Many Xiaomi smartphone owners face a shortage of RAM, especially on models released a few years ago, such as the Redmi Note 9. MIUI operating system overgrows with cache, and newer versions of applications require more resources to run smoothly, which leads to constant reboots of background applications and slowing down the interface.
There are several proven ways to increase the amount of RAM available, or at least use available resources more efficiently. We will look at both software methods for expanding memory through the creation of a paging file, and optimizing system settings without losing warranty.
Before you start technical manipulation, it is important to understand that you can't physically add gigabytes of memory chips, but you can make the system work smarter. The swap file extension method allows you to use some of the internal flash memory as a working memory, which really helps keep more applications open.
Analysis of the current memory situation
The first step should always be diagnostics, and you should not blindly try to overclock a device without knowing what it is consuming resources. In Xiaomi smartphones, the built-in Security tool that shows the system boot in real time is responsible for this.
Go to the settings and find the About Phone section to see the exact amount of RAM installed. Often users confuse RAM with internal memory for storing files. Redmi Note 9 is relevant versions with 4 or 6 GB of RAM, which may not be enough for today's heavy games and multitasking.
Notice the processes that run in the background. Android is designed to keep apps in memory for quick launch, but on budget devices, this leads to a "suffrague" of processes. If less than 500 MB of free memory is left, the system begins to aggressively unload programs.
- 📱 Check the version. MIUI In the About Phone section, older versions may have memory leaks.
- 📊 Use the built-in memory analyzer to identify “heavy” applications.
- 🚀 Estimate the number of running background processes before cleaning.
Use of built-in memory expansion function
Newer versions of the MIUI shell (starting with 12.5 and MIUI 13/14) include a standard feature called "Memory Extension" that allows you to reserve some of the internal storage for RAM, but the Redmi Note 9 may not be available immediately or may be hidden depending on the firmware region.
To find this option, go to Settings → Advanced Settings → Expand Memory. If the option is available, the system will offer a reboot for activation. This is the most secure method, since it is officially supported by developers and does not violate the integrity of system files.
Keep in mind that using internal memory (NAND) as RAM reduces the speed of reading and writing. The speed of a Swap file is always lower than that of physical memory, so the performance gains will be noticeable in the number of open applications, but not in the speed of their launch.
⚠️ Attention: Activating memory expansion reduces the amount of internal storage available for your photos and apps. 2-4 GB.
Creating a swap file without Root rights
If you don't have a regular feature, you can use third-party utilities that create a virtual partition, which doesn't always require superuser rights, although they do have better efficiency, and the popular app is SWAP No Root or Google Play.
The principle of such programs is to create a large file on the internal disk and redirect some of the system requests to it. After installing the application, select the size of the partition you create. For Redmi Note 9, the optimal value will be 2 GB or 4 GB, a higher value can lead to instability.
Once the file is created, the activation process must be started. VPN-connection (this is necessary to redirect memory traffic) or install an auxiliary plugin.
☑️ Check before creating a Swap file
It is important to understand the limitations of the method. Without Root rights, the system will not be able to fully integrate the paging file into the kernel, so the efficiency will be lower than that of the built-in Xiaomi feature.
Optimization through the engineering menu and developer settings
There are hidden Android settings that allow you to control memory behavior, and they are accessed through the Developer Menu, and to activate this section, you need to quickly click 7 times on the build number in the About Menu.
Inside the developer menu, find the Background Process Limit. The default is "Standard Limit," and changing that to "No More than 2 Processes" or "3 Processes" forcibly will limit the number of applications left in memory, freeing up resources for the active task.
It's also useful to disable animations. Find the window animation scales, transition animations, and animation durations. Set a 0.5x value or shut them down completely. This won't increase the physical volume of RAM, but it will visually speed up the interface and reduce the load on the GPU.
| Parameter | Standard value | Recommended for Redmi Note 9 | The effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Process limit | Standard. | No more than 3. | RAM Liberation |
| Window animation | 1x | 0.5x | Visual acceleration |
| Background processes | Active. | Limited. | Stability of games |
| HW-acceleration | On | On | Graphics |
What is ZRAM and how is it related?
System garbage removal and bloatware
One of the main reasons for memory shortages is the pre-installed apps that hang in the background, and Global's firmware for Redmi Note 9 has a particularly large number of them, and removing or freezing them frees up significant resources.
For deep cleaning can be used ADB (Android Debug Bridge, via a computer. It's a secure method that doesn't require a Root license, but it requires caution. You'll need a computer, USB-cable and set of commands to remove packets.
Connect your phone to your PC in USB debugging mode. In the command line, type a command to remove an unnecessary package, for example, to remove standard Google or Xiaomi services that you do not use:
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.android.apps.docsBe extremely careful: removing system components such as com.miui.securitycenter or com.android.phone can cause your phone to fail. Always check the purpose of the package online before you delete it.
- 🗑️ Remove only those applications in the purpose of which you are sure to 100%.
- 💾 Keep a list of deleted packets to restore them if necessary.
- 🔄 Do not remove Google Play system frameworks and services.
⚠️ Attention: Inappropriate use ADB-commands can lead to a "bootloop" (cyclic reboot.
Resetting and radical measures
If software methods fail, the option is a complete reset: accumulated errors in the file system and data fragmentation over time slow down the performance of any smartphone, resetting to factory settings returns the device to the state “out of the box”.
Before you run Hard Reset, make sure to save all the important data to the cloud or to your computer. The process will completely destroy the information on the internal drive. Go to Settings → About Phone → Reset → Erase all the data.
After reset, don't install all the applications at once. Watch the clean running for a couple of hours. Often, it turns out that one particular application that is in conflict with the system created the problem.
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After resetting, don't install apps from the backup en masse. Install them one at a time to identify the brake "culprit" if the problem recurs.
In some cases, flashing the device to another version of MIUI or switching to custom firmware (such as LineageOS or Pixel Experience) helps. Castom firmware often lacks the heavy MIUI interface and works much faster on old hardware, but this requires unlocking the bootloader and losing warranty.
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Comprehensive approach: a combination of garbage cleaning, animation customization and competent management of background processes gives a better result than a simple increase in the Swap file.