How to make a screen on Xiaomi: a complete guide to screenshots

Screenshots are a basic feature that is unimaginable for a modern smartphone. Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco devices often face the need to capture an important dialogue in the messenger, save a recipe or fix an error in the application. However, standard methods may not be obvious to beginners, especially given the variety of versions of the MIUI shell and the new HyperOS.

The Chinese giant's ecosystem offers many variations on how to do this: you can use physical buttons, special gestures, voice commands, or even automate the process. Understanding all the options available will allow you to work with the device much faster and more efficiently. Below we will detail each method so that you can choose the most convenient one for yourself.

It’s important to consider that the interface may vary slightly depending on your device model and operating system version. However, the basic principles remain the same across the brand’s product line. Let’s look at the basic ways that are guaranteed to work on current firmware.

Classical Method Through Physical Buttons

The fastest and most familiar way to run any Android smartphone, including the budget Redmi and Xiaomi flagships. To create a screenshot, you need to press and hold two buttons simultaneously: turn down and turn on (lock off). The main thing here is the synchrony of pressing. If you pinch them too long, the phone can perceive this as a command to call the switch off menu or reboot.

The success of the operation is confirmed by the characteristic sound of the camera shutter (if the sound is on) and the appearance of a pop-up thumbnail in the upper right corner of the screen. This preview allows you to immediately edit the image, apply a markup or send it to the interlocutor. If the picture does not work the first time, try changing the rhythm of the press: the action should be sharp, but short.

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If you have In-pocket mode enabled, the lock button may not respond to short presses, in which case temporarily turn off the mode in the screen settings or use other methods to create screenshots.

It's worth noting that on some models with a side-finger scanner combined with a power button, the method remains the same. The mechanics of the keys do not change even when there is biometric protection, a universal solution that is worth knowing by heart, because it works even in the event of an interface freeze or a failure of the touch layer.

Using three-finger gestures

For those who are uncomfortable reaching for buttons or who prefer one-handed control, the MIUI shell offers a handy alternative: the three-finger screenshot is activated by them swiping from top to bottom across the screen, which is a spectacular gesture that takes a split second to perform, but is often disabled by default in the system settings.

To activate this option, follow the Settings → Additional Features → Screenshots. In the menu that opens, you need to find the "Three-finger screenshot" and switch to the active position. After that, you can take screenshots at any time just by swiping your fingers across the display.

There's also a variation of this gesture that allows you to take screenshots of a particular area, but it requires more precise finger positioning. The standard gesture captures all the visible contents of the display. If you have a large smartphone, like the Redmi Note series, then performing the gesture may require some skill and wide screen coverage.

Configuring and using the control panel

The third way is to use the interface elements of the operating system itself, and the top-down notification curtain is a quick access bar, and among the many icons, there's a screenshot button (usually like a scissor or a screen image) that you tap instantly captures the current content.

This is a good way to do this, because it doesn't require memorizing keyboards or training your fingers, but it has a major drawback: when you open the curtain, you're blocking some of the content you want to capture, so it's ideal for static images, but it's less convenient for video or dynamic scenes where every millisecond matters.

You can customize the control panel by adding a screenshot shortcut if it's hidden, by opening the curtain completely, pressing the edit icon (often looks like a pencil or three dots), and dragging the desired element into a prominent place, which will take just a few seconds, but save time in the future.

Voice control via Google Assistant

Xiaomi smartphones are now perfectly integrated with Google services, allowing you to use voice commands to control your device. If you're busy or far from your phone, just say, "OK, Google, take a screenshot." The system recognizes the command and executes the action without physical contact with the screen.

To work properly, this feature requires that the appropriate option is activated in the settings of the Google account, which is usually enabled by default, but in some regions or on custom firmware (for example, Chinese versions without global localization), additional actions may be required. Voice control is not just a convenience, but an important accessibility feature for people with disabilities.

⚠️ Warning: The voice command may fail if the microphone is busy with another app or if the room is too noisy and the system cannot recognize speech.

Automating processes with Google Scripts

For advanced users who want to fully automate the process, there is a possibility of creating scripts. Although MIUI does not have a built-in screenshot scheduler out of the box, you can use third-party apps or standard Android tools to create macros, for example, you can adjust the response to shaking your phone or clicking on a virtual button.

One effective tool is the Teams app (or similar automatizers), and you can create a scenario where, "If you run X, you take a screenshot of the back double tap (if supported), and that requires customization, but it's worth it for those who often capture information in specific programs."

Automation is also useful for taking serial shots, and if you want to capture the process in the speaker, you better use the built-in screen recording feature, which is also available in the notification curtain, which allows you to save video of what is happening on the screen along with the sound.

Editing and working with long screenshots

Once you've created a picture, the system offers basic editing tools, so you can crop an image, draw arrows, text, or highlight important areas with a marker, and the Long Screenshot (or Scrolling) feature is particularly noteworthy, and it allows you to combine multiple screens into one long picture, which is ideal for saving correspondence or articles.

To take a long screenshot, after you create a normal shot, click on the thumbnail that appears and select the icon with two down arrows (or the words "Scroll"). The phone will automatically start scrolling down the page, taking pictures and gluing them together. The process will stop when you touch the screen or when the page content is over.

The table below compares the main methods of creating screenshots on Xiaomi devices:

Where are screenshots stored and how to share them

All images are automatically stored in the device's internal memory, and can be found in the standard Gallery app on the separate Screenshots album. In the file system, they are usually located on the Internal Storage/DCIM/Screenshots path or Internal Storage/Pictures/Screenshots, depending on the Android version.

It allows you to share a picture instantly, and immediately after you create it, you get a preview in the corner, and if you click on it, you open the Share menu, and you can send it to WhatsApp, Telegram, email, or save it to the cloud, and you don't have to search the file in the gallery manually.

⚠️ Note: When sending screenshots containing sensitive information (passwords, addresses, card data), be sure to use editing tools to hide sensitive data before sending it.

Solution: Why the screenshot doesn't work

Sometimes users are faced with a situation where screenshots are not created, most often due to security restrictions of specific applications, such as banking applications, browser Incognito mode or DRM-protected video players (Netflix, Kinopoisk) block the creation of screenshots, in which case you will see a black screen instead of an image.

Another reason may be a lack of free memory: if the internal storage is overcrowded, the system will not be able to physically save the new file, in this situation, you need to clear the cache or delete unnecessary files, and the problem may lie in a software failure, which is solved by simply restarting the device.

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Blocking screenshots in banking apps is a security mechanism, not a phone bug, and it is neither possible nor recommended to bypass it with standard means.

In rare cases, you may need to reset special features if you have actively used gestures and they stopped responding. Check if the "Guide" mode or other specific settings for people with disabilities that can intercept the control of the screen are turned on.