The Xiaomi Mi Band 6 is Xiaomi's latest budget fitness tracker that while keeping things cheap, still does pack in a surprising amount of features.
The sub follow-up to the Xiaomi Mi Band 5 added an improved screen, more workout modes and added blood oxygen monitoring in the mix.
Wareable verdict: Xiaomi Mi Band 6 in-depth review
We've spent plenty of time with the Mi Band 6, so picked out a few useful things and features worth knowing about to make the most of having this cheap tracker on your wrist.
Whether it's getting your new Mi Band set up or changing the wallpapers, here's our top Mi Band 6 tips.
How to pair Mi Band 6
The Xiaomi Mi Band 6 does work with both Android phones and iPhones. Your Android phone needs to be running Android 5.0 or above or your iPhone will need to running iOS 10.0 or above. You'll need to head to your respective app storefronts and download the Mi Fit smartphone app.
When you first On the Mi Band 6's screen, you'll see a prompt to pair first. Head to Profile in the Mi Fit app and select + Add device. Select the Band option and follow instructions to let the app scan for your Mi Band 6. Once it's discovered you'll be asked to activate the Band. Once that's completed your Mi Band 6 will be paired to your phone
How to change wallpaper
The good thing about having a more fuller display on the Mi Band 6 is that wallpapers (or band faces) have a lot more space to spread out on.
We quite like the band face that comes installed out of the box, but if you want to switch things up, you'll need to head to the Mi Fit app to do that. To change the wallpaper on the Mi Band 6, you need to do the following:
- Go to the Mi Fit app and go to Profile. Select Mi Smart Band 6.
- Select Store and pick out the wallpaper you want to switch to.
- Tap Sync watch face and that will begin to send it over to your Band.
How to change language
If for some reason you need to switch from English to French, Italian, Spanish or a number of other languages supported on the Mi Band 6, you'll need to head to the Mi Fit app and follow these steps:
- Go to the Mi Fit app and go to Profile. Select Mi Smart Band 6.
- Scroll to Band settings
- Tap Language and from here you'll be able to select your new language.
How to turn off the Mi Band 6
Can you turn off the Mi Band 6? Well, technically no. You can't simply turn the fitness tracker off. What is possible it performing a factory reset, which takes you back to the initial pairing setup. You can also perform a reboot to restart the Band if it's a being a bit problematic. To factory reset or reboot the Mi Band 6 you need to:
- On the Mi Band 6, swipe to the Settings screen
- Scroll down until you see the reboot or Factory reset option. When you've decided what you want to do, tap the option and the tracker will go through that resetting or rebooting process.
How to change from kilometres to miles (or vice versa)
It's a simple one, but if you prefer dealing in metric measurements instead of imperial or deal in kg as opposed to lbs, then you do have the option to switch things up. To change the way measurements are displayed:
- Go to the Mi Fit app and select Profile.
- Scroll down and find Settings.
- Tap Units and you'll be able to choose your preferred measurement system.
How to improve battery life
Xiaomi promises up to two weeks of battery life, but if you want to comfortably get that tracker time, there's a few features you can tinker with that can help you do that.
Health monitoring features like all-day heart rate monitoring, all-day stress tracking and the new sleep breathing quality monitoring can have a notable impact on battery life.
To disable these features and improve battery life:
- Go to the Mi Fit app on your phone
- Go to Profile and then tap on Mi Smart Band 6
- Scroll down to Health monitoring
- From here you will be able to turn on/off all of the features we've described above.
It's worth mentioning that for all-day heart rate monitoring, adjusting the measurement frequency to take data samples over larger intervals (every 30 minutes instead of every one minute) can be a way to improve that battery life performance.
How to take smartphone photos from the Mi Band 6
The Mi Band 6 does have the capability to act as the control for your smartphone's camera, letting you snap shots from your wrist. You'll need to enable that function first, which is done from the Mi Fit app. To turn on the camera shutter feature:
- Scroll to Lab and then tap Bluetooth pairing to pair the Band to your phone.
- Go to your Mi Band 6 and select More.
- You'll be prompted to open the camera on your phone and the camera trigger will now appear on your Band.
How to be more productive on the Mi Band 6
Xiaomi has added a new Pomodoro timer feature, which is the method of working for short periods then taking regular breaks to help you stay focused and tackle tasks.
If you're looking for the Pomodoro timer, swipe up from the main time screen and scroll down and you should be able to spot the feature. Then you can simply set the time you need to concentrate for and it'll countdown to that time before prompting you to break.
Turn on Night mode
When you activate Night mode, you'll be able to set start times and end times where the screen brightness is automatically dimmed to stop you from getting some good shut eye. To turn on Night mode on the Mi Band 6:
- Go to the Mi Fit app, go to Profile and select Mi Smart Band 6.
- Select Band settings and look for Night mode.
- From here you can schedule a start time and end time.
Share heart rate data with other devices
This can be a handy feature if you want to use the Mi Band 6's onboard heart rate monitor with other Bluetooth devices like compatible connected gym equipment and third party fitness apps.
This heart rate sharing feature is not set to on as default, so to turn it on, do the following:
- Go to the Mi Fit app and go to the Profile tab
- Select Mi Smart Band 6 and look for Activity Heart rate sharing
- You can toggle the support on. It's a feature that will drain battery, so make sure it's a feature you turn off when you're done using it.
Connect Mi Band 6 to Google Fit
Staying on that fitness theme, you can connect the Mi Band 6 to Google Fit, letting you send over workouts to the app to be collected with other data being stored in Google's health and fitness platform.
You'll need to connect the two services together first before you can start doing that though. To connect the Mi Band 6 to Google Fit you need to do the following:
- Go to the Mi Fit phone app and go to the Profile tab
- Go to Add accounts. You should see Google Fit as an option.
- Follow the instructions from that point to log into Google Fit and authorise the connection.
- Now when you next track a workout and sync it to the Mi Fit app it'll be sent through to Google Fit.
How we test
By Michael Sawh
Michael Sawh has been covering the wearable tech industry since the very first Fitbit landed back in 2011. Previously the resident wearable tech expert at Trusted Reviews, he also marshaled the features section of T3.com.
He also regularly contributed to T3 magazine when they needed someone to talk about fitness trackers, running watches, headphones, tablets, and phones.
Michael writes for GQ, Wired, Coach Mag, Metro, MSN, BBC Focus, Stuff, TechRadar and has made several appearances on the BBC Travel Show to talk all things tech.
Michael is a lover of all things sports and fitness-tech related, clocking up over 15 marathons and has put in serious hours in the pool all in the name of testing every fitness wearable going. Expect to see him with a minimum of two wearables at any given time.