How to increase RAM on Xiaomi: all the ways from virtual RAM to upgrade hardware

Have you noticed that your Xiaomi has started to slow down, apps are spontaneously shutting down, and games are lag even at minimal settings? The reason most often lies in a lack of RAM (RAM). Smartphone manufacturers are saving on this component, especially in budget models, but users are not always willing to put up with restrictions. In this article, we will examine all possible ways to increase RAM on Xiaomi, from software tricks to radical hardware modifications.

It's important to understand that you can't physically replace or add RAM bars to 99% of Xiaomi smartphones -- memory is soldered to the motherboard -- but that doesn't mean that things can't be improved. Modern firmware offers optimization tools, and some models support virtual RAM based on flash memory, which gives you up to 30% performance gains in individual scenarios. Next, a detailed review of each method with pros, cons and step-by-step instructions.

1. Virtual RAM: How to enable and how effective it is

The easiest and most official way to “boost” RAM is to activate the RAM Expansion function, which reserves part of the built-in drive (usually 1-3 GB) for the app cache, simulating additional RAM. The technology works on all Xiaomi smartphones with MIUI 12.5 and newer, but there are nuances.

How does it work in practice? Imagine that your Redmi Note 12 with 6GB of RAM suddenly gets more. +2GB. Sounds tempting on paper, but in reality, performance gains depend on the scenario:

• 🎮 Games: Genshin Impact or Call of Duty Mobile FPS It may grow by 5-15%, but texture loading will remain slow. RAM slow down GPU.
• 📱 Multitasking: Background applications will increase from 8-10 to 12-15, but switching between them will be a little slower due to delays in reading from flash memory.
• 📸 Camera and editing: during processing 4K-Video in CapCut Virtual RAM It will help to avoid departures, but will not speed up rendering.

To enable the function:

1. Go to Settings → About the phone → All the characteristics.
2. Tap 5-7 times on RAM until the RAM Expansion menu appears.
3. Select the amount of virtual memory (recommended 1-2 GB for balance between performance and free disk space).
4. Reset the device.

Clear the cache in Settings → Memory

Check the space available (needs at least 5 GB)

Disable battery optimization for system applications

Make a backup copy of the data-->

⚠️ Attention: Virtual RAM It's not a physical substitute, it's just a delay in rebooting the background. + play + The smartphone will still start to slow down, but later, and the constant recording on flash memory reduces its life (especially on cheap models with eMMC instead of the current memory). UFS).

2. MIUI optimization: hidden settings to free RAM

MIUI is known for its appetite for resources, but it has hidden memory management tools that most users don’t even know exist.

The first thing to do is to turn off unnecessary system processes, and many of them (e.g. com.miui.analytics or com.xiaomi.midrop) run in the background, eating up to 300-500MB of RAM.

1. Activate Developer Mode (in Settings → About Phone tap 7 times on the MIUI version).
2. Go to Settings → Additional → For developers.
3. Find the Background Process Limit and set the No Background Process value (or the Maximum 2 process for balance).
4. In the same menu, turn off Windows animation and transition animation – this will speed up the system’s response by 10-20%.

Step two is setting up the auto-cleaning memory. MIUI has a built-in mechanism that closes the background apps when the screen is locked, but by default it doesn't work properly. You can fix this through Settings → Battery → Battery settings → Memory Optimization. Here:

• 🔄 Turn on Cleanup when locked (releases up to 1-1.5 GB of RAM).
• 📉 Install Aggressive Cleanup for Unused Applications.
• ⚡ Turn off Optimization for Games – It often conflicts with manual settings.

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If after cleaning the memory, applications load for a long time when opening, add them to the exceptions in the Settings menu → Apps → Permissions → Auto Run.

3. Using a swap file: an alternative to virtual RAM

If your Xiaomi model doesn’t support RAM Expansion (like the old Redmi 9 or POCO M3), you can manually create a swap file, the equivalent of virtual memory on a PC, which requires root rights but gives you more control over volume and priorities.

The advantages of swap over standard virtual RAM are:

• 🔧 Flexibility: you can set the size from 512 MB to 4 GB (depending on the available space).
• ⚡ Performance: Swap is faster than the RAM Expansion, if placed on a fast UFS-memory.
• 🛠️ Customization: You can specify priority of use (for example, only for specific applications).

