Android 12 on Xiaomi Redmi Note: a full analysis of new features, hidden settings and optimizations

Android 12 brought a revolutionary change to Xiaomi’s ecosystem, especially for the Redmi Note line, the brand’s most popular budget smartphone series, and it was not just a change in the operating system version, but a complete transformation of the user experience, from the radically redesigned Material You design to deep optimizations for the Qualcomm Snapdragon and MediaTek Helio processors that underpin most Redmi Note 10/11 models.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what exactly changed after the upgrade to Android 12 on your Redmi Note, from obvious innovations like a dynamic color palette to hidden features that Xiaomi has chosen not to mention, how new battery management algorithms extend battery life, why some apps have started to work faster, and how to properly configure the system to avoid the typical bugs of the first versions of the firmware, and exclusive data on which Redmi Note models will get Android 13 and which will stay on the 12th version forever.

1. Design and Interface: Material You vs MIUI 13

The main visual innovation of Android 12 is Material You, a design system from Google that automatically adjusts the color scheme of the interface to the wallpaper of the desktop. On the Redmi Note, this feature works through the shell of MIUI 13, but with important caveats:

🎨 Dynamic Colors: If you set blue-dominated wallpaper, the icons in the notification panel, settings background and even the buttons in the menu will take shades of that color. Xiaomi added its highlight here - the ability to manually adjust the palette to Settings → Screen. → Colors of the system.
📱 New widgets: Weather, calendar and note widgets now support transparency and adaptive size. For example, a Weather widget can display rain animations if the weather is bad outside.
⚡ Quick settings: The Quick Settings Panel is compacter and the icons are larger. Xiaomi has added its signature element here: a swipe down the panel now opens an extended menu with a brightness slider and buttons Game Mode and Charge Savings.

However, things aren’t going so well: some Redmi Note 10 Pro users complain that dynamic colors don’t work smoothly when using live wallpaper. It’s also worth noting that MIUI 13 on Android 12 has removed support for third-party themes – you can now install only official themes from the Theme.

📊 What version? MIUI you prefer?

MIUI 12.5 (Android 11)

MIUI 13 (Android 12)

MIUI 14 (Android 13)

I don't care.

2. Performance and optimization for Redmi Note

Android 12 brought with it a new memory management mechanism, which is especially important for the budget smartphones Redmi Note with 4-6 GB of RAM. Now the system automatically “freezes” unused applications, freeing up resources for active tasks. According to tests on the Redmi Note 11 with Snapdragon 680, this gives an increase of 15-20% when multitasking.

Key improvements:

🚀 Atomized Memory: A technology from Xiaomi that breaks down background processes into “atoms” and optimizes their RAM consumption. → Special facilities → Optimizing memory.
🔄 Best microSD experience: Android 12 fixes bug that could cause microSD card apps to slow down. 10S Other models with memory expansion support are more stable.
🎮 Game mode 5.0: The new version of the game mode allows you to block notifications from specific applications (for example, WhatsApp or Telegram), as well as adjust the tactile response for different genres of games.

But there are pitfalls too: some devices (like the Redmi Note 9 Pro with the Snapdragon 720G) have lags when scrolling Instagram or TikTok after upgrading to Android 12.This is due to the new Skia renderer that Xiaomi has integrated into MIUI 13.

Turn off animation in Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (5 times tap)

Clear cache in Settings → Applications → Application Management

Enable performance mode in Settings → Battery and performance

Update graphics drivers through Settings → My device-->

3. Battery and autonomy: what has changed

Android 12 has overhauled battery management algorithms, and Xiaomi has added some of its newest features, Adaptive Charging, which analyzes your habits and limits charging to 80 percent if you normally leave your phone charging overnight, extending battery life by 20 to 30 percent.

Other important developments:

Function	Description	How to turn it on
Smart balance.	Automatically switches between performance and savings modes depending on the level of charge	Settings → Battery → Smart balance
Optimizing night charge	Slows down charging after 80% if your phone is connected at night	Settings → Battery → Settings → Charge optimization
Energy-efficient Wi-Fi	Disables Wi-Fi when the screen is off, but leaves it active for important notifications	Settings → Wi-Fi → Additional → Energy saving Wi-Fi
Background activity	Shows which applications consume charge in the background	Settings → Battery → Battery Use → Background Activity

⚠️ Note: On the Redmi Note 8 Pro and older models, adaptive charge may not work properly due to outdated power controllers. If the phone starts to drain faster after the upgrade, try resetting the battery settings:

Go to Settings. → Battery.
Click on the three dots in the top right corner and select Reset Settings.
Confirm the action and restart the device.

💡

If your phone gets warmer when charging after upgrading to Android 12, try turning off fast charging in Settings → Battery → Fast charging. Sometimes it helps stabilize the temperature.

4.Privacy and security: what MIUI 13 hides

Android 12 has put a lot of emphasis on privacy, and Xiaomi has implemented these innovations in MIUI 13, but with its own refinements.

🔍 Privacy Panel: Now in Settings → Confidentiality → The privacy panel can see which apps have accessed the microphone, camera or geolocation in the past 24 hours. Xiaomi has added its element here - the ability to block access for a particular app forever.
📱 Access Indicators: In the upper right corner of the screen, a green dot now appears when the camera or microphone is in use. On the Redmi Note, this indicator can be turned off in Settings → Notifications → Status indicators.
🔐 Approximate location: Apps can be given an approximate region (like Moscow, not a specific street) rather than a precise coordinate.

But there's a caveat: MIUI 13 collects usage data by default to improve Xiaomi services.

