How to force applications to be turned off on Xiaomi

Xiaomi’s current smartphones, which are powered by the MIUI shell or the new HyperOS, have powerful memory management systems, but even advanced algorithms don’t always manage to optimize the work of a dozen running programs, and users often find themselves in a situation where the interface begins to slow down and the battery runs out faster than usual due to background processes.

To get the device back to speed, you need to know how to turn off applications correctly, which frees up RAM and stops unnecessary activity in the system. In this article, we will take a look at all the available methods, from standard gestures to hidden engineering settings.

Basic method of closing through the menu of running tasks

The most obvious and frequently used way to stop programs is through the recent app menu, which is as convenient as possible in the Xiaomi ecosystem and allows you to manage multiple processes at once, and to access this menu, you need to click the Menu button (three bars) on the navigation bar, or swipe from the bottom up and hold your finger if you have gesture control enabled.

In the list that opens, you'll see cards of all the programs that are running, and to close one of them, just swipe the card left or right, and if you want to turn all the apps off at once, you'll see a Crestik button on the screen (usually in the upper right or lower corner), and a single click on this element forcibly ends all the background processes.

It is worth noting that standard closure through the menu does not always guarantee a complete stop of background activity. Some system services can restart the process after a few seconds. However, for quick cleaning of RAM before starting heavy games, this method is ideal.

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Regular cleaning through the task menu is basic smartphone hygiene, preventing the accumulation of cache in RAM.

Forced stop through system settings

When an app is stuck, does not respond to touch, or consumes an abnormally high amount of power, a deeper approach is required. Android provides a built-in Forced Stop mechanism that completely kills the process and the services associated with it. This is the most effective way to combat malfunctioning software.

To do this, you'll need to go to the settings menu, and the path usually looks like this: Settings → Apps → All apps. In the list that opens, find a problem program. For example, if Instagram or Telegram is bugging, search alphabetically for them. Once you select the application, a page will open with information about it.

At the bottom of the app information screen, you'll find a red Delete button and a Stop button (or "Forced Stop"), which will trigger a system alert, the system will warn that the app may behave unpredictably after such an action, a standard warning that can be ignored if you need to reanimate the program.

Using the forced stop feature is especially important before updating a program or cleaning its cache, which ensures that no files are blocked by the active process. Technically resetting the state of the application often solves problems with the interface freezes better than simply restarting the phone.

Autostart and Background Process Management

One of the main features of the MIUI shell is its aggressive battery and memory management policy, but some apps can bypass these limitations by running automatically when you turn on your phone. To turn off applications on Xiaomi permanently (forever), you need to turn them off auto-start.

Search for settings or Apps for AutoStart, and here's a list of programs that have permission to run with the system, and turn off the switches in front of those apps that you don't need right after you turn on your smartphone, which will not only save you charge, but also prevent them from working hidden.

Also, you should pay attention to the battery settings for each particular application. In the properties of the program, find Activity Control or Energy Saving. Select No Limits mode only for instant messengers where notifications are important. For other applications, such as stores or browsers, it is better to set the "Limit Background Activity" mode.

⚠️ Warning: Disabling Autorun for system services such as “Security”, “Google Play Services” or “System Launcher” may cause unstable interface operation and missing notifications.

Competent autorun settings allow you to create a personalized environment where only the tools you need work, and this is especially important for devices with a small amount of RAM (3 or 4 GB), where every megabyte counts.

Using Developer Mode for Advanced Users

For those who want to have full control of the system, there's a hidden menu called "Developers" that not only shuts down applications, but also limits the number of background processes globally for the entire system, and it's a powerful tool that needs careful handling.

To activate this mode, go to Settings → About Phone and click 7 times on the MIUI Version (or OS version). After the notification that you have become a developer, a new section Additional or Advanced Settings will appear in the settings menu, where the desired menu is located.

Inside the section, find the background limit. The default is "Standard limit." You can change that to, for example, "No background processes" or "No more than 1 process." This will cause the system to aggressively shut down any programs you fold.

Using these settings dramatically changes the behavior of the smartphone, apps will be reloaded every time they switch, which can increase CPU time consumption, but frees up RAM, and changing the background limit is reset once the device is fully restarted.

Cleaning cache and data as a method of "treatment"

Sometimes the problem isn't just the fact that the application is working, but the accumulated debris. Cache files speed up the launch, but they can get corrupted over time, causing errors. Before you completely delete the program, try to clear the data.

Go to the application properties through the settings (as described in the second section) and find the Clean button. There will be two options: Clear cache and Clear everything (or Reset). The first option is secure and deletes temporary files. The second option will return the application to the “just after installation” state by removing logins and settings.

This method often helps if the application crashes immediately after launch, and the data reset eliminates configuration file conflicts, and after this procedure, the application will start as new, and you will have to re-enter your credentials.

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Before clearing the data ("Reset"), make sure you remember the password from the account in the application, otherwise access to your data can be lost irrevocably.

Regularly cleaning the cache of heavy apps like social media and video players helps keep the system on track. Xiaomi's built-in Security cleaner can do this automatically, but manual control is always more reliable.

Frequent questions and troubleshooting

Despite the simplicity of the procedure, users often have specific questions related to the features of Android and MIUI. Below are the answers to the most popular of them, which will help you better understand the logic of the operating system.

⚠️ Warning: Don't make it a habit to stop all apps completely. Android is designed to keep frequently used programs in memory for quick access. Artificial memory release can put a lot of workload on the processor.

To sum up, managing applications on Xiaomi is a balance between control and trusting automation: Use a forced stop only when the program is behaving incorrectly, and standard cleaning through the task menu is enough to use.