Why Samsung Watches Are Switching Off Xiaomi Phone: Solutions

The situation when the Samsung Galaxy Watch suddenly loses touch with the Xiaomi smartphone is familiar to many users. This is not due to defective or physical damage to the Bluetooth module, but due to an aggressive energy saving policy implemented in the shell of MIUI or HyperOS. The Chinese manufacturer’s operating system tends to forcibly close the background processes, considering them an extra load on the battery, which leads to a break in the connection.

The stable operation of wearables requires constant exchange of data packets, which the system considers as “battery discharge”, as a result, you get a notification that the clock is turned off and you have to re-pair. The critical factor is the lack of automatic start of the Galaxy Wearable app after restarting the phone without manually configuring exceptions. Understanding the operating system Android in conjunction with proprietary add-ons will help to eliminate the problem.

The solution is to deep-tuning the application settings and the system permissions, so you don't need superuser rights or flashing the device, but you just need to change a few parameters in the settings menu in sequence to explain to the system the importance of permanently connecting to wearable electronics. Here's a detailed algorithm of actions.

Aggressive energy saving MIUI and HyperOS

The main reason for the connection breaks is the battery optimization algorithm. The MIUI system analyzes the behavior of applications and, if the program is not in active mode for a long time, puts it into sleep mode or completely completes the process. For messengers, this is permissible, but for a watch synchronization service, this is fatal. Communication is interrupted instantly as soon as the smartphone screen goes out.

Users often notice that after updating the phone’s firmware, the problem manifests itself more vividly. Xiaomi engineers are constantly improving energy saving algorithms, which sometimes comes into conflict with the work of third-party accessories. In particular, the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) background service used by the clock can be blocked by the system resource monitor.

⚠️ Warning: Disabling battery optimization for Bluetooth system services may slightly increase smartphone power consumption in standby mode.

To minimize the risks, it's important to set exceptions only for the necessary components. Don't turn off the power saving for all applications at once, it will lead to a rapid discharge of the device.

Set up autostart and background activity

The first step to stabilizing the connection is to allow auto-run for the Galaxy Wearable app and the watch plugin. In standard Android settings, these options are hidden, but there is a separate menu for them in the MIUI shell. Without this permission, the operating system will block the start of the sync service after the screen is turned on or rebooted.

You have to find the application section in the settings and manually set the settings you want. Often, users forget about the plugin that comes in tandem with the main application. It's the one that handles the steps, notifications, and health data, and if the plugin goes down, the watch becomes just a face with no features.

It is also worth checking the permissions for the Bluetooth service. In some versions of the firmware, location access (geolocation) is a must for Bluetooth scanning to work. If you deny access to geolocation, the stability of the connection may fall.

Working with notifications and blockers

A common problem is not only the disconnection of the connection, but also the lack of notifications on the wrist, even when the connection is formally there.This is due to the work of the ad and notification blocker built into MIUI. It can mark system notifications from the watch as spam or hide their contents on a locked screen.

To work properly, you need to add the Galaxy Wearable app to the blocker exception list, and the notification settings of the smartphone itself should allow content to be displayed on the lock screen, which will ensure that information from the Smart Watch is received in a timely manner.

It is important to check the Do Not Disturb (DND) settings. If this mode is on on the phone, it can sync with the clock, completely turning off vibration and light indicators. The user thinks the watch is off, although it is just executing the silent command.

Reset Bluetooth settings and reconnect

If the software settings didn’t work, there may have been a build-up of errors in the cache of the communication module, and a failure of the handshake protocol between devices in different ecosystems (Samsung and Xiaomi) is not uncommon, requiring a complete reset of the connection settings.

You need to remove the device from the list of paired phones in the Bluetooth menu. Then, in the Galaxy Wearable app, forget the clock. After that, it is recommended to restart the smartphone. Only after turning on the phone should you repeat the pairing procedure.

When reconnecting, keep a close eye on permission requests, the system may ask for confirmation of access to contacts, call log and location several times, and failure at at least one point can lead to unstable work.

Conflicts of Android and Wearable Version

Instability can be caused by software version incompatibility: If the watch is running an old version of the One UI Watch and the phone is running a fresh HyperOS, protocol conflicts may arise.

The Galaxy Watch Plugin app is often updated separately from the main app, and the outdated plugin is one of the main reasons why Samsung watches are disconnected from Xiaomi phone after the phone system update.

⚠️ Warning: When updating the watch firmware, do not interrupt the process and keep the phone close by. Interruption may cause the communication module to fail software.

If the problem has occurred after a specific update, it makes sense to search the network for bugs of this version, and sometimes developers release patches that temporarily violate compatibility with third-party devices.

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Use only official versions of apps from Google Play. Modified versions of Galaxy Wearable may contain errors that cause connection breaks.

Third-party application impact and memory cleanup

The stability of the Bluetooth module is affected by memory and antivirus applications, programs like Clean Master or built-in Accelerators can force the Bluetooth Share process to be terminated, and you need to add Bluetooth system services to the whitelist of such programs.

It's also worth checking if applications that use high-frequency background geolocation are running, and they can overload the data channel, causing connection timeouts for the clock, and in the face of poor cellular signal, this effect is amplified.

If you have a lot of widgets and live wallpaper in your phone, the load on RAM increases, the system begins to strangle background processes more actively to free up resources for current tasks, in which case periodic smartphone reboot helps.

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The stability of the connection between Samsung watches and Xiaomi depends on a comprehensive setup: auto-run, no battery optimization and the relevance of software versions.

Detailed analysis of the developer’s settings

For advanced users, hidden Bluetooth settings can be accessed through the Developer Menu, where you can change versions of Bluetooth profiles or codecs, but changing these settings without understanding the essence can lead to complete inoperability of the module.

In particular, the option "Bluetooth MAP" or "PBAP" may conflict with the implementation of these protocols in the clock. If you have previously changed these settings, return them to default values.

Sometimes switching the Bluetooth version helps: If the phone supports Bluetooth 5.2 or higher and the watch is old, you must force the older standard of compatibility to be set, although in the case of the new model, the new model is not compatible. MIUI It is difficult and often requires ADB-team.

adb shell settings put global bluetooth_version 5.0

Using ADB commands requires a connected USB debugging mode, which is a last resort when standard methods are exhausted. In most cases, the settings described in the previous sections are sufficient.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions