How to see the traffic consumption of applications on Xiaomi: step-by-step instructions with hidden chips

Mobile traffic on Xiaomi can leak unnoticed, especially if you use instant messengers, social networks or background updates. Many users face a situation where gigabytes of the Internet are exhausted in a few days, although active network use was minimal, the reason most often lies in the background processes of applications that continue to consume data even in standby mode.

In this article, we’ll look at all the ways to control traffic on Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones, from standard MIUI tools to hidden features and third-party apps, learn how to track voracious programs, limit their activity and save megabytes, and we’ll also reveal some non-obvious features that are not written in the official instructions.

If you notice that traffic is running out too fast, don't be quick to blame the operator. 90 percent of the time, the problem is with the device itself. Even seemingly harmless applications like weather, maps, or cloud services can eat hundreds of megabytes a month, and today you'll learn to counter that.

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1.Standard traffic monitoring in MIUI: where to look and how to read statistics

It is easier to start with built-in tools. MIUI. The system keeps detailed statistics on each application, but many users do not even know it. To open a traffic report, go to: Settings → SIM-maps and mobile networks → Using traffic.

Here you'll see a daily consumption chart for the month, and here's a list of all the applications, sorted by the amount of data you've used.

• 📊 Background traffic is the data that an app consumed when you weren't actively using it, and it often becomes the main hole in a megabyte budget.
• 📱 Foreground traffic – an expense during direct interaction with the program (for example, watching a YouTube video or scrolling a feed on Instagram).

One important nuance: MIUI resets statistics automatically at the beginning of each month. If you want to track traffic over a different period (like the operator's tariff cycle), click on the three dots in the upper right corner and select Reset statistics, and then the data will start to be collected again from the current moment.

You can also set a limit warning here, tap the gear in the upper right corner and activate the Excess Warning option, specify a threshold (for example, 10 GB out of 15 GB in tariff), and the system will notify you when the flow approaches the dangerous mark.

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2. Hidden settings MIUI: How to see traffic on the ground SIM-maps and Wi-Fi

Few people know, but in MIUI There are advanced statistics that show traffic consumption not only on the mobile network, but also on Wi-Fi, and also breaks down data on individual networks. SIM-maps (relevant to two-symbol models) to open it:

1. Go to Settings. → The phone.
2. Tap 5 times in a row on the MIUI version until the notification “You became a developer!” appears.
3. Go back to the main settings menu and open a new section for developers.
4. Scroll down to the Network block and select Traffic Use.

Here you will find a detailed report that includes:

• 📶 Expenditures for each SIM-Card (if you have different rates for calls and Internet).
• 📶 Wi-Fi traffic – see which apps are active even on your home network.
• 🔄 Total traffic for all time (since the last reset).

This data helps identify apps that eat up the internet even in the background, for example, if Google Play Services or Mi Cloud show high Wi-Fi consumption, this could indicate automatic sync or updates.

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If you see com.android.vending or com.xiaomi.micloud with a lot of traffic in the app list, it's Google Play Store and Mi Cloud respectively, and you can limit them to your account settings.

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3. How to limit traffic to individual applications

You find out that an application is consuming too much data, and MIUI has a built-in tool to limit traffic, and here's how to use it:

1. Open the Settings. → SIM-maps and mobile networks → Using traffic.
2. Slip on the application you want to restrict.
3. Activate the switch to limit background traffic.
4. (Optional) Set a hard limit by clicking Set a Traffic Limit and specifying a maximum value (e.g. 500MB per month).

After that, the selected application will not be able to exceed the specified threshold. If the limit is exhausted, the program will either block background activity or completely disconnect from the mobile Internet (depending on the settings).

Note that some system applications (such as Mi Cloud or Google Services) may ignore these limitations, and then you have to take a more radical approach:

• 🚫 Disable Auto Update in Google Play Store (Settings) → auto-update → Never).
• ☁️ Disable synchronization for unnecessary accounts (settings) → accounts → Choose an account → shut down the sync).
• 🔄 Limit background activity in battery settings (settings) → battery → selection → Limit background activity).

Disable Auto-Update Applications |Limit background traffic for social networks |Ban synchronize unnecessary accounts |Use lighter versions of apps (Lite) |Configure a warning about exceeding the limit-->

Another effective way to use lightweight versions of apps (such as Facebook Lite, Messenger Lite or Twitter Lite) is to consume 2-3 times less traffic than their “full” counterparts.

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4 Third-party traffic monitoring apps: which is better MIUI

Built-in tools MIUI They give you basic information, but for deep analysis, you'd better use specialized tools.-3 Applications that we recommend:

If you want to not only track but also block traffic for specific applications, NetGuard is the best choice. It works like a firewall and allows you to completely disable Internet access for any program, including system programs, without requiring root rights, but uses locally-based ones. VPN-tunnel.

GlassWire is a visual analysis tool that shows which apps are active right now, and can even alert you to suspicious connections (for example, if some software has started transmitting data to an unknown server).

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5. Traffic analysis through engineering menu (for advanced)

If standard methods don't give you a full picture, you can check out the Xiaomi engineering menu, which contains low-level statistics, including data on batch transmission, network errors and even cell information.

To open the engineering menu:

1. Open the Phone app.
2. Enter the combination: ##4636###.
3. Select Phone Information or Usage Statistics (depending on the MIUI version).

Here you will find sections:

• 📡 Network usage – total traffic on the mobile network.
• 📊 Packet statistics – number of packets sent/received.
• 🔋 Battery history – how traffic correlates with battery consumption (useful for identifying background processes).

Important: The engineering menu displays raw data that may be inaccurate due to the modem's work, and it is better to use standard MIUI tools or third-party apps for normal monitoring.

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The engineering menu is useful for diagnosing network problems, but it is not suitable for regular traffic monitoring, and changing the parameters here can lead to unstable mobile Internet operation.

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6. Frequent Causes of High Traffic Consumption and How to Resolve Them

Even if you've been tracking a voracious application, it's important to understand why it consumes so much data, and here are the most common reasons and ways to eliminate it:

Special attention should be paid to the ad modules in free apps, many games and utilities load banners even when you are not using them, to block such traffic:

• 🛡️ Install an ad blocker (such as AdGuard or Blokada).
• 🔍 Check App Permissions: If a game requests internet access for no obvious reason, it’s a reason to be wary.
• 📦 Use Lite versions of apps – they are less likely to contain advertising SDK.

⚠️ Note: Some apps (like TikTok or Instagram) continue to consume traffic even after they are closed.To stop their activity completely, close them through the Recent Apps menu and clear the cache in the settings.

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7. How to Reset Traffic Statistics and Set Up Notifications

By default, MIUI resets traffic data at the beginning of each calendar month, but what if your tariff period starts, for example, on the 15th?

1. Open the Settings. → SIM-maps and mobile networks → Using traffic.
2. Click on the three dots in the upper right corner.
3. Choose Reset Statistics.
4. Confirm the action.

Once you reset, the meter will reset and the report will start to regenerate.

1. In the same section (Use of traffic), tap the gear.
2. Activate the Excess Warning option.
3. Specify a threshold value (for example, 80% of your tariff limit).
4. Select whether you want to receive overshoot notifications through the Pop-up or Notification Panel.

⚠️ Note: If you use two of these SIM-maps, traffic statistics are kept separately for each, and remember to check the flow rates on both networks, especially if they have different rates.

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FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions