How to upload photos and videos from Xiaomi camera to the cloud: all ways and settings

Xiaomi smartphones have long proven themselves as devices with excellent cameras, but even the highest quality images are useless if they are stored only in the memory of the phone. Losing or breaking a gadget can deprive you of valuable photos forever. The solution is simple - automatic upload to the cloud, which protects media files from accidental deletion and frees up space on the device.

In this article, we will discuss all the available ways to sync photos and videos from Xiaomi camera to cloud storage, from standard Mi Cloud to Google Photos and third-party services. You will learn how to set up automatic downloads, what restrictions apply to free accounts, and what to do if files are not synchronized. And also compare the download speeds across different services and tell you how to save traffic when transferring data.

Why You Should Upload Xiaomi Photos to the Cloud

The main reason is data security, and according to statistics, one in five users lose important photos due to a setting reset, phone theft or hardware failure, and cloud storage solves this problem by offering:

• 🔒 Real-time backup – new images are sent to the cloud immediately after shooting.
• 📱 Access from any device – view photos on your phone, tablet or computer through your browser.
• 🗑️ Memory Freeing – After downloading the originals can be deleted from the phone, leaving thumbnails.
• 🤝 Easy sharing – share albums with friends on the link without sending each file separately.

But there are pitfalls, too: Mi Cloud, for example, compresses photos when they are uploaded by default, and Google Photos has restricted free storage since 2021, and to choose the best service, you need to understand their features — more on that.

Standard method: download to Mi Cloud

Mi Cloud is Xiaomi’s proprietary cloud storage integrated into MIUI firmware.It offers 5GB for free (when registering via Mi Account), but with important limitations:

• 📸 Photos are uploaded in compressed format (resolution to 2048×2048), If you do not include the option "Original quality".
• 🎥 Videos are synced only in low resolution (up to the end of the day). 720p) free-rate.
• 🌐 The servers are located in China, which can affect download speeds in some regions.

To set up automatic booting:

1. Open the Gallery app → click on the three dots in the upper right corner → Settings.
2. Select Mi Cloud → Autoboot to the Cloud.
3. Turn on the switch and select the file types: Photos, Videos or Screenshots.
4. Click Download Quality and select Original (requires a paid subscription) or High (free but compressed).

Enable autoload in the Gallery|Select file types (photo/video)|Determine the quality (original/high)|Check the Wi-Fi connection|Start the first synchronization manually-->

If you have Xiaomi with global firmware (MIUI Global), Mi Cloud servers can be redirected to European ones, which improves speed. On Chinese firmware (MIUI China) without a VPN, access to the cloud can be blocked.

Google Photos: An alternative with a large free storage

Google Photos until 2021 offered unlimited storage for photos in “high quality” (compression up to 16 MP), but now only 15 GB is available for free for the entire Google account.

• 🔍 Smart Search – Find photos by objects, places or faces.
• 🎨 Automatic collages and animations – the service itself creates a video from your photos.
• 📱 Cross-platform – works on Android, iOS and in the browser.

To set up the autoload:

1. Install the Google Photos app from the Play Market (if it is not available by default).
2. Open the app and log in to your Google account.
3. Click on the avatar → Photo stream → Backup and synchronization.
4. Turn on the switch and select quality: Original (counts for 15 GB) or High (free but compressed).
5. In Settings → Backup Device, select folders to sync (e.g. Camera or DCIM).

Critical detail: if you choose "Original Quality", Google Photos will consume up to 30% more download traffic than Mi Cloud in the same mode. To save mobile Internet, limit sync only over Wi-Fi in the backup settings.

Comparison of services: Mi Cloud vs Google Photo vs Yandex Disk

The choice of cloud depends on your priorities: storage capacity, download speed, additional features or price.

For users from Russia and the CIS, Yandex Drive may be more profitable because of the low cost of additional space and high download speed. However, its application is less convenient for working with photos than Google Photos. If you are interested in features like facial search or automatic collages, you better choose Google, despite the limit of 15 GB.

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To save space in Google Photos, turn on the “Free space” option in the app settings. It will remove photos already uploaded to the cloud from your phone, leaving only thumbnails.

Manual uploading photos to the cloud: when you need them

Autoboot is convenient, but not always suitable.

• 📶 Shooting in places with poor internet and don’t want to wait for sync.
• 🔍 You want to upload only individual photos, not the entire gallery.
• 💾 Use the cloud as temporary storage for file transfers.

For manual download in Mi Cloud:

1. Open the Gallery, select a photo → Click Share → Mi Cloud.
2. Choose an album or create a new one.
3. Confirm the download. The files will be in the cloud in a few minutes.

Google Photos makes the process even easier.

1. Open the application, select photos → click Save to the library (if the files are not already in the cloud).
2. Or drag and drop a photo to the Google Photos folder through any file manager.

For Yandex Disk it is more convenient to use the web version:

1. Go to disk.yandex.ru.
2. Click Download → Files and select pictures from your phone.

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Manual downloading is useful for saving traffic, but it doesn't replace autoloading. If you forget to upload photos manually, they can be lost when you reset your phone.

Frequent problems and their solutions

Even after you set it up correctly, synchronization may not work, and here are the typical errors and ways to fix them:

⚠️ Note: If photos are not uploaded to Mi Cloud, check the region of your Mi Account (+86) Cloud access may be blocked outside of China, solution: change region to "Russia" or "Global" in your account settings.

• 🔄 Photos are not synced: check the Internet connection, turn off VPN, restart the Gallery app.
• ⏳ Booting is too slow: limit background activity of other applications in battery settings (Settings) → Battery → Optimization).
• 🚫 Not enough space error: clear your cart in the cloud or buy extra space. In Google Photos, check if storage is occupied by other services (Gmail, Drive).
• 🔒 Unable to log in to your account: reset your password through the official website of the service or check if yours is blocked IP (It is also important for Mi Cloud in some countries).

If the problem is not solved, try:

1. Delete and re-add your account in your phone settings (Settings → Accounts).
2. Clear the Gallery and Mi Cloud app cache (Settings → Applications → Application Management).
3. Update the MIUI firmware to the latest version (older versions have synchronization bugs).

There's a trick for Google Photos: if the photos don't load, try turning on the plane mode for 30 seconds, then turn it off, which resets the network settings and often helps to resume sync.

How to Save Traffic and Battery When Booting to the Cloud

Autoloading a photo can imperceptibly consume gigabytes of mobile Internet and drain the battery.

• 📶 Limit downloads to Wi-Fi only: In Mi Cloud: Settings → Mi Cloud → Autoboot to the cloud → Wi-Fi only. Google Photos: Settings → Backup and synchronization → Transfer of data → Select Wi-Fi Only.
• 🔋 Turn off background activity: add Gallery and Mi in battery settings Cloud/Google Photo in the list of applications without restrictions (Settings) → Battery → Optimization → No restrictions).
• ⏱️ Set up a sync schedule: in Mi Cloud, you can select boot times (e.g. at night) when your phone is connected to charging.
• 📉 Reduce the quality of uploaded photos: in Google Photos, choose High Quality over Original – this will reduce traffic consumption by 3-5 times.

Hidden Life Hack: If you shoot videos often, you can turn off their autoload in Google Photos, leaving only photos. To do this, select Photos Only in your backup settings. Videos take up 10 to 20 times more space than pictures, and they are easier to download manually over Wi-Fi.

For Xiaomi users with a weak battery, it is useful to turn off autoboot when the battery is low.

1. Go to Settings → Battery → Optimization.
2. Find Mi Cloud in the list and set a limit to limit background activity at low charge.

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions