Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face a situation where the once-quick gadget suddenly begins to hang. the interface of MIUI or HyperOS stops responding instantly, applications open with a delay, and video twitches when playing. This phenomenon is familiar to many and usually associated with the accumulation of system “garbage”, lack of RAM or incorrect work of background processes.
Before you take a device to a service center or buy a new one, you need to do a comprehensive diagnostic of the software part. In most cases, you can solve the problem yourself using built-in optimization tools or simple steps to clean up the storage. Below we will discuss effective methods that will help restore the system to its former performance.
Keep in mind that the speed of work depends not only on hardware, but also on the number of programs installed. Each service running in the background consumes the resources of the processor, creating a load that the user feels like a “brake.”
Analysis and release of RAM
The first step in fighting lags is to check for RAM load. RAM is filled with data from running applications, and if it is crowded, the system starts to run slower, referring to an internal drive that is not as fast. Xiaomi shells have a built-in cleaning mechanism, but it is not always effective at deep clogs.
To manually control, you need to open the menu of running applications. This is usually done by swiping from the bottom up with a delay or pressing a special navigation button. Here you will see a list of all active programs. Press the Clean button (broom icon) to close the unnecessary processes. However, this may not be enough if some applications are “hang”.
More in-depth analysis is available in the engineering menu or through the developer's settings. Turn on the display of running services to see which processes consume the most resources. Often, it turns out that heavy games or social networks continue to run in the background, consuming battery power and computing power.
- 🚀 Close heavy applications (games, video editors) immediately after use so they don’t hang in the background.
- 📉 Turn off auto-start for programs you rarely use through the Apps menu».
- ⚙️ Use the “Acceleration” widget on your desktop for quick cleaning RAM single-touch.
⚠️ Attention: Do not keep dozens of tabs open in your browser if your smartphone has less than 6 GB of RAM. This is guaranteed to slow down the interface.
Cleaning internal storage and cache
A nearly full internal drive is one of the most common reasons Android is slowing down. It needs free space to create temporary files and swaps. 10-15% The speed of writing and reading data drops critically.
Start by analyzing what takes up space. Go to Settings → About Phone → Storage. Here the system will show a file distribution diagram. The main eaters are usually a photo gallery, messenger cache (especially Telegram and WhatsApp) and uploaded videos.
Pay special attention to application cache folders, which can accumulate gigabytes of temporary data over time that are no longer needed, and standard cleaning through Security is useful, but it is better to use a file manager for deep cleaning. Remove old downloads, duplicate photos and unused ones APK-file.
☑️ Checklist for memory cleanup
- 🗑️ Clean the gallery basket regularly, as deleted photos continue to take up space for 30 days.
- 💬 In messengers, use the “Clear Cache” function in data settings so as not to lose correspondence.
- 📂 Move your photo and video archives to a cloud drive or computer, freeing up local storage.
Once the space is free, it is recommended to restart the device, which will allow the system to redistribute files on the disk and optimize the file table, which often gives an instant performance gain.
Management of animations and visual effects
MIUI is famous for its beautiful yet heavy animations, which are invisible on high-end processors, but on budget models or older devices, it's mapping the transitions between screens that creates the illusion of a "brake" interface, and turning off or simplifying these effects is a proven way to speed up the response of the system.
To access these settings, you will need to activate the developer mode. Go to Settings → About Phone and quickly click 7 times on the MIUI Version (or OS Version). Once you have the "You became a developer" label, go back to the main settings menu and find the "Additional" → "For Developers" section.
Within this menu, find the subsection associated with rendering, and you're interested in "Scale of window animation," "Scale of transition animation," and "Scale of transition duration of animator." The default is 1x. Change it to 0.5x or turn off animations (0x) completely to make the interface as responsive as possible.
Should I put up a live wallpaper?
- 🎨 Reduce the scale of animations to 0.5x Visually speed up the menu.
- 🌌 Avoid live wallpaper in favor of high quality static images.
- 📱 Remove unnecessary widgets from the home screen that constantly update data over the network.
