How to set up a gallery on Xiaomi Redmi 8: the complete guide

Redmi smartphones have long proven to be affordable devices with rich functionality, but the standard MIUI shell requires careful attention to detail. Owners of the Redmi 8 model often face the need to optimize the work of the built-in application for viewing images, since factory settings do not always meet the individual needs of the user. The correct configuration allows not only to speed up the interface, but also to protect personal data from prying eyes.

In this article, we will take a look at all aspects of managing multimedia content on your device, how to organize thousands of images into a convenient structure, hide sensitive files, and even integrate cloud services for automatic backup. Competent file display system is the first step to improve overall productivity of your smartphone.

Basic organization and sorting of photos

The first thing to start with is to set up content displays. The standard creation date sorting algorithm is not always convenient, especially if you're active and take pictures in different locations. It allows you to flexibly manage the view of folders, hiding the system directories that clutter up the list, and you just have to go into the application settings and activate the appropriate switches.

It is important to understand the difference between physically deleting a file and hiding it from public access. MIUI's built-in tools offer a Hidden Album feature that works by encrypting content. Hidden photos are not displayed in shared feed, are not visible in widgets, and are not available to other applications without password or fingerprint, a critical feature for data privacy.

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Use the Hidden Album feature to protect scans of documents and personal photos, accessed by swiping down on the Albums tab and entering the security password.

And you also have to look at automatic grouping, and it can recognize objects in images by itself, creating smart categories, but to do that properly, you need to allow the app to access geolocation and location data, so you can create travel maps and group the images by city or country where they were taken.

• 📁 Use the Albums tab to manually sort by event or person.
• 🔒 Activate biometric protection to access hidden folders in the security menu.
• 🗺️ Turn on geotagging in the camera settings so that the photos are automatically distributed across the map.
• 👁️ Hide system folders (such as WhatsApp thumbnails) to avoid clogging your review.

Working with cloud services and synchronization

Redmi 8’s internal memory, while sufficient for basic tasks, can quickly fill up with high-quality photos and videos. Cloud storage integration solves space shortages and protects against data loss in the event of a device breakdown. Xiaomi offers its own Mi Cloud service, which is deeply integrated into the system, but it can also customize third-party solutions such as Google Photos.

Autosynchronization requires careful consideration of quality and network type. If you choose to store originals, the cloud will consume more space, but the image quality will be 100% maintained. In space saving mode, images are compressed, which is almost invisible on a smartphone screen, but saves server disk space significantly. Autosynchronization by default only works over Wi-Fi, so as not to waste mobile traffic.

We should mention the "Clear Local Copies" feature, which is that once you successfully upload photos to the cloud, the system can suggest that you delete the originals from the device, leaving only a preview, which frees up gigabytes of space, while keeping the gallery viewable. When you click on the preview, the image will be uploaded from the network, which is ideal for archival shots, which are rarely needed.

Cleaning the cache and speeding up the application

Over time, the gallery app accumulates data about thumbnails and metadata, which can lead to slowdown of the interface. If the tape scrolls and it takes a few seconds to open heavy photos, technical optimization is necessary, first of all, you should clear the application cache without deleting the photos themselves.

To do this, go to Settings → Applications → All Apps. Search Gallery and select Memory. Here you will see a Clean button that will delete temporary files. The thumbnail cache is a temporary, reduced-down copy of images that speeds up the grid but can take up hundreds of megabytes of disk space over time.

It’s also worth checking for updates to the system component. Xiaomi developers regularly release patches that fix rendering errors and improve compatibility with new file formats. If the problem persists, you can try resetting the application itself to factory settings, but this will return all sorting parameters to the original state.

⚠️ Attention: Clearing the application's (non-cache) data will remove hidden album and edited tag settings. Be careful not to confuse the Clear Cache button with the Reset or Delete Data button».

Display and interface setting

The visual aspect of media files is important, especially on the 6.22-inch screen that Redmi 8 is equipped with. The gallery settings allow you to resize the display grid by switching between large previews and a compact list, which is especially true for visually impaired users or those who prefer to see more content on a single screen.

An interesting feature is that you can change how you group your photos by time, you can choose to display them by day, month or year. For large archives, the Group by Year option allows you to quickly travel through time, find the desired events in a few touches, and you can also turn on the display of file information (EXIF) directly in the browsing interface.

In the context of aggressive battery optimization in MIUI, the system can prematurely close the background processes of the gallery, which leads to a long reboot when returning to the application.

• 🖼️ Change the grid size in the view settings menu for comfortable viewing.
• 📅 Set up a time grouping (day/month/year) for a quick search.
• 🔋 Turn off background activity restriction in battery settings.
• ℹ️ Turn on the display. EXIF-data to view the shooting parameters.

Editing and formatting

The built-in image editor in Redmi 8 has surprisingly wide functionality that allows you to perform basic retouch without installing third-party software. Settings allow you to apply filters, adjust light, contrast and saturation. It is important to know that when you save edited photos, the system can default to create a copy, leaving the original unchanged, or rewrite a file.

The saving behavior is regulated in the editor's settings. You can choose the save format: high quality JPEG with minimal compression or a more compact format for fast sending in messengers. The save format directly affects the space occupied and the detail of the image. For professional processing, it is better to choose the maximum quality.

Also worth mentioning is video files. The gallery allows you to do basic video editing: cropping, overlaying music and filters. The video export settings allow you to choose resolution and frame rate. If you plan to upload videos to social networks, the best choice is 1080p at 30 frames per second.

⚠️ Note: When editing high-resolution video (4K, if supported by a camera, the process can take a considerable time and heat the device very much.

Solving Frequent Problems and Errors

Despite the stability of the system, users may experience situations where new photos are not displayed in the gallery, or entire albums are missing, most often due to an error in indexing media files by the Android system, in which case the media scanner is forced to restart or cache cleaning, as described above.

Another common problem is broken thumbnails, where a gray square is displayed instead of a photo, which indicates file corruption or an error when writing to a microSD card. If the problem is massive, it is recommended to check the status of the memory card and possibly format it. File system integrity is critical for the correct display of content.

If the gallery is constantly crashing or hanging, try removing newly installed editorial or launcher apps that may conflict with the system software. MIUI Gallery through the built-in app store GetApps.

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Regularly cleaning the cache and setting the synchronization correctly is the key to fast operation of the gallery and the safety of your memories on Redmi 8.