Where are the Latin letters on the keyboard of the Xiaomi smartphone: the complete guide

Why Xiaomi doesn’t have Latin letters on its keyboard and how to turn them on

Are you trying to enter a password, website address or message in English, but only in Cyrillic on the screen? The problem with the lack of Latin letters on the Xiaomi keyboard is one of the most common among new owners of the brand’s smartphones. It’s not about the device breakdown, but about the layout settings. By default, many models (especially for the Russian market) activate the Russian layout, hiding the Latin alphabet.

In this article, we will discuss all the ways to include Latin letters on Xiaomi’s standard and third-party keyboards, and how to quickly switch between languages. Separately, we will focus on the nuances for different versions of MIUI (12 to 14) and popular models — Redmi Note 12, POCO X5, Xiaomi 13 and others. If you have a problem that the keyboard is stuck on Cyrillic or does not respond to changing the language at all, here you will find a solution.

Spoiler: 90 percent of the time, it's enough to just click on a globe icon or hold a space, but if that doesn't work, read on.

Method 1: Quickly switching layout on a standard MIUI keyboard

The standard MIUI keyboard (aka Mi Keyboard) supports instant switching between languages.

1. Find the globe icon (🌐) And you can see the bottom row of the keyboard, which is usually to the left of the space.
2. If you don't have a globe icon, hold your finger for a space of 1-2 seconds, and you'll see a panel with available languages (e.g., "Russian", "English (US)"). Choose the one you want.
3. On some models (for example, POCO F4), you need to swipe the space to the left or right to switch.

It doesn't work? Maybe the second language is disabled in the settings. Let's move on to the next one.

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If the keyboard doesn’t respond to taps, try restarting your phone – sometimes this resolves temporary MIUI failures.

Method 2: Adding Latin layout to keyboard settings

If you don't have a quick switch or it doesn't work, you'll have to manually add the English layout. MIUI 12–14:

1. Open Settings → Additional → Language and Enter → Current Keyboard.
2. Select Mi Keyboard (or Gboard if you use Google’s keyboard).
3. Go to the Input Languages and click Language Management.
4. In the list, find English (US) or another Latin variant (e.g. English (UK)) and activate the switch next to it.
5. Return to text input – now the layout should appear in the switching panel.

On some firmware, the path may be slightly different. For example, in Xiaomi 13 Ultra with MIUI 14, you need to go to Settings → System → Language and Input → Virtual Keyboard.

Method 3: Using gestures to change layout

MIUI has a hidden feature called language-switching gestures, which doesn't work on all models, but it can save time.

1. Go to Mi Keyboard Keyboard Settings → Additional settings → Gestures.
2. Enable the swipe option to change the language.
3. Now it is enough to swipe your finger on the space to the left or right to switch between the Cyrillic alphabet and the Latin alphabet.

This method is especially convenient for Redmi and POCO with small screens, where clicking on the icon of the globe does not always work exactly.

Problems and Mistakes: Why Latin Letters Don't Appear

Sometimes even after you add English, the keyboard persists in showing only Cyrillic.

Important: on some Xiaomi models for the Chinese market (e.g. Xiaomi) 12S firmware CN-Latin layout can be blocked at the system level, in which case only the firmware of the global version will help. MIUI.

Check if English has been added to the settings

Reboot the phone.

Clear the Mi Keyboard app cache

Try typing text in another app (e.g., Notes)

Install a third-party keyboard (such as Gboard)-->

Third-party keyboards: Gboard, SwiftKey and others

If the standard MIUI keyboard doesn't work, you can install an alternative.

• 📱 Gboard (Google) - supports gestures, voice input and more than 100 languages. Latin layout is added in two clicks.
• ⚡ SwiftKey (Microsoft) - smart word prediction and synchronization between devices. Suitable for multilingual input.
• 🎨 Fleksy is a minimalist design and advanced themes. Good for small screens.

To install a third-party keyboard:

1. Download the app from Google Play (like Gboard).
2. Go to Settings → System → Language and input → Current keyboard.
3. Activate the new keyboard and follow the instructions on the screen.
4. In the keyboard settings, add English (usually under Languages or Languages).

Third-party keyboards have the advantage of stability and additional features (such as real-time translation to Gboard), but they can consume more memory.

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Third-party keyboards are often updated more frequently than the standard Mi Keyboard and are less likely to encounter MIUI bugs.

Features for different Xiaomi models

Some Xiaomi models have unique nuances of working with the keyboard.

• 📱 Redmi Note 11/12: In these models, the Globe icon may be hidden. To return it, go to the keyboard settings. → Appearance → Toolbar and enable the display of the language bar.
• 🎮 POCO F3/F4: here often triggers a swipe gesture on the space, but it must be activated in the gesture settings.
• 📱 Xiaomi 13/13 Pro: on these flagships, the keyboard can automatically switch to the system interface language. If the interface is Russian, check if the auto-replace option is enabled by the system language.
• 📱 Xiaomi Mi A3 (Android One: This uses Gboard by default. Latin letters are added through Google's settings, not Google's. MIUI.

On devices with MIUI for the Chinese market (such as Xiaomi 12S Pro) you may need to manually install global firmware or use a VPN to download Gboard.

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On POCO and Black Shark (gaming smartphones) sometimes helps to disable the mode of the Game space – it can block the change of layout in games.

FAQ: Frequent questions about Latin letters on Xiaomi

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If none of these works, check to see if the phone has admin rights for third-party apps (like Clean Master or DU Speed Booster) that can block system functions, including changing layouts.