How to see how much internet the app spent on Xiaomi phone

Modern smartphones consume huge amounts of data, and Xiaomi devices are no exception. Owners often face a situation where mobile traffic ends long before the end of the billing period, and the cause is background processes or heavy applications. Understanding which app eats up your megabytes is the first step to optimize the gadget and save budget.

MIUI and its global version of HyperOS provide users with advanced tools to monitor network activity. Unlike standard Android, it is more integrated into security, allowing not only the numbers to be seen, but also tightly restricting network access for specific programs, especially for tariffs with a limited packet of traffic.

In this article, we will look at where to find hidden statistics, how to interpret the data, and how to prevent traffic leakage in the future, and learn how to manage permissions and adjust automatic restrictions so that your phone works efficiently without wasting resources.

Where to find the general statistics of traffic consumption

The first thing to do to analyze the situation is to go to the built-in system application Security. This is where, unlike standard Android settings, Xiaomi aggregates all the information about network activity. Run a green icon with a shield on the home screen or in the menu of all the applications.

Once you open the app, find a section that might be called Traffic or Data Use. In some firmware versions, this item is displayed in a separate menu hidden under the "More" button or three dots in the corner of the screen, and the system immediately shows the total megabytes used for the current period.

It is important to pay attention to the date of the reset. By default, it may not coincide with the date of your billing cycle at the carrier. Click on the gear or Settings item at the top of the screen to set the correct date for the meter update, which will allow you to see the current remnants of your package.

⚠️ Note: Statistics in the "Security" application may differ slightly from the data of the operator due to delay in updating the meters or features of rounding kilobytes.

To explore more, click on a graph or a figure of total traffic, and you'll see a list of all installed programs, sorted by consumption, and you'll see the division between mobile Wi-Fi and mobile Internet, which is critical to understanding where the overruns are.

💡

The Xiaomi Security system app provides more detailed statistics than the standard Android settings menu, including the separation by network type.

Detailed analysis of expenditure by annex

When you get to the list of programs, it will show how many megabytes each program has spent, but just seeing the numbers is not enough, it is important to understand the context. For example, navigators and streaming services are naturally at the top of the ranking, but sometimes you can find unknown utilities there.

Click on the specific app in the list, and a window will open with detailed information, where you can see:

• 📊 Total amount of data transmitted and received for the selected period.
• 📅 Dynamics of consumption by day (available as a schedule).
• 🔒 Background activity restriction status (allowed or prohibited).
• 📶 Separation of traffic into Wi-Fi and mobile network (3G/4G/5G).

And you have to pay special attention to background traffic, because many social networks and messengers continue to download content even when you're not using it, and if you see an application that's consuming a lot of data in the background, that's a signal to action, and you can force MIUI to ban the background connection for those programs.

And this menu also displays permission to use the network, and if the slider is turned off, the app will not be able to connect to the Internet in either the background or the active mode, a radical but effective way to stop a voracious program.

Setting limits and warnings

To avoid being in a situation where the Internet suddenly ended, the system offers to set automatic restrictions, the function of the Traffic Limit allows you to set a rigid ceiling, after which mobile data transmission will be completely stopped.

To activate this function, go to traffic settings and select Traffic Limit. You need to enter the volume of your packet provided by the operator. The system will automatically calculate the daily rate so that you spend resources evenly throughout the month.

And there's a softer option, a warning, that you can set a threshold where the phone will give you a notification, which is convenient if you want to keep control, but you're not willing to shut down the Internet completely when you go the slightest way.

→ SIM-maps and mobile networks → Traffic limit

You can also set the reset frequency in the same menu, select Monthly and specify the day your operator starts a new billing cycle, which will ensure maximum accuracy of the data displayed.

Management of background data and permits

One of the main reasons for the low-conspicuous traffic is the background activity of applications, which can be controlled very flexibly in HyperOS and MIUI, preventing specific programs from accessing the network when the screen is off.

Go to the settings of a particular application through the Security → Traffic menu. Find the Background switch. If you turn it off, the application will only be able to log in when you open it. This is perfect for video services or maps that are not needed in the background all the time.

Also worth checking for mobile data permissions. There's a separate column or tab on the app list showing access to the mobile network. Make sure that only the necessary programs have access to 4G/5G. For example, a video player or cloud storage often doesn't need mobile internet unless you're using it on the go.

Use Traffic Saving in Global Settings, which automatically limits background activity for most applications when you're not actively using your device, to help significantly extend the life of a data packet.

⚠️ Warning: Complete disabling of background data for messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram) will lead to the fact that notifications of new messages will come only after opening the application.

Resetting statistics and correcting accounting errors

Sometimes users notice that the statistics in the phone do not match the operator's data or just hang in place without updating, in which case you may need to reset the statistics of network use, this is a secure procedure that does not delete your personal files.

To reset, go to Settings → About Phone → All settings (or a similar path in your version of MIUI). Find Statistics or Usage. From the menu that opens, select the option to reset Wi-Fi statistics and mobile data.

After this operation, the meters will reset, and you can start watching the new period from scratch, which also helps if the system stopped displaying consumption charts correctly or blocked the Internet incorrectly.

Your bans on background will remain in force, only the digital values of the traffic consumed will change.

Hidden functions and engineering menu

For advanced users, Xiaomi has additional monitoring options, and the engineering menu provides access to more in-depth information about the network status, although direct resetting of traffic meters is not usually required.

Enter #4636## in the phone app. The test menu will open. Select Statistics. You can see the details for each type of connection (LTE, WCDMA, GSM) here. However, beware: changing the settings in this menu can affect the operation of the radio module.

This menu also includes Reset Statistics, which forcibly resets the counters at the modem level, and only use this option if the standard methods through the MIUI interface do not work.

Access code: ##4636##


Phone information / Usage statistics




Action: Reset Statistics

⚠️ Note: Do not change the "Preferred Network Type" settings in the engineering menu unnecessarily, this may lead to signal loss or unstable mobile Internet operation.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)