Why Xiaomi Redmi’s thumbnails are blurred and how to fix it

Xiaomi and Redmi smartphone owners often face a visual defect: instead of clear images, the gallery displays gray squares or fuzzy spots. This problem, known as thumbnail blur, can occur suddenly after a system update or spontaneously during operation. The user sees only blurred outlines instead of familiar photos, making navigating media files extremely uncomfortable.

This behavior of the MIUI or HyperOS operating system is most often caused by overflowing or damaging the system cache of sketches. The smartphone does not have time or can not correctly generate reduced copies of images for quick display in the list. This does not mean losing the photos themselves - your original files in full resolution remain intact on the drive.

Solving the problem requires a comprehensive approach, ranging from simple cleaning of temporary files to deeper media server settings. In this article, we will examine in detail the mechanisms of the gallery on Android and offer proven methods for eliminating artifacts. Restoring the normal appearance of thumbnails will restore the comfort of using the device.

Reasons for the appearance of artifacts in the gallery MIUI

The fundamental problem is a failure in the Media Storage component, a system service that scans a device’s internal memory, identifies media files, and creates smaller copies of them for quick preview. When the service’s database is damaged, the smartphone stops understanding how to display images and gives a rendering error in the form of blur.

Often, the situation is aggravated by a lack of free space: if the disk is less than 10-15% of free memory, the system has no place to place temporary cache files, as a result, new photos are added, but their thumbnails are not created or created with errors, and the cause can be incorrectly shutting down applications or a failure when updating firmware.

⚠️ Warning: Don't rush to delete folders of photos thinking they're corrupt. The only problem is the display, and the files themselves can be whole.

Another risk factor is the use of third-party file managers or memory cleaners, and aggressive algorithms can delete the thumbnail database system files as “junk,” which leads to the need for a complete reassembly of the media index.

Cleaning the cache and data of the Gallery application

The first and most secure step to eliminate blurring is to force the cleaning of accumulated app errors, which will not affect your personal photos, but will reset the display settings and temporary files of the gallery app itself.

To do this, go to your smartphone settings. Find the Apps section, then select All Apps. From the list that opens, look for the standard Gallery app. Click on Memory or Storage, where you will have two buttons: Clear Cache and Clear Everything (or Reset).

Once the cache is cleared, the system will force the app to close, and the next time it starts, the gallery will start scanning the memory again, which can take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour, depending on the number of photos on the device, at which time thumbnails can appear gradually as the files are processed.

If a simple cache cleanup didn't help, try removing Gallery app updates. In the app management menu, click on the three dots in the top corner and select Remove Updates.This will bring the app back to the factory version, which often resolves conflicts that arose after a recent update via GetApps or Google Play.

Work with multimedia storage (Media Storage)

The deeper level of the solution is to work directly with the system's media storage, and that's the component that's responsible for indexing, and resetting it causes the phone to read all the files again and create a new, clean thumbnail database.

To find this hidden service, in the list of all applications, click on the three dots in the upper right corner and activate the To Show System Processes or Show All Applications switch. System services will appear in the list. You need to find Media Storage.

Once you have managed this process, select the data cleanup, the system will warn you that this may take some time. Confirm the action. After that, it is recommended to immediately restart the smartphone to start the background indexing process from scratch.

It's important to understand that immediately after the media storage is reset, the gallery will look empty or only contain blurred spots. This is normal. The system must first find the files and then generate previews for them. Don't panic if the photos don't appear instantly.

Using a hidden media scanner

There's a hidden engineering tool in the MIUI shell that allows you to force scans of media files to start, which is more effective than just waiting for the system to run in the background, because it prioritizes the task.

To access this tool, open the Phone app and enter a special code: ##64663##. However, on many modern firmware versions, this code may not work or open a common test mode. An alternative and more reliable way is to use commands via ADB, but for ordinary users there is a simpler way through settings.

Try this method: Go to Settings -> About Phone and repeatedly click on the MIUI or HyperOS version until the developer mode turns on. Then, in the advanced settings, find the item associated with multimedia, although there is often no direct Scan button there. So the most effective manual method is the Media Storage data cleanup described above.

There's also a USB mode switching method: connect your phone to your computer, select file transfer mode (MTP), and then switch to Charge Only. Sometimes this action initiates a re-question of the file system, but this method doesn't work on all Redmi models.

Comparison of methods of miniature restoration

Different ways of solving a problem have different efficiency and complexity, and below is a table that will help you choose the best strategy for action depending on your situation and technical background.

*Important: Full reset is listed as a high-risk method, as it deletes all data from the phone if it has not been stored in the cloud. Use it only as a last resort.

As you can see from the table, the most balanced method is to reset Media Storage, which does not require root rights, does not delete personal files, and solves the blur problem in 90% of cases. Cache cleaning is a quick measure that helps with temporary glitches, but rarely saves with serious database damage.

💡

Use Google Photos as a backup viewing option. Even if Xiaomi’s local gallery is buggy, Google Photos often displays the preview correctly, as it uses its servers to generate them.

Prevention and alternative solutions

To minimize the risk of recurrence, keep an eye on the device’s free space, delete unnecessary videos and screenshots regularly, and avoid using “accelerators” and “cleaners” of dubious origin that may disrupt system indexes.

If the standard Xiaomi gallery continues to run unsteady, it makes sense to consider installing an alternative app.The Google Play store offers a variety of solutions, such as Google Photos, Simple Gallery or AGallery.These apps have their own caching mechanisms and are independent of MIUI system errors.

⚠️ Warning: When installing a third-party gallery, be sure to give it all the necessary permissions to access files, otherwise it will not be able to display images either.

Another important aspect is the relevance of the firmware: Xiaomi developers periodically release patches that correct errors in the media server. Check for updates in the About Phone section. If you use the global version of the firmware, make sure it matches your region.

💡

If nothing helps, installing a third-party launcher or gallery is the quickest temporary solution to make your phone comfortable until the next system update.

Diagnostics of device memory problems

Sometimes blurring miniatures.