How to completely remove the theme on Xiaomi Mi 9: 5 proven ways

Why the standard theme removal on Xiaomi Mi 9 doesn’t always work

Xiaomi Mi 9 with a MIUI shell offers users a wide range of options for customizing the interface through themes. However, many people face the problem: after installing a new theme, the old one is not completely removed, leaving artifacts in the form of icons, fonts or animations. In some cases, the themes do not appear in the installed list at all, but continue to affect the system due to the peculiarities of the MIUI Themes application and resource caching.

The main reason for the undelete themes is the MIUI architecture: the shell stores theme elements in several places at the same time – from custom folders (/storage/emulated/0/MIUI/theme/) to system directories (/data/system/theme/). The standard click on the “Delete” menu often cleans only surface files, leaving deeply integrated components. In addition, after the MIUI updates to versions 12.5+ and 13/14, the logic of working with themes has changed – now they can be “associated” to the Mi Account, which makes it difficult to delete manually.

This article covers all the current ways to remove themes on Xiaomi Mi 9, including hidden methods through ADB, cache cleaning and even radical resetting. We will also break down typical bugs (such as com.android.themes.error) and explain why some topics can’t be deleted without superuser rights.

Method 1: Remove theme through the standard MIUI Themes menu

Let's start with the most obvious method, which works 60-70% of the time, and it doesn't require any additional tools, and it's suitable for those that are installed through the official MIUI Themes store.

Open the Themes app (icon with brush) and follow the steps:

• 📱 Go to the tab "My topics" (in the lower menu).
• 🔍 Find the topic you want to delete and hold your finger on its preview.
• 🗑️ In the menu that appears, select "Delete" (or the basket icon).
• ✅ Confirm the action by pressing “OK” in the dialog window.

If the theme doesn’t appear in the list, but its elements are still active (such as modified icons or lock screen saver), try:

1. Apply the standard MIUI theme (usually the first one on the list).
2. Reboot the phone.
3. Repeat the removal attempt.

⚠️ Attention: Some topics from the store MIUI Themes are protected from removal if they have been installed as “system” (for example, themes from Xiaomi partners.

Method 2: Clearing the cache and data of the "Themes" application

If the theme is not deleted through the menu or its files are stuck in the system, the next step is to reset the settings of the MIUI Themes application itself.

• 🖼️ The theme appears in the settings but is not deleted (button is inactive).
• 🔄 After removal, theme elements return after rebooting.
• ⚠️ Error: "I failed to apply the topic".

Instructions:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find the Themes app (or com.android.themes).
3. Select "Storage."
4. Click on "Clear Cache" and "Clear Data".
5. Confirm the action and restart the phone.

Once rebooted, all non-system themes will be reset and their files deleted from temporary folders, but this method does not affect themes manually installed through.mtz files (they need method 3).

Make a backup copy of important data|Remember the current lock screen settings|Disable theme synchronization with Mi Account|Check the space in the memory (need to be checked) ≥500MB)|Connect the charger (in case of a long reboot)-->

Method 3: Manually remove themes through file manager

For themes that are manually installed (via.mtz files), or if standard methods don’t work, you’ll need to delete the theme files directly, which requires access to the phone’s root folder, but not necessarily root rights.

You will need any file manager with access to system folders (such as MiXplorer or Solid Explorer).

1. Open the file manager and go to /storage/emulated/0/MIUI/theme/.data/ Custom Themes are stored here.
2. Find a folder with the title of the theme you are removing (usually a set of numbers and letters, such as com.example.theme123).
3. Delete the entire folder.
4. Go to /storage/emulated/0/MIUI/theme/.cache/ and delete all files related to the topic (the same names).
5. Clear the Themes app cache (as in Method 2) and restart the phone.

If the theme has been installed as a system theme (for example, through ADB or Magisk), its files can be located in:

/data/system/theme/


/system/media/theme/default/

Root rights will be required to remove from here.

⚠️ Note: Delete files from the folder /system/ If you're not sure about root, you can have a bootloop. 4 or 5.

Method 4: Remove themes via ADB (without root)

The Android Debug Bridge (ADB) tool allows you to manage system components without obtaining root permissions, a method suitable for removing stubborn themes that do not want to disappear through standard methods.

