How to quickly take a screenshot on Xiaomi: full instructions

Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face the need to save the image from the screen. This can be correspondence in the messenger, an error in the application, an interesting moment in the game or a setup instruction. The standard shell MIUI and the new HyperOS offer many tools for this, but not all users are aware of them.

Screenshots are a basic feature that is as flexible as possible here: you can use physical buttons, gestures, voice controls, or a special menu. In this article, we will discuss all the methods available so that you can choose the most convenient one for yourself.

Using physical buttons for the photo

The fastest and most familiar way to run on all Android smartphones, including Xiaomi devices, is unconfigurable and is available immediately after you turn on your phone, and you need to press two buttons simultaneously: Volume down and Power.

Press them sharply and let go. If you press the buttons too long, the smartphone may perceive this as a command to call the off menu or reboot. Xiaomi responds to a short tap instantly, emitting a characteristic sound of the camera shutter and showing animations.

Once you create an image, you'll see a thumbnail in the top right corner, and you'll tap it into an editor where you can add text, crop it, or draw an arrow, which is especially useful if you want to send someone a quick explanation for a screenshot.

⚠️ Note: On some models with curved edges of the screen (such as the Mi series or Xiaomi Pro), pressing the volume buttons can be uncomfortable due to the risk of accidentally touching the display.

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If the buttons on your device are not comfortable, try to pinch them not with your finger pads, but with the side face of the phalanx to avoid accidental touches of the screen.

Screenshot through the notification curtain and menu

If you find the buttons uncomfortable or one of them is faulty, you can use the software method. There's a widget in the notification curtain that allows you to take a picture in one click.

Find an icon called Screenshot or Screenshot, and if you don't see it right away, it may be hidden in the second page of the widgets or in the editing menu (usually a pencil or three-dot button), and add it to the active ones for quick access.

This method is ideal for situations where the volume buttons are dusted or stuck, but it requires two hands or a second hand to swipe, which is not always convenient when using one hand.

• 📱 Open the notification curtain with the swipe down.
• 🔍 Find the screenshot icon among the widgets.
• 📸 Click on it to create a picture.
• 🖼️ Check the result in the gallery or in the preview window that appears.

The Three-Finger Method: Gestures in MIUI and HyperOS

Xiaomi's shells are famous for their functionality, and one of the most useful additions is to take screenshots with gestures. You can take a picture just by swiping three fingers from top to bottom across the screen. It's a very fast way, without needing to search for buttons.

To activate this feature, you need to go to the settings. The path may vary slightly depending on the software version, but it usually is in the Additional Features or Advanced Settings section. Find Screenshots and turn on the Three Finger option.

Once activated, try swiping your fingers over any page, and if the gesture doesn't work the first time, check if you're moving your fingers too fast or too slow, and the system should recognize three simultaneous touches.

Voice control and Google Assistant

Modern smartphones allow you to control many voice functions. If your hands are busy or dirty, you can simply ask your phone to take a screenshot. This uses the built-in Google Assistant or XiaoAI (in Chinese versions).

Activate the assistant with the phrase "Ok Google" or long press of the power button (if the function is configured). Then clearly say the command: "Take a screenshot" or "Photograph the screen." The system will execute the command and save the image.

This method works consistently, but requires a good Internet connection for speech recognition, and it may be less convenient in noisy places or when you need to keep quiet.

Long screenshot and page scrolling

Often, a single screen is not enough to save the entire correspondence, article or product list, in which case the Scrolling function is used, and after you create a regular screenshot (by any means) a button plaque appears in the corner.

Press the button with the arrows down or the words "Scroll"; the screen automatically moves down, capturing a new area. You can press the button several times or select Auto mode so that the phone scrolls the page to the end.

When you're capturing the information you need, you can tap Stop or just tap the screen, and the system will combine all the pieces into one long picture, and it's an indispensable tool for saving checks, routes, or long dialogues.

⚠️ Note: The scrolling feature may not work in some applications that block screenshots for security reasons (e.g., banking applications in incognito mode).

Editing and markup immediately after creation

Once you've created a screenshot, Xiaomi offers a powerful built-in editor that not only saves the image, but also prepares it for sending, so you can add text, highlight important points with a marker, or blur sensitive data.

The blur feature is especially useful, because if you still see passwords, card numbers, or private messages in a screenshot, the Blurr tool will hide them with a single finger movement, which is much faster and safer than editing the photo later in the gallery.

There is also a watermark feature with the phone model and time of creation, which can be useful for bloggers or those who have technical blogs and want to specify the source of the image.

• ✏️ Drawing: Colors and thicknesses of the brush for markings.
• 📝 Text: Adding comments over the image.
• 🌫️ Blurring: Hiding confidential information.
• 📐 Pruning: Removing excess fields around the desired area.

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The built-in screenshot editor on Xiaomi is more functional than many third-party apps, and allows you to perform 95% of image processing tasks without installing additional software.

Where are the screenshots stored and how to find them

All images are automatically saved to the gallery. The Gallery app usually has a separate album called Screenshots, which makes it easier to search, since you don't have to go through all the photos taken by the camera.

If you use a file manager, look for files via the Internal Storage/DCIM/Screenshots path or Internal Storage/Pictures/Screenshots.The path can vary depending on the Android version and the specific device model.

To quickly access the last image, you can use a desktop widget or a recent widget in the curtain, which allows you to instantly open the image and share it through the messenger without opening the gallery.

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Use cloud services (Mi Cloud, Google Photos) to automatically sync your screenshot folder so you don’t lose important information when your phone breaks down or is lost.