Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphones often face situations where the device starts to run slower, the battery runs out faster, and the interface reacts with a delay. This behavior is often caused by background processes that continue to function even after you have folded the application. Understanding how to properly manage running programs is the key to stable operation of a gadget based on the MIUI shell or HyperOS.
Many users confuse the simple shutdown of a program with the complete shutdown. When you just go back to the desktop, the application stays in RAM, consuming the CPU resources. In this article, we will detail all available methods of forced process stoppage, from standard system tools to advanced tools for developers, you will learn to distinguish system processes from user processes and understand which ones can be safely disabled.
Using the menu of recent apps for quick cleaning
The most obvious and frequently used way to close a running app is through the recent task menu, which is called by swipe from the bottom up on Xiaomi smartphones, with a delay or press of a special navigation button depending on the type of control you choose, and displays thumbnails of all running programs that can be closed one or all at once.
However, it is worth considering that standard swipe cleaning does not always completely unload the process from memory. MIUI is known for its aggressive energy saving policy, but some heavy applications, such as navigators or messengers, can quickly restart. For deeper cleaning, this menu often includes a “Clean” button (usually in the form of a cross or broomstick), which forcibly terminates the background activity of most user programs.
It's important to distinguish between gesture and button navigation, because the logic of the menu can be slightly different visually. If you use three buttons at the bottom of the screen, the central button is responsible for calling the task list. In gesture mode, the list is called by swiping up from the bottom of the screen and holding your finger for a second.
Using the recent app menu is a basic level of control that is suitable for daily use, which allows you to quickly free up resources if you switch between a dozen programs and the phone starts to slow down, but this method may not be enough to solve problems with got stuck programs, and more powerful tools will be needed.
Forced Stop through System Settings
If the application is frozen, does not respond to touch, or continues to consume battery power in the background, the most effective method is the “Forced Stop” function. This tool is available in deep system settings and allows you to completely complete the process, ignoring the standard closing protocols. To get there, you need to go to Settings → Applications → All applications.
In the list of all installed programs, find the problem application and click on it. Inside the control menu, you will see a button called Stop or Force Stop, and clicking on it will cause a system warning that the application may behave unpredictably after such an action, a standard Android warning that can be ignored if you need to reanimate the program.
⚠️ Warning: Forced shutdown of system applications such as Phone, Messages, or System Interface can cause a smartphone to run unstable or temporarily disappear.
The advantage of this method is that it resets the state of the application to the initial one. The next time it starts, the program will start working from a clean slate, which often solves problems with interface freezes or authorization errors, which is especially useful for heavy social networks and browsers, which tend to accumulate errors over long periods of time.
☑️ Pre-stop checks
Autostart and Background Process Management
One of the main reasons applications continue to work after closing is the customized autorun. There is a separate mechanism in the MIUI shell that regulates which programs are allowed to run themselves when you turn on your phone or open another service, and disabling this feature significantly reduces the load on RAM.
To control autorun, go to the Safety app (green zipper icon) that is pre-installed on all Xiaomi smartphones. From the menu, select Autostart. Here you will see a list of all programs that start automatically. It is recommended to leave only messengers (to receive notifications) and alarms on, and all others, especially games and stores, turn off.
Also, you should pay attention to the battery settings for specific applications. In the Settings menu → Apps → All apps → [Selected App] → Battery, you can choose the No Limits mode or the Power Saving mode. Choosing the Power Saving or Hard Limits mode will prevent the application from working in the background when the screen is off.
Why are apps running again?
Proper auto-run settings not only speed up the smartphone, but also significantly extend its life from a single charge. Background processes constantly poll servers, update geolocation and check new mail, which is a hidden but powerful energy consumer.
Using Developer Mode to Analyze Processes
For advanced users who want to have full control of running applications, the developer mode is designed. This hidden partition gives you access to statistics of running services and allows you to see exactly what processes are consuming resources right now. To activate this mode, you need to click 7 times on the build number in the About section.
Once activated, a new option will appear in the settings menu, “Advanced” or “Advanced Settings”, where the “Developers” section is located. We are interested in the “Running Services” item, which displays real RAM usage and a list of active processes that cannot be seen in the normal Task Manager menu.
In this section, you can forcefully stop even those services that are usually hidden from the user. However, extreme caution is required here. Stopping critical system processes can lead to a device reboot or data loss. Use this tool only if you understand what a particular process is responsible for.
| Parameter | Description | Recommended action |
|---|---|---|
| RAM (RAM) | The amount of memory occupied by the process | Keep an eye out for "heavy" applications |
| Time to work. | How long has the process been active? | A long time may indicate a hangover. |
| Name of the process | Technical name of the service | Do not stop processes with system prefix |
| Cashing processes | Applications awaiting launch | The system manages them, no intervention is required. |
Using developer tools gives you a deep understanding of how your Xiaomi works, so you can identify the “gluttonous” apps that are imperceptibly planting the battery and decide whether to remove or limit them.
Cleaning memory and cache to speed up work
Often the problem is not with the app itself, but with the accumulated debris that prevents it from working properly.Covered cache can cause conflicts and errors at startup.The standard Security app on Xiaomi has a built-in Cleanup tool that deletes temporary files and the system's cache.
For more thorough cleaning, you can use the memory management menu. In Settings → About Phone → Memory (the path may vary depending on the Android version), there is a space release button available. It is also useful to periodically clean the cache of a particular application through its settings if it does not work correctly.
Cache cleaning is not to be confused with data cleaning. Cache cleaning removes temporary files (pictures, scripts) that are safe. Data cleaning resets the application to the state immediately after installation, removing logins, passwords and user settings. Be careful when choosing an action.
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Regularly restarting the smartphone (at least once a week) helps the system to reset accumulated errors in RAM and complete the “silent” processes that were not closed correctly.
A comprehensive cleaning approach, including deleting temporary files and managing cache, helps keep the smartphone running at a high level, especially for models with a small amount of RAM, where every megabyte counts.
Specificity of HyperOS and MIUI shell
Users of new Xiaomi smartphones should consider the transition to the HyperOS shell, which replaced MIUI. The new system has changed the logic of the memory manager and background activity algorithms. HyperOS even more aggressively unloads applications from memory to ensure smooth animations and widgets.
HyperOS has an advanced desktop memory widget that allows you to see the amount of RAM you’re using in a single click and start cleaning, and improved visualization of background processes in the multitasking menu to more accurately determine how much memory each open window consumes.
If you upgraded from the older version of MIUI, your energy saving settings may have reset or changed, and it is recommended to recheck the autostart list and application rights in the background, as the new system may interpret the old resolutions differently.
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HyperOS and MIUI 14 use an improved algorithm for freezing background applications, so manual shutting of programs is less often required than in older versions of Android.
Understanding your firmware version allows you to manage resources more efficiently. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the settings in the Battery and Applications section to find the balance between performance and autonomy that is right for you.