How to turn off the sensor on the phone Xiaomi Redmi: all ways + troubleshooting

The touchscreen on Xiaomi Redmi smartphones is a key control, but sometimes it needs to be temporarily or completely turned off, and the reasons can range from protection against accidental pressing (for example, when transferring a phone to a child) to diagnosing faults when the touchscreen is triggered spontaneously. In this article, we will discuss 5 working methods, including software settings, engineering menus and hardware solutions.

It's important to understand that turning off the sensor completely will prevent you from interacting with your phone through the screen. So most of the ways involve temporarily blocking or partially limiting functions. If your goal is to protect against accidental touch, just activate the "In your pocket" or "No sound" mode. To diagnose malfunctions (for example, when ghost touch - spontaneous pressing) will require deeper settings.

This article is relevant for all modern Redmi models, including the Note 12/11/10/9 series, Redmi A2/A1, Redmi K50/K40 and others based on MIUI 12-14 or HyperOS. If your phone runs on custom firmware (for example, LineageOS), some menu items may differ.

1. Temporary locking of the sensor through "Mode in the pocket"

The easiest and safest way is to use the built-in Mode in Your Pocket feature, which turns off the sensor when the screen is off, preventing accidental taps, a method that does not require superuser rights and works on all Xiaomi smartphones.

How to activate:

• 📱 Open the Settings. → Screen. → Pocket mode.
• 🔄 Turn on the switch (if the function is missing, check the section Additionally). → Special facilities).
• ⚙️ Select the Standard (locking when the screen is completely darkened) or High (responds even to partial cover).

Limitations of the method:

• ❌ The sensor is locked only when the screen is off.
• ❌ Not suitable for diagnosing malfunctions (for example, ghost touch).
• ✅ Suitable for protection from accidental pressing in a bag or pocket.

⚠️ Note: On some models (Redmi Note 8 Pro, Redmi) 9A) The function may be called Protection against Accidental Presses and may be located in the Blocking and Protection section.

2. disable the sensor via "Special Features" (without root)

If you want to completely block the touchscreen (for example, to use your phone as an HDMI media player), you can use the pointer control function in special features settings. This method does not physically turn off the sensor, but makes it inoperable for most actions.

Step-by-step:

1. Go to Settings → Special Options → Control pointer.
2. Activate the option Virtual Joystick or Keyboard Control (depending on the MIUI version).
3. Return to the main settings menu and select System → Gestures → Disable all gestures.
4. Reboot the phone.

After this action, the sensor will stop responding to touch, but the screen will display the image. To return to normal operation, you just need to turn off the pointer control and restart the device.

⚠️ Attention: MIUI 14 and HyperOS may have different paths to settings. If pointer control is not available, try activating TalkBack, which will also block some of the sensor's functions.

3.Use of the engineering menu (#3646633##)

For power users, there is a way to disable the sensor through an engineering menu, a method that requires caution, as incorrect actions can lead to malfunctions in the phone. Suitable for Redmi models based on Qualcomm processors (for example, Redmi Note 10 Pro, Redmi K40).

Instructions:

1. Open the Phone app and enter the combination: ##3646633##.
2. In the engineering menu, select Hardware Testing → Touch Screen.
3. Press the Touch Screen Test and wait for the test to be completed.
4. Go back to the main menu of the engineering mode and select Disable Touch (if you don’t have an option, this method isn’t suitable for your model).

Warnings:

• 🔧 Some firmware may not have the Disable Touch option.
• 🔄 After disabling the sensor, it can only be returned to work through a reboot or reset settings.
• 📛 It is not recommended to use this method on devices with MediaTek (e.g. Redmi). 9/9A/9C) — high risk of system hanging.

Disable the sensor via ADB (for advanced users)

If standard methods do not work, you can turn off the sensor using the ADB-This method requires connecting the phone to your computer and enabling developer mode. Suitable for all Xiaomi Redmi models, but permanently disables the touchscreen until the next reboot or reset settings.

Step-by-step:

1. Activate Developer Mode: Go to Settings → About Phone → MIUI version and press 7 times.
2. Return to Settings → Additional → For developers and enable USB debugging.
3. Connect your phone to your PC, install ADB drivers (for example, via Mi PC Suite).
4. Open the command line (Windows) or terminal (macOS/Linux) and type:

adb shell


su




echo 0 > /sys/class/touchscreen/unified_touch/disable_touch




exit

If the team doesn’t work, try an alternative:

adb shell input disable

To return the sensor to work, restart the phone or type in:

adb shell input enable

⚠️ Attention: MIUI 13+ and HyperOS path to file disable_touch If the command returns a Permission denied error, root rights are required (see next section).

💡

Before using ADB, check if the OEM Unlock option is enabled in the developer settings, and without it, some commands may not execute.

5. Complete shutdown of the root sensor (Magisk)

If you need to permanently disable the sensor (for example, to use the phone as a server or media center), superuser rights (root) will be required.This method is only suitable for unlocked downloaders and stitched custom recavators (for example, TWRP).

Instructions:

1. Install Magisk and get root access.
2. Download the Disable Touchscreen module from the Magisk Modules repository or create your own script:

#!/system/bin/sh


echo 0 > /sys/class/touchscreen/unified_touch/enable

1. Save the file as disable_touch.sh file /data/adb/service.d/.
2. Grant the rights to execution: chmod 755 /data/adb/service.d/disable_touch.sh.
3. Reboot the phone.

To return the sensor to work, delete the script or edit it by replacing 0 with 1.

6. fault diagnosis: when switching off the sensor does not help

If you try to turn off the sensor due to spontaneous taps or other malfunctions, and the problem remains, the reasons may be hardware:

• 🔋 Bloating the battery that presses on the screen.

How to check:

• 🔍 Visually inspect the screen for cracks or detachments.
• 📱 Connect your phone to your PC and check if random taps are recorded in mode ADB logcat.
• 🔋 Remove the battery (if possible) and check it for bloating.

If the hardware malfunctions, a temporary shutdown of the sensor won't help.

• 📱 Screen replacement (relevant for physical damage).

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If the sensor turns off spontaneously or responds to touch without touching, the problem is 90% hardware, and a temporary shutdown through the software will not eliminate the cause, but only mask the symptoms.

FAQ: Frequent questions about switching off the sensor on Xiaomi Redmi