Working in the background on Xiaomi: how to turn on and configure correctly

Xiaomi MIUI-based smartphones are known for aggressive battery optimization, which often blocks the background of applications from messengers to fitness trackers. Users face problems: notifications come with a delay, music is interrupted when the screen is locked, and geolocation is turned off in the background. In this article, we will analyze how to turn on the background for Xiaomi for any application, bypassing the limitations of the system, and what settings are responsible for stable background activity.

It's important to understand that MIUI doesn't just kill apps, it uses a layered resource management system. Even if you add an app to an exception, it can be constrained by automatic power saving rules, restrictions on new applications, or global performance settings. We'll analyze all possible pitfalls and propose solutions relevant to MIUI 12-14 (including HyperOS for new models).

Why Xiaomi is blocking the background of applications?

MIUI is designed to maximize battery life, and it uses:

• 🔋 Adaptive Battery Optimization – Analyzes user habits and limits rarely used applications.
• ⚡ Ultra-low power mode – automatically activated at low charge (less than 15%).
• 🚫 Auto-start blocking for new applications (requires manual permission).
• 🔄 Background process limitation – by default allows you to work in the background of no more than 3-4 applications at the same time.

For example, if you installed Telegram and didn’t set up exceptions for it, the system can pause it 10-15 minutes after going into the background, the same goes for Google Maps, Spotify or Shagomer — without the right settings, they will only wake up when the screen is unlocked.

Method 1: Auto-Run permission for an application

The first step is to unlock auto-run for the application, without which it cannot start automatically after restarting or clearing the memory.

Instructions:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Select the app you want (such as WhatsApp).
3. Slip on Autostart and turn on the switch.
4. Go back and check the Permissions section – give access to notifications, geolocation (if required) and auto-start.

⚠️ Note: On some models (Redmi Note 12, POCO X5) Autostart may be hidden behind an additional menu. If it is not in the main settings of the application, try the path: Settings → Battery and productivity → Battery management → Choice of applications.

Method 2: Configure the battery mode ("Without restrictions")

MIUI offers three power modes for each application:

• 🔋 Without restrictions – maximum freedom (recommended for messengers and navigators).
• ⚡ Optimized – Balance between performance and savings (by default).
• 🚫 Strict restrictions – the app will be suspended after 5-10 minutes in the background.

To change the regime:

1. Go to Settings → Battery and Performance → Battery Management.
2. Select App Selection (or Battery Settings for Apps on Newer Versions).
3. Find the desired application and set the "No Limits" mode.

💡 Tip: If you don't find an app on the list, it hasn't manually run yet. Open it at least once so it appears in the battery settings.

Method 3: Disabling adaptive battery optimization

MIUI uses machine learning algorithms to guess which apps you don't need, sometimes these algorithms get wrong, to turn off adaptive optimization.

1. Go to Settings → Battery and Performance → Adaptive Battery Optimization.
2. Turn off the adaptive optimization slider.
3. Go back and open the Background Limits – add the right apps to the exceptions.

⚠️ Caution: Disabling adaptive optimization can reduce battery life by 10-15%. Use this method only if other methods have not helped.

Method 4: Blocking an application in multitasking

If the application often flies out of the background, it can be fixed in multitasking, which will prevent automatic memory cleaning:

1. Open recent applications (swipe up with a delay).
2. Find the right application and make a long tap on his card.
3. Select Secure (icon) 📌).

🔹 Limitations:

• 🔸 You can fix no more than 3-5 applications at the same time (depending on the model).
• 🔸 After rebooting the smartphone, the fixing is reset.
• 🔸 It does not work for system processes (e.g. Google Play Services).

💡

If the app doesn’t appear in the recent list, try opening it first, then folding it (without closing it!) and trying to fix it again.

Method 5: Use ADB-deep-tuning commands

For advanced users, there is a way to completely disable optimization for a particular application through ADB. This is true if standard settings don’t help (for example, for Pokémon GO or Background Apps Restarter).

Instructions:

1. Install. ADB-PC drivers.
2. Enable USB debugging on your smartphone: Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (tap 7 times), then Settings → Additional → For Developers → Debugging over USB.
3. Connect your phone to your PC and execute the command: adb shell dumpsys deviceidle whitelist +com.example.app (replace com.example.app with your application’s batch name, for example, org.telegram.messenger).

📌 Where to find a packet name?

Install the App Inspector app from Google Play or use the command:

adb shell pm list packages | grep "appendix name"

💡

ADB-commands are reset after resetting settings or updating MIUI. To keep the changes, use the adb shell cmd deviceidle enable command after each restart.

Common mistakes and their solutions

Even after all the settings, the applications may not work properly.

• ❌ Notifications don't come in. → Check notification permissions in Settings → Notifications → Management of notifications.
• ❌ The application closes when the screen is blocked → Disable Memory Cleanup When Locked in Settings → Lock screen → Additionally.
• ❌ Geolocation shuts down in the background → Enable the exact geolocation mode in the application settings.
• ❌ Music interrupts → In the battery settings for the player, select "No Limits" and disable Sound Optimization in the background.

⚠️ Note: On HyperOS smartphones (such as Xiaomi 14), the path to settings may be different.Look for similar items in the Settings section → Annexes → Special access.

FAQ: Frequent questions about background work on Xiaomi