How to view the traffic on Xiaomi Redmi: full control of the flow

Xiaomi and Redmi smartphone owners often face the challenge of controlling mobile internet usage, especially when using limited-gigabyte tariffs. MIUI and the new HyperOS have powerful connectivity monitoring tools built in to help them track data consumption in detail by each application, and understanding where megabytes go helps to avoid unexpected communication locks or unnecessary spending on additional service packages.

Android’s shell-to-shell features provide flexible limits, you can set a threshold at which the phone will automatically turn off mobile data or simply send a notification, especially for users who are actively using navigators, streaming services, or often download large files outside of Wi-Fi coverage.

In this guide, we’ll look at all the available ways to check statistics, from browsing a widget on your desktop to analyzing it in depth in the Security system app. We’ll look at how to set up an automatic restriction for background processes and which apps most often eat up traffic unnoticed by the user.

Use of System Application Security

The main tool for managing the device's resources is the built-in Security app, and that's where all the key network settings are concentrated. To get started, you need to run this system component, which is usually green and is represented as a shield, and there are a lot of utilities waiting inside the user interface, but we're interested in the traffic section.

Find and click on the Data Use menu, which shows a general summary of how many megabytes or gigabytes were used during the current period, how much is left (if the limit is set), and what is the average consumption rate. The interface is divided into several tabs, allowing you to switch between statistics for Wi-Fi and mobile network (SIM-This allows you to determine exactly where the main flow is.

At the top of the screen, you often see a graph that visualizes the daily consumption, which helps you identify days with abnormally high consumption. If you notice a jump on a particular date, it's worth analyzing what actions you were doing at that moment: maybe the Internet was accidentally turned on or a heavy app was updated in the background.

Setting limits and expense warnings

To be able to control finances, you need to set the thresholds right. In the Data Menu, you need to click on the gear icon or the Settings button in the upper right corner. Here's the Traffic Limit switch, which can be turned off by default. Activating this function triggers the monitoring mechanism with the parameters you specify.

In the window that opens, you will need to specify several critical parameters: first, select the start date of the Billing period (usually the activation date of your operator's tariff); second, enter the exact number of gigabytes included in your plan, the system will calculate the balance and will count down.

You can set two types of notifications: a soft alert (for example, when using 80% of traffic) and a hard limit (at 100%), the notification will appear in the status curtain, reminding you to save or connect an additional package. If you turn on a hard limit, the mobile Internet will be completely disconnected until the next billing period or turn on.

⚠️ Note: Do not set the date of resetting statistics on the 1st day of the month, if your tariff period with the operator begins, for example, on the 20th.This will lead to incorrect display of the balance, since the system counter will reset earlier than the operator, and you can go into deep minus.

Analysis of consumption by application

One of the most useful features is to detail the cost of each application installed. In the Data section, scroll down to the list of programs. Here you will see a ranked list: at the top are those applications that consumed the most traffic for the selected period (day, week, month).

Clicking on a particular app (like Instagram, TikTok or Telegram) will put you in its individual statistics. Here, the data is divided into two categories: background traffic and active traffic. Background mode is the data that the app downloads even when you are not using it (receiving messages, updating the feed, synchronizing). Active mode is what you see on the screen in real time.

You can customize your individual limitations for each application. The detail menu often features a Background Limit or Background switch. If you choose No Connection or Restricted, the app will only be able to go online when you open it, and this is the perfect way to stop voracious programs from constantly updating content in the background.

Below is a table showing the approximate impact of different types of applications on traffic consumption during active use within one hour:

Hiding a floating window and widgets on the desktop

For those who prefer visual control without deep immersion in the menu, Xiaomi has a floating speed window feature that displays the current connection speed (in KB / s) directly on the lock screen or in the status bar. To activate this mode, you need to go to Settings -> Notifications and Status bar -> Network Speed and select the display option.

However, a more convenient way is to add a statistics widget directly to the desktop. To do this, make a long press from the empty space of the screen, select Widgets (or Add) and find in the list "Data Transfer" or "Statistics." By placing a round or rectangular widget on the screen, you will see the rest of the traffic in one glance, without unlocking the phone completely.

Widgets in the MIUI shell are often interactive, so if you click on the traffic widget, you can go straight to the detailed statistics or manually reset the meter if you change your plan mid-month, for example, this eliminates the need to search for the menu in the depth of the system settings every time.

💡

Add the Security widget to your desktop for quick access, and it often contains a traffic summary, and from there you can tap into limit management without opening the full settings menu.

Traffic Saving Mode and Background Synchronization

Redmi and Xiaomi have a special mode that helps save traffic at the system level, called Traffic Saving and is located in the same Data Transfer menu, when activated, the system limits the background activity of applications, prohibits automatic updating of programs over the mobile network, and compresses traffic in the browser (if you use an embedded browser).

It's important to distinguish between system economy and settings within specific applications. For example, YouTube or Instagram have their own default video quality settings for the mobile network. Even if you turn on a restriction in the phone, the app can try to download high-quality content if allowed in its internal settings. So the approach should be comprehensive.

You can also pay attention to the Sync function in the background. In the Settings -> Accounts and Sync section, you can turn off automatic uploading of photos to the cloud (Google Photos, Mi Cloud) when using mobile data, which will save you from a situation where the phone ate up the entire packet of traffic overnight, trying to upload photos to the cloud.

⚠️ Attention: Enabling a traffic-savings mode may result in you not getting notifications from messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram) until you open the app.

Resetting statistics and solving display problems

Sometimes users are faced with a situation where the statistics in the phone do not match the operator's data, or the counter does not reset at the right date. In such cases, manual resetting of statistics helps. In the Data Transfer menu, find the Reset button (usually at the bottom of the screen or in the settings menu) This will zero the counters for all applications, but will not delete the applications themselves or their data.

If the problem is that the phone can’t see. SIM-If the map doesn't show statistics, try switching to network mode -> SIM-Maps and mobile networks and temporarily switch network type from 5G/LTE on 3G, And then back again. This will restart the modem and update the connection to the operator tower, which often solves the data transmission problems.

💡

Regularly resetting statistics on the date of connection tariff is the best way to always have up-to-date data about the traffic balance right in the smartphone interface.

In rare cases where embedded tools don’t work properly (like after a firmware update), third-party apps from Google Play, such as GlassWire or My Data Manager, can be used to duplicate the monitoring feature, sometimes providing even more detailed graphics than the standard Xiaomi shell.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)