How to check how long the Xiaomi smartphone has worked: all the ways

Why it is important to know the actual time of use of the smartphone

You bought Xiaomi off your hands and you doubt the seller's integrity? Or you want to measure battery wear before you replace it? Active usage time is one of the key indicators of its health. Unlike the date of the first turn on, which is easy to reset, the total CPU life is almost impossible to fake, this parameter is fixed at the hardware level and accumulates even when you just turn on the phone in standby mode.

Smartphone manufacturers, including Xiaomi, don’t advertise this information in standard settings, but there are several ways to extract it, from hidden engineering menus to specialized applications. In this article, we’ll break down all the current methods for devices running MIUI and the new HyperOS, including Redmi, POCO and Black Shark.

It's important to understand the difference between uptime and usage time, the first one is how much the phone has been on since the last restart, and the second one is the accumulated load on the processor over its lifetime, and the second one is what we're interested in to measure wear.

Method 1: Through the Engineering Menu (without root)

The most reliable method, which works on 90% of Xiaomi devices, is using a hidden engineering menu, which is available without superuser rights and does not require the installation of additional applications. MIUI 12-15 and HyperOS.

To open the engineering menu:

1. Open the Phone app.
2. Enter the combination: ##4636###.
3. In the window that appears, select Battery Information.
4. Scroll down to the Uptime block.

Here you will see two key parameters:

• 🔋 Time since last charge – how much battery life the phone has had since last connected to the network.
• ⏱️ Total operating time - accumulated value since the first switching on of the device (measured in hours).

On some models (e.g. POCO F5 or Xiaomi 13T), N/A may be displayed instead of digits. This means that the manufacturer has blocked access to this data through the standard menu, in which case move to the next method.

💡

If the engineering menu does not open, try entering the combination through the Calculator application: dial ===4636=== and press "=".

Method 2: Appendix CPU-Z (detailed diagnostics)

CPU-Z is a universal tool for analyzing the hardware components of a smartphone. It not only shows the CPU's running time, but also provides data on temperature, core frequency and other critical parameters. The application is free and runs without root rights.

How to check the time of use:

1. Install CPU-Z from Google Play.
2. Open the System tab.
3. Find the Device uptime line – here is the time from the last reboot.
4. For general uptime, go to the Battery tab and see the Uptime option in the Battery information block.

Please note: in CPU-Z It can be shown in milliseconds. To translate it into a clock, divide it into a clock. 3 600 000. For example, if indicated 1209600000, The total time of work will be 336 hours (1209600000 / 3600000).

The advantage of this method is that it's a little bit more diagnostic, so for example, you can compare the current capacity of the battery to the factory capacity and measure the wear and tear, and if the difference is greater than 20 percent, it's time to change the battery.

Device uptime (time since last reboot)

Uptime value in Battery (total running time)

Processor Temperature (Temperature tab)

Current Battery Capacity (Battery → Level)

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Method 3: ADB command (for advanced users)

If standard methods fail, you can extract data via Android Debug Bridge (ADB), which requires connecting your smartphone to your computer, but produces the most accurate results, including hidden system parameters.

Instructions:

1. Install. ADB-PC drivers.
2. Turn on the smartphone Developer Mode (7 times click on the MIUI version in the phone settings).
3. Activate Debugging by USB in the Developer Menu.
4. Connect your phone to your computer and type in the command line: adb shell cat /proc/uptime

You'll get two numbers separated by a space. One is the system's run time in seconds, the other is downtime. To translate into hours, divide the first value by 3600. For example, 1234567.89 = 343 hours.

For more detailed information, use the command:

adb shell dumpsys battery

In the conclusion, find the uptime line – this will be the total operating time in milliseconds.

Method 4: AccuBattery application (battery monitoring)

AccuBattery is a specialized battery health analysis application that also records the device's operating time, and it's useful not only for checking wear, but also for optimizing charging.

How to use:

1. Install AccuBattery from Google Play.
2. Go to the Health tab.
3. Scroll to the block Time of use – here you can see the accumulated time of operation since the installation of the application.
4. For accurate data, wait for 2-3 charging cycles (the application is calibrated).

Important: AccuBattery only shows uptime from the moment it is installed, not for the entire life of the phone, but it is useful for monitoring current status and comparing with factory parameters.

The added benefit of the app is that it calculates the actual battery capacity and compares it to a passport, for example, if the Redmi Note 12 has a factory capacity of 5,000 mAh, and AccuBattery shows 4200 mAh, then the battery is worn out by 16%.

Method 5: Reading system logs (for power users)

This is a method that works for those who are ready to work with system files, and it allows you to extract the time of work even on devices with locked engineering menus, you need access to root or use ADB.

Instructions:

1. Connect your phone to your PC and open ADB.
2. Enter the command to get logs: adb shell cat /proc/stat
3. Find a string that starts with cpu. The first four numbers in it are the operating time of the CPU cores in units (1 unit = 1/100 of a second).
4. Summarize all four values and divide by 36,000 to get the clock.

Example of conclusion:

cpu  123456 7890 4567 2345 6789 0 1234 0 0 0

Sum of the first four numbers: 123456 + 7890 + 4567 + 2345 = 138258 unit = 3,84 hour (138258 / 36000).

This is the most accurate way to do this, but it requires understanding how to use the console, and you can use scripts or customized tools like MatLog to read logs to simplify it.

Through the engineering menu

Annex CPU-Z

ADB teams

AccuBattery

Another option-->

How to interpret the data received

Now that you know the time of operation of the phone, you need to correctly assess its condition. Below is a table with indicative values of wear depending on the operating time:

Now, these are not arbitrary values, and the real wear is affected by:

• 🔥 Temperature – overheating accelerates battery degradation.
• 🔌 Charging mode – the constant use of fast charging reduces the life of.
• 📱 Smartphone model – budget Redmi wear out faster than Xiaomi flagships.

For an objective assessment, compare the time of operation with the charging clock data: One full cycle (0–100%) for lithium-ion batteries reduces capacity by ~0.1–0.2%. If the phone has run for 3,000 hours on 800 cycles, wear can reach 30–40%.

💡

If the battery life exceeds 2000 hours and the battery capacity has fallen below 80% of the factory capacity, this is a direct signal to replace the battery.

Frequent Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

When checking Xiaomi’s time, users often encounter inaccurate data or inability to obtain information.

1.The engineering menu does not open

⚠️ Note: Some firmware (e.g. global versions) MIUI For Europe, code ##4636## can be blocked: CPU-Z or ADB.

2.Time reset after update

In a major firmware update (e.g., from MIUI 13 to HyperOS), the time meter may reset. This does not mean that the phone is new, it just resets the system timer. In such cases, focus on the physical state of the battery (bloating, fast discharge).

3.The data in ADB is not readable

If the adb shell cat /proc/uptime command returns the Permission denied error, then the manufacturer has restricted access.

• 🔓 Get root rights (not recommended for beginners).
• 📱 Use alternative utilities like MTK Engineering Mode (for devices running MediaTek processors).

4.The applications show different meanings.

The difference in CPU-Z and AccuBattery readings can be as high as 10 to 15 percent, which is normal because they use different data sources, so you can take the average or the maximum for accuracy.

FAQ: Answers to popular questions