Xiaomi or Redmi phone brakes - what to do? full guide 2026

Your Xiaomi or Redmi has gone dumb for no apparent reason? Apps open long, animations twitch, and the system hangs even on simple tasks? This problem is familiar to many owners of smartphones on MIUI — especially after a year or a half of active use. 90% of the time the brakes are caused not by hardware, but by software factors: overloaded memory, background activity of applications or firmware errors.

In this article, we will look at all possible causes of slowdown, from the banal lack of memory to hidden MIUI bugs, and give step-by-step instructions for diagnosing and eliminating lags. We will focus on the Redmi Note 10/11/12, POCO X3/X4 and other popular devices where the problem manifests itself most often. If you are ready to return your phone to its previous speed, read on.

1.Diagnostics: Why is Xiaomi or Redmi slowing down?

Before you start "treatment", you need to understand the source of the problem.

• 📱 Lack of RAM (RAM): MIUI aggressively caches applications, but sometimes “forgets” to close them.
• 🗑️ Fully-filled drive: If less than 10% of memory is free, the system starts to slow down.
• 🔄 Background activity: autoloading messengers, social networks and system processes.
• 🐞 Firmware errors: bugs in MIUI 13/14 or failed update.
• 🔋 Battery wear: When the battery is degraded below 70% of health, the phone forcibly limits performance.
• 🛠️ Hardware problems: overheating, damage to flash memory or controller.

To identify the culprit, perform simple tests:

1. Open Settings → About Phone → System status and check the CPU/RAM boot in real time.
2. Run Settings. → Memory. → Memory analysis – if less free 3-5 GB, this is a critical shortage.
3. Install the AccuBattery app (from Google Play) and check the battery health.

Critical information: If the phone is slowing down even after a hard reset, there is an 85% chance that the hardware is a problem, such as a worn eMMC/UFS memory or a damaged chip, and only the service center will help.

2. Memory cleanup: vacate the space correctly

The most common reason for brakes is a clogged drive. MIUI It starts to “glut” when less free. 10-15% And then you do the standard cleaning through the settings. → Memory only removes cache, not system debris.

To make room as efficiently as possible, follow this algorithm:

Remove the cache of all applications through Settings → Apps → App management → Clear the cache

Move your photos/video to the cloud (Google Photos, Mi Cloud) or on PC

Delete. APK-files and downloads from the folder /Download and /MIUI/Download

Disable auto-save media in messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram)

Remove unused applications, especially system duplicates (e.g., two browsers)

Check the /MIUI/screenrecorder folder – there may be gigabytes of screen recordings

Use it. SD Maid (from Google Play) for deep cleaning of system debris-->

⚠️ Note: Do not manually delete files from folders /system, /vendor or /MIUI/stability — This can lead to bootloop (a looped boot load)!

3. MIUI Optimization: Disabling Unnecessary Functions

MIUI is known for its heavyweight interface and its abundance of background processes, and many of the features you don't use continue to drain resources.

• 🎨 Animations and transitions: go to Settings → Special facilities → Remove animations (set the scale) 0.5x or shut it down completely).
• 📡 Auto-update MIUI: Settings → The phone. → Updating the system → ⚙️ → Auto-Update (turn off or set "Only over Wi-Fi»).
• 🔍 Application search: Settings → Main screen screen → Search for applications (disable if not used).
• 📊 Usage statistics: Settings → Battery and productivity → Usage statistics (disable data collection).
• 🛡️ Protection MIUI: Settings → Memory. → Protection (disable if you do not need to block background processes).

For advanced users: If you have an unlocked bootloader, you can uninstall system applications via ADB (no root). For example, to remove unnecessary Xiaomi services, do:

adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.miui.analytics


adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.xiaomi.joyose




adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.miui.hybrid

💡

If the interface starts to twitch after disabling animations, return the scale to 1x and turn on the option Settings → Display → Screen refresh rate → Adaptive (if supported).

4. Background process management

MIUI by default limits the background activity of applications, but sometimes it does it too aggressively (for example, kills messengers) or, conversely, not enough (leaves unnecessary services to work).

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Select an app (like Facebook or Instagram).
3. Go to the Battery. → Background activity and set up: 🔋 Without restrictions – for instant messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram). ⚡ Limit – for social media and gaming.

