Xiaomi Redmi Watch is disconnected from the phone: all the reasons and how to fix it

Have you noticed that your Redmi Watch or Mi Band smartwatch suddenly stopped syncing with your Xiaomi smartphone? The problem of connecting, falling off, or not seeing your phone is familiar to many users. In 80% of cases, it's not a hardware failure, but a software failure or misconfiguration. In this article, we'll look at all the possible causes, from banal battery discharge to hidden firmware conflicts, and give step-by-step instructions to restore stable communication.

The Xiaomi ecosystem is optimized to work with each other, but sometimes this “optimization” fails. For example, the Redmi Watch 3 Active can lose connection due to the energy-saving MIUI 14+ mode, which aggressively disables the background processes of the Mi Fitness application. Or the Mi Band 7 bracelet stops syncing after updating the phone’s firmware. We analyzed user feedback on the 4PDA and Mi Community forums, and tested the solutions on 5 watch models — the results below.

1. Bluetooth problems: why the connection is broken

The most common reason is an unstable Bluetooth module on a phone or watch, and 60 percent of the time, it's the smartphone, not the wearable, that's because MIUI, by default, limits Bluetooth in the background to save power, and that causes the connection to break down after 5 to 10 minutes without activity.

How to check:

• 🔍 Open the Settings. → Connections → Bluetooth on your phone and see if the clock connection icon is missing by itself.
• 📱 Try connecting the watch to another smartphone (not necessarily Xiaomi). If the connection is stable, it's a problem with your phone.
• 🔋 Check if the phone is overheating during sync (this may indicate a Bluetooth module hardware failure).

Decisions:

• ⚙️ Turn off the power saving mode for the Mi Fitness or Zepp Life app (depending on the watch model). → Annexes → Application management → Mi Fitness → Battery → No restrictions.
• 🔄 Reboot the phone’s Bluetooth module: Turn it off for 30 seconds, then turn it on again.
• 📲 Update the firmware on the phone. MIUI 13–14 Critical Bluetooth bugs for Redmi Note have been fixed 11/12 and POCO X4.

⚠️ Note: If the Redmi Watch 2 Lite or Mi Band 6 is connected to the phone, but after 1-2 minutes the connection breaks with the error "Device is not available", most likely, the conflict of Bluetooth versions is to blame. Try manually selecting the Bluetooth 4.2 protocol from the developers of settings (if available).

2.Mi Fitness or Zepp Life app crashes

Synchronization apps are a weak point in the Xiaomi ecosystem. Mi Fitness and Zepp Life are often bugged after updates, especially on phones with customized firmware (e.g. Xiaomi.EU).

• 🔄 The clock is connected, but the data is not synchronized (steps, pulse, notifications).
• 📱 The app gives an error “Can’t connect to the device” even though Bluetooth is working.
• 🔄 After a phone reboot, the watch becomes 'invisible' to the app.

How to fix it:

1. Clear the cache and app data: Settings → Applications → Mi Fitness → Storage → Clear the cache + Clear the data Attention! After that, you will have to re-enter your Xiaomi account and bind the watch.
2. Reinstall the app. For Mi Band 7/8, use Zepp Life, for Redmi Watch, use Mi Fitness.
3. Check permissions: Settings → Applications → Mi Fitness → Permissions Must be enabled: Location, Bluetooth, Notifications, Auto Run.

Clear the Bluetooth cache in the phone settings |

Record Xiaomi account details (login/password)|

Untie the clock in the appendix (if possible) |

Download the latest version of Mi Fitness/Zepp Life from the official website-->

3. firmware conflict: phone vs watch

If your phone is upgraded to MIUI 14+ and the watch is still on the old firmware (or vice versa), the sync will be unstable due to incompatibility of data exchange protocols. For example, Redmi Watch 3 with V1.5.64 firmware may not work correctly with Redmi Note 12 Pro on MIUI 14.0.5.

How to check the versions:

• 📱 On the phone: Settings → The phone. → Version. MIUI.
• ⌚ On the clock: Settings → About the device → Firmware version.

Decisions:

⚠️ Note: If after updating the watch firmware (e.g. Mi Band 7 to version 1.16.0.14) they stop showing notifications, check the Zepp Life app settings. → Device profile → Notifications, maybe the permissions were revoked.

