Xiaomi and Redmi smartphone owners often face a situation where when they unlock the screen, a new photo appears instead of the usual static picture. This is not a random bug, but a built-in feature called Wallpaper Carousel (or Glance), which automatically updates the background of locking from cloud storage. For some users, this is a way to diversify the visual experience, for others, an intrusive element that distracts from using the gadget.
In this article, we will discuss how to turn on the wallpaper carousel on Xiaomi if it was disabled, as well as the subtleties of setting up this feature, learn how to manage image sources, adjust the frequency of updates and, equally important, how to completely disable this service if it is no longer useful. Understanding the work of MIUI system services will allow you to personalize the device to your needs.
Dynamic background change is closely integrated into the MIUI and HyperOS shell, working at the security and screen blocker level, and consumes minimal traffic because it only loads images when there is Wi-Fi or using a special optimization algorithm. However, activation of this option can affect the display of widgets and the response rate of the lock screen on older smartphones.
What is a wallpaper carousel and how it works
The wallpaper carousel is a system service developed by Xiaomi to automatically change images on the lock screen. Unlike regular live wallpapers, which are animated files, the carousel uploads static high-resolution photos from the Internet. The mechanism is built on a periodic call to the company's server, which offers content selected by algorithms or editors.
You might notice that images are often thematic: today they're landscapes, tomorrow they're cars, and a week later they're abstract graphics, because the service categorizes content, and if you want to have space or animals on the screen, you need to adjust your preferences properly, and ignoring the settings will lead to a chaotic mixing of all the available genres.
Where do the pictures come from?
It's important to distinguish between "Wallpaper Carousel" and "Super Wallpapers." Supercovers are heavy interactive themes that change when unlocked, while Carousel is just a slideshow of static pictures. The carousel doesn't require a permanent Internet connection after the initial cache load, but the network is still necessary to get fresh images. Without access to the WAN, the function will only show files previously stored in the cache.
Step-by-step instruction: enable through screen settings
The easiest and most reliable way to activate background change is to use the standard system settings menu, which is universal for most versions of MIUI since version 11 and is relevant for the new HyperOS. You do not need to download third-party applications or obtain root rights.
☑️ Algorithm for function inclusion
To start, unlock the device and find the Settings icon. In the menu that opens, scroll through the list to the Lock Screen section (in some versions it may be called Lock Screen and Password). Inside, you will see the Wallpaper Carousel item. When you click on it, you will be taken to the service management menu. Here you need to translate the slider to Enable the wallpaper carousel in an active position.
Once activated, the system can request permission to use geolocation or notifications, which is necessary so that the service can offer content relevant to your location (such as city news or weather), as well as notify you of new collections. If you value privacy, these permissions can be denied - the basic feature of changing pictures will continue to work, but without being tied to the region.
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If you don't find the wallpaper carousel item on the menu, try searching by settings. Type the word "carousel" or "Glance" into the search box, and the system will redirect you to the desired section.
It is worth noting that on some global versions of firmware (Global). ROM) It's called Glance, and there's no fundamental difference in functionality, it's just rebranding across markets, and the logic of inclusion in Glance is the same: you have to accept the user agreement and activate the switchboard.
Category setting and content personalization
Simply turning on the feature is not enough for comfortable use. By default, the service offers a wide range of images, including advertising banners for games or applications. To make the lock screen pleasing to the eye, rather than annoying, you need to fine-tune the categories.
From the carousel menu, select Settings or Categories, and here is a list of available topics: nature, cities, sports, art, technology, etc. You need to manually select items that you are interested in and deselect from those that are not. For example, if you are not interested in advertising new smartphones, remove the corresponding category.
- 🌍 Geography: allows you to choose photos of specific countries or cities, which is useful for travelers.
- 🎨 Art: collections of paintings by famous artists and digital graphics.
- 🚗 Techniques: cars, motorcycles and gadgets (often containing advertising content).
- 🌌 Space: photos of planets, nebulae and rocket launches.
You can also find the refresh rate option in the settings, so you can set the system to change the picture only once a day or every time you unlock the device, the first option saves battery and traffic, the second one creates a sense of constant novelty, but can be distracting if you often look at the phone.
