Xiaomi’s modern smartphones, with their powerful screens and background processes, can consume gigabytes of data in the face of the owner. If you use mobile Internet with a limited tariff, knowing the real consumption is critical. Traffic control avoids unexpected locks or write-offs by the operator.
MIUI (and its new version of HyperOS) provides built-in tools for deep network analytics, so you don't have to install third-party apps to get detailed information, but you just need to set up your security tools correctly.
In this article, we’ll look at all the ways you monitor, from browsing widgets quickly to setting your limits in detail, and learn how to determine which app is eating up your megabytes and how to set strict limits.
Checking through the Security Application
The main tool for managing resources in Xiaomi smartphones is the system application Security, which is where all the statistics on data use, divided into mobile Internet and Wi-Fi, are collected.
To see the details, open the app and find Statistics or Data Use. This shows the current month's summary. The system automatically summarizes the incoming and outgoing streams, giving you the overall picture. The visual graph helps you quickly measure the dynamics of consumption by day.
Note that statistics can be reset when you reinstall an application or clear its data. So it is important to check the readings regularly if you have not set up an automatic reset on the date of the connection tariff. The accuracy of the data in this section is 99%, since the information is taken directly from the system logs of the Android kernel.
⚠️ Note: If you reset your network settings or manually reset your statistics, your data from the past period will be lost without the ability to recover through the standard interface.
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Set the start date of the billing period in the statistics settings, so that the meter automatically resets on the day of the subscription fee deduction, this eliminates the need to count the days manually.
Use of widgets on the desktop
For those who need to see traffic flow continuously, MIUI offers handy widgets that are placed on the home screen or in the left-hand assistant slider, allowing you to control the rest of the packets without going into the deep settings menu.
You can add a widget through the desktop editing menu. Select a size of 1x1 or 2x1 for a compact display. The widget shows current consumption over a selected period. The interactive element allows one tap to go to detailed statistics.
There are several types of widgets: simple counters and advanced graphics. Some widgets can display connection speed in real time, which is useful for diagnosing speed problems. However, they consume a little more battery power due to frequent data updates.
- 📊 Standard widget: shows the total amount of MB/GB spent per month.
- 📉 Graphic widget: displays the dynamics by day in the form of a column chart.
- ⚡ Speed widget: shows the current download and unload speed in real time.
Setting limits and warnings
To avoid overspending, the system allows you to set strict limits. It's a critical feature for users with tariffs, where after the packet is exhausted, the speed drops to a minimum or an hourly fee is charged.
In the limit settings section, specify the volume of your tariff package. The system will track the cumulative result. When the flow reaches the set threshold (for example, 90%), the smartphone will give an audible and visual notification. When you reach 100%, the Internet can be completely turned off.
☑️ Setting up the traffic limit
It's important to choose the right date for resetting statistics. Most operators don't have the first day of the month. If you put the wrong date, the calculations will be incorrect, and the limit may work too soon or later. Check the date in the contract with the operator or in your personal account.
⚠️ Warning: The full shutdown feature when you reach a limit can block important notifications. Use it with caution if you expect important emails or messages in messengers.
Analysis of consumption by application
Often users are surprised where all the traffic has gone, and the answer lies in the app-specific detail, and the statistics menu has a list of all the programs sorted by the amount of data consumed, which allows you to identify the hidden eaters of traffic.
Social media and video services have traditionally been the top of the lists, but sometimes system services or games that you rarely run are the top of the list, and application background activity can consume data even when the smartphone screen is off.
Clicking on a particular application in the list will show you the separation between the foreground and the background. If the background consumption is high, you should think about limiting the background activity for this software, which will save traffic and battery power.
| Annex | Type of traffic | Volume (example) | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube / TikTok | Mobile/Wi-Fi | High (GB) | Reduce the quality of video in the settings |
| Telegram / WhatsApp | Mobile/Wi-Fi | Medium (MB) | Disable Media Autoboot |
| Google Photo | Wi-Fi (usually) | High (GB) | Allow synchronization over Wi-Fi only |
| System services | Mobile. | Low (MB) | Check system updates |
Why does the app consume traffic in the background?
Comparison of phone and operator data
Often, there is a situation when the data on the Xiaomi smartphone differs from the numbers in the operator’s personal account. This is a normal situation caused by the peculiarities of counting. GGSN/PGW.
The difference is usually between 5% and 10%. Operators can round up traffic or take into account service packet headers that the phone does not take into account in user statistics.
If the discrepancy is minimal, focus on the operator’s data, as they are the basis for the billing-ga. If the difference is huge (for example, the phone shows 1 GB, and the operator 10 GB), it is possible that the device is infected with malware or the background process is incorrect.
- 🔄 Rounding difference: operators often round up to a whole megabyte in a big way.
- 📡 Service traffic: Some operators take into account service authorization packages that the phone doesn't show.
- ⏱ Update delay: Data in the operator’s application may be updated with a delay 15-30 minute.
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Always trust the statistics of the operator more than the built-in counter of the phone, as the billing system of the provider is the final instance for calculations.
Hidden settings and engineering commands
For advanced Android users, there are hidden test menus, which can be accessed through a set of special codes in the Phone app on Xiaomi smartphones, which allows you to see more in-depth technical information about the connection.
One of the useful codes is ##4636##. In the Testing menu that opens, you can select Usage statistics, which shows a detailed history of network activity by application UID, which is more technical and less user-friendly, but extremely informative.
Also worth mentioning is the ##6484## command, which opens the CIT engineering menu. Although it's designed to diagnose hardware, some firmware versions can find network interface logs. Be careful: changing the settings in the engineering menu without knowing can disrupt the communication modules.
⚠️ Note: Do not change the settings in the engineering menu (CIT), If you don't understand their purpose, resetting the network settings in this menu can lead to loss of registration in the operator's network.