[Xiaomi Mi 9 Questions & Answers] doggydog2:
Which plugins to use for Mi9

Added also MIUI stuff, in the 3 first lists and marked AOSP-only stuff.

Magisk plugins:

(AOSP, flokoROM only) Mi 9 GSI fix - fix fingerprint (so you don't need to press twice) and bluetooth to Mi9 GSI. And dt2wake i guess. Rating: *****

(AOSP only) QuickSwitch - brings QuickStep / Pie Recents fantastic feature. Use stock navbar with "pill". Rating: *****

Riru - Core, Riru - Ed Exposed - brings XPosed to Pie. Rating: *****

Savitar_GCam_Patch - brings ISO levels to Mi 9 GCam. Rating: ? (hard to see difference)

Universal GMS Doze - cools down GMS services. Rating: ? (questionable impact)

YouTube Vanced black themed - brings usable YouTube experience. Rating:*****

XPosed plugins:

(AOSP only) XCallRecordingSettings - brings call recording to stock app witch easy recording previews. Screw the external apps. Must have. Rating: *****

Xposed Edge Pro - Really? Must have. Rating: *****

XPrivacy - Screw the big brother. Must have. Can combine with Lineage privacy tool. Rating: *****

Exi for Swiftkey - You can make Swiftkey great again. Rating: ****

afWall - Problems with this firewall and some VPN clients. Should by disabled in Xposed. Rating:***

(MIUI only) Anesthetist - enables disabling (also sticky) Xiaomi services. Rating:****

(MIUI only) Customiuizer - lot of nice tweaks. Rating:*****

Others:

LSpeed - battery. It works here. Out of group {Naptime, Servicely, FDE, LKT, Universal GMS Doze, Sysconfig patcher} the only one with impact. Rating: *****

Naptime, Servicely - battery. Rating: doesn't work here:(

(MIUI only) FDE, LKT magisk plugins. For battery. Rating: not compatible with AOSP, i mean bootloop

(MIUI only) my boot script and adaway - for extra debloating and reducing home-calling by Xiaomi. Here

What settings to play with:

- Phh treble settings: none, as they trigger too many wakelocks

- Floko settings:

Status bar: as you wish, tap to sleep of course

Quick Settings: as you wish, no problem here

Lock screen: you can now set 2 shortcuts, weather works after some time (1day), battery info is great, face auto unlock is recommended here if you use this method, tap to sleep enable of course, disable power menu and quick settings for some security

Recents style: QuickStep!

Navigation: set Navigation mode to stock, set Stock navbar settings to Swipe up on home button. Carbon gestures work. System gestures too. Swipe-up gestures don't make sense.

Buttons: as you wish, all works, especially lovely Control Playback buttons in doze. Combine it with music ticker in next section for musical paradise.

User interface: this is tricky part. all 3 types of ambient sensors don't work well and bring tons of wakelocks. You can still use New notifications mode, or permanent always on mode. Music ticker works. Display cutout = immersive will change it to OnePlus style but it's not perfect. Thing to do on new installation: set User interface\Rounded corners\Statusbar extra padding to 8. Don't mess with Style choices.

Notifications: as you wish, battery light and notification light is cool. You don't need to add apps, all apps with priority notification will make LED blink.

Sounds: leaving defaults here.

Miscellanous: leaving defaults here... Suspend actions didn't really help. Wakelocks didn't show impact. Pocket protection add +10%/hr standby drain!

It's been hell switching from MIUI, what will i have to do after i set this all up in future updates (OTA won't notify unfortunately):

Nothing from above! No stock flashing (unless play with kernels), no vbmeta, no formatting, no plugins installation whatsoever.

Only flash system, resize system, sideload gapps with wipe caches, press root button in chinese recovery and reboot. Everything the same, even gapps stick to their permissions like usage access, modify system. Disabled packages stay disabled. Other settings stay.

In future, we will have gapps installation improved, no need to resize + more compatibility with TWRPs. And then we will have OTA updates maybe:)