Xiaomi Lags: Why Your Phone is Braking and How to Fix It Once and For All

Your Xiaomi is slowing down, apps are late opening, and animations are twitching? Lags are one of the most common problems on the brand’s smartphones, and the causes can be rooted in software failures and hardware limitations. In this article, we will analyze all possible sources of brakes — from overloaded memory to outdated firmware — and give step-by-step instructions for fixing them.

Xiaomi devices (including the Redmi, POCO and Mi lines) are characterized by aggressive MIUI optimization, which sometimes results in artificially limited performance. For example, the system can force background processes to close or reduce the CPU clock speed to save charge. But often it is not the phone itself that is to blame, but the user’s settings, outdated applications or viruses. We have tested all the methods on models from Redmi Note 10 to Xiaomi 13 Ultra – and are ready to share working solutions.

Before you start taking drastic measures (like factory resets), check simple methods that take no more than 5 minutes. 70% of the time, lags are eliminated by basic system cleaning or software updates. If the problem is deeper, we will tell you how to diagnose hardware malfunctions (such as wear and tear of the drive) and what to do in such cases.

1. Diagnosis: how to determine the cause of lags

Before you treat, you need to make a diagnosis. Lags on Xiaomi manifest themselves in different ways:

• 📱 Interface freezes - slow menu opening, jiggy animations when swiping.
• ⏳ Long download of applications – the icon appears, but the application itself opens in 5-10 seconds.
• 🔄 Spontaneous reboots – the phone suddenly turns off and turns on again.
• 🎮 Friezes in games - a fall FPS, hanging out for 1-2 seconds.
• 🔋 Overheating and brakes – the phone gets hot and performance drops.

To understand what is happening, use the built-in MIUI tools:

1. Open Settings → About Phone → MIUI version and tap 7 times on the kernel line to activate the developer mode.
2. Return to Settings → Additional → For developers and enable the option Processor Statistics.
3. Run a problem app (or just work with your phone) and go back to CPU statistics – here you’ll see what processes are loading the system.

If you see in statistics that com.miui.home or android.system consume >30% of the CPU, it's a problem with the firmware. If a particular application (like Facebook or TikTok) is creating the load, it's their fault. Also, pay attention to the CPU temperature: if it's above 60°C, trottling works.

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MIUI 14+ has a hidden Game Turbo feature to monitor FPS in games. Activated via Settings → Special Features → Game Turbo (must be manually enabled).

2. Cleaning the system: remove garbage and cache

The most common cause of lag is memory loss, and even if you have 10 to 15 GB of free space, the system can slow down due to fragmented cache or temporary files, starting with basic cleaning:

Clearing the application cache

• 🧹 Go to Settings. → Annexes → Application management.
• 🔍 Select the “heaviest” app (such as WhatsApp, Instagram, or Google Play Services).
• 🗑️ Press Warehouse. → Clear the cache (do not delete data!).
• 🔄 Repeat for all applications that are >500MB.

If the lags appear after the MIUI update, clear the cache of the system applications:

com.android.systemui


com.miui.home




com.miui.securitycenter

2.2. Deletion of unnecessary files

MIUI has a built-in cleaner, but it often skips garbage. Use it in tandem with manual checks:

1. Open Security → Cleanup and start scanning.
2. Delete all residual files, duplicates and large files found.
3. Go to Files → Categories → Downloads and delete old APKs, images and videos.
4. Check the DCIM/.thumbnails folder – it stores thumbnails of photos that can weigh several gigabytes.

Attention! Don't manually delete files in /system or /data folders, which can cause firmware to break and the phone to "brick." If you're not sure if you want a file, leave it.

3. MIUI Optimization: Disabling Unnecessary Functions

MIUI is overloaded with background processes that eat up resources, many of which can be safely turned off:

3.1. Disable animations and visual effects

Beautiful transitions between screens increase the load on the processor, to speed up the interface:

1. Activate the Developer Mode (as in Section 1).
2. Go to the Developers and find:
3. The scale of the animation window → set Disable.
4. The scale of the transition animation → Disable.
5. Duration of the animator → Shut down.

After that, the interface will open instantly, without delay.

