Modern Xiaomi smartphones running on the shell of MIUI or HyperOS are famous for their multitasking, but it is often the cause of rapid battery discharge. Users often notice that even after leaving the program, it continues to consume CPU resources and RAM in the background. This can lead to overheating of the case and slowing down the interface, which is especially annoying when using heavy games or navigators.
Stopping these processes is not just a way to clean the phone, but also a necessary measure to optimize the system. Unlike a standard swipe, which only hides the program window, complete closure requires deeper intervention in settings. Forced stopping allows you to break all active connections of the application to the server and free up system resources instantly.
In this guide, we will take a look at all the ways you can manage your workflows, how to use built-in system tools, special engineering menus, and third-party utilities to control your software, and understanding these mechanisms will help you extend your device’s battery life.
Basic methods of closing through the menu of running applications
The most obvious and frequently used way to interact with active programs is through the recent task menu, which is called by swipeing from the bottom up on Xiaomi devices with a delay or pressing a special navigation button, and here the user sees a list of all the windows that were not closed completely, but only folded.
To clean up quickly, you can click on the cross at the top of the screen, which will close all the tabs open at once. However, if your goal is to stop a particular application that consumes a lot of energy, you better do a point. Press and hold your finger on the preview of the desired program, then select "Close" or simply swipe the window up from the menu that appears.
💡
Use the Clean All feature only when the phone starts to brake, as constantly restarting apps can, on the contrary, increase battery consumption when they are restarted.
It is worth noting that standard shutdown through the task menu does not always guarantee complete process shutdown. Some system services and instant messengers can be automatically restarted by the system to provide instant notifications, so this method is suitable for quick cleaning of RAM, but not for deep stop.
Forced stop through system settings
If standard methods don't work and the program is still hanging in memory, you need to use the forced stop function, which is a more radical method that completely completes the execution of the application code until you run it again. → Annexes → All applications.
In the list that opens, find the program you want and click on it. In the app information window that opens, you will see the Stop button. * Clicking on it will trigger a system warning that the program may be disrupted. Confirm the action and the process will be completely completed.
⚠️ Warning: Forced shutdown of system components such as System Interface or Google Play Services can cause your phone to run unstable or temporarily disappear from your desktop icons.
This is especially useful when an app has stopped responding to touch, and instead of restarting the entire smartphone, you can end the process of problematic software in isolation, saving time and battery life, allowing the device to quickly return to working condition.
☑️ Algorithm of full stop
Managing Auto Start and Background Activity
A common reason applications continue to work after closing is a customized autorun. There is a separate mechanism in the MIUI shell to control which programs are authorized to run with the operating system, and disabling this parameter is a key step to stopping background activity.
To manage this, open the Security app, which is pre-installed on all Xiaomi smartphones. Go to Permissions and select AutoStart. Here you will see a list of all programs that start automatically. Turn off the switches for those apps that you don't need immediately after you turn on your phone.
- 🚀 Social media often requires a constant connection to the network to receive messages, so it’s best to leave them on.
- 🎮 Games and media editors do not need background mode, their auto-run safely turn off.
- 🛍 Trading apps and marketplaces can work in the background to track order statuses, but it costs resources.
In addition, check the charge saving settings for a particular application. In the All Apps menu, select the desired program, go to "Saving Charge" and set the value "No Limits" only if notifications are critical to you. Otherwise, select "Limit background activity", which will cause the system to stop the application after a certain time of inactivity.
Using Developer Mode to Control Processes
For advanced users who want to gain detailed control of the system, there is a developer mode available, and this hidden menu allows you not only to stop applications, but also to see which processes consume the most resources in real time, and you can activate it by clicking several times on the build number in the About Phone section.
Once activated, a new option will appear in the settings menu called "Developers" and you'll be interested in "Working Services" or "Process Statistics" and you'll see a list of all active tasks with the amount of RAM they occupy, and you can select any process and click "Stop" button, which is equivalent to a kill command on Linux systems.
| Parameter | Description | Impact on the battery |
|---|---|---|
| Limit of background processes | Limits the number of simultaneous applications | High (significant savings) |
| Inactive applications | Automatically stop apps you haven’t used recently | Average. |
| Background check | Allows or prohibits background data activity | Low. |
Using these tools requires caution. Setting too tight limits on background processes can cause the navigator to stop plotting the path in the background and the music player to stop when switching the screen. The optimal value for most use cases is a limit of 3-4 background processes, which allows the system to work stably, but does not allow dozens of programs to hang in memory.
⚠️ Warning: Changing settings in developer mode can lead to unpredictable system behavior.Write down changes so you can return your default settings.
Third-party utilities for task management
While Xiaomi’s built-in tools are powerful, there are third-party solutions that offer more flexible control, task manager applications that allow you to create profiles, set up an application stop schedule, and get detailed statistics, but it’s worth remembering that installing such programs on its own consumes resources.
Popular solutions like Greenify or SD Maid use special permissions (often requiring a PC connection via ADB) to freeze applications. When frozen, the program completely stops any activity without expending a charge until you open it yourself, which is more efficient than a standard stop.
- 🧊 Freezing allows you to completely isolate the application from the system.
- ⏰ The ability to set a schedule for automatic memory cleaning.
- 📊 Detailed analysis of energy consumption by each process.
It is important to understand that aggressive memory cleaners may conflict with MIUI optimization algorithms. The system may perceive their actions as malicious and try to close the cleaner itself, so when using third-party software, you need to add it to the exceptions and allow auto-run.
Risks of using third-party optimizers
Specifics of working with messengers and social networks
Special attention should be paid to messengers such as Telegram, WhatsApp or Viber, the mechanism of their work is built on a permanent connection to the server (push notifications), if you completely stop such an application or limit its background activity, you will stop receiving messages until the moment of manual opening of the program.
Xiaomi’s settings have an “Advanced Notifications” feature that allows you to display the contents of messages even with limited background activity, but this doesn’t work with all apps. For instant messengers, it’s recommended to use “No Limits” mode in your battery settings, but disable auto-start if you don’t want them to start immediately after your phone is turned on.
There is a compromise: using the built-in Do Not Disturb mode or profile settings inside the messengers themselves, which allows you not to stop the application technically, but blocks sound and vibration signals, preserving the functionality of delivering messages in the background.
💡
A complete stop of messengers leads to the loss of incoming messages until the next manual launch of the application.