How to reduce the screen size on Xiaomi phone: the complete guide

Modern Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones are equipped with high-resolution displays that provide incredible clarity, but often lead to the fact that the interface elements become too small for comfortable use. Users with reduced vision or simply prefer large icons often face the need to change the standard display parameters set by the manufacturer. Fortunately, the MIUI shell and the new HyperOS provide flexible enough tools to personalize the appearance of the system without obtaining superuser rights.

In this article, we will take a closer look at all the ways you can scale or scale up content on your device’s screen. We will not only touch on basic accessibility settings, but also more advanced methods through the developer menu that allow you to change the pixel density (DPI) to fine-tune the interface. It’s important to understand that changing some system settings can affect the display of third-party applications, so you need to act carefully and consciously.

Before making changes, it’s worth noting that the procedure may vary slightly depending on the version of the Android operating system installed and the firmware version.However, the overall algorithm of actions remains the same for most models, including the Redmi Note series, Xiaomi Mi and the flagship Xiaomi 13/14. Let’s look at the basic methods that will help you make using your smartphone as convenient as possible.

Basic settings of font size and interface elements

The easiest and safest way to change how text and some controls are displayed is in the standard system settings menu, which requires no special knowledge and is completely reversible at any time. First, you need to go to the Settings section of your smartphone, which is usually indicated by a gear on the home screen or in the notification curtain. Next, you need to find the item associated with the display, which in different versions of the firmware can be called the Screen or Display.

Inside this menu, you'll need to find the text size subsection, which is often hidden inside the category Additional or More in MIUI shells, and you'll see a slider that moves left reduces the size of the font to make it more compact, and to the right increases it, and zooming in this section affects system fonts, messages, settings, and supported applications, but doesn't change the size of the icons on the desktop.

Another feature worth mentioning is the feature that has been introduced in newer versions of Android and MIUI 13/14, which allows you to scale not only text, but also buttons, input fields and other graphic elements, making the interface more proportional, and this is especially true for devices with a diagonal of more than 6.7 inches, where standard elements can seem lost in space.

• 📱 Go to Settings. → Screen. → Size of text and elements.
• 🔍 Use sliders to customize the font and interface elements separately.
• ✅ Click Apply or OK to save the changes.
• 🔄 If the result is not satisfied, return the slider to the original position.

⚠️ Warning: Excessive font size reduction can make text unreadable on some sites or apps that don’t support dynamic scaling.

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If you accidentally made the text too small and can’t read the menu, tap the power button three times quickly (if the feature is enabled in special features) or use the voice assistant to return to the settings.

Using Developer Mode to Change DPI

For users who don't have enough standard settings, there's a more powerful tool, the Dots Per Inch (DPI), which determines how many virtual pixels per inch of a physical screen, and directly affects the density of all elements. Changing the DPI allows you to make the interface more compact by placing more information on the screen, or, conversely, enlarge it if standard settings are not enough.

To access these settings, you need to activate the hidden developer menu. Go to Settings → About Phone and find the MIUI Version or OS Version line. You need to quickly click on this line 7-10 times in a row until you notice that you have become a developer.

Inside the developer menu, you scroll down to the Drawing section, and you'll find Minimum Width (or Smallest Width) where the default value varies by device model and is usually between 360 and 411 dp. Reducing that number will make all the elements on the screen larger, and zooming in will make them smaller and make the workspace larger. Be careful: setting extreme values can make the interface unusable.

The recommended range of DPI change is from -20 to +40 units of the base value.

Once the value is changed, the screen may blink and all elements will rearrange. If you set a value that you can't control your smartphone, don't panic. Rebooting the device in safe mode or resetting to factory settings (at last) will return the original settings, but you'd better write down the standard value beforehand.

• 🛠 Activate Developer Mode through Settings → The phone.
• 📉 Find the Minimum Width option in the Developer Menu.
• ✍️ Write down the initial value before making changes.
• ⚙️ Change the value gradually, checking the result.

