Where to look at Xiaomi background applications: all methods and hidden settings

Have you ever noticed that your Xiaomi is slowing down, warming up or quickly discharged for no apparent reason? The culprit is often background apps that continue to work even after closing. Unlike iOS or "pure" Android, the MIUI shell hides some of the processes from the user, and standard controls are not always obvious.

In this article, we’ll look at all the possible ways to find Xiaomi’s background apps, including hidden system tools, development teams, and third-party utilities. You’ll learn how to distinguish really important processes from “energy vampires,” how to shut them down correctly (and whether to do so), and how to set up auto-start so that the smartphone runs faster and lasts longer.

What are Background Apps and Why You Need to Monitor Them

Background apps are programs that continue to perform tasks after you switch to another screen or fold them. For example, messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp) keep track of new messages, music players play tracks, and navigators update the route.

• 🔋 Battery consumption: Some apps (especially social media and gaming) consume up to 30% of the charge in the background.
• 🐢 Slowdown: MIUI limits resources for background tasks, but excess can lead to lags.
• 📡 Data traffic: Background synchronization (e.g. in Google Photos or Mi Cloud) consumes mobile internet.
• 🔒 Privacy: Some apps collect data about your activity even when you’re not using it.

It is important to understand that MIUI aggressively optimizes default background processes. For example, in battery settings, many applications automatically switch to Background Restriction mode, which can lead to missed notifications. On the other hand, some system services (such as com.miui.securitycenter) are critical for stable operation - their forced closure will cause failures.

⚠️ Note: Forcing closure of system processes through ADB Task Manager may cause functionality to be lost (e.g. gestures or notifications will stop working.

Method 1: Standard Task Manager in MIUI

The easiest way to see background apps is to use the built-in task manager, which is available on all Xiaomi smartphones (from Redmi Note 10 to Xiaomi 14 Ultra) and does not require root rights or additional programs.

1. Open recent apps (swipe up from the bottom edge of the late screen).
2. At the bottom of the screen, click on the “Close Everything” icon (cross or basket).
3. On some models (MIUI 13/14), the Background Processes tab will appear - tap on it.
4. Here you'll see a list of applications that are consuming resources in the background, and you'll see battery consumption and RAM across from each.

Note that this menu does not show all background processes, only those that MIUI considers “active.” System services (e.g., Android System or MiuiDaemon) are not displayed here. To see the full list, go to the next method.

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If the task manager does not have a tab "Background processes", try to hold the "Close all" icon with your finger - on some firmware this opens an extended menu.

Method 2: Battery and Performance Section – Hidden Settings

For more information about background processes, see the Battery menu, here MIUI shows not only active applications, but also those that have consumed resources in the past 24 hours.

1. Go to Settings → Battery and Performance → Battery.
2. Slip on the consumption schedule (at the top of the screen).
3. Select the Battery Use tab (or Details on older versions).
4. Scroll down to the "Background Use" section.

Here you will see two key parameters:

• 📊 Background activity: Applications that run in the background (e.g., to synchronize data).
• ⚡ Consumption in anticipation: Processes that consume charge even when the screen is off.

For example, if you see Facebook consuming 15% of its battery in the background, despite not using it, that’s a signal to action, and you should limit its activity (we’ll talk about it in the AutoRun section).

Method 3: Developer Settings – Full Control

For power users, the most powerful tool is the developer mode, which allows you to see all running processes, including system processes, and force them to close if necessary.

1. Activate Developer Mode: Settings → About Phone → MIUI Version (Tap 7 times)
2. Back to Settings → Additionally. → For developers.
3. Find the Processes section (or Services on some models).
4. All active processes grouped by category are displayed here: 🔹 Applications - user programs. 🔹 Backgrounds - Hidden tasks. 🔹 Cached – Inactive but ready for quick launch.

In this menu, you can force any process to stop by clicking Stop. However, be careful: shutting down system services (e.g. com.android.phone) will lead to network loss or other disruptions. We recommend stopping only user applications that you confidently identified as problematic.

Method 4: ADB commands for advanced users

If you are willing to go further than standard settings, ADB-This method requires connecting the phone to a PC, but allows you to see hidden system tasks and even disable auto-runs for specific applications.

Here are the basic commands for working with background processes:

# View all running processes


adb shell ps -A




Stop the process by name (e.g. Facebook)



adb shell am force-stop com.facebook.katana




View the use of memory by all processes



adb shell dumpsys meminfo




Disable Auto-Run for the application (requires MIUI 12+)



adb shell cmd appops set < application package > RUN_ANY_IN_BACKGROUND deny

Example: To prevent Instagram from working in the background, use:

adb shell cmd appops set com.instagram.android RUN_ANY_IN_BACKGROUND deny

⚠️ Note: Some applications (such as banking or instant messengers) may stop working properly after the background activity is turned off via the app. ADB. Before using commands, make a backup copy of important data.

Install Xiaomi drivers on PC|Enable debugging on USB developer-setting|Download the platform ADB (For example, from Google)|Connect the phone to USB file transfer mode"-->

Method 5: Third-party monitoring utilities

If the standard instruments MIUI You don't like it, you can use third-party apps, they offer more flexible customization and visualization.-3 Utilities for working with background processes on Xiaomi:

• 📊 Greenify (requires root): Allows you to freeze apps in the background, saving battery life. Works even without root rights, but with restrictions.

When choosing a utility, pay attention to:

• 📱 Compatibility with MIUI (Some programs are not working correctly on Xiaomi firmware).

We tested Greenify on the Xiaomi 13 Pro with MIUI 14, which reduced battery consumption by 12% by limiting background activity on Facebook and TikTok, but it required root to work properly, as MIUI blocks deep optimization without superuser rights.

How to set up auto-start and optimize work

Just closing the background apps isn't enough -- they can run again when you reboot or connect to the network. To permanently limit their activity, you need to configure autoruns and permissions. Here's a step-by-step instruction:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Select a problem application (such as AliExpress).
3. Slip the Battery and select Background Limitation.
4. Go back and press Autostart - turn off the slider.
5. For full control, go to Settings → Battery → Select Battery Mode and activate Economy.

These settings will help:

• ⏳ Reduce processor time in the background.
• 📴 Reduce the use of mobile data.
• 🔋 Extend the battery life by 15-25%.

For example, after disabling autoplay for Google Play Services (if you are not using Google services), the Redmi Note 12 smartphone lasted 4 hours longer in standby mode.

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The optimal strategy is not to disable autoplay completely, but to limit it to unnecessary applications, for example, leave autorun for instant messengers, but turn it off for games and stores.

Frequent Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Many Xiaomi users make the same mistakes when working with background apps, and here are the most common ones and ways to avoid them:

Another common problem is the confusion between background and cached processes: cached applications don't consume battery and resources, but simply store them in memory for quick start-up, and shutting them down will not do any good, only slow down the smartphone.

If after optimizing the background processes, the phone began to work worse (for example, applications open more slowly), return the autorun settings to the original state and use more gentle methods, for example, limiting the background only for the most voracious programs.

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions