How to change the notification sound on Xiaomi: 5 ways to use all models

The standard notification sounds on Xiaomi are boring quickly — especially if you’ve been using a smartphone for years. Fortunately, MIUI allows you to flexibly adjust audio alerts, from replacing them with built-in tunes to installing your own ringtones from the music library. But not everyone knows where these settings are hidden — especially after the interface updates in MIUI 14 and MIUI 15.

In this article, we will discuss all the current ways to change the sound of messages, including hidden features for advanced users.

• 🔄 Replace the standard signal with one of the pre-installed signals in the system
• 🎵 Set your own tune from files on your phone
• 📱 Set up unique sounds for different messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber)
• 🔇 Turn off vibration at notifications, saving sound
• ⚙️ Return factory settings if something goes wrong

Instructions are suitable for all modern smartphones of the brand: Xiaomi 13/14, Redmi Note 12/13, POCO F5/X5 and older models on MIUI 12+. Separately consider the nuances for devices with global and Chinese firmware.

1. Standard method: change through MIUI settings

The easiest method is to use the built-in tools of the system, which works on all versions of MIUI and does not require superuser rights.

1. Open the Settings app (the gear icon on the desktop).
2. Go to the Sound and Vibration section (some models may call it Sound).
3. Select the Notification Sound or the Notification Melody.
4. In the list that appears, tap on any sound you like - it will be played automatically.
5. Confirm the choice with the OK or Ready button.

If there is no suitable option in the list, you can download additional tunes:

• 🎶 Click Add or Download in the upper right corner of the screen.
• 📁 Select a file from the phone's memory (formats.mp3,.m4a,.Wav is best supported).
• ✅ Confirm the installation – the sound will appear in the general list.

The duration of the sound is no more 30 seconds|File format — MP3 or M4A|Volume normalized (not quieter) -16 dB)|The file is in the Ringtones or Notifications folder.-->

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To quickly find the folder with ringtones, open the file manager and type in the Notifications search - the system will show a standard location.

Some firmware (especially Chinese) may not have the notification sound.

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Select System Apps and find Sound Picker.
3. Clear the cache and app data, then restart the phone.

2. Install custom sounds through the file manager

If you didn't have enough of the built-in tunes, you can add your own.

1. Download your favorite sound to your phone (e.g., from Zedge or Mobile9).
2. Connect your phone to your computer or use a file manager (such as Mi File Explorer).
3. Move the file to one of the system folders: 📂 /storage/emulated/0/Ringtones/ — call-in 📂 /storage/emulated/0/Notifications/ — notice-in 📂 /storage/emulated/0/Alarms/ — alarm-box

Restart the device – new sounds will appear in the list of available.

Important: folders must exist beforehand. If they don't exist, create them manually.

For root-righted devices, there is an alternative way:

adb shell cp /sdcard/Download/my_sound.mp3 /system/media/audio/notifications/


adb shell chmod 644 /system/media/audio/notifications/my_sound.mp3

This command copies the file directly to the system partition, where it will be available even after resetting.

3. customize unique sounds for individual applications

MIUI allows you to assign different tunes to different messengers, which is convenient if you want to distinguish notifications from WhatsApp and Telegram by sound.

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Select the application you want (for example, Viber).
3. Put it on the Notifications.
4. Turn on the sound switch (if it is switched off).
5. Click on the current tune and select a new one from the list.

Calls |Messages in messengers |Alerts from social networks |System notifications |Alarm clock-->

On devices with MIUI 15, the Notification Categories feature has been introduced, where you can assign different sounds to different types of alerts from one app (for example, separately for messages and WhatsApp calls), to activate it:

1. Press the notification from the desired application.
2. Select Notification Settings.
3. Slip on the additional settings.
4. Turn on the Allow Category Switch.

4.Problems and Solutions: Why Notification Sound Doesn't Change

Sometimes users find that changes don't apply, and here are the most common reasons and ways to address them:

If none of the methods helped, try resetting the sound settings to the factory:

adb shell settings put global notification_sound ""

This command will reset the current notification sound, after which you can assign a new one.

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On two-device devices. SIM-Notification sounds may be reset when changing the active SIM. It's a bug. MIUI, which is only corrected by firmware updates.

For owners of POCO and Redmi on Chinese firmware, you may need:

1. Install the MIUI Sound Modifier patch through Magisk.
2. Or use it. ADB-Command: Adb shell cmd notification allow_sound_picker

5. Additional settings: vibration and LED-indicator

The notification sound is just part of the alert, and you can configure other settings in MIUI.

• 📳 Vibration: 🔄 Go to Settings. → Sound and vibration → Vibration. 📊 Select the vibration style for notifications (such as Short or Long). 🔇 To turn off vibration, select No vibration.
• 💡 LED-indicator: 🔦 Go to Settings. → Screen. → Notification indicator. 🎨 Choose the color of flashing for different types of notifications. ⏱️ Adjust the frequency of blinking (for example, Slowly or Fast).

Some models (such as the Xiaomi 13 Ultra) have Adaptive Sounds, which automatically adjusts the volume of notifications based on ambient noise, to activate it:

1. Go to Settings → Sound and vibration → Adaptive sounds.
2. Turn on the switch and follow the instructions on the screen to calibrate the microphone.

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If LED-The indicator is not working, check if it is turned off in power saving mode. → Battery → Energy saving regime → Settings and make sure that the Notification Indicator option is enabled.

6. Alternative methods: apps from Google Play

If embedded tools MIUI You don't like it, you can use third-party apps.-3 tested:

To set the sound from a third-party application:

1. Download and install the app from Google Play.
2. Select the sound you like and click Set.
3. In the window that appears, select the Sound of Notifications.
4. Confirm the choice – the sound will be applied to all notifications.

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Apps like Zedge require permission to access storage. If the sounds aren't set, check the permissions in Settings → Apps → [App name] → Permissions.

For users of POCO Launcher or custom firmware (e.g. Pixel Experience), the process may be different.

• 📲 Use the SoundPicker app (requires root).
• 🔧 Or set the sounds through ADB: adb shell settings put system notification_sound content://media/internal/audio/media/123 (where 123 — ID Your audio file in the media base).

FAQ: Frequent questions about customizing sounds on Xiaomi