How to view running apps on Xiaomi: from recent to hidden processes

Ever wonder how many apps actually run in the background on your Xiaomi while you’re not using them? Even after closing, many programs continue to consume RAM, battery power, and mobile traffic. In this article, we’ll look at all the ways you can view active apps on Xiaomi, Redmi, and POCO smartphones, from standard gestures to hidden developer tools.

The problem is that manufacturers often hide the real state of background processes. For example, MIUI 14 shows only “recent” applications by default, but not those that work hidden. We will teach you how to distinguish visible tasks from background services, and also give you tips on how to manage them without harming the system.

1. Standard method: gesture or button "Recent"

The easiest method is to use the built-in feature Recent apps. On most Xiaomi smartphones, it is enough:

• 👆 Swipe your finger up from the bottom edge of the screen and delay for 0.5 seconds (on models with navigation buttons – tap the square on the right).
• 📱 On devices with MIUI 13+ and full-screen gestures - swipe up and left/right to fix the menu.
• 🔄 This window will show the last 10-15 apps running, but not all background processes!

Note that this shows only the programs you interacted with directly or indirectly, for example, if Telegram receives messages in the background but you didn't open it, it won't appear on this list. Other methods are needed to be fully controlled.

2.Battery section: Who consumes energy?

The battery consumption menu is a hidden active application detector, and you can see programs that use up even in the background to get there.

1. Open the Settings. → Battery.
2. Use the battery (in some versions of MIUI - Statistics).
3. Select the last charge or the last 24 hours.

And you'll see apps on the list that are sorted by consumption level.

• 🔋 Programs marked Background mode - they work without your knowledge.
• 📶 Applications that use mobile data in the background (e.g., social media or cloud services).
• ⚠️ Unknown names – these may be viruses or system services (see section 5 for more details).

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If you see a high-consumption Google Play Services app on the battery list, don’t remove it! it’s an Android system process that is responsible for updating and syncing.

3. Task Manager (hidden MIUI function)

MIUI has a built-in task manager that shows all active processes, including system processes, but it's closed by default.

1. Activate Developer Mode: Settings → About Phone → MIUI Version (Tap 7 times)
2. Back to Settings → Additionally. → For developers.
3. Find the option to Show CPU processes and enable it.
4. Now, the recent apps menu will feature a task manager button (three dots or a graphic icon).

On this menu you will see:

⚠️ Closing system processes through the task manager may cause the phone to restart or loss of functionality (e.g., notifications will disappear or stop working). NFC). Use this feature only for custom applications.

4. Through ADB: for advanced users

If you want a complete list of all the processes working (including hidden system), use ADB, the Android debugging tool. This is a method for power users, but we will give you a step-by-step instruction:

Install Xiaomi drivers on PC|Download the platform ADB (For example, from Google)|Enable debugging on USB phone-on|Connect your smartphone to your PC via cable-->

After preparation, perform commands:

adb shell


su




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

This team will list all active processes, including:

• 📌 u0_a — User applications (your programs).
• 🛠️ system - system services MIUI Android.
• 🔍 Processes with the names com.android.* – Critical components of the OS.

⚠️ Attention: Su (root) commands can disrupt your phone if you delete or stop an important process.

5 Hidden applications: how to find the “invisible” processes

Some programs disguise themselves as system services or work without icons to detect them:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Slip on three dots in the upper right corner and select Show all processes.
3. Pay attention to the applications with: 🔍 Unintelligible names (e.g. com.sec.android.app.launcher is not your app!). 📥 High traffic consumption (checked in Settings) → SIM-maps and mobile networks → Traffic). 🛡️ Administrator rights (see Settings) → Passwords and security → Device administrators).

Typical masks of harmful or unnecessary processes:

If you find a suspicious app, check it out via VirusTotal (download it). APK-file /data/app/ with the help of Root Explorer).

6.Optimization: How to Reduce Background Activity

Now that you know how to find working apps, let’s talk about how to reduce their impact on performance:

• 🔄 Limit background activity: Settings → Annexes → Application management → [Select the application] → Battery → Limit background activity
• 🚫 Turn off autostart: Settings → Annexes → Application management → [Select the application] → Auto-start
• 📵 Ban mobile traffic in the background: Settings → SIM-maps and mobile networks → Traffic. → [Select the application]

For MIUI 14+, there is an additional tool called Ultra-Economic Mode (in battery settings) that suspends all background processes except mission critical ones, but disables notifications.

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Even after closing through “Recent” many apps (like Viber or Instagram) restart after 5-10 minutes, and to completely stop them, you need to turn off auto-start and background activity.

FAQ: Frequent questions