How to create Dual Apps in your Xiaomi smartphone?

Google’s Android platform has no boundaries, there are unlimited possibilities that one can expect with it. Be it the customisation, the openness of the ecosystem, users having full control of their smartphones and many more, all is possible on Android. That is why every smartphone manufacturer brings their own set of software features over the Android build. Samsung’s Experience UI, Huawei’s EMUI, Xiaomi’s MIUI, OnePlus’s Oxygen OS are some of the biggest skins over Android that pack bunch of supremely handy features that stock Android lacks. Not that Google is intentionally skipping such features, but the third-party theming brings a lot more life to any given feature. One such thoughtful feature from the brains of Xiaomi developer team is ‘Dual Apps.’ It is a very life-changing feature which lets you create two instances of the same app and can run both at the same time with two different accounts.

Though there are 3rd party implementations of the feature in the form of apps like Parallel space, having the functionality baked right into the OS is simply very convenient and effortless. It lets you run WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger, Twitter at the same with two different or same accounts depending on the platform support. To make it clear, the clone version of the app will be running as an entirely different app with no connection to the original. As for compatibility, every Xiaomi phone running MIUI 8.0 or above supports it. In this article, we will be taking a close look at how you can create dual apps on your Xiaomi phone, in case if you weren’t aware. We promise to keep it simple, read on.

Here’s how to create dual apps in your Xiaomi smartphone:

1. Activating dual apps on any Xiaomi phone is pretty simple and straightforward, like literally. Firstly, assuming that you have a Xiaomi phone, unlock the phone and head over to the settings.
2. Once you are in the settings, scroll down until you see Dual apps option. Click on it and then you will be presented with the list of apps which are already installed on your phone and are supported by the dual apps feature.
3. Now look for the app you want to clone like Facebook, Twitter, etc.  and then toggle on to activate it. The feature will instantly activate the clone version of the main app and create a shortcut of the same.
4. You can find the cloned shortcut next to the main app since both will have the same name and are arranged alphabetically.
5. Once the clone is created, launch the app and sign in with your login credentials. The process is similar for various apps including Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, Hike, etc.
6. However, do note that you can’t have two instances of WhatsApp with the same registered phone number, obviously, the other instance of the app needs to be used with a separate phone number.
7. The cloned app will be differentiated from the main app with a yellow color tag in the corner of the app icon.

Now that you have created two instances, let’s see how you can uninstall them as well.

Here’s how to uninstall clone app from your Xiaomi phone:

1. To uninstall the clone version of apps, much like how you uninstall regular apps, hold the icon from the home screen, drag it to the top till you see Uninstall pop-up. Tap on “Uninstall” to remove the dual app permanently.
2. Remember dual apps will have its own independent data and setting, meaning you don’t have to worry about main app’s data being deleted if you uninstall the clone. That’s it.

Conclusion: It’s always good to have two different instances of the same apps so you can create two different profiles for your work and personal. Instead of carrying two phones, maintaining them at the same, this feature is really very helpful. We saved so much effort and time with this and we couldn’t thank Xiaomi enough for this. We hope other OEM’s also work on bringing such functionality baked right into the OS instead of making users rely on 3rd party apps which are bloated. Do try out this feature and let us know how was your experience.