How to view open apps on Xiaomi: the complete guide

Have you ever encountered a situation where a Xiaomi smartphone starts to slow down and the battery goes down many times faster than usual? Most often the reason lies in the background launch of dozens of applications that you do not even know about. In this article, we will examine all possible ways to view active applications on devices with a shell MIUI, from standard gestures to hidden functions for power users.

Whether you’re using Xiaomi’s flagship 14 Ultra or the budget Redmi Note 12, the principles of multitasking remain the same. It’s important to understand that just closing apps through the menu doesn’t always solve the problem: some services automatically restart and others can run in hidden mode.

1. Standard method: gesture or button "Recent"

The most obvious method is to use the built-in menu of recent apps, and on most modern Xiaomi smartphones (starting with MIUI 10) it is enough:

• 👆 Swipe your finger up from the bottom of the screen and hold your finger for 0.5 seconds (on gesture-controlled devices)
• 🔘 Press the square button in the bottom navigation bar (if you use the classic buttons)
• 🔄 In some models (for example, POCO F5) It's a double-pressing home button.

In the menu that opens, you'll see maps of all the apps that have been used recently.

• 🚫 Close a separate application - swipe its card up
• 🧹 Close everything at once – click on the cross or the “Clear All” button (depending on version). MIUI)
• 🔒 Block the application from closing – swipe the card down (the feature is not available on all devices)

Note that this menu only shows the applications you have manually run, and that system processes and services are not visible here, and will require other methods, which we will discuss later.

⚠️ Note: On some devices with MIUI 14 after the update, the "Clear All" button may disappear. To return it, go to Settings → Home screen → Recent and enable the option "Show the cleaning button".

2. Through phone settings: "Applications" section

If you need to not just close applications, but analyze their impact on the system, use the built-in application manager. This method shows all installed programs, including those that run in the background.

Instructions:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management
2. Go to the "Run" tab (on some versions of MIUI it is called "Active")
3. Here is a list of all currently operating processes with the following:

From here, you can:

• 🛑 Forced to stop any application (Stop button")
• 📊 View detailed statistics on resource use
• ⚡ Disable Auto-Run for Unnecessary Programs

Sort applications by RAM consumption |Close unnecessary processes |Disable autorun for rarely used programs |Check the section "Special Access" for hidden services-->

Important: MIUI 14 has a Deep Clean feature that not only closes applications, but also resets cache. Use it carefully, which can lead to the unloading of frequently used services (such as instant messengers) from memory.

3. Hidden opportunities: the developer mode

For advanced users who want to see all processes (including system ones), the developer mode is suitable, which allows access to tools that are not in the standard interface.

How to turn on:

1. Go to Settings. → The phone.
2. Find the MIUI version and click on it 7 times in a row
3. Return to the main settings – a new section “For developers” will appear.

Now you can:

• 🔍 View all running processes in the section For developers → Processes
• 📡 See active network connections (useful for finding spy apps)
• ⚙️ Disable window animation to speed up work (option "Scale of window animations")

In developer mode, the option “Do not save actions” is also available (in the “Applications” section), if enabled, then after closing the application, it will not be saved in the recent menu, which can be useful for privacy.

4.Use of voice assistant

Few people know, but the Xiao AI voice assistant (built into Xiaomi’s firmware) can manage multitasking, which is especially handy when you’re busy and can’t use your hands.

Available commands:

• 🗣️ "Show open apps – opens the menu of recent
• 🗣️ "Close all applications" - clear background processes
• 🗣️ "Which applications consume the most batteries? – will show the top energy-consuming programs

To activate the voice assistant:

1. Press the Home button for 2 seconds (on physical-button devices)
2. Or say “Hi, Xiao Ai” (if voice activation is enabled)
3. On some models (POCO X5, Redmi K60) you need to first enable the assistant in the settings: Settings → Applications → Xiao AI

⚠️ Note: Voice Assistant only works on Chinese and global versions MIUI. On European firmware (EEA) This feature can be disabled by default due to limitations GDPR.

5. Third-party monitoring applications

If Xiaomi’s built-in tools aren’t enough, you can use third-party utilities that offer advanced statistics and additional process management features.

Top.-3 monitoring:

Advantages of third-party solutions:

• 📊 More detailed statistics on use CPU/GPU
• 🔄 Ability to create a whitelist for important applications
• ⏱️ Automatic cleaning on schedule

There are, however, downsides:

• 🔒 Some functions require root rights
• 🛡️ Risk of installing malware (download only from official sources)
• 🔋 The monitoring utilities themselves can consume additional resources.

💡

Before installing third-party apps, check reviews and ratings on Google Play. Be especially careful about programs that request access to special features (Accessibility Service) - this can be a sign of spyware.

6.Analysis through ADB (for power users)

If you're ready to get into the technical details, Android Debug Bridge (ADB) will give you complete control of the processes, which requires you to connect your phone to your computer, but it shows you every task you're running.

Step-by-step:

1. Install. ADB-computer-driver
2. Enable USB debugging on your phone (Settings → Developers → USB debugging)
3. Connect the device via cable and enter in the command line:

adb shell ps -A | grep -E 'u0_a|system'

This command will list all user and system processes. For more information, use:

adb shell dumpsys meminfo

What can be done through ADB:

• 🛑 Forced to complete any process (Adb shell am force-stop package applications)
• 📊 View detailed memory usage by each application
• 🔧 Change the priorities of the processes (requires root)

💡

Using ADB is the most powerful way to control processes, but it requires caution: Incorrect commands can cause a system to crash or data to be lost. Always back up before experimenting.

7. Optimization of Auto-Run Applications

Even if you shut down all apps manually, many of them can automatically start when you turn on your phone or connect to the Internet, and to prevent this, you need to control auto-start.

How to turn off autostart:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management
2. Select the desired application and click "AutoStart"
3. Turn off all switches (start on, in the background, etc.)

For mass management:

1. Open Settings → Battery and Performance → Battery Management
2. Select the Optimization Mode for Unnecessary Applications
3. Enable the option "Limit background activity"

Applications that can safely disable auto-start:

• 🎮 Games (they still require manual running)
• 🛒 Store Apps (except Google Play)
• 📰 News aggregators (they are updated in the background)

Applications that autorun better left:

• 📱 Messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp)
• 🔔 Notification services (Gmail, email clients)
• 🔒 Banking applications (may require background synchronization)

FAQ: Frequent questions about multitasking on Xiaomi