Greenify

Brevent

If your phone is slowing down when multitasking, check your RAM settings:

1. Activate Developer Mode: Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (click 7 times).
2. Go to Settings → Additional → For developers.
3. Find the Process Limitation option and set Standard Limit (or No Background if you want to free up RAM as much as possible).

5. Resetting: When nothing helps

If all previous methods fail, you'll have a hard reset, which will delete all the data, but it will return the phone to the factory state.

Instructions for Xiaomi/Redmi:

1. Save important data: 📸 Photos/videos – in Google Photos or on PC. 📱 Contacts – export to Settings → Contacts → Imports/Exports. 🔑 Passwords – Check that they are synced with Google Smart Lock.
2. Reset: Method 1: Settings → About Phone → Settings → Erase All Data. Method 2 (if the phone doesn’t turn on): Press Power + Volume Up before Recovery appears, select Wipe Data.

Do not restore data from the MIUI backup

⚠️ Note: On Redmi Note models 8/9 And then you might get a "This device is locked" error after you reset. That's okay -- just connect to Wi-Fi and log in to the Mi Account that was linked to the phone.

💡

Resetting only removes user data, but does not fix firmware problems. If the brakes remain after reset, the reasons lie in the system (MIUI bugs) or hardware (memory wear).

6. firmware and updates: when MIUI is to blame

Sometimes the brakes appear after the MIUI update, especially on older models (Redmi 9A, Redmi Note 7) that are not optimized for newer firmware versions.

• 🔙 Reverse to the old version MIUI (If you know that everything worked stably before).
• 🆕 Install custom firmware (e.g. Pixel Experience or LineageOS).
• 🛠️ Optimize the current firmware (remove bloatware, disable unnecessary services).

To revert to the old version:

1. Download the necessary firmware from the official Xiaomi Firmware website (choose Stable, not Developer).
2. Rename the file to update.zip and place it in the root of the phone’s memory.
3. Go to Settings. → The phone. → Updating the system → ⚙️ → Select a firmware file.
4. Confirm the installation and wait for the reboot.

If you decide on a custom firmware, consider:

• ✅ Pros: pure Android without bloatware, better optimization.
• ❌ Cons: loss of warranty, possible bugs with camera or sensors.

7. Hardware problems: when the "iron" is to blame

If all the software methods have been tried, but the brakes are still there, the problem may be in the hardware.

• 🔋 Worn-out battery: When degraded below 70% of health, the phone forcibly reduces performance.
• 🔥 Overheating: If the processor is heated above 70°C, triggers trottling (frequency restriction).
• 💾 Damaged memory: wear of cells eMMC/UFS This leads to “suspending” when reading/writing.
• 📶 Antenna problems: weak network signal makes the modem work at its limit, loading the processor.

How to diagnose:

⚠️ Note: On Redmi models with Snapdragon processors 6xx/7xx (For example, Redmi Note 10 Pro) Trottling is often a problem due to overheating. If the phone is too hot and slows down in games, try limiting the number of times you're using it. FPS via the in-game graphics settings or use Game Turbo (built-in) MIUI).

8. Alternative solutions: if nothing has worked

If all of the above fails, consider radical measures:

• 📱 Buying a new phone: If your model is older 3-4 years (Redmi Note) 5, Mi A2), It may not be enough resources for modern tasks.
• 🔧 Replacement with a more productive model: for example, with the Redmi Note 9 (Snapdragon) 720G) on POCO X5 Pro (Snapdragon 778G).
• 🔄 Using your phone in light mode: Install the Nova Launcher launcher (it’s lighter than the standard one) MIUI). Turn off all widgets and live wallpaper. Use lightweight versions of apps (Facebook Lite, Messenger Lite).

For low-volume models, 2-3GB of RAM will help with kernel overclocking, but it requires root rights and can shorten the life of the phone. If you're willing to take the risk, explore 4PDA or XDA themes for your model.

💡

Before buying a new phone, check it for a performance test (like AnTuTu or Geekbench) and compare it to your current model – if the difference is less than 30%, it makes no sense to upgrade.

FAQ: Frequent questions about Xiaomi/Redmi brakes