7 Cool HyperOS Features I Absolutely Love!

It has been over a decade now that Xiaomi’s MIUI first came into existence. So, the brand replacing it with what they are calling HyperOS is definitely a breath of fresh air. Thanks to Xiaomi, I was able to get my hands on the newly launched Xiaomi 14 Pro, running Android 14-based HyperOS.

I was introduced to a bunch of new features during my time with the device. So, I have handpicked what I feel are the best ones from the lot. So, if you are an MIUI user who is eagerly looking forward to getting the new OS experience, here are the best HyperOS features you should get ready to use on your Xiaomi phone.

1. Uninstall Bloatware

It is almost 2024 now and having bloatware on phones, especially flagships, is just something that brands need to do away with. Looks like Xiaomi is taking a big step towards that as now, you can easily uninstall bloatware, thanks to HyperOS.

From Mi Video to the Security app, Gallery, and even Games, most of the bothersome pre-installed applications can be uninstalled with HyperOS. Sometimes, you like the functionality of a native app while you don’t want to keep others on your device.

So, with this functionality, you get a lot more control over the apps on your device, which is always a good thing. Most importantly, you don’t have to go through the hassle of running ADB commands anymore.

For example, the native Mi Music never made sense to me. Hence, I simply removed it and chose to install YouTube Music, which is my go-to music streaming service right now. This allowed me to not have a similar app take up space on my device that I’d never even use.

So, kudos to Xiaomi’s HyperOS for allowing bloatware uninstallation. However, note that you can’t uninstall apps like the Mi Browser and GetApps, which is a bummer. We hope Xiaomi will allow the uninstallation of these apps as well in the future.

2. Lock Screen Customization

Think about it. If you come across a device with a not-so-appealing lock screen, would you even be driven to pick it up and use it? Now, that’s a hack if you want to reduce your screen on time. But, if that’s not the case, I’m sure you’d like to go all out and create a super attractive lock screen.

If you ask me, Xiaomi has done a commendable job with its lock screen customization on HyperOS. I know, it’s similar to what Apple brought in with the iOS 16 update, but Xiaomi has implemented it quite well.

For starters, if you are feeling narcissistic enough, you can simply put your own picture as your lock screen and toggle on the Depth effect. This gave my lock screen a really stylish look, with the clock and date smoothly shying away behind my face.

Then comes the numerous lock screen designs that I found myself aggressively scrolling through as the scroll animation here is just that good. Also, you can choose between Classic, Rhombus, and Magazine style of lock screens.

In addition, you can also change the lock screen text font and clock style to make it as personalized as possible. I played around with all of these settings a tad too much, and I can say this is one of the best HyperOS features you’ve got to use. It gets even better with the customized AOD that go along with it. See them in action in our YouTube video here:

3. Cleaner Control Center

Personally, I find myself visiting the Control Center the most on my phone in a day, whether it is to turn on the WiFi, location, Bluetooth, or just to quickly access my notifications and ghost people. So, a cleaner control panel definitely makes a lot of sense, and HyperOS brings you exactly that.

I took out the Xiaomi 13 Pro that we luckily had at our Beebom office to do a quick comparison with the HyperOS-running Xiaomi 14 Pro.

For starters, HyperOS gets rid of all the icon names in the Control Center, making it look more like iOS than ever before. Still, it looks and feels better to use. However, since the icons don’t have their respective names attached to them, it took me a while to wrap my head around it. But, once I did, I started preferring it over the conventional Control Center.

Moreover, once you swipe down to open the Control Center, you no longer have to swipe sideways to access all the quick settings. Every icon you add here can be accessed on the same page as you scroll down, just like on iOS.

Nevertheless, the revamped Control Center is one of the stand out HyperOS features, indeed.

4. Enhanced Gallery App

Although there was nothing wrong with the traditional Xiaomi Gallery app, it was not exactly in its best possible form. HyperOS has changed that as well, for we now see a redesigned Gallery app for users to get a clear understanding of what it has to offer.

Previously, the Gallery app had only two panels at the top, namely Photos and Albums. Now, with the release of HyperOS, we get to see them being shifted to the bottom alongside a third new panel, namely Recommendations.

The Recommendations panel lists all the features that you previously got to see upon tapping on the three-dot vertical menu in the Gallery app on MIUI. What’s new is that there is a bonus ID feature, which I found to be very useful. I can’t begin to talk about the number of times I have had to look for good apps to instantly create ID cutouts and photos for me. That issue is completely solved with this new feature.