Pay attention to the Wi-Fi switch. Keep it on, which will prevent mobile traffic from being used to load high-resolution images. If the mobile Internet is on, the carousel will wait for the wireless network to update the library.
Management through the Topics app
An alternative, but less obvious way to manage the carousel is through the Themes system app, which is the central hub for customizing the interface at Xiaomi, and you can find extended collections that are not available in the standard settings menu.
Launch the Themes app and go to the Profile tab (the person icon in the corner). From the profile menu, select Settings. From the options list, find the Wallpaper Carousel. Here the functionality duplicates the system settings, but sometimes allows you to download additional image packs marked as "Premium" or "New".
The app also has a History feature. If you liked the picture that was on the lock screen yesterday but you forgot to save it, you can find it in the history of carousel downloads. This is convenient, since the standard gallery does not automatically save all past images from the carousel.
| Parameter | System settings | Annex Topics |
|---|---|---|
| Access to categories | Basic | Expanded |
| Picture history | No. | There is. |
| Traffic management | There is. | There is. |
| Photo editing | No. | Basic |
Using the Themes app is especially relevant if you want to create your own carousel, so you can upload your photos to the Mi Cloud cloud or a special folder and customize them to display them, eliminating third-party content, which makes the carousel a personal photo exhibition.
Advertising and ways to minimize it
One of the main reasons users look for how to turn on a wallpaper carousel on Xiaomi and then immediately look for how to turn it off is advertising.In free versions of firmware, images often contain watermarks or promo text at the bottom of the screen.
⚠️ Attention: It is impossible to completely remove advertising from the carousel without losing the functionality of changing the wallpaper using standard methods.
To reduce the amount of advertising content, you need to turn off the collection of data about your interests in the carousel settings (Receive recommendations or Personalized recommendations), this will not remove the ads completely, but will make it less intrusive and more random, and also helps disable the Display promotional materials, if such a switch is available in your version of the software.
There's a "data cleanup" method. If the ad becomes too aggressive, you can go to Settings → Apps → All apps, find the Wallpaper Carousel (or Glance) and click Clear Data. This will reset the settings and temporarily remove the ad cache, but when you update the image database, the ad can come back.
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Carousel advertising is a fee for free use of the service, and if visual noise interferes, the only absolute solution is to completely disable the function.
Some users use third-party launchers or modified versions of system applications to cut out ad units, but such actions can lead to unstable system operation or breach of warranty obligations, so we do not recommend them to ordinary users.
Why the carousel doesn’t work: Diagnostics and solutions
There are times when the feature is on but the images don't change, most often the problem is no Internet connection or overcrowded cache, make sure the smartphone has access to the network, as the local image database is limited and quickly runs out.
The second common reason is the power saving mode: If the hard power saving mode is on, the system can block the background data load for the carousel to extend battery life. Check the battery settings and add service to exceptions or allow background activity.
- 🔋 Energy saving: check if background activity is limited.
- 📶 Network: Make sure you don’t have to limit your Wi-Fi downloads if you don’t have Wi-Fi.
- 💾 Memory: if there is not enough space in the storage, new images will not be cached.
Also, check the date and time. If the system has a time lost, the server security certificate may not be validated and the connection will not be established. Set automatic time synchronization over the network in the settings Additional → Date and time.
Resetting of service
In rare cases, the problem may be on the side of Xiaomi servers, where if the service is temporarily unavailable in your region, the images will stop updating until the server is restored, in which case you can only wait or temporarily disable the function.
How to completely disable the function
If you realize that you don’t need a dynamic background change, or if you’re annoyed by advertising, the feature can be easily deactivated, which will return the static image you chose yourself and free up system resources.
To do this, go to Settings → Lock screen → Wallpaper carousel and move the switch to the Off position. The system can show a pop-up with the question “Disable?”, confirm the action. After that, the last downloaded image or standard MIUI wallpaper will remain on the lock screen.
⚠️ Warning: After the carousel is turned off, previously uploaded images may remain in the phone's memory. To free up space, it is recommended to clear the cache of the Wallpaper Carousel app through the storage settings.
It is important to understand that disabling this feature does not affect the operation of the main widgets of the lock screen, such as hours, steps or notifications. This is purely a visual setting. You can always turn it back on at any time by following the instructions above.