The situation when the once-quick Xiaomi suddenly begins to slow down is familiar to many owners of smartphones of this brand: smooth animations give way to jerks, applications open with a delay, and the interface responds to touch with a noticeable delay.
Most often, the cause of performance decline is a software failure, overflowing memory or incorrect operation of the background processes of the MIUI system. The operating shell, despite its functionality, accumulates many temporary files and logs over time, which complicate the work of the processor.
In this article, we will discuss effective methods for speeding up your device, learn how to perform a deep cleaning of the system, turn off unnecessary visual effects and reconfigure parameters for maximum speed. Follow the instructions consistently to return your smartphone to its former speed.
Analysis of memory and storage load
The first step is to assess the state of the internal memory of the device. When the free space on the disk runs out, the system has no place to place temporary files for caching operations, which leads to severe lags. The critical threshold is the situation when less than 10-15% of the total storage capacity is free.
Go to Settings → About Phone → Warehouse and carefully study the fill schedule. Pay special attention to the garbage folder, which the regular cleaner often ignores when cleaning quickly. Deleting old videos, unnecessary APK installation files and messenger cache can free up gigabytes of space.
⚠️ Note: Do not delete files from system folders with names like Android», «MIUI» or data if you're not sure what it's about, it could cause applications to malfunction or the system to fail completely.
For a deeper analysis, use the built-in Security app. Run the scan and click the Clean button. Also, check which apps take up the most space. Often, heavy games or social media that you haven't used in a long time can take up a significant portion of the drive.
System memory (RAM) also plays a key role. If you have a model with 4GB of RAM or less, try not to keep more than 3-4 heavy applications open at once.Memory Extension, if available in your version of MIUI, can help, but sometimes it is better to disable, as using slow flash memory as RAM can even slow down the interface.
Cache Clearing and Application Optimization
Cache accumulation is one of the most common reasons why Xiaomi is slow to start running: Cache speeds up the loading of frequently visited pages and features used, but over time it grows and begins to conflict with itself, especially with the Chrome browser, YouTube and social networks.
To clear the cache of a particular application, go to Settings → Apps → All apps. Select the desired program (such as Instagram or TikTok), click Memory and select Clear Cache. It is important not to confuse this with the Clean All button, which will reset the application settings and require re-authorization.
- 🧹 System cache: Cleared through the Recovery menu or by regular means in the Memory section».
- 🗑️ Cash. Dalvik/ART: A special application compilation cache, the cleaning of which can solve problems after the system update.
- 📱 Cache of individual applications: Data stored by specific programs for fast operation.
It's also worth checking the running process list. There's a "Security" feature in the "Speed" menu that forcibly closes the background applications. But you shouldn't rely on it alone. You'd better manually disable autoruns for programs you don't need all the time. Settings → Annexes → Permits → Auto-start.
☑️ Checklist of fast optimization
If the problem persists after cleaning, try removing updates to the problematic app. Sometimes newer versions of programs contain optimization errors that have a bad effect on the performance of older smartphone models. Go back to the factory version through the app management menu and check if the lags have disappeared.
Customization of animations and visual effects
Beautiful animations in MIUI look spectacular, but they consume GPU resources. If your Xiaomi has started to slow down, disabling or speeding up animations is the fastest way to visually speed up the interface without losing data.
To access hidden settings, activate the developer mode. Click on the "MIUI Version" option 7 times in a row in the "About Phone" menu. Once the "You've become a developer" notification appears, go back to the main settings menu, select "Advanced" and find "Developers" option.
In the list that opens, look for the Drawing section, and you're interested in three things: Windows animation, transition animation, and animation duration. They're 1x by default. Change them to 0.5x or completely disable (0x) to make the system's response instantaneous.
⚠️ Warning: Disabling animations completely can make the control less intuitive, as smoothness between screens will disappear. 0.5x.
Also, in the Developer Menu, you can find the option "Background Process Limit": set the value "No More than 2 Processes" or "No More than 4 Processes"; this will prevent the system from holding too many sleeper applications in memory, freeing up resources for an active task.
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Use the Classic or Lite theme in the theme store. They are devoid of heavy graphics and widgets, which significantly reduces the load on the processor when scrolling the desktop.
Resolving overheating problems
Modern processors in Xiaomi smartphones are equipped with thermal protection mechanisms. When a certain temperature is reached, the system forcibly reduces the clock speed of the processor (trotling) to avoid damage, at which point the phone begins to brake very much, the fps in games drops, and charging slows down.
Check if your device is overheating.If the case is hot to the touch, remove the case that can interfere with heat transfer. Avoid using a navigator or heavy games while charging, as this creates double load and is guaranteed to cause overheating.
There's a Battery section in the Security app where you can look at the heating statistics, and if the phone is warming up in standby mode, maybe some app is stuck in the background and loading the processor, and in this situation, it helps to completely reboot or find the culprit in the battery consumption statistics.
For gamers, MIUI has Game Turbo mode, which not only optimizes the network, but also allocates CPU resources, but if the phone is prone to overheating, it is better to turn off the enhanced performance mode in the Game Turbo settings, choosing the balance between speed and temperature.
Why is the phone warm in your pocket?
Comparison of acceleration methods
There are many ways to try to reanimate a slow smartphone, not all of which are equally effective and safe, and here is a table that will help you choose the best strategy for your situation and level of training.
| Method | Efficiency | Difficulty | Risk of data loss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clearing the cache | Low (temporary) | Minimum | No. |
| Shutdown of animations | Medium (visual) | Low. | No. |
| Reset to factory settings | Tall. | Medium | Full (requires a copy) |
| Flashing (Clean ROM) | Maximum | Tall. | Full (requires unlocking) |
As you can see from the table, simple methods like cleaning the cache only have a short-term effect: If Xiaomi started to slow down after a major system update, the most effective, albeit time-consuming, way is a full reset (Hard Reset), which allows you to remove all software tails from the previous version of the firmware.
Before resetting, make sure to back up your important data to the Mi Cloud or your computer. Once reset, your phone will look like new, and you’ll have to reset your accounts and install apps, but the speed will be restored to its original.
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A complete factory reset is the only guaranteed solution if software cleaning methods do not help for a long time.
When you need to re-flash or repair
Sometimes software methods are exhausted and the phone continues to work unstable. If even after resetting to factory settings Xiaomi slows down, the problem can be the physical degradation of the drive (eMMC or UFS memory), over time, the memory cells wear out and start to work slower, which directly affects the speed of reading and writing data.
In this case, flashing the device through the computer using the Mi Flash Tool utility can help. It is important to choose the "Clean all" mode, which completely re-marks the memory partitions, sometimes allowing you to "revive" the broken sectors by transferring data to healthy areas of the drive.
But if that doesn't work, it's a hardware malfunction, which requires a replacement motherboard or a skilled repair at a service center, and it's also worth checking the battery's condition: if it's worn out and can't deliver the right current under load, the processor will reset frequencies even without overheating.
⚠️ Warning: Self-flashing through the Mi Flash Tool requires an unlocked bootloader.Official unlocking takes 7 to 30 days of waiting and requires a Mi Account binding.
Don’t ignore the physical signs of problems: if the phone is not only braked, but also spontaneously switches off, reboots or doesn’t see SIM-map, software repairs may be useless, in such cases, it is better to consult specialists for the diagnosis of hardware».