Parents' guide — Xiaomi and Redmi

Parental controls on a Xiaomi or Redmi phone (2026)

Xiaomi and Redmi phones run MIUI or HyperOS on top of Android, and they hide one trap that quietly breaks parental controls. This guide gives you the exact menu paths for the free Xiaomi tools and Google Family Link, plus the battery settings you must change so bedtime and school-hours rules actually fire.

By the Safeinest team — written by parents, checked against what the apps really do · Published 14 September 2026 · Updated 28 October 2026

The short answer

Set up Google Family Link for app and screen-time limits, then add a paired app like Safeinest for message safety and location. The one step you must not skip on a Xiaomi or Redmi: turn off MIUI battery restrictions for every control app, or the phone will kill it and your rules will quietly stop.

What Xiaomi and Redmi give you for free

Every Xiaomi and Redmi phone has some tools built in. They are worth knowing, but each has a clear limit.

• Digital Wellbeing & parental controls. In Settings → Digital Wellbeing & parental controls you can see screen time, set app timers, and switch on Focus mode and Bedtime mode. Good for building habits; light for managing a child.
• App lock. Open the Security app → App lock. Pick apps and protect them with a PIN, pattern or fingerprint. This stops a younger child opening an app, but it is a lock, not a schedule.
• Second Space. In Settings → Special features → Second Space you can make a separate space with its own apps and password. A child who knows the password can switch freely, so it is weak as a control.

None of these send a report to your own phone, and none watch messages for bullying or grooming words. For that you need Family Link or a paired app.

Step by step: the complete setup in one evening

Do this once, on both phones, with your child beside you.

1. Update the phone. Go to Settings → About phone → System update and install any update, so the menus match yours.
2. Install Family Link. On your phone, get Google Family Link from the Play Store. On the child’s Xiaomi, sign in with a child Google account (you can create one inside Family Link).
3. Set the Family Link rules. In the app you can approve installs, set daily limits, set a bedtime, and lock the device. This covers apps and screen time well.
4. Add a paired app for the rest. Install your safety app on both phones and link them by scanning a QR code. On the child’s phone grant usage access, display over other apps, notification access (for message safety) and device admin (for the removal lock). Every switch is visible to the child.
5. Now fix the battery settings. This is the Xiaomi-only step in the next section. Skip it and the rest silently fails.
6. Test it. Set a two-minute bedtime, lock both phones, and check the rest screen appears. If it does, you are done.

The Xiaomi settings that break parental apps

This is the part few guides tell you plainly. MIUI and HyperOS save battery by closing background apps. That is fine for games, but it also kills parental-control apps, so bedtime and school-hours alarms never fire. Do all four of these for every control app you use.

1. Turn on Autostart. Open the Security app → Permissions → Autostart, find the app, and switch it on. This lets the app start itself after a restart.
2. Set battery to No restrictions. Go to Settings → Battery and tap the app (or Settings → Apps → Manage apps → the app → Battery saver), then choose No restrictions. Do not leave it on the default.
3. Lock the app in Recents. Open the Recents screen (the multitasking view), swipe down on the app’s card or press and hold it, and tap the lock icon. A locked app is not cleared when you clean memory.
4. Turn off MIUI optimization if limits still reset. In Settings → Additional settings → Developer options, switch MIUI optimization off. You may need to enable Developer options first by tapping the MIUI or HyperOS version number several times.

After these four steps, background rules stay alive. This is the difference between a control app that works on a Xiaomi and one that keeps stopping. See also phones at bedtime for why the overnight window matters most.

Where the free tools stop

Family Link is strong on apps and screen time, but it does not read messages for harmful words, and its supervision loosens as a teen ages — a child aged 13 or over can ask to end it. Xiaomi’s own App lock and Second Space live only on that one phone, with no view from your side and no location trail. All of them still depend on the battery settings above. There is another route worth reading about in Android parental controls without Family Link.

Where Safeinest helps — and where it cannot

Because a Xiaomi runs Android, Safeinest can do things an iPhone will not allow. On an iPhone, no app can read messages; on Android it can, on the device, with a consent screen the child sees.

What Safeinest does on a Xiaomi or Redmi:

• Message-safety alerts that quietly flag self-harm, bullying and grooming words in messages and notifications, on the device.
• Pause apps by category, block now, set bedtime, school hours and daily limits — and these run even when the app is closed, as long as the battery steps above are done.
• Live location, a 24-hour trail, safe zones and no-go areas, plus a tell-me-if-they-do-not-arrive alert.
• Family calls, messages and an SOS button that rings on a locked phone, with no phone number needed.
• A screen-time report with top apps, the Safeinest Browser with SafeSearch, and a removal lock so the app cannot be quietly deleted.

What it cannot do: no tool is perfect. A determined teenager can still find gaps, and on an iPhone reading messages is impossible for any app. Safeinest costs the local 99 — 99p, ₨99, ₹99 or ৳99 — a month, with a 7-day trial. You can also pause your child’s apps from your phone in one tap.

The numbers

Some context, from named sources. About 70% of phones worldwide run Android (StatCounter). Outside the US, Canada, Japan, Australia and Scandinavia, 7 to 9 of every 10 children carry an Android phone — around 94% in Pakistan, 96% in India and 94% in Bangladesh (World Population Review and StatCounter, 2024–2025), and Xiaomi and Redmi sell strongly in exactly these markets. In India, 85% of children aged 10–18 said they had been cyberbullied, the highest of ten countries (McAfee, 2022). In Europe and Canada, 1 in 6 children aged 11–15 has been cyberbullied (WHO/Europe HBSC study, 2024). In the UK, 56% of 10-year-olds and 83% of 11-year-olds own a smartphone (Ofcom, 2025).

What to say to your child

Keep it short and warm. You could try: “I have set some limits on your phone, and I will show you exactly what they are — nothing is hidden. It is not that I do not trust you. Part of my job is keeping you safe while you learn.” Then show them the consent screen, so they can see what is switched on.

If you need help now

If your child is in danger, act first. In the UK, Childline is free on 0800 1111, the NSPCC helpline is 0808 800 5000, and in an emergency call 999. Outside the UK, call your local emergency number or your country’s child helpline.