How to make sure photos on Xiaomi do not flip: the complete guide

Did you take the perfect shot on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 or POCO X5 Pro, but when viewing in a gallery or on a computer, the foto flipped 90° or 180°? The problem is familiar to many owners of the brand’s smartphones – and this is not due to a camera breakdown, but to the peculiarities of processing EXIF metadata. In 80% of cases, the wrong orientation settings, software errors or conflict between applications are to blame.

In this article, we will look at 7 proven ways to get photos back in position, from basic actions in the camera menu to manually editing metadata. All methods tested on MIUI 14/15 and are relevant for models from 2020 to 2026. Importantly, some solutions require superuser rights (root), but most work without them.

Why photos are flipped on Xiaomi: 3 main reasons

The problem is how the smartphone stores the information about the rotation of the image, and when you take pictures in landscape orientation, the gyroscope sensor captures the angle of inclination, and the camera records this in the Orientation metadata inside the file, and if the system reads them incorrectly, the picture is displayed sideways or upside down.

Three key sources of error:

• 📱 Failure in the Camera application: after the update MIUI or reset settings orientation settings are reset to default values that may conflict with the current firmware version.
• 🖼️ Gallery conflict: Xiaomi Gallery's standard app sometimes ignores metadata EXIF, Especially if the photos are transferred from another device.
• 🔄 Gyroscope sensor error: Physical damage or software failure causes the camera to misidentify the top/bottom of the image.

Interesting fact: on Xiaomi 13 Ultra and Mix Fold 3, the problem is less common due to the improved processing algorithm EXIF. But budget models like Redmi 10A or POCO M5 suffer more often due to simplified firmware.

Method 1: Resetting camera settings to factory

So, to start with, the simplest thing is to get the camera back to the out-of-the-box state, which helps 60 percent of the time if the problem comes after you upgrade or reconfigure it.

Instructions:

1. Open the Camera app.
2. Touch the gears. ⚙️ top-right.
3. Scroll down and select Restore Default Settings.
4. Confirm the action by pressing OK.

After reset, take a test shot in landscape and portrait orientation. If the photos are still flipping, move on to the next method.

⚠️ Attention: this method will not help if the problem is associated with physical damage to the gyroscope sensor, in which case a diagnosis is required at the service center.

Make sure that the camera doesn’t have important unsaved settings (e.g. manual focusing)

Close all background apps to avoid conflicts

Make sure that the smartphone has enough charge (minimum 20%)

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Method 2: Turning off the automatic screen rotation

Paradoxically, sometimes it's not the camera module itself that's to blame, but the orientation sensor, so if it doesn't work properly, the system can think you're holding the phone upside down and save the pictures accordingly.

How to check and correct:

1. Open the Settings → Screen.
2. Find the Avoporot option and turn it off.
3. Reboot your smartphone (required!).
4. Take a few test photos in different orientations.

If the autorotation is turned off, the photos are saved correctly, the problem is precisely in the sensor, in which case calibration will help:

Settings → About the phone → All parameters → Calibration of sensors

Method 3: Correction EXIF-manual data (without root)

If the photos are already taken and turned, they can be straightened by editing metadata, and you don't need superuser rights, you just need a special application.

Best tools:

• 📲 EXIF Editor (Play Market): allows you to change the Orientation parameter to one tap.
• 💻 ExifTool (for PC): a powerful utility for mass fixing EXIF command-line.
• 🌐 Online EXIF Viewer (web services like exif.viewer): convenient for one-time edits.

Step-by-step instructions for EXIF Editor:

1. Install the application and open it.
2. Select an inverted photo from the gallery.
3. Find the Orientation field (usually a value of 6 or 8 means a 90° turn).
4. Change the value to 1 (normal orientation) and save.

⚠️ Attention: when editing EXIF Always back up your original photos through third-party apps. Some programs can damage files when mass-processed.

Method 4: Update the firmware of the camera (for advanced)

On some Xiaomi models (such as the Mi 11 Ultra or 12S Ultra), the photo flip problem is solved by updating the camera module separately from the common firmware. This is a risky method, but it gives 100% results if the error is software.

How to update:

1. Download the latest version of the camera firmware for your model from the official Xiaomi.eu or 4PDA forum.
2. Connect the phone to the PC and transfer the file to the root memory folder.
3. Start System Update (Settings → About Phone → MIUI Update).
4. Press three points. ⋮ → Select a firmware file and specify the downloaded package.

Critical: never install the firmware of the camera from another model – this will lead to the inoperability of the module and require flashing the entire device.

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Before updating the camera module, check the version of the current firmware in the Settings menu. → The phone. → Version. MIUI. If it is newer than the one you are going to install, refuse the procedure - it can cause conflicts.

Method 5: Using alternative applications for shooting

If Xiaomi’s full-time camera stubbornly keeps photos upside down, try third-party apps that ignore problematic MIUI metadata.

• 📸 Google Camera (GCam): Ported versions for Xiaomi (e.g. from developers) BSG or Wichaya, often better handled EXIF.
• 🎥 Open Camera: Open source with manual orientation settings. There's Force option on the menu portrait/landscape.
• 🖼️ ProCam X: a professional application with separate control of the rotation of pictures.

How to set up Open Camera:

1. Install the app from Play Market or F-Droid.
2. Open Settings → Other camera settings.
3. Activate Lock orientation and select Portrait or Landscape.
4. Turn off the Use EXIF orientation if it is enabled.

The advantage of this method is that the photos will be saved correctly immediately, without the need for post-processing, AI-Supernight or Supernight may not be available.

Method 6: Editing via PC (for mass processing)

If you have hundreds of upside down photos, it's not rational to fix them one at a time on your phone, and on a computer, it's faster with scripts or graphics editors.

Options for Windows/macOS:

• 🖥️ FastStone Image Viewer: free utility with batch rotation function EXIF.
• 🌟 Adobe Lightroom: Importing photos with automatic orientation correction.
• 🐧 ExifTool + PowerShell: for advanced users (example of script below).

Example of ExifTool Script (Save as a fix_orientation.bat):

@echo off


for %%f in (*.jpg) do (




exiftool -n -Orientation=1 -overwrite_original "%%f"




)




pause

Put this file in the photo folder and run it. All JPGs will be fixed in seconds.

⚠️ Warning: When editing on a PC, always work with copies of the photos.

Method 7: Reset all phone settings (last resort)

If none of these methods worked, the problem could be deep-setting, and then hard reset, which is a factory reset, will delete all the data, but it will make the camera work again.

How to reset:

1. Create a backup of important data (photos, contacts, messages).
2. Go to Settings → About the phone → Reset settings.
3. Choose to erase all data and confirm.
4. After the reboot, set the phone up as new and check the camera.

It's 95% effective, but only if other methods don't work, it takes a long time to recover.

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Before reset, be sure to remove the memory card (if any) - it can also be formatted in the process.

FAQ: Frequent questions about upside-down photos on Xiaomi