Instructions for advanced users:

1. Get root access (for example, through Magisk).
2. Set the terminal (e.g., Termux) and enter the commands: su dd if=/dev/zero of=/data/swapfile bs=1M count=2048 mkswap /data/swapfile swapon /data/swapfile Here count=2048 stands for swap size in megabytes (in example - 2 GB).
3. To activate swap automatically when you download, add /data/swapfile none swap sw 0 0 to /etc/fstab.

⚠️ Warning: Incorrect swap configuration can lead to data loss or looping of the download.Never create a swap on the swap SD-It's 10 times slower than the internal memory and kills it quickly. Also, avoid sizes larger than 3GB, which will reduce the life of the flash memory.

Hardware modifications: can I physically increase RAM?

The question that many people are asking is, can you sell extra memory on a Xiaomi motherboard? Theoretically, yes, but in practice, it's extremely risky and almost never justified.

Modern smartphones use LPDDR4X/LPDDR5 memory, which:

• 🔥 Pripayana BGA-installation: to replace you need a professional soldering station with infrared heating (cost of work - from 5 000 ₽).
• 🧩 Integrated in SoC: in some models (for example, Xiaomi 13 Ultra) RAM is in the same chip with the processor – it is impossible to replace it.
• ⚖️ Requires firmware: even if you physically solder a new chip, you need to reflash EDL-a mode that can block the device.

The only realistic scenario is to replace the motherboard with a version with more RAM. For example, in the POCO F5 there are modifications with 8 GB and 12 GB of RAM - the boards are compatible, but:

• 💰 The cost of a donor fee is 70-80% of the price of a new smartphone.
• 🔧 Risk of damage to display or battery when replaced.
• 📱 Loss of warranty (if it is still in effect).

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Hardware augmentation of RAM on Xiaomi is a lottery, and even if it goes well, performance gains rarely justify the cost, and 99% of the time, it's more profitable to sell an old smartphone and buy it with the right amount of memory.

5. Alternative methods: what else can be done

If none of the above methods worked, consider these options:

1. Use of Lite versions of applications

Many popular services have “light” versions that consume 30-50% less RAM:

• 📘 Facebook Lite instead of the main app (savings) ~200 MB).
• 💬 Messenger Lite or Telegram X for messengers.
• 🎵 Spotify Lite or YouTube Go for multimedia.

2. Transfer of applications to SD-map

While this won't increase RAM, the free space on the built-in drive indirectly affects performance. In MIUI, portability doesn't work for all applications, but even partial offloading helps. How to do this:

1. Put it in. SD-class A1/A2 (Cheap cards will slow down the system!).
2. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
3. Select the app and click Storage → Change. → SD-map.

3.Return to lighter firmware

Newer versions of MIUI are getting heavier: for example, MIUI 14 consumes 15-20% more RAM than MIUI 12. If your smartphone is older than 2020, it makes sense to flash a stable version of MIUI 12.5 or even custom firmware like the Pixel Experience.

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Before you run your firmware, check compatibility on the XDA Developers or 4PDA forum.Some custom firmware may block banking apps (due to a lack of Google certification).

6. Myths about increasing RAM: what doesn't work

The Internet is full of advice that is not only useless, but also harmful.

❌ «The Memory Cleaners (Clean Master, DU Speed Booster)

These apps promise to “free up RAM in one click,” but in fact:

• 🔄 They just kill the background processes that MIUI and so closes automatically.
• 📉 Permanent forced application closure increases the workload on the processor (it spends resources on restarting applications).
• 🛡️ Many “cleaners” themselves consume up to 100 MB of RAM and show advertising.

❌ «Increase RAM through Engineering Mode»

There are instructions on how to change the settings in ##4636## (engineering menu), such as changing the Memory value from 6GB to 8GB. This has no effect - the menu displays only information, not the hardware settings.

❌ «Connecting a flash drive like RAM»

Some users are trying to use OTG-flash-drive SD-A card as RAM via a terminal (commands like swapon) /mnt/usb). It won't work for two reasons:

1. Android does not support swap on removable media.
2. Read/write speeds even on USB 3.0 are 100 times lower than those of the built-in memory.

FAQ: Frequent questions about RAM on Xiaomi