How to set up the sound of notifications in VK on Xiaomi: from simple steps to deep settings

Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face a situation where notifications from the VK social network come without sound, even if the volume is twisted to the maximum in the application. This is not a bug, but a feature of aggressive energy optimization in the shells of MIUI and the new HyperOS. The system can “sleep” the background processes of messengers, considering them inactive, which leads to delays or complete absence of audio accompaniment of incoming messages.

To solve this problem, it is not enough to simply change the melody in your profile settings. It is critical to properly configure system resolutions, notification categories and battery settings. In this article, we will examine all the nuances from basic audio settings to complex system constraints that block the audio signal.

You will learn how to create exceptional rules for VK so that no important message goes unnoticed.We will look at the differences in settings for different versions of Android and shells, and answer the question of why standard tunes may not work and how to fix it.

Basic sound setting inside the VKontakte application

The first step should always be to check the internal settings of the VK app itself. Often users accidentally turn off the sound for all chats or choose the "No Sound" option, thinking they are setting up only the current dialog. Go to the app and click on the three bars in the upper left corner, then select Settings.

In the menu that opens, look for Notifications and Sounds, and there's a Sound switch that needs to be activated, and below you'll see Melody or Notification Sound, and you'll click on it and you'll be taken to the ringtone selection system player, and that's where the track is set, which will play back when you receive a new message.

• 🔊 Make sure the volume slider in the notification section is not at a minimum.
• 🎵 Check if the specific melody is selected, rather than the "No sound" value".
• 📱 Make sure the “Show Notifications” switch is on at the top of the menu.

Note that the audio settings inside the app can overlap with Android system settings, and if that's true but there's no sound, the problem lies deeper in managing the operating system's notification channels.

Managing Android Notification Channels

Starting with Android 8.0, the system uses the concept of “notification channels,” which means that the VK app has separate settings for private messages, comments, likes and calls, and setting the sound for one type of event does not guarantee it for others.

To access these settings, go to Settings on your smartphone, then to Apps → All Apps. Find VK (or VK Lite) and click on Notifications. You will see a list of all event categories.

Find the Personal Messages category (sometimes just called “Messages” or “New messages”). Click not on the switch, but on the category name or the gear icon next to it. A detailed menu will open where you can select a specific sound for incoming messages, different from the likes or comments.

⚠️ Note: If you change the tune in the app menu, it may not work for specific channels. Always check the settings within each category (messages, calls, comments) separately.

In the same menu, make sure that the display style is "Important" or "No restrictions" if such an option is available, which will inform the Xiaomi system that these notifications require immediate attention of the user and should not be blocked by power saving modes.

System settings for notifications in MIUI and HyperOS

Xiaomi shells have their own notification control center that runs parallel to standard Android. To ensure sound is played, you need to check the settings in the system section of Settings → Notifications and Status bar → Application Notifications.

Find VK on the list and make sure all switches are active. Pay special attention to Sound and Vibration. New versions of HyperOS have introduced Advanced Settings, where you can prevent the content of the notification from being hidden on a locked screen, which often affects the priority of the audio signal.

Also worth checking is whether Do Not Disturb (DND) mode is enabled. In MIUI, this mode can be configured to block the sounds of all applications except for the selected contacts. Check the schedule of Do Not Disturb mode in the notification curtain or in the audio settings.

• 🔔 Check whether the tick "No sound" in the properties of the application in the system menu.
• 🌙 Make sure the Do Not Disturb mode is not active or has exceptions for VK.
• 📢 Enable the "Sound Support" option in the general system notification settings.

If you use third-party themes, they can change the system notification sounds to "quiet" or drown them out. Try switching to the standard Classic or Default theme to rule this out.

Battery optimization and auto-start

The most common reason for the lack of sound is that the application process is killed by the system to save charge. MIUI and HyperOS are known for their aggressive policies in this matter, and in order for VK to be able to reproduce sound at any moment, it needs permission to operate in the background.

Go to Settings → Applications → All Apps → VK → Advanced Settings (or Battery) and choose Unlimited mode, and the default is “Battery” or “Charge Savings”, which prevents the application from actively using the audio channel in sleep mode.

The second critical parameter is Auto Run. Find this item in the same app settings menu or through a search in your phone settings. Allow VK to autorun. This ensures that the application process starts immediately after you turn on the phone and doesn't "die" in the background.

It is also recommended to fix the application in RAM memory. Open the menu of running applications (swipe from the bottom up and hold, or menu button), find the VK window, press it and press the lock icon. This will prevent the application from being cleaned by the "Clear All" button.

⚠️ Warning: No Limits mode increases battery consumption because the app will be constantly active, but for instant notifications with sound, this is necessary.

Configuring sound files and formats

If you want to set your melody, not the standard one, it is important to consider the file format and its location.The Android system on Xiaomi works correctly with MP3, OGG and M4A formats. Files must be downloaded to the phone's memory.

The best way to do this is to put sound files in the Notifications folder in the internal storage, and if you don't have one, create one. When you select a tune in your VK or system settings, go to Files on your device or Phone Memory and look for your track there.

The length of the audio file also matters: notifications are optimal for up to 10-15 seconds, long tracks may be cropped by the system or not playback completely if a second notification arrives while the first one is sounded.

Sometimes cleaning up the media cache helps if the system stops seeing new files. Go to Settings → Applications, turn on the system process display (three dots in the corner), and find Media Service or Media Storage. Clear its cache and restart the phone.

Table: Comparison of settings for different scenarios

Below is a table that will help you quickly orient, which parameters you need to check depending on your problem.

Use this table as a checklist for your diagnosis, and often just change one parameter in the appropriate line to fix the problem.

Solving problems with sound delay

When the phone vibrates, the screen lights up, but the sound appears through the 10-20 It's called a "delayed notification" when you unlock it, which is a classic symptom of Doze Mode's energy-saving system working in conjunction with the power-saving system. MIUI.

To remove the delay, it is not enough to simply give permission to the background; you need to prevent the system from “freezing” the network activity of the application. In some versions of MIUI (especially in the Chinese and Global scenarios), it helps to include the option of debugging over USB in the Developer Menu.

To activate the developer menu, click 7 times on the MIUI Version in the About Phone section. Then, in the advanced settings, find USB Debugging and enable it. Then, in the additional developer menu that appears, find the items:

• 🔌 Do not turn off the screen when charging (you can not turn on, but useful for the test).
• ⏳ Background Process Limit – Select “No Limits".
• 🚫 Adaptive brightness control – sometimes affects the proximity sensor when calling, check.

There is also a hidden setting in the developer menu called Monitor de red or similar, related to network activity, but it may not be available on all models. A more reliable way is to use third-party utilities to “revive” applications, but Xiaomi usually has enough native battery settings.

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Periodically (once every 1-2 months) check for updates to the VK app in Google Play or RuStore. Developers often change the ID of notification channels in new versions, which can cause old audio settings to “fly”.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

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The main secret to stable sound on Xiaomi is a combination of three settings: the “No Limits” resolution for the battery, the “Stop” enabled and the correctly configured Messages channel in the system notifications.

Setting up notifications sound on Xiaomi requires care, but following these steps will give you complete control over alerts.Don’t forget that software bugs can occur after updates, so periodically rechecking these settings is a good habit for Android owners.