Xiaomi smartphone owners often face a dilemma: Which wearables to choose to expand the functionality of your gadget. The Chinese giant's ecosystem is huge, but not all devices in it are perfectly "friendly" with each other without dancing with a diamond. Choosing the right wearable device depends not only on budget, but also on how deeply you plan to integrate the watch into your daily life with your phone.
There is a common misconception that Xiaomi is only suitable for products branded Mi or Redmi. In fact, the Android operating system that runs the MIUI and HyperOS shells provides broad compatibility with most modern gadgets. However, native integration, allowing you to control the camera, respond to messages with a single touch or use quick commands, is available only in conjunction with the devices of the ecosystem.
In this article, we will discuss which watch models provide the best synchronization, which applications are necessary for work and what difficulties you can encounter when using third-party brands. You will learn whether to overpay for the original or you can save money by buying a quality counterpart from a third-party manufacturer.
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The most obvious and hassle-free option is to use devices produced under the company’s own brands. Xiaomi Watch smart watches and Redmi Watch fitness bracelets are created with the specifics of the MIUI shell in mind. This ensures instant connection, stable notification transmission and all proprietary functions without the need for third-party crutches.
The most commonly used app to control these devices is Mi Fitness (formerly Xiaomi Wear), which is deeply integrated into the system, allowing the clock to wake up the phone screen when you raise your wrist, or automatically turn on Do Not Disturb mode when you activate a similar feature on your smartphone.
But even within the ecosystem, there are different product lines, some models running on Wear OS (like the Watch 2 Pro), while budget options use its own HyperOS Connect platform (formerly MIOT), the former offering a full-fledged Google Play app store, while the latter focusing on autonomy and basic health tracking, depending on your priorities: whether you want a smartphone functionality on your wrist or a week of operation on a single charge.
- ✅ Instant contact synchronization and call history without delay.
- ✅ The ability to control the camera of the smartphone with a viewfinder on the screen of the clock.
- ✅ Support for quick answers to messages in messengers (depends on the model).
- ✅ Automatic setting of dials through the phone gallery.
⚠️ Note: When buying a Xiaomi Watch S Active or Redmi Watch, make sure that your smartphone has the latest version installed. MIUI. On older versions of Android (below 10), some pairing features may not work properly or require manual resolution of multiple system accesses.
Zepp Health: Amazfit and Huami Devices
Huami (now Zepp Health) is a key partner of Xiaomi and the maker of most of their first fitness trackers and watches.Amazfit branded products are formally independent, but technically and software-friendly are very close to Xiaomi devices.They use the Zepp app, which feels great on Xiaomi smartphones, although it does not have as deep system integration as native Mi Fitness.
The main advantage of the Amazfit watch when used with Xiaomi is the incredible autonomy and rich functionality for a lower price. GTR and GTS offer a metal body, AMOLED-screens and advanced sports modes. Health data synchronization is stable, and notifications arrive on time if you set the permissions correctly on Android.
An important nuance is working with notifications. Unlike native watches, it may require manual activation of notification access for each application separately in Bluetooth settings or in the Zepp application itself. Some weather widgets may require separate settings to display data in a local format familiar to users from the CIS.
Zepp Health is actively developing its platform, introducing support for voice assistants and NFC-Payment, which in some regions (for example, through the service Zepp Pay) can be an alternative to Mi Pay.However, the functionality of contactless payment on Amazfit watches with Xiaomi phones may be limited compared to the use of smartphones of other brands due to differences in implementation. NFC-module.
- ✅ A huge selection of dials in the Zepp App store.
- ✅ Excellent autonomy: up to 14-20 single-day.
- ✅ Detailed sleep and recovery analytics (PAI).
- ❌ Inability to respond to messages (read only).
Third-party manufacturers: Samsung, Huawei and others
Many users are wondering if you can connect a Samsung or Huawei watch to Xiaomi? The answer is yes, you can. Android allows you to pair with almost any Bluetooth device. However, the experience will vary depending on the brand and the operating system of the watch.
Wear OS-based watches (new Samsung Galaxy Watch models, Fossil watches, TicWatch) require the installation of Google Watch app (formerly Wear OS by Google) and a set of Google Play services. On Xiaomi smartphones with a MIUI shell, these services are present by default, which simplifies the process. You will get access to Google Maps, Google Pay (where it works) and thousands of apps from the Play Store right on your wrist.
Huawei and Honor devices are more complicated, and since sanctions were imposed, they have switched to their own operating systems (HarmonyOS and LiteOS) by abandoning Google services. They will require Huawei Health to connect to their phone, and the problem is that the Google Play Store often puts out a stripped-down or non-working version of this app for non-Huawei phones.
The solution for Huawei Health:
1. Do not download the app from Google Play.
2. Find the official APK- file of Huawei Health at consumer.huawei.com.
3. Manually install, allowing installation from unknown sources.When using a third-party watch, you lose some of the magic of integration, for example, you can not use a quick response with standard Xiaomi phrases, and the synchronization of alarm clocks between the phone and the clock can work unstable, and there may be problems with the light sensor, which will cause the automatic brightness of the watch screen to behave unpredictable.
