How to connect several phones to the robot vacuum cleaner Xiaomi

Xiaomi’s modern smart vacuum cleaners and the Mijia ecosystem allow for complete automation of cleaning by remotely controlling the process. However, many owners are asking how to allow access to the device to other family members without having to constantly transfer their personal password from their account, which is especially true for families where the cleaning schedule needs to be coordinated or simply monitored from different devices.

Fortunately, the Mi Home architecture offers a flexible permission management system, so you can link the same robot vacuum cleaner to multiple smartphones, separating the roles of administrator and user, which provides not only convenience, but also added security, since you do not need to share the credentials of the main account.

In this article, we will take a look at all the available ways to implement multimedia access, the official Family Sharing feature, how to browse devices through shared accounts, and how to work with different regional servers, and understanding these mechanisms will help you set up your system so that every family member can start cleaning or check the filter status at any time.

Xiaomi Smart Home Principles and Accounts

The foundation of the Xiaomi ecosystem is to link each device to a unique user ID (Mi Account). By default, the gadget added to the Mi Home app becomes visible only on devices authorized under that particular account. This is done for security reasons, so that outsiders can not control your equipment.

However, the system does not limit the use of one account to only one phone, you can install the Mi Home app on several smartphones and log in using the same username and password, in which case all devices will be synchronized in real time, if one user starts cleaning, the second will instantly see the change of status on his screen.

Although simple, the shared account method has significant drawbacks: First, cleaning history and electricity usage statistics will mix, making it difficult to analyze performance; and second, notifications of completion of tasks or errors will arrive on all connected phones, creating information noise.

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Use a shared account only for temporary access or in situations where full control of the device is required by all users without restrictions of rights.

A more advanced approach is to split access rights, where one phone acts as the main (administrator) and the rest receive limited rights, which allows you to keep the statistics clean and customize notifications for each user.

Official method: use of the Family Access function

The most correct and recommended way for developers is to use the built-in Family feature in the Mi Home app, which allows the device owner (administrator) to invite other users who also have a Mi Account to share gadgets.

To get started, the administrator has to open the app, go to the profile, and find the family management section, where a new cell is created or an existing one is selected. Once the family is created, the system will prompt you to add members. It is important that all participants have current versions of the Mi Home app installed.

• 🏠 Open the Mi Home app and go to the Profile tab in the lower right corner.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Click on “Manage Family” and select “Create a Family».
• 📲 Choose the method of invitation: QR-code, link or search ID Mi Account.
• ✅ Once the second user accepts the invitation, the devices can be transferred to the common family.

After adding participants, the administrator must move the robot vacuum cleaner itself to the created Family, and then go to the device card, click on the three dots in the upper right corner and select "Device settings." In the settings menu, look for "Family management" or "Add to family."

⚠️ Warning: Once the device is moved to Family, it may disappear from the administrator's personal list of devices and appear only in the Family section.

Family members will have access to the vacuum cleaner, but their rights may be limited, such as starting a cleanup and seeing a map, but they will not be able to remove the device or change critical network settings, which protects the system from random actions by children or guests.

Alternative method: authorization under one account

If the Family feature is not available for some reason (for example, because of differences in regional servers among users) or seems too complicated, you can use the full synchronization method.

This is often referred to as mirroring, and you simply install the Mi Home app on a second phone (like a spouse or child’s phone) and you choose to sign in when you sign up, entering the main acc-un, and all devices, maps, and scripts will instantly show up on the new device.

The main feature of this approach is full state synchronization, so if you create virtual walls or no-go zones on the main phone, they will automatically appear on the second phone, and if you change the schedule on the second device, it will change for the administrator.

But there are risks: Any action taken on one device will apply to everyone; accidentally removing a room from a map or resetting a card by one user will affect everyone; and push notifications will be duplicated, which can be annoying.

To improve security when using a shared account, it is recommended not to save a password in a browser or password manager on other devices, but to enter it manually at each login, if possible, or use two-factor authorization.

Set up access rights and delegation of management

In the Xiaomi ecosystem, access rights are implemented through a “delegation” mechanism (Share), where the owner of the device can share a particular gadget with another account without giving access to the entire house, ideal for guest access or for grandparents who only need a launch interface.

The setup process starts with a device card, and unlike adding to Family, you send an invitation to a particular device, and the recipient of the ping will see the device in their app under Shared with me.

The difference between the owner and the recipient of access is significant:

• 🔑 Owner: has full access to all settings, can delete the device, change region, update firmware and see error history.
• 👁️ User: usually can only start/stop cleaning, send a vacuum cleaner to base, see the charge level and status of filters. Access to the map and setting of virtual walls is often limited.

To share the device, open the robot vacuum cleaner page, click on the settings icon (three dots) and select Share. ID Mi Account or scan QR-User code that needs to be accessed.

⚠️ Note: Share only works if both users (owner and recipient) have chosen the same server when logging in to the app, for example, if the owner is sitting on the server "Russia", then the second user must also choose "Russia».

If the servers differ, the invitation won't pass, so the second user will have to change the region in the application settings to the one the owner of the device uses, and this won't carry his data, but it will allow you to see the shared device.

Compatibility issues and regional servers

One of the most common problems when connecting multiple phones is region mismatch: Xiaomi and Roborock devices (which are often part of the Xiaomi ecosystem) can be tied to the server of the country of purchase or activation.

For example, if a vacuum cleaner was purchased in China and was originally configured to a China server, there may be restrictions when you try to add it to an account with Russia or Europe, the device may be visible, but the control functions will be blocked, or it will simply not be added.

To solve this problem, you need to bring all connected phones to a common denominator. Check the region in the Mi Home app profile on each device. If they differ, change them to the one that the robot vacuum cleaner is attached to.

If you're faced with a situation where one phone "sees" a vacuum cleaner and the other doesn't, 90% of the time, the problem is in different regions, and checking this is the first step in diagnosing any problems with the visibility of devices in a multiphone environment.

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The unity of the region on all smartphones is a critical condition for the stable operation of the Xiaomi smart home from multiple devices.

Frequent errors and ways to fix them

Even if all instructions are followed, users can experience technical failures, and it is common for a second phone to see the device, but when trying to control it, it says "Device offline" or "No access."

This may be due to the app's cache. On the second phone, try clearing the Mi Home app's cache through operating system settings or reinstalling the app again, and logging out and re-authorizing also helps.

Another common mistake is limiting the number of users: Some routers or older versions of vacuum cleaners may not handle multiple connections properly, and make sure the robot firmware is updated to the latest version via the main phone.

If nothing works, try removing the device from the second user's account (if it's "hung up") and re-sending the Sharing Invitation, sometimes requiring you to reset the vacuum cleaner to factory settings by holding the reset buttons on the case and re-tethering it.