Xiaomi smartphone owners often face a situation where the device starts to run slower and the battery is consumed faster than usual. The reason for this phenomenon is often an excessive number of background processes that continue to consume the system resources even after you curtail or close the program interface. Understanding how to correctly manage running tasks is a key skill for maintaining the performance of your gadget in the long run.
The Android operating system, in conjunction with the MIUI shell or the new HyperOS, has a complex memory management architecture. Unlike desktops, mobile devices do not always require a forced shutdown of all processes, since the system itself optimizes work. However, there are scenarios where forced cleanup is necessary, for example, when a particular service freezes or to free RAM before starting a heavy game.
In this article, we will take a look at all the available methods of stopping applications, from standard gestures to advanced developer settings. You will learn to distinguish between safe cleaning methods and those that can disrupt important system notifications. A competent approach to task management will allow your Xiaomi to work stably and without delay.
The standard method through the multitasking menu
The most obvious and frequently used way to close programs is to use a built-in Task Manager. On modern Xiaomi smartphones, it is called by swipe from the bottom up with a delay or pressing a special navigation button, depending on the type of navigation chosen. The list that opens displays thumbnails of all active windows that can be closed one or all at once.
To clean up the screen, it is usually enough to press a button with an image of a cross or broomstick located at the top or bottom of the screen. The system will immediately complete the processes associated with visual windows, but it is worth understanding that some background services may remain active. This is normal behavior for Android, since it allows you to run frequently used applications faster.
If you want to close a particular application, just swipe its thumbnail aside. This action forcibly ends the main process of the program. In some versions of the firmware, there is a "Clean All" menu available that ignores the attached applications unless you first unblock them.
☑️ Checking before cleaning
Importantly, using the Clean All button often can paradoxically increase battery consumption, and the system has to reload frequently used applications into memory, which requires more power than storing them in RAM. Use this method only when the program has stopped responding or you want to stop it completely.
Advanced management through application settings
When standard closing fails and the program continues to hang in memory or consume charge, you need to use deep system settings, which allows you not just to close the window, but to force the application service to stop, preventing it from automatically restarting, and you need to go to the settings menu of the phone.
Find the Apps or All Apps section in the main settings menu. Search the problem program in the list. Inside the app card, you'll be interested in the Stop or Force Stop button. Pressing that button completely kills the process, and the app won't be able to start again until you open the icon yourself.
- 📱 Go to Settings. → Annexes → All applications.
- 🔍 Find the right program in the list or use the search.
- ⛔ Press the red stop button and confirm the action.
AutoRun is also available on this menu, and if you stop the app from autorunning, it won't be able to activate itself when you turn on your phone or schedule, and it's an effective way to combat the "parasitic" programs that are constantly hanging in the background.
⚠️ Warning: Forced shutdown of system applications (such as "Themes," "Security," or "Google Services") can cause an interface to be unstable or synchronized.
Using Developer Mode to Limit Processes
For advanced users who want to have complete control over how many apps can run at once, there is a hidden developer menu, where you can set a hard limit on the number of background processes, a radical method that is guaranteed to free up RAM, but requires caution.
To get to the menu, you need to activate the developer mode by clicking on the build number several times in the About Phone section. Once activated in the advanced settings, the Developer option will appear. Find the application-related section and select the Background Process Limit option.
Settings → About Phone → 7 times press on "Version MIUI" → Settings → Advanced Settings → For Developers → Background Process LimitIn this menu, you can choose "No Background Processes" or limit them to one, for example, which will cause the system to aggressively close everything you've folded, which is useful on older devices with low RAM, but on modern flagships it can cause constant reboot of program interfaces.
What happens if you choose "No background processes"?
Configure energy saving and battery limitations
MIUI and HyperOS have very aggressive power-saving algorithms that you can manually configure, so instead of shutting down applications manually, you can configure the system to limit their background activity, which is the most efficient way to keep the battery going.
Go to the battery settings and find the application power management, and you can choose a strategy for each program: "No Limits," "Power Saving," or "Strict Limitation." Selecting a mode of "Strict Constraint" effectively equates to closing the application immediately after you fold.
| Restriction regime | Impact on work | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| No restrictions. | The app works in the background fully | Messengers, navigators |
| Saving charge | Limited background activity and synchronization | Social media, mail. |
| Strict limitation | Background work is completely prohibited | Games that are rarely used utilities |
When selecting a saving mode, the system will automatically close the application if it is not in use for a certain time, which allows you to keep in mind only what you really need right now, freeing up resources for the current task.
Third-party utilities and built-in optimizer
Xiaomi already has a Security app preinstalled on its smartphones, which includes a memory cleanup feature that works better than a standard task manager because it has deeper access rights to the system, and a built-in optimizer is preferable to installing third-party task killers.
Third-party apps from Google Play that promise to speed up the phone often work on a carrot-and-stick basis: they shut down processes that the system immediately rediscovers, creating an endless cycle of resource consumption, and they require memory to keep track of others, which reduces their benefits to zero.
- 🛡️ The built-in optimizer has system-level rights.
- 🚫 Third-party cliners often contain advertising and consume the battery themselves.
- ⚙️ It is better to set up auto-start than constantly clean the memory manually.
If you do decide to use third-party software, choose proven solutions with a minimum set of permissions. However, for most users, the functionality built into Xiaomi is enough. Regular use of built-in cache and memory cleaning through the Security application is the best option.
⚠️ Warning: Do not install more than one memory cleaner app. Conflict between two programs trying to control the same processes can lead to a cyclical phone reboot.
Frequent problems and solution of hangings
Sometimes the application doesn't close with standard methods and continues to hang in memory, consuming resources, which can be a sign of a software failure or version conflict, in which cases simple memory cleaning does not help, and a deeper approach to solving the problem is required.
The first step should be to update the problematic app through the Google Play store or GetApps. Developers often release patches that fix memory leaks. If the update didn't work, try clearing the app's cache in its settings without deleting user data.
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If the app is stuck and does not respond to presses, try pressing the power button for 10-15 seconds to restart the device, instead of removing the battery (if it is not removable).
In extreme cases, removing and re-installing the application helps, ensuring that all temporary files and damaged libraries are deleted, and for system applications that cannot be removed, you can try disabling their updates through the application management menu.
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The stable operation of the smartphone depends not on the amount of free memory, but on the absence of conflicting and damaged applications in the system.