The work will require:

• 🖥️ Computer with installed ADB Tools.
• 📱 Included debugging by USB Xiaomi Mi 9 (Settings) → The phone. → Version. MIUI → 7 times to unlock the developer menu, then Settings → Additionally. → For developers → Debugging by USB).
• 🔌 USB-cable (preferably original).

Instructions:

1. Connect the phone to the PC and allow debugging (a request will appear on the smartphone screen).
2. Open the command prompt (or Terminal on Mac/Linux) in the ADB folder.
3. Enter the command to check the connection: Adb devices must appear serial number of your Mi 9.
4. Delete the theme by its batch name (e.g. com.theme.example): adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.theme.example Replace com.theme.example with a real theme identifier (can be found in Settings → Apps).
5. Reboot your phone: adb reboot

If you don’t know the batch name of the theme, get a list of all the items that the team has installed:

adb shell pm list packages | grep theme

⚠️ Note: Some system themes (e.g. com.android.theme.liveearth) cannot be deleted via ADB — This will lead to the Failure error. [DELETE_FAILED_INTERNAL_ERROR]. In such cases, only resetting the settings (the method) will help. 5).

1. Reinstall Xiaomi USB Drivers drivers.

2. Use a USB 2.0 port (on some PCs, USB 3.0 is unstable for ADB).

3. Enable the option "Debugging by" in the developer settings USB (security parameters)” and “Allow unlocking OEM".-->

Method 5: Extreme measure - resetting settings to factory

If all previous methods failed, and the theme continues to “ghost” the interface, the last option is a complete reset. This is a radical solution, but it is guaranteed to remove all user themes and return the Xiaomi Mi 9 to its original state.

Important: Reset will remove all data from your phone, including:

• 📸 Photos and videos (if not saved to the cloud).
• 📱 Contacts, SMS, call-in.
• 🎮 Installed applications and their data.
• 🔑 Wi-Fi passwords and account settings.

How to perform the reset:

1. Back up important data via Settings → About Phone → Backup or manually.
2. Open Settings → About the phone → Reset settings.
3. Select "Erase all data."
4. Enter the password (if installed) and confirm the action.
5. Wait for the process to be completed (it will take 5-10 minutes).

Once reset, the phone will reboot in factory condition, all themes, including system ones, will be deleted, but note: MIUI 12.5+ can automatically apply the theme attached to your Mi Account to avoid this, before reset:

1. Turn off the themes sync in Settings → Xiaomi Account → Sync.
2. Delete your Mi Account (optional, but recommended).

💡

Resetting is the only way to remove themes installed through firmware or system updates, but this is an extreme measure: use it only if other methods have failed.

Solutions to problems after removal of topics

Even after successfully removing the theme, Xiaomi Mi 9 users may experience side effects, and here are the most common problems and solutions:

1. app icons left behind from an old theme

This is due to the icon caching in Launche (standard launcher MIUI) to bring back the original icons:

• 🔄 Reboot the phone.
• 🧹 Clear the launcher's cache: Settings → Annexes → Launcher → Warehouse → Clear the cache.
• 📥 Set a standard theme MIUI And apply it.

2. “Theme is not supported” error when trying to install a new one

The com.android.themes.unsupported error is caused by conflicting MIUI versions and themes.

• 🔧 Update. MIUI last-minute.
• 🗑️ Remove all custom themes (through method 2 or 3).
• 🔄 Reset the settings of the application Themes (mode 2).

3 The theme itself comes back after the reboot

This is a sign that the theme is linked to a Mi Account or saved to the cloud to disable automatic application:

1. Open Settings → Xiaomi Account → Synchronization.
2. Turn off the "Themes" option.
3. Remove the topic manually (method 1 or 3).
4. Apply the standard MIUI theme.

4.After deleting the theme, the wallpaper or fonts disappeared

Some themes replace system fonts and wallpapers that don't automatically recover, to bring back standard ones:

• 🖼️ For wallpaper: download the original wallpaper MIUI official website.
• 🔤 For fonts: Set a standard font through Settings → Screen. → font.

💡

If after removing the theme, the phone began to slow down, clear the Dalvik cache through TWRP (root required) or perform optimization in Settings → About Phone → Optimization.

FAQ: Frequent questions about removing themes on Xiaomi Mi 9