Redmi, Xiaomi and POCO phones run Android, so Mayak installs on them like on any Android phone: from Google Play or from a file on our site. The difference is Xiaomi's own shell: it has its own autostart and battery switches, and if you do not check them the connection can die while the screen is off. Below: installing, turning it on and off, and what Xiaomi itself writes about background work.
In short. Mayak installs on Redmi, Xiaomi and POCO from Google Play (“Mayak Networks: Secure VPN”), and if there is no store — from a file at mayak.ws/dl/app. To turn it on, press Connect in the app; to turn it off, press the same button. To keep the connection alive with the screen off, check three things for Mayak in Xiaomi's settings: autostart, battery saving and pinning the app. We took the paths from Xiaomi's help pages, linked below; we have not tested Mayak on a real Xiaomi phone.
We make Mayak. Our own app is for Android and Android TV: a Xiaomi, Redmi or POCO phone, a TV and a box, all on one account. 3 days free after you confirm your email, no card needed. The trial is free and needs no card; without an email it is 1 day.
🍎 On iPhone, Mayak works through the subscription link from your account page. The real Happ (publisher Flyfrog LLC) is not in the Russian App Store — searching that word there brings up look-alike apps from other publishers. INCY (publisher LLC ITDEV) works instead: checked on 22 September 2026.
Which Xiaomi you have: phone, TV or router
This article is about Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO phones. All three run Xiaomi's shell on top of Android: the older MIUI or the newer HyperOS. It does not matter which one for installing, but the menu names differ between them, and that is flagged below.
- A Xiaomi TV. It runs Android TV and the path is different: A VPN on a DEXP or Xiaomi TV. A Mi Box or a Mi TV Stick is in the article about boxes.
- A Xiaomi router. The app does not install on a router; the question there is the firmware: VPN on a router.
- A phone from another brand. The general Android guide is VPN for Android; for Samsung see VPN on Samsung Galaxy; for Huawei and Honor, without Google Play.
How to install Mayak on Redmi, Xiaomi and POCO
- Easiest: from Google Play. Open the store, find “Mayak Networks: Secure VPN” and tap Install. If there is no Google Play icon on the phone, go to the next step.
- Or from a file. In the phone's browser open mayak.ws/dl/app: Mayak's file downloads, about 18 MB. Open it from the notification shade or the downloads folder. If the phone says installing from this source is not allowed, allow it for the browser or the file manager and go back to the install. Android may show a Play Protect window that says “Play Protect has never checked apps from this developer”: tap the grey line “Install anyway”; the big blue “OK” cancels the install. More, with a picture, in the help.
- Create an account right in the app, or sign in with the one you made in the account page.
- Tap Connect. Android shows one system window asking to set up the protected connection once: agree. “Protected” appears — done.
The Google Play and site versions do not install over each other: the signatures differ, and to switch from one to the other you have to remove the first (you sign in again; the paid period stays on the account). If the file will not download or will not install, go through it step by step in a separate article. What the install windows look like on MIUI and HyperOS specifically we have not seen: we had no real Xiaomi phone.
Try it on your own phone. Help pages do not replace one attempt on your Xiaomi and your network. The account is created right in the app; we do not ask for payment details for the trial. A confirmed email opens the access — 3 free days. An email is optional: without one the trial is 1 day.
🍎 On iPhone, Mayak works through the subscription link from your account page. The real Happ (publisher Flyfrog LLC) is not in the Russian App Store — searching that word there brings up look-alike apps from other publishers. INCY (publisher LLC ITDEV) works instead: checked on 22 September 2026.
How to turn it on and off
On. Open Mayak, pick a country and tap Connect. When the connection is up the screen says “Protected” and a VPN icon appears in the status bar. To have Mayak come up by itself when the phone starts, go to Settings → Protection → Auto-connect and connect by hand once: the app needs something to restore.
Off. With the same button in the app. The fallback through Android's system settings, and what to do if all internet vanished after switching it off, is in how to turn off a VPN on your phone. On Xiaomi, as on other brands, the VPN item lives in the maker's own section, and the safest way to find it is to search the settings for “VPN”.
