The standard voice package of your Xiaomi or Roborock robot vacuum cleaner can seem boring, monotonous and even annoying after months of use. Fortunately, the smart home ecosystem makes it easy to replace factory audio files with unique recordings, funny phrases or even the voices of famous characters. It's not just pampering, but a way to personalize interaction with machinery, making cleaning a more enjoyable process.
To accomplish this, you’ll need an Android smartphone, as the OS’s file system allows direct access to application folders, which is critical to replacing voice system files. iPhone owners will have to look for workarounds or use emulators, as iOS restricts access to internal directories. The entire process takes no more than 10-15 minutes if the necessary files are prepared in advance.
The main advantage of the method is that you do not need to be a programmer or have root rights on the device. Voice packet replacement is possible on most models that support Wi-Fi connection and management via Mi Home. However, be careful when choosing the source of audio files, so as not to disrupt the main application of the cleaner.
Preparation of necessary files and tools
Before you start modifying your gadget, you need to assemble tools. You need to download special audio files, which are archives with the extension.pak or sets.ogg and.mp3. You can find them on specialized forums, such as 4PDA, or in the communities of Xiaomi enthusiasts on social networks.
Also, any file manager with advanced access rights, such as MI File Manager, Total Commander or ES Explorer, must be installed on the smartphone. Standard Android tools often hide system folders, so third-party software is mandatory. Make sure the device has the option to display hidden files and folders in the Explorer settings.
- 📱 Android smartphone with Mi Home or Roborock app installed.
- 🎧 Audio files with custom voiceover, adapted to your model of vacuum cleaner.
- 💾 File Manager with access to the root directory of applications.
- 🔋 Charged robot vacuum cleaner connected to one Wi-Fi network with a smartphone.
⚠️ Warning: Before any manipulation of system files, we strongly advise you to back up the original voice packet, which will allow you to return everything as it was if the new voiceover does not work or causes failures.
It’s also worth checking your robot model, as the folder structure of the Xiaomi Vacuum Mop and Roborock S5 may be different. A mischosen file can cause the robot to simply stop making sounds or play distorted noises.
Search and download of voice packets
Finding the right voice is a creative process that requires attention to detail. There are many sites online where enthusiasts share their recordings. The most popular are voice packs from games, movies or parody voices. When downloading, pay attention to the file format: most often you need a.ogg format with a certain bit rate for the robot processor to decode them correctly.
Some users prefer to create their own records, and you can use a voice recorder on your smartphone to record the phrases that the robot says when you start, finish cleaning, or make a mistake, but you can't just replace the files, you have to rename them according to the system names of the originals. The table below will help you navigate the main file types.
| Type of event | Approximate file name | Format | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleaning start | charge_start.ogg | OGG | 2-4 seconds |
| Completion | charge_end.ogg | OGG | 3-5 seconds |
| Mistake. | error.ogg | OGG | 2-3 seconds |
| Return to base | back_charge.ogg | OGG | 3-6 seconds |
When downloading files from unverified sources, there is a risk of a virus or a corrupted archive. Always check the downloaded data with antivirus. Also, make sure that the sound quality is consistent with the capabilities of the robot speaker: too high frequencies can sound hoarse, and too low frequencies can be indiscriminate.
Where to find rare voices?
Navigation on the Android file system
The most difficult step for beginners is to find the right folder in the bowels of the Android operating system. The path to the files of the Mi Home application usually looks like Android/data/com.xiaomi.smarthome/files. However, in new versions of Android, access to the data folder may be limited, so you may need to connect the phone to a PC or use special utilities to access.
If you're using a root-righted file manager, the path may be shorter and in the system partition. In any case, you need to find a directory where the voice packet cached data is stored, often called voice or lang, and inside you'll see the files with the digital notations corresponding to the languages.
- 📂 Open the file manager and go to the Internal Memory section.
- 📂 Find the Android folder, then the data.
- 📂 Open com.xiaomi.smarthome (or com.roborock.home).
- 📂 Go to files and look for folders with model or language names.
It's important to understand that the structure can change depending on the version of the application. If you can't find the files you want, try clearing the Mi Home app cache, but don't delete your account data. Sometimes voice files are loaded dynamically and stored in a subfolder. offline_voice.
⚠️ Warning: Do not delete or rename files that you do not know the purpose of. An error in the system structure can cause the application to stop seeing the robot vacuum cleaner or lose the scripting settings.
For ease of use, create a NewVoice folder on your phone's desktop and copy the original files before you replace them. This is your rollback point. If something goes wrong, you just put the old files back in place, and the robot will speak again in a standard voice.
☑️ Pre-replacement checks
The process of replacing voice files
Once the files are prepared and found, the moment of truth comes: copy the downloaded voiceover file to the same directory as the original. The system will suggest replacing the existing file — confirm this action. Make sure the name of the new file is completely the same as the name of the old one, including the extension. The difference in one character will lead to the file being ignored.
Some robot models require renaming the file to a specific format, such as ru.pkg instead of.pkg. ru_RU.pkg. Carefully read the instructions for the specific voice packet you downloaded. Once you have replaced the files, you must completely close the Mi Home application through the Task Manager so that it will reread the contents of the folders on the next run.
If the replacement is successful, launch the application and connect to the robot. Try sending a command to start cleaning or return to base. The robot must respond with a new voice. If you hear a crack or silence, the file format is not suitable or the bitrate is too high for the device's processor.
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If the robot is silent after replacing files, try restarting the device itself (with a button on the case), not just the application. Sometimes the voice cache is stored in the robot's memory and requires a full reboot cycle to update.
In rare cases, it may be necessary to re-assign the device. Don't worry, it won't reset your room maps, but it will update the configuration files associated with the language pack. The process takes a couple of minutes and is done through the standard device add menu.
Language settings in the Mi Home app
After you physically change the files, make sure the app understands which language to use. Go to your robot vacuum cleaner settings in the Mi Home app. Find Settings → Voice Package. The current language you select can be displayed here.
If you have replaced your Russian files, make sure that the list is Russian. Sometimes, after the modification, the settings are reset to English by default. In this case, just switch the language back to Russian. The interface may require you to download additional data — allow this action, even if the files are already in the folder.
- 🔊 Open the device card in the application.
- 🔊 Click on the three dots in the upper right corner for the menu.
- 🔊 Select Settings → Voice control.
- 🔊 Check the active language and change it if necessary.
It's worth noting that some custom packets are not tied to the language of the phone interface, but only depend on the files in memory. So if changing the language in the menu doesn't help, go back to checking the files in the Explorer. You may have put the file in the wrong folder.
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Changing the language in the app is a trigger for the robot to re-read files from memory, and without that step, the new voiceover may not be activated.
Possible problems and solutions
There may be technical difficulties in installing custom voice acting, and one of the most common problems is that the robot is saying distorted phrases or "stuttering," which indicates that the file has an inappropriate bitrate or sampling rate, and the optimal OGG format is 22050 Hz or 44100 Hz.
Another common situation is that the application automatically updates the voice packet when it starts, returning the standard sound. To avoid this, some users recommend disabling automatic resource updates in the application settings if such an option is available, or blocking access to voice update servers through the hosts file (requires root rights).
⚠️ Warning: If after all the manipulations, the robot stopped responding to commands or went into an endless reboot, perform a full reset to the factory settings (Hard Reset.
Also, consider that with the release of new firmware versions, the file structure may change. If the instructions stopped working after the robot software update, look for current guides for your firmware version. Old methods may not be effective for new models with a closed file system.