Scaling in the browser and applications

Often users don’t want to zoom in on the whole system, but only when browsing the web or reading documents. In this case, global system settings can be redundant, and it’s better to take advantage of the built-in features of specific applications. Most modern browsers, such as Chrome, Yandex Browser or the standard MI Browser, have their own scale settings that don’t affect the rest of the phone’s interface.

In Google Chrome, you have to zoom in on the menu (three dots in the corner), select Settings, then go to Special Features, where you'll find the Scaling Text Slider, which allows you to increase or decrease the font size on web pages, which is ideal for people with poor eyesight who want to see the text larger, but keep the standard size of the controls in the browser itself.

For social networks and messengers like Telegram or WhatsApp, there are also internal font size settings. In Telegram, they are on the Settings → Chats → Font size path. This allows you to customize the display of messages regardless of the Android system settings. It is important to note that some applications may ignore the system font settings if developers have rigidly sized the application code.

⚠️ Note: Some applications of the banking sector may not display correctly when the system is changed DPI, This may be considered an attempt to modify the interface.

Features of scaling in HyperOS and MIUI 14

With the release of HyperOS shell and the updated MIUI 14, Xiaomi has redefined its approach to interface adaptability, newer versions of the system are better at redrawing elements when changing DPI and font size. However, new features such as floating windows and multitasking, the size of which may also depend on the overall screen settings, users note that new firmware fonts have become more readable by default.

HyperOS has improved its work with large fonts: the system now automatically adjusts indentations in some menus to prevent text from bumping into other elements. Earlier in older versions of MIUI, with a strong increase in font, buttons could be cropped or go outside the screen. Now the interface has become more flexible and adaptive to the user's needs.

Also worth mentioning is the Extended Text feature, which allows you to zoom in to very large font values, almost turning a smartphone into a device for people with severe visual impairments. It is activated in the Special Features section → Visual Effects → Enlarge text. When you turn on this option, you ignore the limitations of some applications on minimum and maximum font size.

• 🆕 HyperOS better scales floating windows and widgets.
• 👁 Text enlargement ignores application limitations.
• 🎨 Design themes can override system fonts.
• ⚡ Transition animations in new versions optimized for large elements.

Display problems after scale change

While customization is convenient, changing screen scales, especially through DPI, can lead to a number of visual artifacts. The most common problem is “gotten” layout in applications where text can be superimposed on buttons or images can be cropped, because application developers test them at standard resolutions and do not always provide extreme pixel density values.

Another problem may be that some navigation elements disappear or you can't press a button that has moved beyond the visible area. In such cases, it's helpful to know how to reset quickly. If you change the DPI and the screen becomes unreadable, try blindly clicking the cross in the settings window or using voice control to return to the previous value.

In some cases, apps can simply fly out when they launch if they (detect) non-standard screen resolution, which is common in games and secure applications. The solution is to return to factory display settings or use compatibility mode in the settings of a particular application, if such an option is available in your version of Android.

⚠️ Attention: When changing DPI Screenshots can be taken in non-standard resolution, which will lead to the appearance of black bars when viewed on other devices or on social networks.

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Always write down the factory DPI before changing to be able to quickly return as it was in case of problems.

How to return standard screen settings

If the scale experiments caused discomfort or malfunctions in the interface, you need to return all parameters to their original values. The easiest way is to go back to the Settings menu → Screen → Text size and move the slider to the left or center position, which is marked as Recommended.

If you have changed the DPI through the developer menu, the procedure is similar: go to Settings → Additional → For developers, find the Minimum Width and enter the value you saved earlier. If you haven’t written it down, most Xiaomi smartphones with FullHD+ resolution are 392 or 411 dp, but it’s better to search the Internet specifically for your model.

In extreme cases, if the interface is so damaged that navigation is impossible, you can reset all the phone settings. To do this, press the power and volume button (the combination depends on the model) to enter Recovery mode, but this is a radical measure. Most often, just restarting the device if the DPI change has not been applied permanently, or entering safe mode where third-party themes and some modifications do not work.

• 🔙 Return the text size slider to the default position.
• 🔢 Enter the reference value DPI developer-menu.
• 🔄 Restart the device to apply changes.
• 🗑 Remove third-party themes if they conflict with settings.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)