How to change the sound of notifications on the Xiaomi phone: 5 ways and life hacks

Notifications on Xiaomi’s smartphone are not just signals about new messages or calls, but also part of your daily comfort. Standard MIUI sounds can get boring quickly, especially if you’ve been using your phone for years. Fortunately, the manufacturer has provided several ways to change them, from basic settings to install custom tunes through the file system.

In this article, we will discuss all the current methods of changing notification sounds on Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO devices running MIUI 12/13/14 and HyperOS.

• 🔄 Change the sound through standard system settings
• 🎵 Install your melody from your phone files
• 📱 Use third-party applications for flexible customization
• 🔧 Solve problems if the sound is not changing or resetting

Important: the instructions are suitable for most models, including Xiaomi 13/14, Redmi Note 12/13, POCO F5/X5 and others.

1. Standard method: change through MIUI settings

The easiest method is to use the built-in system tools. MIUI allows you to choose from pre-loaded sounds or add your files (depending on the firmware version).

1. Open the Settings app (cog icon).
2. Go to Sound and Vibration (HyperOS may be called Sound).
3. Slip on the item Notification Sound (or Notification Melody).
4. Select one of the suggested sounds or click Add (if available) to download your file.

On some firmware (e.g. MIUI 12.5 for the global version), the option of adding custom sounds may be hidden, in which case use the methods in the following sections.

2. How to Set Your Notification Melody

If you don't like standard sounds, you can download any audio file. MIUI supports.mp3,.wav,.ogg formats up to 30 seconds.

1. Download or transfer the audio file to your phone (for example, to the Downloads or Ringtones folder).
2. Open Settings → Sounds and vibrations → Notifications sound.
3. In the upper right corner, press three dots (⋮) and select Add Melody (or Local Files on HyperOS).
4. Find your file in the list and tap it for selection.

Important: If the Add Melody option is missing, your version of MIUI does not support it. Use the Notifications folder method (see next section) or third-party apps.

File format: MP3, WAV or OGG

Duration - no more than 30 seconds

Volume normalized (without distortion)

The file is renamed in Latin (without spaces)

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3. Alternative method: Notifications folder

On older versions of MIUI (up to 12th) and some custom firmware, you can add notification sound by simply placing the file in a special folder, which works on new devices as well, but requires you to create a folder manually:

1. Connect your phone to your PC or use a file manager (like Google Files).
2. In the root directory of internal memory, create a folder called Notifications (registration is important!).
3. Put audio files in it (for example, my_notification.mp3).
4. Reboot the phone.
5. Now your sounds will appear in the Settings → Sounds → Notifications Sound.

If the folder already exists but the sounds are not displayed, check:

• 📁 Correctness of the folder name (notifications, without unnecessary characters).
• 🔊 File format (only supported.mp3,.wav,.ogg).
• 🔄 Reboot your phone after adding files.

💡

If the sound doesn’t appear in the list, try renaming the file as a short Latin name (e.g. alert1.mp3) and make sure it doesn’t exceed 5MB in size.

4. Use of third-party applications

If the built-in methods don’t work or you need advanced customization (for example, different sounds for different applications), use specialized utilities.

How to tune the sound through Zedge:

1. Install the application and open it.
2. Go to the Notification Sounds tab.
3. Select the sound you like and click Set.
4. Confirm the installation in the window that appears.

⚠️ Note: some apps (such as WhatsApp or Telegram) ignore the system sounds of notifications and use their own.

5. Different sounds for different applications

MIUI does not support assigning unique sounds to each application out of the box, but it can be done by workarounds:

Method 1: Through application settings

Some programs (e.g. Gmail, Slack) allow you to set your notification sound:

1. Open the settings of the desired application.
2. Find the Notifications (or Notifications) section.
3. Select the Sound option and specify the file.

Method 2: Notification Channels Appendix

For more flexible settings:

1. Install Notification Channels.
2. Provide all necessary permits.
3. Select the app from the list and adjust the sound for its notification channel.

Limitation: On MIUI 14+ and HyperOS, some features may be blocked due to Xiaomi's security policy.

💡

For apps with their own sounds (like instant messengers), check their internal settings first – often there’s a separate section for notification tunes.

6 Problem Solving: The sound is not changed or reset

Sometimes, when the notifications change, they don't apply or they reset to the standard, and common reasons and solutions are:

⚠️ Attention: If you are using MIUI Android 13 based+, Some system limitations can block the sound changes for individual applications, in which case only resetting the settings or flashing it to the global version will help.

7. Features for different versions of MIUI and HyperOS

The interface and the ability to customize sounds may vary depending on the version of the shell, and the key differences are:

• 📱 MIUI 12 and below: Support for Notifications folder, but no built-in audio editor.
• 🔄 MIUI 13/14: There is an option "Add melody" in the settings, but may not be on Chinese firmware.
• ⚡ HyperOS: Notification and Calling Sounds Combined in One Menu (Settings) → Sound, added support for dynamic melodies.

For POCO with POCO Launcher firmware, the path to settings can look like this: Settings → Sound and vibration → Additional → Notification Sound.

If your version of MIUI is very outdated (e.g. MIUI 10), consider upgrading through Settings → About Phone → System Update. This may add new features to work with sounds.

FAQ: Frequent questions