MIUI 11 will introduce new icons, ultra power saving mode, and more

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Xiaomi’s MIUI may not offer the most appealing user experience for users outside of China but the company is slowly optimizing it. After MIUI 10, which was aimed at optimizing full-screen usage and improving the camera performance, Xiaomi is working on MIUI 11 for a more uniformly applied design language, new icons styles and shapes, better battery management, a native app drawer and much more. MIUI’s Product Director Liu Ming and Design Direct Ge Rui held an AMA session about MIUI 11 on Weibo on Wednesday, March 27, answering crucial questions about the upcoming update. We jotted down the possible features that we can expect to see with the update.

Refreshed icons and smoother animations – Firstly, Xiaomi is now looking to upgrade the system and app icons which have only been tweaked slightly but not changed since MIUI 6. This could change with MIUI 11 and the new interface might also offer users the ability to change icon shapes to suit their needs. With MIUI 11, the icons are expected to get flatter and more minimal compared to their current version. Additionally, Xiaomi is working towards achieving system-wide consistency of the visual elements and smoother animations.

Monochrome ultra power saving mode – Another great feature that will be added to MIUI 11 is the ultra power saving mode. With this mode, all apps and features except texts and calls will be turned off and the color of the screen will be turned into black and white in order to conserve battery. Users will also have the ability to selectively allow apps in the ultra power saving mode.

Status bar optimizations – MIUI 11 will bring improvement in terms of how MIUI manages icons in the status bar, especially on smartphones with notches. The icons will be well-spaced and optimized so that all crucial icons such as headphones, mute, battery and signal strength indicators can be accommodated on a single side of the status bar. Further, the clock might be shifted to right too i.e. in line with other Android devices. Lastly, Xiaomi might also add an option to darken the status bar to hide the notch.

Automatic screenshot management – The updated version of MIUI will support automatic deletion of screenshots after they are shared. Users might also get new options to edit screenshots. At the same time, MIUI 11 might also bring an improved way of interacting with notifications as well as the ability to club notifications from the same app in the form of cards. Moreover, users will also be able to manage persistent notifications and we expect a snooze function similar to stock Android.

System-wide dark theme – Xiaomi also seems to be in favor of a system-wide dark theme on MIUI 11 and while the feature is already being pushed to MIUI 10 beta on Mi 8 and Redmi Note 5 Pro, MIUI 11 could extend support for the browser and third-party apps. A native system-wide dark theme can also be seen on Android Q but Xiaomi users will have the privilege of using the feature even on MIUI 11 based on Android 9 Pie.