Restriction of background activity

MIUI aggressively closes the background applications, but some of them (like instant messengers) must work all the time.

• 🔄 Go to Settings. → Battery and productivity → Battery management.
• 📱 Select App Selection and mark messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp) as Without Limitations.
• ⚡ Disable Adaptive Battery – This feature often mistakenly blocks the desired processes.

Critical setting: In Developers, find the option to Limit Background Processes and set a process Maximum 4 value, which will reduce the load on RAM, but some applications will have to be opened more often.

4. Update of firmware and core

Outdated firmware is one of the main causes of lags. Xiaomi regularly releases patches that fix performance errors, but many users ignore the updates.

1. Go to Settings → About the phone → System update.
2. If you have an update, download it and install it. Importantly, connect to Wi-Fi and charge your phone at least 50 percent.
3. Once installed, reboot – many changes only take effect after the reboot.

If automatic updates don’t help, try the manual firmware through the Mi Flash Tool (power users only!). Download the latest stable version of MIUI for your model from the official Xiaomi website and follow the instructions:

1 Unpack the firmware archive in a folder without Cyrillic.


2. Turn off your phone and press Power + Vol Down to log in to Fastboot.




3. Connect your phone to your PC and start the Mi Flash Tool.




4. Select the firmware folder and press Flash.

⚠️ Warning! Don't ask your phone through Fastboot unless you're sure about the firmware model. Wrong version could lead to loss IMEI For models with a locked bootloader (Redmi Note 12, Xiaomi 13 and later) you need to unlock through the Mi Unlock Tool.

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Update via Fastboot erases all data! make a backup through Settings → Additional → Backup and Reset.

5. Reset to factory settings

If the lags don't disappear after all the manipulation, the last thing you can do is reset them completely, and that will delete all the data, but it will return the phone to factory performance.

• 📱 Make a backup copy through Settings → Google → Backup or Mi Cloud Backup.
• 🔐 Remember or take photos of passwords from accounts (Google, Mi Account, banking applications).
• 📁 Move important files (photos, videos) to your PC or cloud.

We shall now proceed to discharge:

1. Open Settings → Additional → Backup and Reset.
2. Select Resetting → Erase all data.
3. Enter a password (if required) and confirm the action.
4. After restarting, set your phone as new.

Important: Don't restore data from the backup immediately after the reset! First, check if the lags have disappeared. If so, install the applications one at a time, watching the performance. Often the conflict between the old data and the new firmware is not the fault of the phone itself.

Hardware problems: when the "iron" is to blame

If the software didn't work, the lags could be caused by hardware problems.

To check the condition of the "iron", use the applications:

• 🔧 CPU Throttling Test – will show whether the frequency of the processor is reduced due to overheating.

⚠️ If AndroBench shows reading speed <200 MB/s on a phone with UFS 2.1/3.0, This is a sign of a degradation of the drive, and in this case, only replacing the motherboard will help, and this is often unprofitable for budget models (Redmi). 9A, POCO M3).

7.Alternative firmware: When MIUI is not optimized

If your Xiaomi is slowing down due to “raw” firmware (especially relevant for new models in the first months after release), consider installing custom firmware.

• 📱 Pixel Experience – pure Android without unnecessary features MIUI.
• ⚡ LineageOS – stable firmware with open source.
• 🔄 Xiaomi.eu – modified MIUI without Chinese services.

Before you set a caste, consider:

• ✅ Pros: no lag, no advertising in MIUI, regularity.
• ❌ Cons: loss of warranty, possible bugs with the camera or sensors, installation complexity.

Installation instructions (based on the Pixel Experience):

1. Unlock the bootloader through the Mi Unlock Tool (requires linking Mi Account to the phone).
2. Install a custom TWRP recavator for your model.
3. Download the firmware from the official website (Pixel Experience) and transfer it to the phone.
4. Download to TWRP, make Wipe → Format Data (this will delete ALL!).
5. Install ZIP with firmware and restart.

Important: Before installing custom, check compatibility with your model on the XDA Developers or 4PDA forum. Some firmware requires additional patches (for example, to run NFC or 5G broadband).

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions