How to Enable Developer Mode on Xiaomi (2024)

The user can configure some features of the Android system at his discretion. For this purpose, Xiaomi and Redmi phones have Developer Mode – a section with additional features initially hidden from the owners. How to enable Developer Mode on Xiaomi and Redmi, and how to use it – we will discuss this in this article.

What is this menu?

Developer mode is a set of settings to reset information and enable special options for software developers. Any user can access the menu. To do this, you need to perform several simple actions.

Developer Mode allows you to control certain functions on your smartphone, namely:

enabling debugging via USB;
setting the display (do not turn it off when charging, selecting a theme, or locking the screen);
application check;
work with the mobile network, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth;
input display, window highlighting, and animation;
autofill options;
theme selection, fonts, and icons;
audio codec installation.

These are only the most basic features. The full functionality is much more extensive, but we do not recommend that inexperienced users activate the developer mode. Because without the necessary knowledge, you can cause significant damage to your operating system.

Enabling Developer Mode in MIUI in 2 steps

Let’s take a detailed look at how to enter developer mode on Xiaomi. The instruction will be relevant only for phones running the MIUI firmware. On pure Android, the steps are different.

Step 1: Enable the Developer Mode display

First, you need to access the developer mode, as initially, you will not find such a section in the system menu. Open “Settings” and go to “About Phone”. Next, click the ” MIUI version “ line 5-7 times. You should see an inscription notifying you that you have become a developer.

Step 2: Find the item in the settings

Go back to the initial menu, where we select the “Advanced Settings” item. Scroll down to the “For Developers” tab, and activate the slider next to “Developer Mode” on the page that appears. Accept the warning that changing the settings may cause the phone to malfunction.

At the bottom will be a list of all categories, which can be changed. Edit only those items for which you are aware of the functionality.

Developer Mode on Android One

It is also possible to get into developer mode on smartphones with pure Android. The principle does not differ from the above option for MIUI. The only difference is the name of the tabs.

Go to “System” – “About the phone”;
Several times we click on the “build number”. The message will tell you how many times you need to click to enable the mode.
Once again, go to the tab “System” – “Advanced”. There will be an item “For developers”.

These instructions will be suitable for the models: Mi A1, Mi A2, Mi A2 Lite, Mi A3, and Mi A3 Lite.

Features and functionality of Xiaomi Developer Mode

You already know where to find this mode on MiYuay and stock Android. Now let’s move on to an overview of the available features.

General

At the beginning of the page are the main options that affect the system. If you want to secure your backup files, set a password for your backups. It can only consist of Latin characters and numbers. The next line allows you not to turn off the screen while charging the phone. It is not recommended to use this feature regularly as the battery will become hotter.

You can remove the lock screen. When you turn on the phone, the desktop will immediately appear. But this increases the risk of accidental touching (spontaneously launching an application, dialing a number, and so on). The Bluetooth HCI log is better not enabled: only the experienced owner can understand packet capture and analysis. Next comes OEM unlocking. Activate it only if you are going to unlock the bootloader.

The WebView service is the application responsible for opening web links within an application. Do not change anything here.
Mi Unlock status allows you to find out about the bootloader status and link the account to the device for further unlocking.
Turn on the automatic system update at will. But be aware that the phone may start updating at an inappropriate time, for example, when the charge level is low.
In demo mode, the status bar will only show the charge percentage and Wi-Fi signal, and the clock will stop.
You can select a dark or light theme.
The items in the quick settings involve turning on object boundaries, interface reflection, Winscope trace, and slow window animation. In normal use, these settings are not needed.
The next two items deal with phone locking at trust agents.

Debugging

The section is all about USB debugging. It allows you to transfer files to other devices via cable. Many users enter the mode on Xiaomi for the sake of activating debugging. Be sure to enable this option if you connect your smartphone to your PC via USB.

Also, separately activate the slider opposite “Install by USB”. For maximum security, run app validation when installing via ADB and ADT. All other settings are best left untouched.

System trace can be used to track and analyze workflows on the mobile device. This allows you to improve performance.

Networks and sound

Wireless display certification gives detailed parameters when connected. Extended Wi-Fi coverage contributes to better and more stable data transmission, as does limiting requests. To quickly switch between networks, don’t turn off the mobile Internet when the Wi-Fi is running. USB configuration is usually prompted during each connection, but you can only set a default setting, such as charging or file transfer.

Next is the setting of audio and audio codecs. We recommend that you always turn off the absolute volume on Bluetooth devices. Leave the default Bluetooth AVRCP version and learn the types of audio codecs. You can specify the sampling rate, encoding depth, and audio channel mode or leave the choice up to the system.

Input

This is a visualization of touches and gestures on the screen. The first function only displays the touches as a circle, and the second – records them and marks the coordinates at the top of the screen. Many people are perplexed as to why these options are needed in everyday use.

Drawing

This item is for adjusting the animation and interface.

The highlighting is a purple glow when the window is refreshed. The system warns that this is a dangerous function, so we recommend you not turn it on. And the purple light is painful to the eyes.
Showing the borders of objects completely splinters the screen, marking the fields of elements.
Interface reflection flips the page from right to left.
Choice of several animation transitions and windows + duration of the animation effect. Animation can be turned off completely.
The emulation of secondary screens implies the presence of a second workspace on top of the main one. It duplicates the actions of the main screen. The function is useful, but you should not choose a quality higher than 1080 p because the processor may not withstand such a load.
A minimum width is an option for adjusting the scale of the interface. Zoom in and out is available (minimum value is 320 )
The cutout on the screen also lends itself to adjustment: it is shifted to the corner, doubled, or raised higher.

Hardware rendering acceleration

Check out this section if you want to work with graphics. Hardware updates and layers are available for highlighting. The GPU overlay debug highlights areas where elements overlap each other. Truncation commands are also highlighted.

Force activation of the dark theme triggers it in all applications. Enabling 4x MSAA makes the picture smoother. Anomaly simulation is suitable for people with vision problems (for example, it is recommended to turn on the monochrome mode in case of color blindness).

Multimedia

One option here is to disable automatic sound transmission to third-party USB devices. This function should be turned on if you only use Bluetooth headphones.

Monitoring

Strict mode triggers screen blinking during complex tasks. HWUI rendering profiling will be shown on the screen as bars. The “Power monitor” tab monitors power.

Applications

One of the most extensive items in Mi-Mode for developers. You can immediately delete activity files and limit the number of background processes. It is always recommended to display error messages and the “Application not responding” dialog for quick troubleshooting.

Check the “Allow saving to third-party drives” checkbox to keep program caches and files on the memory card. You can also resize windows and create arbitrary shapes in multi-window mode. To keep personal data safe, give access to SMS and contacts only to messengers. Activate the toggle switch to make some notifications appear as pop-ups.

Autofill

Here you can:

enable logging with debugging information or with detailed information;
set the limit of requests per session;
select the maximum amount of data to display;
reset to factory defaults.

Themes

There are only three options in this sub-item:

color accent selection;
font type;
the shape of the icons.

If you’re using a third-party theme, it’s best to leave the above settings as default.

At the very end of the page, there are two options: “Enable MIUI optimization” and “Notify about dangerous features”. Do not deactivate these options under any circumstances.

We’ve figured out what developer mode is. In the next paragraph, let’s look at how to get out of it.

How to disable/hide developer mode on Xiaomi

The developer mode is not completely removed. You can only hide the developer menu. To do this, follow the same procedure as when you turn it on. Go to “Advanced Settings” – “For Developers”, and move the slider next to the first line to “Off” mode. The item will disappear from the settings.

FAQ

What kinds of problems can I have signed in?

Usually, developer mode activates right away without any problems. If developer mode does not activate, please reboot your device and try again. As a last resort, reset your smartphone to factory defaults.