⚠️ Warning: Disabling animations completely can make the control less intuitive, as the visual connection between opening and closing windows will disappear. 0.5x.
Updating the system and applications
Software bugs in the current firmware version or installed applications can cause memory leaks and cyclical processes that strain the processor. Xiaomi developers regularly release patches that fix such problems.
Update the system itself through the Settings menu → About Phone → MIUI version. If a new version is available, the system will prompt it to download.Be sure to back up important data before installing, since the flashing process, even the regular one, carries minimal risks of information loss.
Don’t forget to update your apps to Google Play and GetApps. Outdated versions of apps may not work properly with new versions of Android, causing conflicts. Enable app auto-update over Wi-Fi to always have up-to-date and optimized versions of the software.
| Type of update | Where to find | Frequency | Impact on speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| System firmware | Settings → About the phone | Every 1-3 months | High (core bug fix) |
| Google Play Service | Play Market → Profile | Automatically. | Critical (all applications) |
| Social media applications | Play Store / App Store | Weekly | Medium (code optimization) |
| GPU drivers | Play Market (from Google) | Rarely. | High (for games and graphics) |
If the phone brakes right after the system update, that's fine in the first hours, and the system indexes files and optimizes applications in the background, and let the device run for 30-60 minutes with the screen on to complete these processes.
Search for viruses and malware
While Android has built-in protection, the risk of mining or ad viruses infection remains relevant, especially when installing applications from third-party sources, which can quietly load the processor, causing intense heat and interface lags.
Xiaomi smartphones have an Avast or AVL antivirus preinstalled, available through the Security app. Run a full system check. If the built-in scanner doesn't find anything but symptoms persist, try installing a third-party antivirus, such as Malwarebytes or Dr.Web, for cross-checking.
An alarming signal is the appearance of ads on the desktop or in notifications from unknown applications, in which case you urgently need to find the culprit in the list of installed programs (often they masquerade as system processes or have no icons) and delete it. If you can not remove, only resetting will help.
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Install the AdGuard app or similar ad blocker to prevent accidental transition to malicious sites and hide intrusive ads in the browser.
- 🛡️ Regularly conduct a full check through the built-in security application».
- 🚫 Don't install it. APK-Files from questionable sources and unverified forums.
- 👀 Watch for app permissions: flashlight doesn’t need access to contacts and microphone.
Resetting to factory settings (Hard Reset)
If none of these methods work, the most effective and radical solution is a complete reset, which will bring the phone back out of the box by removing all the accumulated software debris, setting conflicts, and hidden bugs.
Before the procedure, make sure to back up all important data (contacts, photos, documents) to the Mi Cloud service, Google Drive or your computer. After the reset, you can not recover deleted information. Charge your phone to at least 50%.
To perform the reset, go to Settings → About Phone → Settings Reset → Erase all data. The system will request an unlock password and confirmation. Once the reboot starts, the cleanup process will begin, which can take a few minutes, resulting in a clean system without unnecessary apps.
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Full reset eliminates 95% of the software causes of braking, returning the smartphone to its original speed, but takes time to reset.
- 🔄 Reset deletes all user data, so backup is mandatory.
- 🔋 Before starting the procedure, make sure the battery is above 50%.
- 📲 After reset, do not restore all applications at once, only install the necessary ones so as not to overload the system.
⚠️ Warning: Do not interrupt the reset process or turn off the phone during cleaning.This can damage the system partition and prevent the device from turning on.
Hardware limitations and memory wear
And you also have to keep in mind the physical condition of the device, because over time, the flash memory cells wear out, which causes the speed of reading and writing to slow down, and if the phone is over 4-5 years old, slowing down can be a natural physical process that's hard to program.
Performance is also affected by overheating. If the device body gets too hot, the processor automatically lowers the clock speed (trottling) to keep it from burning. In this case, the phone will run slowly until it cools down. Check if the radiator is covered with a case, and if you are not in direct sun.
In some cases, the problem lies in the degradation of the battery. Unstable voltage can cause chaotic reboots or friezes. If the battery holds the charge poorly and swells, its replacement can indirectly affect the stability of the system, eliminating the surges.