Modern Xiaomi smartphones are equipped with advanced image processing algorithms that automatically determine the orientation of the frame at the time of shooting, but it happens that the accelerometer or gyroscope does not have time to react, and the picture is inverted or lying on its side. This is a common situation, especially if you were shooting in a hurry or were in motion when the orientation system of the screen was unstable. MIUI (HyperOS provides all the necessary tools right out of the box».
You don’t have to search for third-party apps on Google Play to fix the image orientation. Xiaomi Gallery’s built-in editor has enough functionality to perform basic operations like rotating, cropping and reflection. Understanding how to use these tools correctly will save you time and allow you to quickly get the album in order without losing the quality of the original file.
In this article, we will discuss in detail several ways to deploy a photo on a Xiaomi phone, including standard methods and working with alternative applications. We will also touch on the topic of setting sensors so that in the future the camera automatically determines the position of the device correctly. Note: when you re-save the edited photo, the original can be replaced if the backup function is not activated. Let’s consider the process of correcting the orientation Step-by-step.
Use of the built-in editor of the MIUI Gallery
The fastest and most logical way to fix the position of the image is to use the standard Gallery app, which is pre-installed on all Xiaomi devices. This method does not require an Internet connection and even works in air mode, making it a universal solution. The editor interface is intuitive, and the turn button is located in the easy-to-use zone.
To start, open the Gallery app and find the image you want. Once the photo opens on the full screen, look at the bottom toolbar, and you'll see a Change icon (usually a pencil or slider) that will open the edit menu, and at the bottom of the screen, you'll see a series of icons that you'll need to find a turn tool.
Click on the icon that represents the square with the arrow, or use the Turn button. Each click will turn the image 90 degrees clockwise. You may need to press this button once, twice or three times to achieve the vertical position of the photo. Once you are satisfied with the result, be sure to click the Save button or the tick in the corner of the screen to apply the changes.
☑️ Pre-conservation checks
It is worth noting that in some versions of the MIUI shell, the saving process can work differently. By default, the system can offer to save the photo as a copy so as not to lose the original, or to overwrite the file. In the gallery settings, you can find the Save the original option, which allows you to store the original version of the image even after editing.
Turn the photo through Google Photos
Many Xiaomi users prefer to use Google Photos instead of the standard gallery because of its powerful sorting and cloud storage features.This service also provides a great tool for reorienting pictures that works identically on all versions of Android. If you don’t have a standard gallery or you are just used to the Google interface, this method will be your preferred method.
Launch the Google Photos app and select the image to flip. In the bottom menu, find and click the Change button. In the tool menu that opens, select the Crop tab. In addition to trimming the edges, there are buttons available to rotate and reflect the image. Click the turn icon the right number of times until the photo gets up correctly.
- 🔄 Press the Turn button to turn 90 degrees.
- ↔️ Use the Reflect button if the photo is mirrored.
- 💾 Click Save as a copy to avoid losing the original.
One of the key features of Google Photos is that it can save the changes as a new copy of the file, which means that the original photo will remain unchanged in the album, and the rotated version will appear next to or in the recent folder, which is especially useful if you accidentally turned the photo in the wrong direction and want to be able to return to the source.
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Use the Save as a Copy feature in Google Photos to be able to compare the result to the original or undo the changes later simply by deleting the new version.
Setting up the screen rotation sensor
A common cause of inverted photos is not editor error, but the sensor's orientation sensor itself is not working correctly during the shooting. If the screen's autorotation was blocked at the time the image was taken, the camera could have picked up the device's wrong position. To avoid this in the future, you need to adjust the screen and camera settings correctly.
Check if the auto-rotate function is activated. To do this, swipe down from the top edge of the screen to open the Notification Curtain (Control Point). Find the Auto-rotate or Orientation icon and make sure it's on (usually lit in blue or orange). If this mode is off, the screen will always be oriented the way you hold the phone when you unlock, ignoring the physical rotation of the device.
⚠️ Attention: If the autorotation is on but the screen still doesn't respond to the phone's changing position, it's possible the sensor is stuck or contaminated. gently wipe the top of the screen and the smartphone body.
It’s also worth checking the camera’s settings. Some Xiaomi models have a separate orientation lock button in the camera interface that looks like a circular arrow lock. Make sure it’s not activated while shooting. If the problem persists, try calibrating the sensors through an engineering menu or a special app, although this is rarely necessary in modern versions of MIUI.
Massive image twist
If you find that a whole series of photos are taken in the wrong orientation (for example, after a trip when the phone was in the bag), rotating each image by hand will take a long time. Unfortunately, the standard Xiaomi gallery does not have a batch processing function for operation "Turn".
For mass processing, third-party applications from Google Play, such as Photo & Picture Resizer or Batch Image Resizer, are best suited, and these tools allow you to select tens or hundreds of photos and apply a rotation operation to them simultaneously, a process that takes seconds, which is critical when working with large amounts of data.
The alternative is to use a computer. If you migrate a photo to a PC, you can use a standard Windows image viewer or programs like IrfanView and XnConvert. In Windows 10 and 11, you can select all the files you need, open them in the Photos app, select Change and Create -> Turn, but it's easier to do this through context menus or batch scripts if you have command line skills.
| Method | Speed. | Quality. | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| MIUI Gallery | Low (one by one) | No loss. | Low. |
| Google Photo | Low (one by one) | No loss. | Low. |
| Third-party APKs | High (packet) | Depends on the app. | Medium |
| PC (Windows) | High (packet) | No loss. | Medium |
Problems with orientation in WhatsApp and Telegram
Special attention should be paid to the situation when the photo is correctly displayed in the gallery, but flipped after sending in messengers or uploading to social networks. EXIF-File data, which may contain conflicting orientation information, is often ignored or misinterpreted by messengers.
To solve this problem, it's not enough to just rotate a photo in a gallery if the metadata isn't updated. You need to "rewrite" the file. The easiest way to do this is by sending the photo to yourself in any messenger (for example, in "Favorites" in Telegram) without compressing, and then saving it back. However, a more reliable way is to take a screenshot of an inverted photo or save it as a new copy through the editor, which is guaranteed to reset the erroneous photo. EXIF-tagging.
Also in the settings of some Xiaomi cameras there is the option to Save Location or geotags. Sometimes disabling and re-enable this feature helps reset the metadata cache. If you encounter this constantly, try clearing the Camera app data through the Settings menu → Apps → All Apps → Camera → Clear the data.
What is EXIF data?
What to do if the photo is not saved after turning
Sometimes users are faced with a situation where after all the manipulations with the rotation of the Save button is inactive or gives an error. This can be due to a lack of free memory on the device or damage to the image file itself.
Go to Settings → About Phone → Memory. If less than 500MB is free, the system can block editing heavy media files. Clear the cache or delete unnecessary files. Also, the problem can be in file format: if you try to edit an image in HEIF/HEIC format, some older versions of editors may not work with them correctly.
⚠️ Note: If the photo is physically damaged (broken sectors on flash memory), the editor can open it, but can not save the changes.
Another reason could be a failure in the Gallery app itself. Try clearing the app's cache through the settings: find "Gallery" in the app list and click "Clear Cache." This won't delete your photos, but will reset the program's temporary files, which often solves problems with hanging editing functions.
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If the built-in editor doesn’t save the changes, try opening the image via Google Photos or a third-party file manager to help you understand which application is the bug.