of the Chinese giant's devices often wonder how to turn on a dark theme on Xiaomi, as the standard interface is a big deal. MIUI or HyperOS can hide this option or offer different ways to activate it depending on the region of the firmware, which is especially true for global versions, where functionality is sometimes reduced compared to Chinese counterparts.

Turning on night mode is not just a tribute to aesthetics, but also an important feature for maintaining vision health. The black background of the interface reduces the contrast of the screen, which makes reading text in the dark more comfortable. In addition, on matrices like AMOLED, where each pixel is individually lit, black means completely shutting down the pixel, which leads to real energy savings. Deep integration of this feature into the system allows you to darken not only the desktop, but also most preinstalled applications.

In this article, we will take a look at all the available ways to activate dark design, from standard system settings to the use of special codes and third-party utilities. You will learn why this option can be hidden on some Redmi or POCO models, and how to force it to activate. We will also touch on customization issues to make your smartphone look truly unique and match your preferences at any time of the day.

Standard method of activation through system settings

The easiest and most reliable method of switching the interface to night mode is available directly from the settings menu of your device. Xiaomi manufacturers have tried to make this process as intuitive as possible, however, the location of the elements may vary slightly depending on the version of the MIUI shell or the new HyperOS. First, you need to unlock the screen and find the Settings icon, which usually looks like a gear.

Once you log in, you scroll down to Screen or Wallpaper and personalization, and that's where the basic visual settings are concentrated. Find Dark Mode (or Night Mode) and put the switch into active position. The system will instantly apply the changes, and the white background will change to black or dark gray throughout the operating system.

It's important to note that standard inclusion doesn't activate the theme everywhere. Some applications may ignore system settings if developers don't have that option in mind. However, system utilities like Contacts, Messages, Calendar and Explorer are guaranteed to go dark. If you want more flexible management, you should look at the advanced settings inside the same menu.

⚠️ Note: Some Global Firmware (Global) ROM) The dark theme option may not be in the Screen menu, in which case you can search for it by settings, querying "Theme", or use alternative methods described below.

For users who appreciate automation, there's a schedule feature available. You can set your smartphone to have a dark theme automatically turned on at sunset or on a given timer, which will save you from having to switch mode every evening. Just click on the settings inside the "Dark Mode" and select the appropriate schedule option.

Use of the "Themes" application for customization

If you don't have enough standard black to add stylish accents or change icons, the Themes app is a powerful tool that allows you to completely change the look of the interface, including fonts, sounds and, of course, the overall color scheme. To take advantage of this method, find an app with an icon in the form of a brush or box in the menu.

Inside the theme store, there's a separate category or tag dedicated to dark designs. In the search box, type "Dark," "Black," or "Night," and you'll see thousands of options created by both official and third-party designers. Custom themes often offer deeper black and unique system window designs that are not available in standard mode.

After you choose your favorite design, click Download and then Apply. The system will warn you that the wallpaper, sounds and fonts will be changed, you can agree to all the changes or choose a selective application, leaving, for example, your wallpaper and ringtones, but changing the style of the menu to dark.

• 🎨 Thousands of Free Designs from the Community.
• ⚙️ Ability to fine-tune each interface element.
• 🔄 Quick switching between light and dark themes.

It is worth remembering that third-party themes may not be fully translated into Russian or contain advertising integrations. Before installing, carefully read the reviews of other users and check the design rating. A quality theme should not cause lags or increase the consumption of CPU resources.

Activation through engineering menu and codes

For advanced users who don't have a dark theme option on the standard menu, there is a way to activate it through special codes, which force the function on the system to be visible in the settings, but be careful, because interfering with hidden settings requires careful attention.

Open the Phone app and enter the code ##865697254##. If the code is suitable for your model and version of the software, a notification will instantly appear on the screen "Dark mode enabled" or "Dark mode enabled". After that, you need to restart the device. In some cases, the code may not work if the manufacturer blocked this feature at the firmware level.

There's also an alternative code called ##8684## that opens the visual settings menu, and you can find a switch that controls the night mode of the interface, and if nothing happens after you enter the code, then your version of MIUI doesn't support this activation method, and you should try other options.

Using codes is a quick way, but it doesn't guarantee stable operation. In rare cases, you can see artifacts in the display of some elements of the interface, for example, black text on a black background in the settings menu, and if you encounter such a problem, you will have to turn off the topic.

⚠️ Warning: Entering engineering codes at your own risk. Do not change other options in hidden menus unless you are sure of their purpose, as this may lead to malfunctioning of the system.

Forced Enablement through Developer Settings

If none of these things worked, you can use the developer features, and Android has the ability to force all apps to go dark even if they don't, and it's a one-stop solution that works on most Xiaomi, Redmi, and POCO models.

First, activate the developer menu. Go to Settings -> About Phone and quickly press 7-10 times on the MIUI Version (or OS Version). Once the message "You've become a developer" appears, go back to the main settings menu, select Additional settings -> For developers.

In the list that opens, look for Override Force-dark and activate it. The system will apply color inversion to all running applications. This may not look perfect: some images may turn negative, and white backgrounds may turn black, but text readability will remain.

This method is especially useful for older applications that have not been updated for a long time and do not have their own dark theme, but it is worth considering that the constant operation of this feature can slightly increase the load on the GPU when rendering the interface.

Set up automatic schedule and filters

For maximum comfort of using the smartphone at different times of the day, it is recommended to set up automatic switching modes. The human eye does not tolerate a sharp change in brightness, so a smooth transition from a light theme during the day to a dark evening will be the best solution.

In the dark theme menu, select Schedule-based options, which are available in two ways: "Down to Dawn" and "Time-based." The first option uses geolocation of the device to determine the sunrise and sunset times in your area, which is the most convenient way, without manual adjustments when changing seasons.

If you prefer accuracy, select Time Mode and set specific on and off hours, such as 20:00 to 07:00, and you can also adjust the dimming level in this section if the standard black seems too contrasting or, conversely, not deep enough.

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Use Sunset to Dawn mode with Auto Brightness, which allows the screen to change not only the color scheme, but also the brightness of the backlight, which protects the eyes at night.

Remember that automatic switching only works when GPS is turned on or if you have access to the network to determine the time. If you are in an area without communication, the smartphone may use the last known location, which will lead to incorrect time of the theme.

Solving and resolving problems

Despite the simplicity of the procedure, users may encounter a number of difficulties: it often happens that after updating the firmware settings are reset, or the dark theme stops working in individual applications.

One of the common problems is the floating interface, where part of the menu is white, which often happens when using third-party themes, and the solution is to reset the theme to the standard in the Themes app and check the system dark mode, and if the problem persists, it may conflict with the specific application.

Users also complain of increased battery consumption after turning on a dark theme. IPS-In screens, a black background with bright text can consume more energy than a white one, due to the peculiarities of the backlight. AMOLED-There is no such problem – black is always more economical.

• 📱 Reboot the device after changing the topic.
• 🗑️ Clear the cache of the "Themes" application in the settings.
• 🔄 Update all system applications through GetApps.

If nothing works, you can try resetting everything to factory settings, but this is an extreme measure. Before you do that, make sure to back up your important data. Most often, the problem lies in the bug of a particular MIUI update, which is fixed in the next security patch.