How to set up notifications on Xiaomi fitness bracelet: from SMS to Telegram

Xiaomi fitness bracelets are some of the most popular gadgets for tracking activity, but many users face a problem: messages do not come to the screen despite connecting to a smartphone. The reason most often lies in the wrong synchronization settings or operating system limitations. In this article, we will analyze how to connect notifications to any Mi Band models (from Mi Band 3 to Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Pro), including settings for Android and iPhone, and also solve typical errors that cause alerts to disappear.

It’s important to understand that Xiaomi fitness bracelets don’t support full-time notifications the way smartwatches do. They can only duplicate incoming messages from your phone, but they don’t allow you to respond to them or interact with content. However, even this duplication is convenient – for example, to avoid reaching your phone during a workout or meeting. Next, you will learn how to turn on alerts for SMS, calls, Telegram, WhatsApp and other messengers, and why they can suddenly stop working.

What notifications support Xiaomi fitness bracelets

Not all Mi Band models work with notifications the same way, for example, the older versions (Mi Band 2) could only show SMS and incoming calls, while the newer ones (Xiaomi Smart Band 7/8) support most messengers and even some system alerts.

• 📱 Calls: name or number of the subscriber (on new models - with the ability to reject a call directly from the bracelet).
• 💬 SMS: text of the message and sender number.
• 📧 Messengers: WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber, Facebook Messenger, Skype and others (the list depends on the model).
• 🔔 System notifications: reminders of alarm clock, calendar, low battery charge phone (not on all bracelets).
• 🎵 Music: Player control (pause, next track) on Mi Band 5 and later.

Note that Xiaomi bracelets do not support notifications from Email (except Gmail on some firmware), social networks (Instagram, TikTok) and gaming applications. They also do not show attachments (photos, videos, documents) - only text. If you need advanced functionality, consider switching to Xiaomi Watch or Amazfit.

Preparation before setting up notifications

Before you turn on the alerts, make sure your bracelet is properly connected to your phone, without this notification, it will not work.

Install Mi Fitness (or Zepp Life for new models)

Connect the bracelet to your phone via Bluetooth

Update the bracelet to the latest version

Enable permissions for the Mi Fitness app in your phone settings

Disable power saving modes for Mi Fitness and Bluetooth-->

Pay special attention to permissions. On Android, go to Settings → Apps → Mi Fitness → Permissions and turn on:

• 📱 Notifications (so that the app can read the alerts).
• 🔄 Auto-start (otherwise, the connection will break after the phone is restarted).
• 🔋 Background operation (so that the bracelet receives notifications when the phone screen is off).

On iPhone, the path is different: Settings → Mi Fitness → Notifications and enable the Allow Notifications option. Also check that in Settings → Bluetooth, your Mi Band appears as connected (sometimes iOS “forgets” the device after the update).

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If the bracelet doesn't connect, try resetting it to factory settings: go to Profile → My devices → [Your bracelet] → Reset. Re-pair the pairing after that.

Step-by-step: how to enable notifications on Mi Band

The setup process is slightly different depending on the bracelet model and the phone operating system, and below is a general-purpose instruction that will work for most cases.

For Android.

1. Open the Mi Fitness app (or Zepp Life for Smart Band 7/8).
2. Go to the Profile section → My devices and choose your bracelet.
3. Tap on Application Notifications (or Reminders → Notifications on new versions).
4. Enable Call Notice and Message Notice slider.
5. Below you will see a list of apps, select the ones you want to see on your bracelet (e.g. WhatsApp, Telegram).
6. Press Save and wait for synchronization (bracelet vibrates).

For iPhone (iOS)

On the iPhone, setting up is more difficult because of Apple's limitations.

1. Open Mi Fitness and go to Profile → My Devices → [Your Bracelet] → Notifications.
2. Enable Call Notifications and Message Notifications.
3. Go to iPhone Settings → Notifications → Mi Fitness and turn on: 🔔 Allow notifications 📱 Sounds and Badges 🔄 Show on the lock screen

Return to Mi Fitness and manually select the apps you want to see notifications from (on iOS, this list is limited to system capabilities).

