Changing the visuals is the first thing that many users start with: a personal style expressed through wallpaper allows you to instantly recognize your phone on the shelf or simply cheer up with bright colors. In the shell of MIUI and its successor HyperOS, this process is implemented flexibly, offering dozens of ways to personalize the lock screen and desktop.
However, standard images are often boring, and you want to install your own photo from the gallery or download a thematic package from the Internet. Xiaomi provides powerful tools for this, hidden in various settings menus. Understanding the logic of these sections will help you avoid confusion and quickly achieve the desired result without installing third-party applications.
In this article, we will take a look at all the available methods for changing the background, from basic system settings to advanced features like Wallpaper Carousel, and learn how to make a static image dynamic and how to set up automatic changes to the schedule.
Use of the built-in theme gallery
The most obvious and content-rich way to change your visual style is to use the Themes System App, which is not just an icon catalog, but a full-fledged digital art store where you can find both static and live wallpaper. The app interface is intuitive, and search allows you to filter content by category, popularity or date of addition.
To get started, open the Themes app on your desktop. At the bottom of the screen, select the Wallpaper tab. Here you will see recommendations, top charts and new arrivals. By clicking on your favorite image, you will be taken to the preview page, where you can rate how the picture will look on the lock screen and the home screen.
It's important to note that many of the beautiful packages in the catalog are labeled with a Pro icon or diamond, which is premium content that requires subscription or one-time payment. However, there are thousands of free options, and their quality is often as good as paid counterparts. Once selected, click Download and then Apply.
The system will suggest you choose whether to apply the theme to a lock screen, a desktop, or both, which gives you flexibility: you can leave the background menu, but diversify the lock screen with new images, which saves battery life if you don't use heavy animations on the home screen.
Installation of your own photo from the gallery
Personal photos make your smartphone truly yours. Android, coupled with the MIUI shell, allows you to use any image from your device's memory as a background, which can be a picture of your pet, a landscape from a vacation, or abstract art that you've created.
The installation process is simple and requires no in-depth knowledge. Open the Gallery app and find the photo you want. Click on the three dots in the lower right corner (or the "More" button) and select "Install as wallpaper." The system will automatically prompt you to crop the image if its proportions do not match the screen resolution.
⚠️ Warning: When you install small-scale photos or text on the home screen, app icons can overlay important parts of the image. Choose photos with a blurred background or free space in the center.
After selecting the framing area, a menu will appear with three options: “Set lock on the screen”, “Set on the desktop” and “Set on both screens.” Choose the desired option. If you choose the desktop, the system may suggest to enable the parallax effect, when the image is slightly shifted when the phone is tilted.
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For better display quality, choose photos with a resolution of at least 1080x2400 Low-resolution images will look blurry on modern day AMOLED-Xiaomi screens.
The alternative is through settings. Go to Settings, find Wallpaper or Always on Screen and Wallpaper. You can also select an image from the gallery by going to the appropriate tab, which is convenient if you want to quickly go through several options from the albums without opening the gallery itself.
Setting up the wallpaper carousel
One of the most recognizable features of Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones is the Wallpaper Carousel feature, which automatically changes the images on the lock screen every time you wake up the device, which turns a boring black screen into a constantly updated feed of news, facts and beautiful landscapes.
To activate this feature, go to Settings and select Wallpaper. Find the Wallpaper Carousel section and switch the switch to the active position. Immediately, new images will appear on the lock screen. From the carousel settings menu, you can choose whether nature, architecture, art or abstraction are the topics.
Carousels are not just about changing pictures, but often they're accompanied by interesting facts, historical backgrounds, or news stories, and you can click on the "Details" button on the lock screen to read the full text, and it's a great way to learn something by unlocking your phone.
☑️ Setting up the wallpaper carousel
It is important to understand the difference between a Carousel and a regular live wallpaper. The carousel only works on a lock screen and requires an internet connection to download new image packets (although the basic set is cached). Conventional live wallpaper runs on a desktop and can consume more CPU power.
Live Wallpaper and Always On Display
Owners of smartphones with AMOLED-The screens have a unique opportunity to configure the Always On Display mode (AOD). It's a feature where part of the screen stays active even in sleep mode, displaying time, date and stylish image. POCO Xiaomi flagships can be installed on their own GIF-animation or video as a form of AOD.
To set up, go to Settings → «Always on screen and lock. Here, select "Always On Display Settings." You'll see a list of preset styles. To add yours, click on the plus or add button. GIF-gallery-file.
The system will automatically trim the video to the desired format and suggest setting up the running time. You can choose to display AOD continuously, on a schedule (for example, only in the afternoon), or 10 seconds after touching, the latter option being the most cost-effective for the battery.
| Parameter | Description | Impact on the battery |
|---|---|---|
| Permanent regime | Images are always visible while the phone is unlocked. | High. |
| Scheduled. | Works only at specified hours (for example, 8:00-22:00) | Average. |
| 10 seconds. | Included when you touch the screen or receive a notification | Low. |
| Smart mode. | Analyzes movements and withdrawals from your pocket | Optimal. |
The use of video wallpapers on the home screen is also possible, but requires the installation of special themes from the Themes store. You can not put a video background on the desktop using standard means, only on the lock screen or in AOD mode. This limitation is associated with the optimization of power consumption.
Third-party applications for personalization
If standard tools aren't enough, there are thousands of wallpaper-changing apps on the Google Play store, popular options being the Wallpaper Engine, Backdrops, and Zedge, which offer access to huge databases of high-resolution images that are updated daily.
The Wallpaper Engine app is particularly remarkable for PC owners, because it allows you to synchronize live wallpaper from computer to phone, so you can create complex animations on a powerful desktop and stream them onto a smartphone screen, and it gives you unlimited possibilities for content creators.
⚠️ Note: Installation of applications from unverified sources or use of modified versions of wallpaper programs can lead to infection of the device with malware.
When using third-party "live" wallpaper, you should keep in mind the battery consumption. Complex animations using a gyroscope or constant frame drawing can increase energy consumption by 10-15% per day.
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Solving installation problems
Sometimes users are faced with a situation where the wallpaper is not installed, “fly off” after a reboot or displayed with black fields.Most often the problem lies in the image format or crowded cache of the system. JPG format is the most compatible, whereas PNG can weigh more and take longer to process.
If wallpaper is reset to standard after turning off your phone, check if you have a restriction on the use of data for the Themes or Wallpaper app. The system may have blocked saving settings to the cloud or locally due to an access permission error. Try clearing the theme app cache through the Apps menu.
Black stripes around the edges (or face trimming in the photo) arise from an aspect ratio mismatch: Modern smartphone screens are elongated (20:9 or 21:9), and photos are often 4:3 or 16:9 standard. Before installation, use the built-in gallery editor to manually expose the framing area covering the entire screen.
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If the wallpaper is not saved, try first to copy the image into the phone’s internal memory, rather than installing it directly from the phone. SD-maps or cloud storage.
In rare cases, the problem can be a crowded memory of the phone. The system requires free space to work properly with the GUI and caching wallpaper. Make sure that the device has at least 1-2 GB of memory.
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Smartphone personalization is a simple but effective way to make interactions with technology more enjoyable: Experiment with colors, textures and animations to find the perfect balance between aesthetics and functionality. Your Xiaomi should look the way you like.