What to do if the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 brakes: a complete guide to acceleration

Why Redmi Note 8 is starting to “lay down” and how to fix it

Xiaomi Redmi Note 8, released in 2019, is still a popular budget device due to its balanced characteristics: Snapdragon 665 processor, 4 GB of RAM and a battery of 4000 mAh. However, over time, even such a reliable device begins to “hang”, slowly open applications or overheat. The reasons can be both software (cluttered memory, outdated firmware) and hardware (wear of the battery, overheating of the chipset).

In this article, we will discuss all possible ways to accelerate, from the basic (cleaning the cache, turning off animations) to radical (replacing thermopasta, firmware custom software). MIUI And then after Android 11, some of the lags are related to software obsolescence, but that's not a sentence: the right settings and a little upgrade can bring the device back to its previous speed.

Before you start optimizing, ask yourself, when exactly do the brakes appear? When you start games, when you charge, when you upgrade, or when you do it all the time?

1. Diagnosis: how to understand what exactly inhibits

Before cleaning or resetting your phone, you need to identify a bottleneck.In the Redmi Note 8, the brakes can be caused by:

• 🔋 Battery: A worn-out battery (capacity below 70%) forces the processor to operate at lower frequencies.
• 🔥 Overheating – Snapdragon 665 chipset is prone to trottling (automatic performance reduction) at temperatures above 45°C.
• 🗑️ Clogged Memory – App Cache, Garbage Files, and Fragmented Storage.
• 🤖 Outdated firmware — MIUI Android-based 10/11 It may conflict with new versions of applications.

For diagnostics, use built-in tools:

1. Open the Settings. → The phone. → Battery status and check wear.
2. Run Settings. → Special facilities → Performance check (hidden test, not working on all versions) MIUI).
3. Install the app CPU Throttling Test from Google Play – it will show whether the processor reduces the frequency due to overheating.

If in the test CPU Throttling Test appears red lines with the words Throttled, the problem is exactly overheating, in which case it will help to replace the thermopast or heat pads (for this - in section 6).

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To check the temperature of the processor in real time, install the application AIDA64 (Normal temperature of Snapdragon 665 under load - up to 40-45°C.

2. Cleaning the system: remove garbage and cache

The most common cause of brakes is clogged memory. Redmi Note 8 with 64 GB of storage is quickly clogged with cache, remnants of deleted applications and duplicate photos.

Clearing the application cache

• 🧹 Go to Settings. → Annexes → Application management.
• 📱 Select the “heaviest” app (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube).
• 🗑️ Press Warehouse. → Clear the cache (not data!).
• 🔄 Repeat for all applications that take up more than 100MB of cache.

Disposal of garbage files

Use the built-in Optimizer MIUI:

1. Open the Security app (shield icon).
2. Select Cleanup. → Deep cleaning.
3. Check all categories (Cash, File Remains, Duplicates).
4. Click Clean and restart the phone.

For a deeper cleaning, install SD Maid (requires root permissions for full functionality) This application finds dead files that are not available. MIUI see.

Disable autoloading of applications

Many programs run with the system and hang in the background, consuming RAM.

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management → Autorun.
2. Turn off auto-run for all applications except system (Phone, Messages, Google Services).
3. In the same menu, select Permissions. → Autosynchronize and disable it for unnecessary applications.

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Clearing the cache and turning off the autoboot has a temporary effect, and more radical measures are needed to ensure stable acceleration (see sections 4-6).

3. MIUI Optimization: Hidden Settings for Acceleration

MIUI It has a lot of hidden features that you can use to improve productivity, and most of them don't require root rights.

3.1. Cancel animation

The animations of the transitions between the screens look beautiful, but they slow down the weak devices.

1. Activate Developer Mode: Go to Settings → About Phone and click on MIUI Version 7 times.
2. Back to Settings → Additionally. → For developers.
3. Find the items: The scale of window animation → Animation disabled Transition animation scale → Animation disabled Duration of animation → No animation.

Switching to an easy topic MIUI

Dark theme and complex wallpapers consume more resources to switch to light mode:

• 🎨 Go to Settings. → Screen. → Wallpaper and choose static wallpaper (without animation).
• 🌓 B Settings → Screen. → Turn it off if you don’t use it.
• 🔍 B Settings → Additionally. → Special facilities → Simplified mode: Enable Light mode (simplifies the interface, but removes some functions).

Restriction of background processes

By default. MIUI It allows you to work in the background of up to 20 processes. For the Redmi Note 8 with 4 GB of RAM, that's a lot:

1. B Settings → For developers, find a Process Limit.
2. Select a maximum of 4 processes in the background.
3. Also disable Transition Animation and Background Optimization MIUI (if).

4. Update and roll back firmware

Redmi Note 8 officially gets no updates after the release MIUI 12.5 is based on Android 11. However, some users experience brakes after updates. Consider both scenarios: upgrade to the latest version and rollback to stable.

Update MIUI last-minute

Sometimes the lags are caused by bugs in a particular build.

1. Go to Settings. → Updating the system.
2. Click Check for updates.
3. If you have a new version, download it (preferably via Wi-Fi).
4. Before installation, make a backup to Settings → Additional → Backup and Reset.

If the update doesn’t work or doesn’t, try manual firmware via Fastboot or Recovery.

• 🔗 Download the latest stable firmware for Redmi Note 8 (codenamed ginkgo) from en.miui.com.
• 📱 Move the.zip file to the root of the phone’s memory.
• 🔄 Reboot to Recovery (clip the power supply) + Volume up) and select Install update.

