Hey everyone,
I’m tweaking an old Redmi Note 14 (MIUI, no root) and trying to customize it as much as possible. My goal is to remove app labels on the home screen and apply a clean theme with round icons.

Here’s what I’ve tried:

ZFont 3 to change emojis → works, but emojis disappear after a while or when I change the wallpaper.

Imported .mtz themes with round icons via the Themes app → sometimes the icons show up, but the theme doesn’t fully apply (app names stay visible).

Can’t set Nova Launcher as default, even through Activity Launcher → it redirects to an empty menu or just won’t save the change.

Tried miui_home_no_word_model command via ADB → gives “inaccessible or not found.”

Even with Activity Launcher or hidden settings, I can’t force Nova or remove labels.

I’m wondering if this is a MIUI bug, some system restriction, or maybe even a hardware/software issue (the phone came from a small local store, not boxed).

Anyone experienced this? Got any ideas or non-root workarounds?

Thanks in advance!