How to turn Alice on your Xiaomi phone by voice: full instructions for Android

Why doesn’t Alice respond to voice commands?

You try to say, "OK Alice," but Xiaomi's smartphone stubbornly ignores your words? The problem is familiar to many owners of MIUI-based devices - even though Yandex's voice assistant is set by default, its voice activation often requires additional settings. Unlike Google Assistant, which is integrated into Android at the system level, Alice works as a third-party app, which means it needs to manually configure permissions and triggers.

In this article, we’ll look at all the possible ways to turn Alice on with voice on Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones, from basic in-app settings to hidden system settings. We’ll focus on common errors that make the assistant fail to respond to phrases like “Listen, Alice” or “Hello, Alice,” and we’ll give you a checklist to diagnose problems. If you’ve tried standard methods and nothing has worked, at the end of the article you’ll find alternative solutions, including using ADB and third-party utilities.

Before you go to the instructions, make sure that on your device:

• 📱 The latest version of the Yandex application (or Yandex Browser with Alice) is installed).
• 🔊 The microphone is working correctly (check in the voice recorder or other voice service).
• 📶 Internet access (Alice requires a connection to process requests).

1. Basic setting of Alice in the Yandex app

Start by checking the basic settings in the app itself. Even if you've used Alice before, after updating MIUI or resetting the settings, some options may have gone wrong.

Open the Yandex application (or Yandex Browser) and follow the following steps:

1. Slip the profile icon in the upper right corner.
2. Select the "Settings" option» → «Alice».
3. Activate the Voice Assistant switch.
4. In the Voice Activation section, enable the option “Listen to ‘OK Alice’”.
5. Take a brief pronunciation training (the system will prompt you to repeat the phrase several times to adjust the recognition).

If the voice activation option is blocked in gray, it means that:

• 🚫 The app does not have permission to use the microphone (fix in the next section).
• 🔄 Your version. MIUI restricts the background operation of applications (you need to add Yandex to the exceptions).
• 📵 The device has power saving mode enabled, which suspends the assistant's work.

💡

If Alice doesn't respond to "OK Alice," try alternatives like "Listen Alice" or "Hi Alice." Sometimes only one command works, depending on the version of the app.

2.Configure the permissions for microphone and auto-start

Without the right permissions, Alice won't be able to listen to your commands in the background. On Xiaomi, this is especially critical because of the aggressive battery optimization in MIUI.

Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management and find Yandex (or Yandex Browser).

1. Permits: 🎤 Enable access to the microphone (required!). 📍 If necessary, allow access to geolocation (you need to ask for queries such as "Where is the nearest pharmacy»).
2. Auto-start: 🔄 Enable the Auto Start option (allows Alice to work after rebooting the phone).
3. Background restriction: 📵 Select “No Limits” in the “Use of Data in the Background” section».

Optimizing the battery

• ⚡ In the section "Battery Optimization" (or "Energy saving") add Yandex to exceptions.

Method 3: Manually run Alice's service via ADB (for advanced users)

If nothing helps, you can force the background work through the command:

adb shell dumpsys deviceidle whitelist +com.yandex.browser

This command adds Yandex Browser to the whitelist of devices, excluding it from power saving mode. It will require ADB and enabled USB debugging.

4.Alternative ways to activate Alice's voice

If the standard phrase “OK, Alice” doesn’t work, try these methods:

If you choose the method with Google Assistant, note that both systems will compete for the microphone. To avoid conflicts, disable Alice voice activation in the Yandex settings and use only Google as a trigger.

💡

The most reliable alternative is to activate Alice via Google Assistant, which bypasses the limitations of MIUI, but requires prior communication between the assistants.

5. Removal of common errors

Alice doesn't respond to her voice?

⚠️ Note: If after the update MIUI Alice stopped working, reset the settings of the Yandex application (Settings) → Annexes → Yandex → Warehouse → Reset settings. This often helps with crashes after updates.

Mistake 1: Alice can't hear the command, but the microphone is working

• 🔇 Check if Do Not Disturb or Quiet Mode is on (they can block voice triggers).
• 📵 Make sure that in the settings MIUI The option “Block background for applications” is not activated (you can find it through the search by settings).
• 🔊 Try telling a command in a quiet room - sometimes noise interferes with recognition.

Mistake 2: Alice opens but doesn't follow commands

• 🌐 Check your internet connection (assistant requires network to handle requests).
• 🔄 Update the Yandex app to the latest version.
• 📍 If Alice doesn’t understand geo-dependent queries (e.g., “where am I”), enable geolocation for the app.

Mistake 3: Alice works, but only when the screen is unlocked

• 🔓 In the settings MIUI Allow Yandex to display notifications on the locked screen (Settings) → Notifications → Yandex).
• 🔑 Make sure that in the settings → Screen locking → Blocking Yandex applications not added to the list of blocked.

6. Advanced methods: ADB and third-party utilities

If standard methods don’t work, you can try to force Alice’s background work through ADB or specialized applications.

Method 1: ADB-commands to unlock background processes

Connect your phone to your PC, enable debugging over USB and perform in the terminal:

adb shell cmd appops set com.yandex.browser RUN_ANY_IN_BACKGROUND allow


adb shell cmd appops set com.yandex.browser RUN_IN_BACKGROUND allow




adb shell dumpsys deviceidle whitelist +com.yandex.browser

These teams:

• 🔓 Allow Yandex Browser to work in the background without restrictions.
• 📵 Exclude it from Doze energy saving mode.