How to view background apps on Xiaomi: The Complete Guide

Xiaomi smartphone owners often face a situation where the device starts to run slower or discharge faster, although there is no apparent reason for this. The secret lies in the processes that continue to function deep inside the MIUI or HyperOS operating system, even after you close the screen. Understanding what exactly is happening under the hood is the key to extending autonomy and speeding up the gadget.

Many users mistakenly believe that closing tabs on recent apps completely stops programs from running. In fact, background services often remain active for quick reboots, data synchronization, or notifications. In this article, we will detail how to identify hidden processes, what tools Xiaomi itself provides for this, and how to safely manage them without losing important features.

To start with, it's worth clarifying that the Android operating system is inherently multitasking, and completely banning background activity can disrupt messengers or navigators. However, competent monitoring allows you to separate useful multitasking from malicious mining or "voracious" applications. Next, we will move to practical methods of analyzing the system.

Standard Monitoring through the Recent Menu

The easiest way to see what's running right now is to use the built-in MIUI shell interface. Click on the menu button (square or swipe bottom up with a delay) and you'll see a list of cards. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg, as it only displays apps that the user has recently opened, not all system processes.

For a deeper analysis, the same menu often features a "Clean" button or broomstick, and if you pinch your finger on the cleaning icon, the system can suggest running a security check through the built-in antivirus, which scans memory and can show which programs are running the most resources right now.

• 📱 Click the "Menu" button to view open windows.
• 🧹 Press the cleaning icon to start a deep diagnosis.
• 🛡️ Use a built-in security scanner to detect anomalies.

It’s important to understand that the standard menu won’t show you system services like Google Play Services or Xiaomi Cloud update processes. For the average user, this level of information may be enough to shut down heavy games or browsers, but more powerful tools are needed to find the causes of memory leaks.

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If the memory is refilled immediately after cleaning, it means that the system is running an aggressive process that is trying to repair itself, which is an excuse to check the boot list.

Using Developer Mode for Detailed Analysis

To access the real list of all running processes, you need to activate the hidden menu. Go to Settings → About Phone and find the MIUI Version (or OS Version). Click on it quickly 7-10 times in a row until the notification "You became a developer" appears.

Once activated, a new section will appear in the settings menu called "Additional" or "Extended Settings" where you can find "Developers" and we're interested in "Memory" or "Running Services" and it shows the full picture: how much RAM is occupied, which packages are running and how long they last.

Settings → About Phone → 7 times press on "Version MIUI" → Additional settings → For developers → Working applications

In this menu, you'll see a list that's sorted by resource consumption, and if you see an unfamiliar package name, you can search it, and often there's a process of advertising SDKs or analytics that you can turn off.

⚠️ Warning: Do not force processes with names that contain System, Framework or Input to be disabled unless you are sure of their purpose, which can lead to unstable touchscreen or a complete freeze of the interface.

Hidden Codes and Engineering Menu by Xiaomi

The Engineering Menu is a powerful diagnostic tool built into the firmware, and it uses a special code in the Phone app to access it. Dial ##64663## or ##4636##. The second code opens the testing menu where you can see usage statistics.

In the statistics section, you can see detailed information about how long the phone lasted, when it was last logged off, and, importantly, how many times the various components were launched. Although there is no direct list of real-time processes, indirect data helps to identify problems with the communication modules that often wake up the processor in the background.

Using the engineering menu requires caution. Unlike standard settings, there are no warnings about critical changes. Changing the parameters of a radio module or display without understanding the consequences can make the phone unusable.

Managing Autoboot and Permits

A common cause of background activity is auto-start permission. MIUI has a separate control mechanism. Go to Settings → Applications → Permissions → Auto-run. Here is a list of programs that are allowed to start with the system.

Turn off auto-start for all apps except instant messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp) and alarm clocks. Browsers, stores and games don't need to hang in memory from the moment the phone is turned on. This will significantly reduce the load on the processor in the first minutes after the device wakes up.

• 🚀 Turn off auto-start for heavy gaming and shopping.
• 💬 Leave auto-run on only for messengers.
• ⏰ Check the alarm clock and calendar settings.

Also worth checking is Battery and Performance. In newer versions of HyperOS, energy saving algorithms can be too aggressive, but sometimes they skip over too much. Make sure you choose No Limits for important applications and Energy Savings for the background.

Third-party tools and ADB teams

For advanced users who do not have enough standard tools, there is an ADB tool (Android Debug Bridge) that connects the phone to a computer, you can display a list of all running processes by the adb shell ps command or a more readable version of the adb top shell -m 20.

There are also monitor apps like Cpu Monitor or SystemPanel 2 that draw activity graphs, which show which app woke up the processor while the screen was off, and that's the best way to find the culprit for the battery drain.

adb shell dumpsys package | grep"Package name"

Using third-party software requires broad permissions, which can be risky from a privacy perspective. Use only proven open source tools or from established developers.

⚠️ Apps promising to “accelerate the phone 2 times” and clean RAM, Trust only Xiaomi system tools or well-known brands like Avast, Kaspersky, Dr.Web.

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The most effective way to deal with background debris is not a constant memory cleaning, but competent setting of auto-start and background activity restrictions for each application separately.

Effect of background processes on the battery

And so, the constant activity in the background is the main enemy of the battery. Even if you can't see the windows open, the application can use geolocation, a microphone, or a network adapter. MIUI has a Battery and Performance feature that shows detailed hours of consumption.

Now, if you look at the graph, if you had a program that was charging when you were in your pocket, it was in the background, and it was often social media or news aggregators that were constantly updating the feed.

For these applications, you should turn on the "Energy Saving" mode in the battery settings, which will prevent them from using the Internet and GPS when the screen is off, and for instant messengers, this is not recommended, since you will stop receiving messages on time.

• 🔋 Check the battery statistics for the last 24 hours.
• 📉 Find apps with a high percentage in the background.
• 🔒 Limit background activities for unimportant programs.

Android has been doing a good job of managing background processes since version 10, but Xiaomi's shell adds its algorithms, and sometimes they conflict and the app crashes or doesn't close, and in these cases, resetting the settings of a particular application helps.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)