Mi: Always on Display

Mi: Always on Display – A Practical Look at Android’s Ambient Screen Customization

I’ve been using Mi: Always on Display for roughly three months on my Xiaomi device, and it fundamentally changes how you interact with the lock screen. Instead of tapping the power button just to check the time or see if a notification arrived, this app keeps a low-power ambient display active. You get date, battery percentage, and even weather updates without fully waking the phone. The real value isn’t the on/off switch—it’s the depth of personalization that makes the always-on display feel like an extension of your daily routine.

Beyond Standard Clock Styles: What You Can Actually Tweak

The app offers more than a handful of prebuilt watch faces. You can adjust the layout of info—move the clock to one side, stack notifications vertically, or hide the battery icon entirely. I’ve set mine to show only the time and a small notification dot, which reduces visual clutter when I’m at work. There’s also an option to choose custom background images or gradients, but here’s the catch: bright or high-contrast wallpapers will drain your battery faster than a dark, simple design. After a few weeks of testing, I settled on a deep blue abstract pattern—it looks clean and barely sips power.

One feature I didn’t expect to rely on is the “edges” customization. You can apply a subtle glow ring that pulses when a notification arrives. It’s not as flashy as some Samsung edge lighting, but it’s useful when your phone is face-up on a desk. The app also includes a schedule mode, so the ambient screen turns off during sleeping hours. That’s a small but welcome touch for anyone who wants to avoid a dim glow in the bedroom.

Performance and Battery: Not a Free Lunch

Let’s be honest—always-on displays consume energy no matter how efficient the panel is. On my phone (Snapdragon 865, 6.67-inch OLED), leaving the ambient display active 24/7 costs around 8–10% extra battery per day. That’s acceptable for me, but if you’re already struggling to get through a day, this app will push you closer to a mid-afternoon charge. The app itself runs smoothly; I haven’t experienced crashes or lag when waking the phone. However, some users report that on certain Android skins (especially heavy manufacturer overlays like One UI or ColorOS), the app doesn’t fully override the system’s own always-on behavior. On my device, I had to manually disable the native Always-On Display setting before the app’s customization took full effect.

Another real pain point: there’s no built-in double-tap to wake. You still rely on the phone’s default gesture, which sometimes conflicts with the app’s touch zone. Also, the app doesn’t support third-party notification icons from every messenger app out there—WhatsApp works fine, but Telegram showed a generic icon until I manually assigned it in the settings.

Missing Features and Honest Limitations

For all its flexibility, Mi: Always on Display lacks a few things I consider essential. First, there’s no music player control on the ambient screen. I often want to skip a track without unlocking, but this app only shows the current song name (if your player supports lock screen controls). Second, the brightness adjustment is manual—no adaptive brightness based on ambient light. That means in direct sunlight, the display might look washed out, and at night, it’s often too bright unless you lower it beforehand. Finally, the app doesn’t integrate with the phone’s proximity sensor to automatically turn off when in a pocket or bag. I’ve pulled my phone out several times to find it still glowing, wasting battery.

These aren’t dealbreakers for me, but they prevent the app from being a perfect replacement for the system’s built-in ambient screen. If you’re the type who keeps your phone on a desk all day and only needs basic info at a glance, Mi: Always on Display delivers solid customization without bloat. If you want a smarter, adaptive display that reacts to your environment and includes media controls, you’ll need to supplement it with other tools or wait for an update.