4. Energy conservation and background activity

MIUI is known for aggressive battery optimization, which often strangles background processes, including clock synchronization. If you notice that the connection breaks after a few minutes without activity, this mechanism is to blame, especially for phones with MIUI 12+ and Redmi/Poco models with a battery of 5000 mAh+ (for example, POCO X5 Pro or Redmi Note 12 Pro+).

How to turn off optimization:

1. Add Mi Fitness to the list of protected applications: Settings → Battery → Applications Selection → Mi Fitness → No restrictions
2. Turn off the adaptive battery: Settings → Battery → Battery settings → Adaptive battery (turn off)
3. For Android 12+, also check: Settings → Special Features → App Improvements → Mi Fitness → Disable All Optimizations

Additional measures:

• 🔋 If the Redmi Watch 3 is running out too fast (less than 2 days), turn on the Energy Saving mode on the watch itself, but turn it off on your phone for the Mi Fitness app.
• 📶 On Xiaomi phones 13/14 Disabling the Wi-Fi Assistant feature, which sometimes conflicts with Bluetooth, can help.

💡

If the clock is still off after all the manipulations, try temporarily disabling VPNs or proxy servers. Some servers block Xiaomi app traffic, which leads to sync failures.

5. Hardware problems: battery, contacts, water

If the software methods didn't work, it's worth checking the physical condition of the watch and phone.

• 🔋 A battery of a watch is dead. Even if the screen shows a charge of 20%, the real level may be below the critical for a stable Bluetooth connection. Connect the watch to charging for 1-2 hours, then restart.
• 💧 If the Mi Band 7 or Redmi Watch 2 Lite has been in contact with water (even if it has 5 protections) ATM), oxidation of contacts can cause failures. Signs: accidental reset, unstable connection.
• 📶 Interference from other devices: 2.4GHz Wi-Fi routers, wireless headphones or neighboring Bluetooth devices can cause interference. Try syncing your clock elsewhere.

Diagnosis:

1. Check the charging contacts on the watch – if they are oxidized or contaminated, clean them with alcohol and cotton swab.
2. Connect the watch to another charger, sometimes the problem is the cable or the adapter.
3. If the Redmi Watch 3 Active does not turn on after discharging, hold the power button for 15-20 seconds for a forced reboot.

⚠️ Attention: If after a fall or impact the clock stopped synchronizing, and artifacts (strips, flickering) appeared on the screen, this may indicate damage to the plume of the display or motherboard.

6. Conflict with other applications or firmware

Sometimes the problem lies in third-party applications that block Mi Fitness or interfere with Bluetooth.

• 🛡️ Antiviruses (Avast, Kaspersky) can block the application from accessing Bluetooth.
• 🔄 Lawnchair, Nova Launcher and other custom launchers sometimes reset background processes.
• 📱 Firmware from third-party developers (for example, Xiaomi.EU, Pixel Experience) may not work correctly with branded applications Xiaomi.

How to identify the culprit:

1. Run your phone in Safe Mode (press the power button → Safe Mode). If the clock is stable, the problem is in one of the installed applications.
2. Check system error logs through Settings → About Phone → Report Log (look for mentions of Bluetooth or Mi Fitness).
3. If you use custom firmware, try returning stock MIUI via Fastboot.

List of conflicting applications (according to 4PDA users):

• 🚫 Greenify (aggressively closing the background processes).
• 🚫 Battery Guru (Blocking Bluetooth).
• 🚫 Parallel Space (can duplicate Mi Fitness processes, causing conflicts).

💡

If you use custom firmware, make sure that it has a module MiuiBluetooth. Without it, synchronization with the Xiaomi watch will be unstable regardless of the settings.

7.Settings reset: Last chance

If none of these methods work, you have to reset your watch or your phone completely, and that's a radical solution, but it works 90 percent of the time when it's a software failure.

Instructions for watches:

1. On Redmi Watch 3/2 Lite: Settings → System → Resetting → Confirm
2. On Mi Band 7/8: Settings → Reset → Erase all data
3. Once reset, re-attach your watch to your phone via Mi Fitness or Zepp Life.

Instructions for the phone (if the reset hours did not help):

1. Make a backup of the data through Settings → About Phone → Backup.
2. Perform reset: Settings → Additional → Restore and Reset → Reset settings
3. After the reboot, do not restore data from the backup – install the Mi Fitness app again and check for sync.

⚠️ Attention: On phones with MIUI 14 after reset, you may need to re-link your Xiaomi account to your watch.If you forget your password, use recovery via email or phone number before resetting.

FAQ: Frequent questions about synchronizing Xiaomi watches