Now, what if I told you that you could share your cutouts from a particular photo anywhere? That is what HyperOS brings to the table. Alongside the existing ability to change your photo’s background, using the Cutouts feature in your gallery, you can now Copy, Save, or Send them with one tap to anyone, on any platform you wish.

Gave me all sorts of ideas to turn my friends into memes, and I loved it. In addition, I also noticed that the cutouts feature is now much easier to access with a single tap instead of the slightly more complex way of finding it on MIUI 14.

5. Improved Privacy & Security

Xiaomi’s HyperOS brings a brand new Privacy & Security page to the Settings app. Here, you will get to see everything that you need to step up your security game. Something that I really liked was how all the app permissions are now wonderfully listed on this page. This made it very easy for me to do a quick check when needed.

When I started exploring this page further, I found a section called Shutdown Confirmation. In my opinion, this is one of the best HyperOS security features that you get to make use of. What it does is it basically prevents your phone from being switched off without using a PIN or pattern.

So, whether someone stole your phone or one of your friends is trying to fool around with your phone, they won’t be able to switch it off without entering a PIN code. Moreover, everything is listed clearly and all the features are self-explanatory, such that even first-time Xiaomi users won’t have a hard time figuring things out.

6. Lightweight & Hyper Fast

One of the best things about HyperOS is how lightweight it is. I was honestly surprised to see the OS take up just a mere 8.76GB of internal storage on the Xiaomi 14 Pro. This gives you a little more room to work with on your device.

If you take a look at Xiaomi’s history, you can see how they have been focusing on making the OS as lightweight as possible. Even the last-gen MIUI 14 takes up somewhere around 13GB. But HyperOS pushes that even further, bringing the OS install size under 10GB.

It’s not just MIUI that HyperOS mops the floor with in terms of install size. Other popular operating systems like OneUI and OxygenOS take up significantly more storage space as well. Even iOS 17.2 takes up 11GB of storage space. I could feel the lightweightness of HyperOS as I was using it if that makes sense. Take a look at OS install sizes for HyperOS vs MIUI 14 vs iOS 17.2 vs Android 14 for better understanding:

One of the reasons I disliked MIUI was because of how cluttered and sometimes stuttery everything felt. All of that goes away with this release, and the way Xiaomi has optimized HyperOS is beyond amazing. The animations too are stellar now.

When you install anything from GetApps, you see a super cool animation on your homescreen as well. Although this was also part of the Chinese MIUI ROM for quite some time now, it is good to see it make it to HyperOS as well.

RAM Management is like nothing we have seen on any MIUI device. In one instance, I had Call of Duty running in the background for almost an hour and when I re-entered the game, I was still in the lobby. Alongside that, other apps that I had open like YouTube and Instagram did not reload either.

The bottomline is that everything has this sense of satisfaction attached to it, and HyperOS makes you want to use your device a lot more often.

7. Dynamic Island-like Feature

Ever since Dynamic Island came into the picture with the Apple iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models, we have seen countless Android phone makers try to recreate the feature. We saw the Mini Capsule feature on the Realme C55, and OnePlus recently debuted something similar on their phones with the release of OxygenOS 14, among others.

Now, Xiaomi too had to scratch their itch of doing something similar to iPhone’s Dynamic Island with HyperOS. The brand isn’t calling this feature anything right now, which works when you turn on the hotspot, put your phone on charging, turn on Battery Saver, or turn on Silent mode, among other things.

It’s just a nifty little aesthetic addition to the HyperOS, and honestly, I do dig it quite a bit. In terms of utility though, there’s not much that it brings to the table. 10/10 in coolness quotient though.

The more I used HyperOS, the more Xiaomi’s objectives became clearer. Minimalism is the first step and fluidity comes next. Everything felt a lot more fluid, responsive, and “smart” in general without anything feeling over the top.

Moreover, I certainly do hope to test out Xiaomi’s new interconnectivity with HyperOS as and when we get to use it in India. Also, looking forward to seeing which of these HyperOS features make it to the Global ROM. Also, Xiaomi is understandably focusing on the bigger picture and plans to load up its ecosystem products, like its electric cars, with HyperOS. There’s no doubt that moving past MIUI to unveil HyperOS is one heck of a move by Xiaomi.

However, I’d actually like to see Xiaomi finally come up with something completely new on the OS front instead of releasing features inspired by iOS. Let me know in the comments section what you feel about Xiaomi’s latest and greatest, HyperOS.