Keeping the connection alive: autostart and battery saving
When the screen goes dark Android puts apps to sleep to save battery, and Xiaomi's shell adds its own rules for background work. For an app that holds a connection this means the connection can drop while the screen looks perfectly normal. Why this is the most common cause of “it disconnects by itself”, and how we counted it, is in a separate article. Here: what Xiaomi itself writes about these switches.
The paths below come from Xiaomi's official help pages, opened on 29 September 2026. They are written about specific models, so the items are given the way the page names them. Your version of the shell may name and place them differently. Go by meaning: the search box in Settings finds them by name.
- Autostart. Xiaomi's help page for the Xiaomi 14T Pro gives the path: Settings → Apps → Permissions → Background autostart, with a switch for each app. Xiaomi explains that autostart is for apps you cannot do without, while switching it off for unneeded ones saves battery. For Mayak the switch should be on.
- App battery. For the Xiaomi 15 with HyperOS 2.0 the help page gives: Settings → Battery → find the app in the list → “No restrictions” (Xiaomi's help, question 21, written about the Mi Fitness app). On an older shell this is “App battery saver”: Settings → Battery → Battery settings in the top right corner → App battery saver (help for the Redmi Note 11S 5G). Xiaomi warns that this saving restricts background work and delays notifications and syncing. Do not pick it for Mayak.
- Pinning, and saving as a whole. The same Xiaomi page (question 18) lists what an app that must live in the background needs: turn off Battery saver, choose “No restrictions” in background settings, allow autostart and lock the app in the background (Lock the app in background). Xiaomi writes this about its own Mi Fitness and we have not tested this set for Mayak, but the items are the same: autostart and battery above, plus pinning. How exactly the app is pinned in your version of the shell, we do not know.
What our app does. If it notices the system has cut its background work, “Check the connection” in Settings shows a “Remove the limit” button. It opens Android's system battery list, and if there is no such screen, the app's card. The autostart screen the app does not open by itself: it is the maker's own, so you have to go there by hand.
A second layer: always-on. If the phone still unloads the app, turn on the system “Always-on VPN” mode: then the system itself holds the protection and brings it back after sleep. In Mayak: Settings → Protection → “No protection — no internet”; the button opens the right Android screen. The price: while the mode is on, a switched-off Mayak leaves the phone without internet; how to undo that is in the article about turning it off. Details are in the help.
What we tested
- Xiaomi's help pages, 29 September 2026: three pages on mi.com, linked above. The paths and names are copied from them, not taken from memory.
- What the “Remove the limit” button does. Read in the app's code on 29 September 2026: it opens the system battery list, with the app's card as a fallback; Xiaomi's autostart screen is not opened.
- Installing from the file and connecting on an Android emulator, 24 September 2026 (the Huawei article): the app installed, signed in and connected. That is not a Xiaomi, and such a check does not show MIUI or HyperOS windows.
What we do not know
- How Mayak behaves on a real Xiaomi, Redmi or POCO. We tested neither the install nor background work on them, and we have not seen what the MIUI and HyperOS windows look like.
- How long the connection holds in the background on Xiaomi. In our connection checks for 7–31 August 2026 (158 checks from six models) there were no Xiaomi, Redmi or POCO phones at all, so we have no numbers for these brands. What is visible for other brands is at this link.
- Whether the help pages' paths match your version. They are written about the Xiaomi 14T Pro, the Xiaomi 15 with HyperOS 2.0 and the Redmi Note 11S 5G. On your model the names and places may differ.
- How to pin the app on your version of the shell.
- Whether it will work for you. That depends on your network and can be checked only on your own phone; that is what the trial is for.
Short answers
How do I install a VPN on a Redmi? From Google Play (“Mayak Networks: Secure VPN”) or from the file at mayak.ws/dl/app; then an account and the Connect button. The steps.
How do I turn on a VPN on a Redmi? Open Mayak, pick a country and tap Connect; on the first launch agree to the system prompt. More.
How do I turn off a VPN on a Redmi? With the button in the app. If the button does not help or the internet is gone, see the article about turning it off.
Why does a VPN turn itself off on Xiaomi? Most often the phone puts the app to sleep in the background. Check autostart and battery and read the general guide.
Is there a free option? The trial is free and needs no card; after that, by plan.
And a VPN for a Xiaomi router? That is a different question: the guide is here.