⚠️ Note: When using Samsung watches with Xiaomi phones, there is often an aggressive “killing” of background processes by the system MIUI. To ensure that the watch does not turn off, you need to fix the Galaxy Wearable app in memory and remove power saving restrictions in the Settings menu. → Battery and productivity.
Software: Mi Fitness vs Zepp and Wear OS
The choice of watches is essentially the choice of a companion app, and it is through the software that the smartphone is configured, updated, and analyzed. For Xiaomi and Redmi devices, the Mi Fitness app has become the main control center, featuring a minimalist design and a clear division into the Device, Sport, and Profile tabs.
The Zepp app used for Amazfit and older Mi Band models offers deeper analytics, which can track stress, sleep quality, and even perform voice-enabled cardio workouts. The interface is more data-driven, which athletes will enjoy, but can scare off regular users just wanting to see the time and steps.
Devices on Wear OS are managed through a bundle of Google Watch and Google Fit (or Health Connect) apps, the most “clean” Android experience, but it requires a Google account and a stable internet connection. Health data is synchronized here via Google’s cloud, ensuring compatibility with thousands of third-party apps from the Play Market.
How to fix the problem with Chinese watches on global firmware?
It’s important to remember permissions. Android 12 and above, as well as newer versions of MIUI, require explicit confirmation to access contacts, microphone and location. Without these permissions (Location Always), the watch will not be able to correctly track jogging routes or synchronize the weather.
- ✅ Mi Fitness: Simplicity, speed, ideal for basic tracking.
- ✅ Zepp: powerful analytics, social features, support for third-party services (Strava).
- ✅ Wear OS: full-fledged smart function, cards, music offline, payments.
- ❌ Different accounts: You often need to create separate accounts for each application.
Comparison of popular models: Characteristics table
To make it easier to choose, let’s compare the key characteristics of popular models that Xiaomi owners often consider: We take the native flagship, popular independent brand and device on Wear OS.
| Model | OS/Platform | Compatibility with MIUI | Autonomy | Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xiaomi Watch S3 | HyperOS Connect | Native (Perfect) | Up to 15 days. | Interchangeable frames, NFC, MIoT |
| Amazfit GTR 4 | Zepp OS | High (via Zepp) | Up to 14 days. | Two GPS bands, Alexa |
| Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 | Wear OS | Medium (requires settings) | 1-2 days | ECG, Google Pay, Apps |
| Redmi Watch 4 | HyperOS Connect | Native (Perfect) | Up to 20 days. | Big screen, budgeting |
As you can see from the table, native devices win in usability, but lose in the variety of applications compared to Wear OS. Amazfit occupies a niche of the “golden mean”, offering a good screen and long work without the complexity of customization.
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When choosing a watch, pay attention to the type of strap mounting. Xiaomi and Amazfit often use proprietary mounts, and finding a beautiful third-party strap can be harder than for the standard 20mm or 22mm used by Samsung and Huawei.
Typical problems and their solution
Even when set up properly, users can face a number of technical difficulties: the most common problem is breaking the Bluetooth connection. MIUI is known for its aggressive energy saving, which can "kill" the background process of a companion application, thinking that it is not being used.
To solve this problem, you need to go to the application settings (Mi Fitness, Zepp or Wear OS), go to the “Activity Control” or “Battery” section and select “No Limits” mode. It is also useful to add the application to the autoboot and fix it in the list of recent tasks so that the system does not close it when cleaning up memory.
Another common problem is that Cyrillic is not displayed correctly in notifications. If you see Krakozabras instead of Russian text, try changing the input language or font in the settings of the watch application itself, in some cases, resetting the pairing and reconnecting with changing the region in the application helps.
☑️ Checklist of perfect synchronization
If the watch has stopped responding to touch or is stuck, do not rush to carry them to the service. 90% of the time, it helps to reboot through the settings menu on the watch itself or prolonged retention of the side button (more than 10 seconds). For models on Wear OS, you may need to reboot through the off menu, as prolonged holding of the button can cause Google Assistant.
Final recommendations for selection
The choice of smartwatches for a Xiaomi smartphone depends on what is more important to you: autonomy or functionality. If you want a gadget on the principle of “put on and forgot”, which will show the time, steps and notifications for two weeks, choose devices based on HyperOS Connect (Xiaomi Watch S3, Redmi Watch 4) or Zepp OS (Amazfit).
If you need a second smartphone on your wrist with the ability to install WhatsApp, navigate, listen to music offline and contactless payment – your choice narrows to models based on Wear OS. But be prepared to charge them every night and put up with the possible nuances of synchronization.
Don't chase the most expensive models if your budget is tight. The current budget Redmi Watch offers 90% of the functionality of flagships for a third of the price, the main thing is to properly configure the permissions in the system to enjoy stable operation of the device.
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The best choice for a Xiaomi owner is the Xiaomi/Redmi or Amazfit brand devices, which provide the best balance between autonomy, cost and synchronization quality with the MIUI/HyperOS shell.