How to turn a photo in the gallery Xiaomi: a step-by-step guide

Modern Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones are equipped with powerful cameras that allow you to create high-quality images in any environment. However, even with stabilization and smart algorithms, it happens that the photo is stored in the wrong orientation, this can occur due to a failure of the position sensor (gyroscope) at the time of shooting or the peculiarities of third-party applications.

The MIUI Gallery's built-in image editor offers a wide range of features, including tools to change the geometry of images. You don't have to search and install third-party apps from the store if you just want to deploy the image. Standard tools can do this in seconds, maintaining the original file quality.

In this article, we will take a closer look at the process of changing the orientation of the image, and we will look at both the basic actions and the hidden capabilities of the editor that allow you to process entire albums at once, and understanding these nuances will help you to restore order in the media library without wasting time.

Basic 90 degree image rotation

The most common scenario is to expand the image 90 or 180 degrees to correctly display the screen. The standard interface of the Xiaomi gallery is intuitive, but has its own peculiarities depending on the version of the MIUI shell or HyperOS. To start, just open the desired image.

When you open the photo, look at the bottom toolbar, and there's an edit button (often like a pencil or a slider), and you click on it, and you go into editing mode, and you find a tool that's marked with a square with arrows, or it's just called "Tear and Turn."

⚠️ Note: Repeatedly maintained JPEG-Images may experience gradual loss of quality (compression artifacts). Try not to save the file after each micro-change if you plan a series of edits.

You'll see a button on the editing menu that shows a curved arrow. One tap turns the image clockwise 90 degrees. If you want to turn the photo counterclockwise, press this button three times. Once you get the desired result, be sure to click the Save button or the tick in the corner of the screen.

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Use the Save as a Copy function if you want to leave the original intact, and this will create a new file with the name "edit" in it.

Accurate adjustment of the angle of rotation

Sometimes a standard 90 degree pitch isn't enough, like if the horizon is a few degrees littered or the photo was taken at a strange angle, and in these cases, the free spin feature available in the editor's extended menu comes to the rescue.

Select the Crop tool. At the bottom of the screen, in addition to the ready-made proportions (1:1, 16:9), you'll see a degree slider or a circular scale. By moving your finger up the scale, you can rotate the image to an accuracy of 0.1 degrees. A grid overlayed over the photo will help align the horizon or vertical lines of buildings.

For precise settings, use the following controls:

• 📐 Slider degrees - for smooth rotation in either direction.
• 🔄 Reset button – returns the image to its original orientation (0 degrees).
• ✋ Finger gestures - in some versions MIUI You can rotate the photo with two fingers right on the screen, as in zooming.

Once aligned, the system automatically trims the empty corners that formed when you turn. If you want to keep all the pixels of the original image, this method may not work, since the edges will be cut. In this case, it is better to use third-party editors that support the extension of the canvas, but the standard Xiaomi gallery works on the principle of framing.

Package processing and mass turnaround

If you took a series of shots in the wrong orientation (for example, holding the phone upright, taking a panorama), rotating each photo manually is tedious. Fortunately, the Xiaomi gallery has a batch processing feature, although it is hidden from view on the first acquaintance.

To start, go to the album viewing mode, where the photos are. Press and hold your finger on the first image you want to change. A highlight tick will appear. Now you can select the rest of the photos just by touching them. After selecting a group of pictures, find the Change button (usually at the top or bottom of the screen).

In the menu that opens, select “Turn” and the system will apply the action to all the allocated files simultaneously, saving you time when processing reports, scans of documents or a series of frames.

*Note: At the moment, the standard gallery does not allow you to rotate video files without transcoding through third-party applications. For video, it is recommended to use the built-in video editor or Google Photos app.

Working with EXIF metadata and orientation

Sometimes users are faced with a paradoxical situation: in the Xiaomi gallery, the photo is displayed correctly, and when sent to the messenger or to the computer, it “falls” on its side, this is due to EXIF metadata, which stores information about the orientation of the camera at the time of the shot.

Different programs interpret these tags differently. MIUI reads them correctly, and a standard Windows viewer can ignore them. When you force a photo to be rotated in the editor and save it, the gallery physically changes the pixel matrix and resets the orientation tag to the "normal" position (0 degrees).

If you need to ensure that your photo opens correctly on any device in the world, follow these steps:

1. Open the photo in the gallery.
2. Even if it looks right, click Edit -> Turn -> Turn (do a full 360 degree circle or 4 taps).
3. Save the file. This action will force the image matrix to be overwritten, killing the old orientation tag.

⚠️ Attention: Physically rotating an image (rewriting pixels) may take longer on older smartphone models, especially if the photo is taken in 108 MP or 200 MP resolution.

This method is often used by photographers who transfer materials to customers to avoid claims about “inverted” frames on different viewing devices.

Restore the original after the turn

Randomly saved changes are not a disaster. Android and MIUI provide a mechanism for nondestructive editing (editing without losing the original) for a certain time or until manual cleaning.

To return the original state of the photo:

Open the edited image in the gallery. Click on the three dots in the upper right corner (action menu). In the drop-down list, select Restore or Return the original. The system will roll back all changes made since the last save, including turns, filters and cropping.

If the Restore button is inactive or missing, the original has been overwritten or removed from the editorial cache, in which case only having a backup in Google Photos or Xiaomi Cloud will help. Check the gallery cart - sometimes the originals are saved there as separate files if the Save as a copy option was selected.

Frequent problems and their solution

Despite the stability of the work, users may encounter bugs, such as a gallery may “fly out” when trying to turn a heavy photo, or the save button may be inactive.

If the gallery is hanging:

• 🧹 Clear the cache of the Gallery app through your phone settings.
• 📉 Reduce the resolution of the image in a third-party editor if the source weighs more than 50 MB.
• 🔄 Update the Gallery app through the GetApps store or Google Play.

It’s also worth mentioning that some global firmware versions may have different interfaces than the Chinese versions. If you don’t find the right buttons, try switching the system language to English — sometimes the terms in the Russifiers are incorrect, and the desired feature is hidden under a strange name.

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The most reliable way to fix orientation is to use the built-in Edit tool -> Coverage -> Turn, as it is guaranteed to change the physical structure of the file.

Questions and Answers (FAQ)