MIUI gesture navigation not working [fixed]

You recently updated your Xiaomi Mi to MIUI 12, and the MIUI gesture navigation not working. Now, only the standard buttons are operational. You have probably attempted rebooting the phone, activating the full screen indicator, and more, but none of these will work. Grrrh, the Mi launcher is ugly and you still need to use a third-party launcher while still being able to use gestures.

Even if you use Nova Launcher, and disabled all its gestures, the problem may persist. Fortunately, this blog post has a solution for this issue.

Understand that this issue is not a Xiaomi bug. In fact, it is an issue with Android 11.

MIUI gesture navigation not working

Others also experiencing the same problem, including myself after updating one of my MIUI phones. MIUI gesture navigation not working, below is the fix:

I discovered a temporary workaround until Xiaomi addresses this issue.

Here’s the trick on how to fix MIUI gesture navigation not working:

1. I installed Fluid NG from the Play Store and followed the instructions.
2. Next, I went to Settings > Homescreen and selected MIUI Launcher as the default with navigation gestures.
3. I then set my preferred third-party launcher as default (Lawnchair in my case). By default, the gestures were disabled, and the 3-dot navigation appeared. At this point, you should be able to use both navigation gestures and 3-Dot navigation. Don’t forget to enable autostart and remove it from battery optimization.
4. I returned to the main settings page and tapped the search bar. I searched for “hide full screen indicator” and clicked on the result.
5. I chose gestures.
6. I tapped “hide full screen indicator.”
7. Now, neither a navbar nor nav buttons should be visible, and Fluid NG should be working.

Unfortunately, it’s necessary to repeat these steps after every reboot.

Now, you will notice vibration and gesture sounds while using this method. How do you remove it? You can remove it using the Fluid NG. Open Fluid NG and tap the first option (Personalization or somewhat) and scroll to the bottom. From there, adjust the sound and vibration with the sliders to remove the sound and vibration.

Also, note that Fluid NG must be kept running in the background. Once you kill it from Recents, the MIUI gestures are gone.

You can prevent this from happening with the following steps:

• Set the Battery optimization for this app to “off.”
• In the recent task list, lock the Fluid N.G. app.
• Configure the Fluid N.G. app to run in the background.
• Set the App energy management to no limits.
• Enable Autostart for this app.

You can also fix MIUI gesture navigation not working with Nova (6/7). Do the following:

• First, set Poco as the system launcher. If Poco is not running as the system launcher, you will lose the task manager function (recent app).
• Enable poco gestures after installing the gesture app.
• Make sure the developer option “miu optimizing” is set to on to avoid getting a lot of errors.

tip:

Try to set Nova and the setup icon to be used at the lower side of your home screen so that you can switch fast to Nova when necessary.

Read also: best offline navigation map for MIUI

Other tips that can be helpful

While the steps above will fix your MIUI gesture navigation not working, below are some troubleshooting steps for newer MIUI that gestures won’t work:

a. Update your MIUI version to the latest

You must have the latest MIUI version installed on your device such as 13, 14, etc., as it may contain fixes and improvements for gesture navigation. Go to Settings > About phone > System update to check for updates.

b. Re-enable gesture navigation

The Mi gesture navigation is already enabled on your device, however, MIUI gesture navigation not working . Go to Settings > Additional settings > Full screen display (or Full screen gestures) and enable the option.

c. Restart your Xiaomi

Sometimes, a simple reboot can fix minor issues. Press and hold the power button and choose ‘Restart’ or ‘Reboot.’

After rebooting, clear cache and data for System Launcher: Go to Settings > Apps > Manage apps, search for ‘System Launcher,’ and tap on it. Then, tap on ‘Clear data’ and ‘Clear cache’ buttons.

You can also reset Mi system launcher settings. Go to Settings > Apps > Manage apps, search for ‘System Launcher,’ tap on it, and then tap ‘Clear data’ > Reset settings.

Read also: tips to make Mi phone faster

Conclusion

The solution to MIUI gesture navigation not working is to use the FNG app as explained in this article. Just follow the workaround steps above to get your Xiaomi or Redmi gestures working again.