How to record audio on a Xiaomi phone: all the ways from voice recorder to hidden MIUI features

Recording sound on Xiaomi smartphones is a challenge faced by students in lectures, journalists in interviews, musicians recording ideas or just users who want to keep an important conversation. Despite the seeming simplicity, the functionality of recording audio in MIUI has nuances, from the limitations of the built-in voice recorder to the hidden capabilities of system tools. In this article, we will analyze all the current ways, from standard to little-known, and also reveal the technical details that affect the quality of recording.

The feature of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO phones is that the manufacturer often changes the layout of functions depending on the version of MIUI and the device model. For example, in the Xiaomi 13 Pro with MIUI 14, recording the screen with sound works differently than in the Redmi Note 10 on MIUI 12.5. We took these differences into account and prepared universal instructions that will suit most modern devices of the brand. If your model is released before 2019, some methods may not work – we will warn about this separately.

1. Built-in voice recorder: where to find and how to use

The most obvious way to record audio is the standard Recorder app, which is pre-installed on all Xiaomi smartphones, but many users can't find it: some firmware has it hidden in the Tools folder, others don't have a shortcut on the home screen to open the recorder:

• 🔍 Open the search by application (swipe down on the home screen) and type “Dictorphone».
• 📁 Check the Tools or Google folder (in some versions) MIUI The voice recorder is integrated with Google services).
• 📥 If the app is removed, install it from Google Play (officially called Mi Recorder).

The voice recorder interface is minimal: one recording button, a timer and a list of previous recordings, but even here, there are hidden functions:

• 🎤 Click on the three dots in the upper right to enable Voice Amplification – this is useful for recording quiet sources (e.g. lectures in a large audience).
• 📊 In the settings (⚙️ → Record quality: you can choose the bitrate: 128 kbit / s (enough for speech) or 320 kbit / s (for music).
• 🔄 Turn on Autostop in silence so that the recording is interrupted during pauses – this saves disk space.

⚠️ Note: Xiaomi’s built-in voice recorder can’t record phone conversations. This will require third-party apps (see Section 4).

2. recording sound through screen recording (with microphone sound)

If you need to record not only voice but also system sounds (such as sounds from a game or video), use the screen recording function. In MIUI 12-14, it supports microphone capture, but there are limitations:

1. Open the notification bar and find the Screen Record button (if not, add via Edit → Screen Record).
2. Before you start recording, press the gear (⚙️) and turn on the option to record sound.
3. Choose the sound source: Microphone, System Sound or Both (if available).
4. Click Start and confirm permissions.

Important: When recording system audio, some applications (such as Netflix or Spotify) may block capture due to copyright protection, leaving only sound from the microphone.

3. Hidden feature: recording conversations via Google Drive

Few people know, but Google Drive has a built-in audio recording feature that works even on older Xiaomi models, which is suitable for long recordings (such as interviews), since files are automatically saved to the cloud.

1. Open the Google Drive app and click + → Record the sound.
2. Start recording – the file will be saved in.m4a format (good quality with a small size).
3. After the recording is finished, it will automatically upload to your cloud (if mobile internet or Wi-Fi is enabled).

Advantages of the method:

• 🔒 Files don't take up space on the phone.
• 📤 You can immediately share the post at the link.
• 🎧 Recording quality is better than that of a standard recorder (bitrate up to 192 kbit / s).

⚠️ Note: If you have Google Drive autosynchronization disabled, records will only be saved locally and may be lost when your phone is reset.

💡

To improve the recording quality through Google Drive, connect an external microphone via USB-C or Bluetooth. In the recording settings, select it as the main source of sound.

Third-party applications: when embedded functions are not enough

If you want advanced features — recording phone conversations, editing audio or supporting external microphones — you have to install a third-party app, and we tested 10 popular voice recorders and selected the three best ones for Xiaomi:

Cube ACR or Call Recorder is suitable for recording telephone conversations, but note:

• 📞 In some countries (for example, in Russia) recording conversations without the consent of the interlocutor is prohibited by law.
• 🔊 On Xiaomi with Android 10+ Applications are forbidden to record sound during a call through standard API. Solution - use accessibility (manual setup).

Install Cube ACR| Enable access to "Special Features" | Set up automatic entry for the right contacts | Check the laws of your country-->

5. Recording sound through Engineering Mode (for advanced)

If you're ready to dive into technical details, the Engineering Mode allows you to record audio with maximum control over parameters.

• 🎚️ Microphone gain settings.
• 🔊 Testing the sound quality at different frequencies.
• 📡 Diagnostics of problems with the microphone.

To open the Engineering Mode:

1. Open the Phone app and enter the combination: ##36446337###
2. Go to the Hardware Testing → Audio section.
3. Select the Microphone Test and start recording.

In the engineering menu, you can record the sound from each microphone separately (main, noise-cancelling, for calls), which is useful for diagnosing malfunctions. However, be careful: incorrect settings can lead to malfunctions in the audio system.

6 Problem Solving: Why No Sound is Recorded

If none of these methods work, check the following points:

• 🔇 Make sure the microphone is not physically muffled (such as with dust or a cover.
• 📵 In the privacy settings → Permissions check that the voice recorder app is allowed access to the microphone.
• 🔄 Restart your phone – sometimes system failures block the microphone from working.
• 🛠️ If the problem occurs after the update MIUI, try to roll back to the previous firmware version (see instructions in the Updates and Firmware section).

If the sound is recorded but with noise, try:

• 🎧 Connect an external microphone (even a low-cost Lavalier will improve quality significantly).
• 🏠 Record in a quiet room or use noise-cancelling applications (e.g. Krisp).
• 📱 Turn off microphone amplification in the voice recorder settings - sometimes it adds interference.

💡

If the microphone doesn’t work in any application, the problem is more likely hardware. Contact the service center – on Xiaomi phones, the bottom microphone (near the USB-C connector) most often fails.

FAQ: Frequent questions about recording audio on Xiaomi