Important! On the iPhone, the bracelet doesn't show text messages from messengers, just the fact that they came (app icon and vibration), which is a restriction of Apple, not Xiaomi.

Table: Notification compatibility by bracelet models

Not all Xiaomi bracelets work equally with notifications, and the table below shows the comparison of the capabilities of different models:

Smart Band 8 Pro has a feature of fast responses to messages (5 templates), but it works only on Android and only for SMS.

What to do if notifications do not arrive

If you have set everything up, but alerts do not arrive on the bracelet, check the following points:

• 🔋 Bracelet battery: At a charge level below 10%, some functions are turned off to save energy.
• 📶 Bluetooth: Make sure it’s on on the phone and the bracelet is within range (up to 10 meters).
• 🔄 Synchronization: Sometimes restarting the Mi Fitness app or reconnecting the bracelet helps.
• 🚫 Blacklist: Do Not Disturb mode can be enabled in the bracelet settings (check Profile → My Devices → Modes).
• 📱 OS limitations: Android 12+ and iOS 15+ can block background processes. Add Mi Fitness to battery optimization exceptions.

If the problem persists, try resetting the bracelet settings:

1. In the Mi Fitness app, go to Profile → My Devices → [Your Bracelet] → Untie the Device.
2. On the bracelet itself, reset: for the Mi Band 5/6/7, press the touch button for 10 seconds until vibration appears.
3. Reconnect the bracelet and reset the notifications.

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On Android 13+, notifications may not work due to the new resolution of POST_NOTIFICATIONS. Go to Settings → Applications → Mi Fitness → Permissions → Notifications and turn it on.

How to Set Up Notifications for Specific Messengers

By default, the bracelet shows notifications from all supported apps, but you can fine-tune alerts for each messenger separately, such as turning off WhatsApp for sleep time or turning on vibration only for Telegram.

For WhatsApp.

To have the bracelet show messages from WhatsApp:

1. In Mi Fitness, go to Application Notifications.
2. Find WhatsApp in the list and turn on the slider.
3. On Android, additionally check that WhatsApp’s settings (on the phone) include notifications: ⋮ → Settings → Notifications → Sound and vibration.

For Telegram.

Telegram often has problems because the app blocks background activity to fix:

1. In Mi Fitness, enable notifications for Telegram.
2. On Android, go to Settings → Apps → Telegram → Battery and select Without Limits.
3. In Telegram itself, check: ⋮ → Settings → Notifications and sounds → Enable notifications.

On the iPhone for Telegram (as well as for other messengers), the bracelet will show only the app icon and vibration, but not the text of the message.

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If notifications from the messenger come with a delay, try to turn off the traffic saving mode in its settings. For example, in Telegram: Settings → Data and memory → Traffic saving mode → Disable.

Additional settings: vibration, sound, alert time

In addition to including notifications, you can customize their display:

• 🔕 Vibration: Mi Fitness allows you to choose the duration and intensity of the vibration (for example, 3 levels are available for Smart Band 7).
• ⏰ Alert Time: Set up Sleep Mode so that the bracelet doesn’t wake you up at night (in Profile → My Devices → Modes).
• 📵 Exceptions: Add important contacts to the Whitelist so that their calls and SMS go even in Do Not Disturb mode.

The Smart Band 8 Pro has Quick Answers, which allows you to set up 5 template messages (e.g., “I’m busy,” “I’ll be back later”) that will be sent when you press the bracelet to activate:

1. In Mi Fitness, go to Notifications → Quick Answers.
2. Write your templates (up to 30 characters each).
3. Save and sync with the bracelet.

Limitation: Quick answers only work for SMS and only on Android.

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On Mi Band 5 and later, you can set up a custom vibration for different types of notifications, such as short vibration for SMS and long vibration for calls.

FAQ: Frequent questions about notifications on Mi Band