Getting a Xiaomi Round Smartwatch Actually Working Right
Most people buy a Xiaomi round smartwatch expecting it to just work out of the box. It does, mostly. But there are setup steps that get skipped and cause problems later, like notifications never coming through or the heart rate sensor giving garbage data during workouts. I went through this with the Watch S1 Pro about two years ago, and the same general issues show up across the entire line of Xiaomi round smartwatches. The software behaves basically the same on all of them, so what I learned with one applies to most of the others.
smartwatch redondo xiaomi setup that doesn't get written about
The Mi Fit and Zepp apps both connect to these watches, but they handle things differently. Zepp is the newer app Xiaomi pushes now. If you're grabbing a fresh watch, use Zepp. If you have an older one still paired to Mi Fit, you can transfer it but the transfer process breaks more often than it works on the first try. I'd just pair it fresh to Zepp and reconfigure everything rather than waste an hour on the migration tool. Here's the part nobody mentions: you need to set your wrist preference correctly the first time. Go into the watch settings, find the sensor or display section, and set it for left or right wrist before you ever sync it with your phone. I learned this the hard way when my sleep tracking data looked completely wrong. The watch was reading my pulse from the wrong arm position because I had set it for right wrist after already wearing it on my left for three nights. Sleep stages got mixed up, resting heart rate numbers jumped by eight beats, and the app showed me being awake during hours I was clearly asleep. I unpaired, reset the wrist setting, and resynced. The old data didn't carry over, but the new baseline was accurate within a day or two.
Another edge case that trips people up: the NFC version of these watches only works with specific banking apps depending on your region. If you bought the NFC model thinking it would work with any contactless payment, check which transit or bank systems it supports before you leave the house. My first Xiaomi round watch had NFC locked to a specific payment provider and wouldn't accept my usual transit card. I ended up carrying a separate transit pass for six months until Xiaomi pushed an update that added support. It's not documented anywhere obvious in the app. Bluetooth LE on these watches can drop connections in crowded areas. I live in a dense city and noticed the watch losing connection with my phone about once a day near the subway. The fix wasn't changing settings so much as keeping the phone in a front pocket instead of a back pocket. The antenna positioning matters more than you'd expect on a thin phone body. Back pockets put the phone's Bluetooth antenna further from the watch on your wrist, and the connection drops at distances you'd think should be fine.
👉 Clique no botão abaixo para saber mais sobre o assunto!
Which Xiaomi Round Watch You Should Actually Look At
Xiaomi has made several round models over the years, and the naming gets confusing. The original Xiaomi Watch came out around 2020 with basic health tracking and a round face. The Watch S series, starting with the S1, added better sensors and always-on display options. The S1 Pro bumped the materials and added more fitness modes. The Watch S3 came later with a slightly different design language and better battery management. They all run very similar software, so the differences come down to build quality, sensor accuracy, and battery life rather than feature gaps. If you're looking to buy one, the S1 series is usually the best value right now. The S3 improved some things but also added features that drain battery faster, so unless you specifically want the always-on display and the newer watch faces, the S1 gives you about ninety percent of the experience for less money. The original Xiaomi Watch is getting old enough that firmware support is slowing down. That doesn't mean it won't work, but bug fixes and new features trickled in slower for that model.
Downsides worth knowing about: the round face means some watch faces don't use the full screen effectively. Square faces fill the space better but look cramped on a round display. You'll spend more time customizing faces than you probably want to. Also, third-party app support is limited compared to what you get on Wear OS or Apple Watch. The Zepp store has apps, but the selection is narrow and updates are infrequent. If you need third-party apps to matter, this isn't the watch for you.
Download and Support
The Zepp app is available on the App Store and Google Play. Search for Zepp, not Mi Fit, unless you have an older device that only recognizes the legacy app. Xiaomi's support pages list firmware versions and update instructions, but the pages themselves are scattered across different regional sites. If you're in Brazil or Portugal, look for the regional Xiaomi support portal rather than the global one, because firmware versions sometimes differ by region and flashing the wrong one can brick the watch. For most people, the straightforward path is: download Zepp, pair the watch, set your wrist preference first thing, check NFC compatibility with your local payment and transit systems before relying on it, and keep your phone in a front pocket if you notice connection drops. That covers the stuff that actually matters beyond the basic unboxing experience.
