Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphones often face situations where mobile internet ends up faster than expected, whether caused by app backlogs, automatic updates, or simply watching high-resolution video in a discreet way, and traffic control becomes a critical skill to save money and keep the connection stable at the right time.
MIUI and its modern version of HyperOS provide users with powerful built-in tools to monitor network activity. You don't have to install third-party programs to get detailed statistics. You just need to use the system functions that are hidden in the back of the menu or scattered across different settings sections.
In this article, we’ll look at all the ways to track data expenditure, from quick widget browsing to deep limit settings. You’ll learn to identify “gluttonous” applications and block them from accessing the network when needed. MIUI System Monitor updates real-time statistics, but accurate counter resets require manual synchronization with your carrier’s billing period start date.
Quick access through notification curtain and widgets
The easiest way to know how many megabytes you’ve already spent in a given month is right on your desktop or in the notification curtain. The standard Security or Traffic Statistics widget displays your current consumption without having to go deep into the settings, which is convenient for quickly assessing the situation on the run.
However, to make this data correct, the widget needs to be configured correctly. By default, it can show statistics from the last reinstallation of the system or reset settings. You need to manually specify the reset date that coincides with the date of updating the tariff plan of your mobile operator.
- 📊 Click on the traffic widget to open detailed statistics by day.
- 📅 Set the start date of the billing period in the widget settings for accurate calculation.
- 🔔 Include the percentage of usage from the total gigabyte package.
- 📲 Add the widget to the main screen via the desktop editing menu.
⚠️ Warning: Desktop widgets consume RAM, if you have a small-size model. RAM (3-4 GB), it is better to use the widget only in the notification curtain or check the statistics through the application "Security».
For those who prefer minimalism, there is a way to traffic right in the status bar, although standard Android tools do not always support this without third-party utilities. In the MIUI shell, you can turn on the display of network speed, which indirectly helps to understand whether active loading is in the background. Go to Settings → Notifications and the status bar → Network speed and activate the switch.
Using the Security App for detailed analysis
The central element of Xiaomi’s smartphone resource management is the system app Security, where all the tools for deep data analysis are concentrated. Launch the app and find the Traffic Statistics or Data Use section.
In this section, you'll see a timeline for your consumption, which allows you to switch between mobile data and Wi-Fi, which is an important distinction, because users often confuse mobile Internet consumption with wireless file downloads.
☑️ Checking security settings
The statistics interface allows you to sort applications by traffic consumed, which helps you instantly identify the "leaders" of consumption, often social networks, video services or cloud storage that sync the photo gallery.
The background traffic section is worth a special attention, and some apps can continue to download content or send analytics even when you're not using them. In the Security app, you can see in detail how much data has been spent in the background and limit this activity if necessary.
- 📉 Sort the list of applications by decreasing the megabytes spent.
- 🕵️ Check the Background Data tab to identify hidden costs.
- 📅 Change the statistics period to see the week or month’s dynamics.
- 🔍 Click on the specific app to view the detailed report by day.
⚠️ Note: Do not disable background data for Google Play Services and MIUI System, if you're not sure of the consequences, it can disrupt push notifications and synchronize contacts.
Setting limits and warnings in the system
So instead of relying on your memory and manual check, you need to set up automatic limits. The traffic statistics section I talked about above has a Settings item (usually a gear icon or three dots in the corner) where you can set hard limits.
Traffic Limit allows you to set a threshold when you reach the threshold where mobile internet is completely offline, a nuclear option that ensures you don't go into a deep negative on the tariff, and a softer option is to set up the alert.
When you reach a set percentage (e.g. 80% or 90% of your package), the system will give a noticeable notification, which is a signal that it is time to switch to Wi-Fi or limit the use of heavy applications. → SIM-maps and mobile networks → Traffic limit.
It is important to choose the right period for resetting statistics. If your tariff month starts on the 25th and the statistics are reset on the 1st, the warnings will not arrive correctly. In the limit settings, be sure to specify “Start of the month day” according to the terms of your carrier.
Managing network activity of individual applications
MIUI-based Android allows you to flexibly manage network access rights for each installed application separately, a powerful tool that is often underestimated. You can deny a particular application access to mobile Internet by leaving Wi-Fi, or vice versa.
To do this, go to Settings → Apps → All apps. Select the desired application from the list, then click on Data Use (or Traffic Consumption). Here you will see the switches for Mobile Data and Wi-Fi.
| Type of application | Recommended setting of Mob data | Recommended Wi-Fi setting | Commentary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Navigator (Yandex, Google Maps) | Included. | Included. | Needed for traffic jams and online search |
| Messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp) | Included. | Included. | Critical for receiving messages |
| Games (online) | If necessary, | Included. | Better to play over Wi-Fi for savings |
| Banking applications | Included. | Included. | Requires constant communication with the server |
| Video editors | Off. | Included. | They don’t usually require the internet for work. |
Turning off mobile traffic for heavy apps like YouTube or Netflix can be a great way to save money: You can only watch videos when you’re in a Wi-Fi hotspot, eliminating the occasional gigabytes of consumption on the go.
Traffic saving mode and its features
Xiaomi has a special mode called Data Saver, which, when activated, forcibly restricts background data transfers for most applications, a radical method that should be included when the month is a few days away and gigabytes are running out.
You can turn this mode on via Settings → Connection and Sharing → Traffic Savings. Also, a quick switch is often displayed in the notification curtain. When the mode is active, the corresponding icon appears in the status bar.
The system allows you to create a whitelist of applications that will not be affected by the restrictions, usually adding messengers and email clients to avoid missing an important message, and other applications will only download content when you directly open them.
- 🚀 Activate mode via quick settings or battery menu.
- 📝 Set up an exception list for mission-critical applications.
- 📉 The system automatically compresses traffic in the browser (if supported).
- 🚫 Background synchronization of photos and files will be suspended.
⚠️ Attention: In traffic saving mode, notifications from social networks and some messengers may stop coming unless they are added to exceptions.
Saving mode also affects streaming quality, and video hosting can automatically lower picture quality to consume less data, a trade-off that must be made to keep the traffic going.
Analysis of hidden costs and system processes
Sometimes users notice that traffic is being consumed even when no one is using the phone, often with Android or MIUI system processes behind it. For example, Google Photos may try to upload footage to the cloud via a mobile network if you forgot to include a Wi-Fi-only download limit.
Also worth checking is the settings of the Google Play and GetApps app store. By default, they can auto-update apps over any network, and it is recommended to change this setting to “Only through Wi-Fi” so that updates weighing 100+ MB do not eat your tariff.
The Media Scanner system process or Google Drive sync may also be the culprits, so to identify them, use the built-in detailed statistics we talked about at the beginning of this article and sort the list by system services rather than by application names.
If you find that the Content Download system process consumes a lot of traffic, check if a large file in the browser or torrent client is running in the background. MIUI has a built-in bootloader that can continue to download files even after the browser is folded.