Child turns off parental controls on Xiaomi: what alerts you get and what to lock

Two ways protection goes away

The first starts with the battery. MIUI gives every app an Activity control setting, and until Gardion Kids is set to "No restrictions", the system stops it in the background. Android's log records this as a system action, marked AutoPowerKill. When Gardion starts again, its Accessibility permission is sometimes off. Your child had nothing to do with it.

The second goes through someone's hands. On the phone, someone turns off Accessibility for Gardion Kids or stops the app in settings. Android's log records this as a stop carried out on the phone itself. Android allows this to whoever is holding the phone, and we explain why further down.

What each alert means

"Protection is off on your child's phone". A permission Gardion needs has been turned off, and the alert names it. Either MIUI or a person could be behind it. If you've already set up the battery and autostart as described below and the alert comes back, the permission was most likely turned off on the phone itself.

"Your child’s app was stopped". Android recorded a stop carried out on the phone itself. The system records a battery-saving unload differently, and that doesn't trigger this alert. The alert says how long the controls were off. When an app is stopped, Android also turns off its Accessibility service, so an alert about protection being off usually follows.

"Someone tried to remove protection". Someone on the phone opened the screen for revoking Gardion's device administrator rights. At that moment the rights still work, and it's a good time to call your child.

"Protection may have been removed from the device". Protection was turned off, and since then the phone hasn't been online. Pick up the phone and look.

All alerts with answers are collected on the help page, in the protection alerts section.

Battery and autostart

We suggest starting with the battery, because this setting removes the alerts your child has nothing to do with. In Settings, open Apps, then Manage apps, and find Gardion Kids. Under Activity control, choose "No restrictions" and turn on Autostart. The Security app has one more setting: tap the gear at the top, open Boost speed and lock Gardion Kids there.

Then open Gardion Kids. If the home screen shows a "Missing: …" line, tap it and the app walks you through the remaining steps. One of them is notification access: with it, Android starts Gardion again after the system unloads it. Battery, autostart and Second space on Xiaomi are covered in detail in our guide on why parental controls go quiet on Xiaomi.

Which Xiaomi sections to lock with a password

Xiaomi phones have a built-in App lock that puts a pattern, password or fingerprint on the apps you choose. Xiaomi says outright that parents can use it to restrict children's access to certain apps. According to Xiaomi's MIUI 14 user guide, the path is Settings, then Apps, then App lock. Turn the feature on, set a pattern and pick the apps. On HyperOS the item is in the same place, under Apps.

Pick Settings in the list, and the phone's settings won't open without your pattern. Xiaomi's guide doesn't say whether Settings appears in that list, but Redmi owners on the XDA forum describe locking it exactly this way. If Settings is in the list on your child's phone, select it, and select Security too if you find it there. The trade-off is real: your child can't open settings without you either, not even to change the wallpaper.

Don't show the pattern to your child, and write it down. If you forget it, Xiaomi's help page says you can reset it through a Mi account, and without a Mi account only by resetting the phone.

While settings are still open, go to Additional settings, then Accessibility, and open Gardion Kids there. If its shortcut is on, turn it off. Also check the home screen: a Switch icon you didn't add means Second space, where Gardion isn't installed.

What no app from a store can lock down

Android gives the final say to whoever holds the phone. Gardion gets its permissions from that person, and the same person can take them back. Every parental control app from an app store works this way, ours included. According to Android's documentation, only a device owner can block stopping and uninstalling an app. That mode is turned on after a factory reset. What it costs a family is covered in our article on whether a child can delete a parental control app.

So we tell you about everything we see on the phone. Anything else only you can notice. If the evening's report is empty even though your child played all evening, pick up the phone and look for yourself.

What to do after an alert

Open Gardion Kids on your child's phone and go through the steps from the "Missing: …" line. If the app was stopped, Accessibility will be one of those steps. Then talk. Ask what the limits got in the way of: often the reason is specific, like a limit running out in the middle of a game with friends. That gets fixed by adjusting the limit. If the alerts keep coming, lock the sections described above and agree on what happens next time.