Go to Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (tap 5 times to open the developer menu).
Go back to Settings → Additional and select for Developers.
Find the Sending Error Reports item and turn it off.
Then go to Settings → Privacy → Additional → Personalize Services and deactivate all switches.

What happens if you don't turn off the data collection?

Xiaomi claims that the data is anonymized, but it includes information about the device model, firmware version, app usage frequency, and even approximate location, which can lead to targeted advertising on Xiaomi services (such as Mi Browser or Mi Video). In addition, some users note that after disabling data collection, the phone works a little faster.—> 5. Hidden Android 12 features on Redmi Note In addition to the obvious innovations, Android 12 on Redmi Note hidden features that few people know: 🎵 Simultaneous audio playback on two devices: You can connect Bluetooth headphones and Bluetooth speakers at the same time and listen to music in synchrony. → Connected devices → Bluetooth settings → Double audio. 📲 Do Not Disturb Scheduled Mode: Now You Can Configure Automatic Turn on DND Not only by time, but also by event (for example, when you connect to the Wi-Fi network "Home"). → Notifications → Don't disturb. → Rules. 🔄 Quick switching SIM-If you have two cards SIM, You can assign different cards for calls, SMS And the mobile Internet separately. → SIM-maps and mobile networks → Default settings. 🖥️ Desktop Mode: On the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ And other Android 12 models, you can activate a Windows-like interface with free window placement. → Screen. → Desktop Mode (Reboot required). ⚠️ Note: On some firmware for Redmi Note 9 and Note 10, the dual audio function may not work stable - the sound begins to "break" at high volume. If you encounter this problem, try: Disable Bluetooth AAC in the headphone settings. Set bitrate on SBC instead of AAC. Update the headphone firmware (if supported). 6. Problems after the update and how to solve them Despite all the pros, Android 12 on the Redmi Note can bring unpleasant surprises. Here are the most common problems and their solutions: Problem Cause Solution Phone strongly warms New algorithms MIUI 13 actively index files after updating Wait 24-48 hours or reset cache in Settings → Memory. → Quickly goes down, Google Play Services battery consumes a lot of power due to new privacy features Limit background activity in Settings → Battery. → Battery utilization → Google Play Services Don't Work Gestures Conflict with Third-Party Launcher Settings (e.g. Nova Launcher) Reset gesture settings in Settings → Screen. → Navigation panel No sound in headphones Reset Bluetooth settings after updating Remove a couple of headphones and connect again If none of the methods did not help, you can try to roll back to the previous version of the firmware. For this: Download the archive with firmware MIUI 12.5 For your model from the official Xiaomi website. update.zip And put it in the root directory of the phone's memory. Go to Settings. → The phone. → Update system, click three dots and select Select firmware file. Confirm rollback and wait for reboot. ⚠️ Attention: Firmware rollback will reset all settings to factory and delete data from internal memory. → Additionally. → Backup and reset. 7. What models of Redmi Note will receive Android 13? The issue of updates is always worried about owners of Redmi Note. According to official data from Xiaomi, in May 2026 year), situation as follows: ✅ Get Android. 13 (MIUI 14): Redmi Note 11 Pro/Pro+ 5G Redmi Note 11S 5G Redmi Note 10 Pro (Global Version Only) Redmi Note 12 (modifications) ❌ Stay on Android. 12 (MIUI 13): Redmi Note 9 Pro/9S/9T (Support completed) Redmi Note 10 (without the prefix Pro Redmi Note 8/8T/8 Pro (no longer receiving major updates) Exclusive: According to Xiaomi internal documents, Redmi Note 10 Pro (Sweet Model) will not get Android 14, Despite the initial promises, it's due to the limitations of the Snapdragon chipset. 732G, If your model is not updated, you can consider custom firmware (for example, LineageOS or Pixel Experience). However, this requires unlocking the bootloader and may deprive you of warranty. FAQ: Frequent questions about Android 12 Redmi Note Can you turn off dynamic colors in Material You? Yes, go to Settings for that → Screen. → Colors of the system and select Primary Colors or Dark Theme, you can also manually set the color palette by clicking on Customize Colors. Why, after upgrading to Android 12 Do banking applications stop working? This is due to the new security requirements of Google Play Protect. Solution: Update the banking app to the latest version. Check for certificates in Settings → Google → Security → Play Protect → Certification. If the problem persists, try clearing the Google Play Services app data. How do you get your old app icons back after you update? MIUI 13 The icons have changed, but you can return the previous look: Install a third-party launcher (for example, Nova Launcher or Hyperion Launcher). Download a pack of icons from the Play Market (like Whicons or Pixel Icon Pack). In the launcher settings, select the downloaded icon pack. Note: system icons (like Settings or Phone) can't be changed without root rights. Why did Redmi Note 10 get worse after Android 12? GPS? This is a well-known problem with new energy saving algorithms. Solutions: Include High Accuracy in Settings → Location → Mode. Add the map app (e.g. Google Maps or Yandex.Navigator) to the battery optimization exception list. Update the module's firmware GPS through settings → The phone. → Updating the system → Can I install Android 12 on the Redmi Note 8 Pro? Officially not, as Xiaomi has stopped supporting this model. However, there are informal ways: Install custom firmware based on Android 12 (for example, LineageOS 19 or ArrowOS). This will require unlocking the bootloader through the Mi Unlock Tool and installing TWRP. Note that this voids the warranty and can lead to unstable camera or sensors. We recommend checking compatibility on the XDA Developers or 4PDA forums before installing custom firmware.