How to find out what apps work in the background on Xiaomi smartphones

Why it’s important to monitor background processes on Xiaomi

Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO MIUI-based smartphones are known for their energy efficiency, but even they are not immune to “gluttonous” applications that quietly consume battery power and processor resources. Background processes can slow down the device, heat it for no apparent reason or reduce battery life by 20-30%, especially for models with 4/64 GB of memory, where every megabyte of RAM counts.

Complicating the problem is that MIUI aggressively manages background tasks: some applications (such as messengers or fitness trackers) can be shut down spontaneously by the system, while others can remain active for years even if you don’t use them. In this article, we’ll look at how to find all the hidden processes, distinguish the beneficial from the harmful and adjust their operation without compromising the functionality of the smartphone.

Method 1: Integrated MIUI Task Manager

The easiest way is to use the standard MIUI tool, which shows active applications in real time, but has limitations: it doesn't display system processes, it doesn't always sort by resource consumption correctly, but it doesn't require superuser rights.

To open the dispatcher:

• 📱 Open the Settings. → Annexes → Application management.
• 🔍 Go to the Launched tab (or Active in new versions) MIUI 14).
• 📊 Here you will see a list of applications sorted by RAM consumption. Click on any to see details: background uptime, battery usage and resolutions.

Note that some apps (like Google Play Services or Mi Cloud) may show up as “active” even if you’re not using them. That’s OK, they’re needed to keep the system running smoothly.

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MIUI 13+ adds Deep Cleaning in Task Manager, which closes all background processes except system processes, but it is often discouraged from using it, which can interrupt file downloads or notifications.

Method 2: Section "Battery Use"

If your goal is to save power, the most informative section is in the battery settings, which shows not only active applications, but also those that wake up on a schedule (for example, to synchronize data).

Instructions:

1. Go to Settings → Battery and Performance → Battery Use.
2. Click on the chart icon (📈) in the upper right corner to see the details of the applications.
3. If you look at the background consumption column, if the app is using more than 5 percent of its charge in the background, that's a good reason to check it out.

Critical: If you see an app on the list that consumes more than 15% in the background, but don't remember when you used it, it could be a sign of a virus or a crash.

Method 3: ADB-Teams for Advanced Users

If you want a complete picture of all the system processes (including those hidden in MIUI), you can use ADB, the Android debugging tool, which requires connecting your smartphone to your computer, but gives you the most detailed report.

Step-by-step:

1. Turn on Developer Mode on Xiaomi: go to Settings → About Phone → Click 7 times on the MIUI version.
2. Return to Settings → Additional → For developers and activate Debugging over USB.
3. Connect the phone to your PC, open the command line and type: adb shell dumpsys activity activities | grep "mFocusedActivity" This command will show the current active application.
4. For a list of all background processes, use: adb shell ps -A | grep -E 'u0_a|system'

Warning: Don't close the name processes system_server, android.process.media or com.miui – this can cause a crash MIUI. If you are not sure what you are doing, use other methods.

Method 4: Third-party monitoring applications

If standard MIUI tools don't suit you, you can install specialized utilities that offer advanced features: notifications of new background processes, resource consumption schedules, and even automatic cleaning.

Top.-3 tested applications:

• 🛡️ Greenify – “sedates” unnecessary apps without root rights. 10/11 and other models.
• 📊 AccuBattery – provides detailed battery consumption statistics for each process, useful for diagnosing “gluttonous” applications.
• 🔍 Servicely – blocks background activity of selected applications (requires root or ADB-permitting).

⚠️ Note: Some cleaning applications (e.g. Clean Master or Clean Master) DU Speed Boosters consume a lot of resources and can display false threats. Use only proven utilities from Google Play with a rating above 4.5.

Enable special features for Greenify in settings

Add Appendices to the "Sleeping Up" List

Set up automatic cleaning on schedule-->

Method 5: System Logs via Engineer Mode

For owners of Xiaomi, Redmi or POCO with Qualcomm processors (for example, the Snapdragon 732G in the Redmi Note 10 Pro), a hidden engineering menu mode is available. It allows you to view the system logs in real time, including background processes.

How to get there:

1. Open the phone app and enter the code: ##4636##
2. Select Usage Statistics (Usage Statistics).
3. Go to the Running tab, where all active processes will be displayed, indicating PID and CPU consumption.

This method is suitable for diagnosing freezes or finding applications that load the processor, for example, if you see that the com.android.systemui process consumes 50% of the CPU, this may indicate a failure in the MIUI shell.

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Engineer Mode gives you access to low-level settings. Don't change settings if you don't understand them, which can cause your phone to run unstable.

How to distinguish “useful” background processes from harmful ones

Not all apps that work in the background are worth shutting down, some are necessary for the smartphone to work properly or for your comfort.

Let's leave it in the background:

• 📩 Messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber) – otherwise you will not receive notifications.
• 🎵 Music services (Spotify, Yandex Music) - for playback in headphones.
• 🏃 Fitness trackers (Mi Fit, Google Fit) – for step counting and health monitoring.
• 🔄 Synchronization (Google Drive, Mi Cloud) – for backup.

You can close or limit:

• 🎮 Games (PUBG Mobile, Genshin Impact – They often stay in the background after closing.
• 🛒 Marketplaces (AliExpress, Wildberries) – update directories without your knowledge.
• 📰 News aggregators (Yandex Zen, Google News) – consume traffic and battery.
• 📱 Social networks (TikTok, Instagram) – can “wake up” to show ads.

⚠️ Note: If you are using Xiaomi with MIUI Global, some system applications (such as Mi Video or Mi Browser) cannot be removed without root rights, but they can be disabled in the application settings so that they do not run in the background.

FAQ: Frequent questions about background processes on Xiaomi