4.2. rollback to the previous version of MIUI

If the brakes are on after the upgrade, go back to the old firmware.

1. Find the archive with the right version MIUI (for example, MIUI 12.0.3) in forums 4PDA or XDA Developers.
2. Reset your phone to factory settings in Recovery (Wipe Data).
3. Install the old firmware through Install update.

⚠️ Warning: Firmware rollback erases all data! Pre-save photos, contacts and messages to the cloud or PC.

Radical measures: dumping and firmware

If the cleaning and settings didn't work, it's time to move on to more serious methods, and factory resets delete all the data, but returns the phone to its original speed 80 percent of the time.

5.1 Hard Reset (Hard Reset)

This method erases all data, including apps and settings.

1. Save important data (photos, contacts, messages) to your PC or cloud.
2. Go to Settings → Additional → Backup and Reset → Reset settings.
3. Choose to erase all data and confirm.
4. After restarting, set your phone as new.

If the phone doesn’t respond to touch, reset via Recovery:

1. Turn off the device.
2. Press Power + Volume up until the MI logo appears.
3. Select Wipe Data → Wipe All Data (control – volume and power buttons).
4. Confirm the action and wait for the completion.

Installation of custom firmware

If the stock MIUI Try alternative firmware like LineageOS, Pixel Experience or Havoc OS. They are lighter and do not contain unnecessary Xiaomi services.

The installation will require:

• 🔓 Unblocked Bootloader (instructions on the official website).
• 📱 Installed TWRP Recovery (castom recavery).
• 🔗 Ginkgo firmware (codename Redmi Note 8).

Installation process:

1. Reboot to TWRP (clip Power + Volume up).


2. Make a backup (Backup → Select all sections).




3. Tap Wipe → Advanced Wipe → Tap Dalvik, Cache, System, Data.




4. Install → Select ZIP-file).




5. After installation, run GAPPS (Google Apps).




6.Reboot.

⚠️ Warning: Wrong firmware can turn your phone into a 'brick'! follow the instructions from the forum 4PDA or XDA specific model.

6. Hardware solutions: when the "iron" is to blame

If software methods have not worked, the problem may be in the hardware. Redmi Note 8 after 3-4 years of operation often suffers from:

• 🔋 Battery wear (capacity below 70% → forced restriction of productivity).
• 🔥 Drying thermopaste (chipset overheats and tlots).
• 💾 Flash memory wear (slow recording/reading data).

Replacement of the battery

If in Settings → Battery → Condition shows wear over 30 percent, battery needs to be changed:

• The phone turns off at 20-30% charge.
• It is quickly discharged (less than 4 hours of screen time).
• It overheats when you charge.

The cost of replacing the battery in the service center is from 1500 to 3000 rubles. You can replace yourself by buying the original battery. BM47 (4,000mAh capacity).

Replacement of thermopaste

The Snapdragon 665 in the Redmi Note 8 is warmed by its thin body and weak cooling system. Over time, the thermal paste dries out, and the chipset begins to trumble even under low load.

Replacement will require:

• 🔧 Set of screwdrivers (star) T4, flat).
• 🧴 Thermopasta (Arctic) MX-4 or KPT-8).
• 🔥 Heat pads (thickness 0.5 mm for memory chips).
• 📱 Plastic blade for opening the body.

Step-by-step:

1. Turn off your phone and remove the back cover (it's glued, be careful!).
2. Unscrew 12 screws and disconnect the battery plume.
3. Remove the metal screen covering the motherboard.
4. Remove the old thermopaste from the processor with alcohol and cotton swab.
5. Apply the new paste with a thin layer (no more than 0.3 mm).
6. Replace the heat pads on the memory chips.
7. Put the phone back together.

After replacement, the temperature of the processor under load will decrease by 10-15°C, and the trolling will disappear.

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Replacing thermopaste is one of the most effective ways to eliminate the brakes caused by overheating, and the effect is noticeable immediately after assembly.

Checking flash memory

If the phone is slow to write files or "freeze" when opening the gallery, the problem may be the wear and tear of the flash memory.

• Install the app from Google Play.
• Run a reading/writing test.
• If the speed is below 100 MB/s, the memory is worn out.

In this case, only the replacement of the motherboard (cost - from 5000 rubles) will help.

Alternative methods: disconnection MIUI-feature and use of lightweight applications

MIUI It's overloaded with unnecessary functions that consume resources, and turning them off can give you productivity gains.

7.1. Disconnection MIUI-service

Some system processes can be safely disabled:

• 🚫 com.miui.analytics – Xiaomi statistics collection.
• 🚫 com.xiaomi.midrop – Mi Drop file transfer service.
• 🚫 com.miui.player is a standard music player.

To disable:

1. Install ADB AppControl on your PC.
2. Put the phone on. USB with debugging enabled (Settings) → For developers → Debugging by USB).
3. Enter the command: adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.analytics

Use of lightweight alternatives

Replace heavy applications with optimized ones:

7.3. disable Google Play Services (for advanced)

Google Play Services is one of the main resource eaters, and it can be turned off, but it will limit the functionality of some applications.

How to turn it off:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → All applications.
2. Find Google Play Services.
3. Click Disable (Do not delete!).
4. Reboot the phone.

⚠️ Note: Google Maps, Gmail and some games will stop working after the shutdown. Use alternatives (e.g. Yandex Maps or FairEmail).

FAQ: Frequent questions about the Redmi Note brakes 8