Changing a smartphone, even to a more advanced model of the same brand, always causes a slight panic. Owners of the Xiaomi ecosystem often wonder how to quickly and without loss transfer gigabytes of photos, contact lists and app settings to a new device. Fortunately, the company’s engineers have provided several effective migration mechanisms that avoid manual installation of dozens of programs.
The process of transferring information has become much easier in recent years, where once users had to manually copy files through a computer or use third-party utilities with questionable security, now the regular tools MIUI and HyperOS do it almost unnoticed, the main thing is to choose the right method that suits your situation: the presence of Wi-Fi, the amount of data or the version of the operating system.
In this article, we will discuss in detail all the available ways to synchronize the two Xiaomi devices. We will look at the work of the native Mi Mover application, the capabilities of the Mi Cloud service, as well as the classic method through a Google account. Understanding the nuances of each method will save you time and ensure the safety of personal information when you switch to a new gadget.
Preparing devices for synchronization
Before you run any portable tools, you need to make sure that both smartphones are in good condition and ready to go. The battery charge is critical. The process of transferring large amounts of data, especially over a wireless channel, can be energy intensive. Make sure that both devices have a charge level of at least 50-60%, or connect them to power sources.
⚠️ Warning: If one of the smartphones is discharged and turned off during Wi-Fi Direct data transmission, the process will be interrupted, in some cases this may cause damage to partially copied databases or loss of archive integrity.
It is also worth checking for free space on the receiving device. Logically, the amount of available memory on the new phone should exceed the amount of data you plan to transfer from the old one. Go to Settings → Memory to assess the current state of storage. If there is not enough space, it is better to immediately delete unnecessary caches or large video files that are not planned to be stored.
Another important step is to update the system software. Although migration tools are usually backward compatible, work between devices with the same MIUI or HyperOS versions is more stable and faster. Check for updates in the About Phone section and install them if they are available. This minimizes the risk of software conflicts when migrating system settings.
☑️ Checklist before transfer
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Mi Mover Method: A Staff Solution for Migration
The most efficient and quick way to transfer data between Xiaomi smartphones is using the built-in Mi Mover application. This tool is designed specifically for the brand ecosystem and is able to transfer not only multimedia, but also system settings, the location of icons on the desktop, Wi-Fi passwords and data from most installed applications.
To get started, find the Mi Mover app in the Tools folder or through a menu search. On the old smartphone, select the Sender role and on the new one, the New phone. Devices will automatically find each other if both have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on. In some firmware versions, the new phone will create an access point to which the old device needs to connect.
- 📱 Select the data type: tick contacts, messages, call log, system settings, images, videos, music and documents.
- 📲 Confirm the connection: the screen of the new device will appear QR-the code or name of the device to be selected from the list on the old phone.
- ⚡ Run the transmission: once the permissions are confirmed, copying will begin. The speed depends on the amount of data, but usually ranges from 10 to 40 MB / s.
The Mi Mover feature is the ability to transfer data even without an Internet connection, as it creates a direct Wi-Fi connection between gadgets, which means that the mobile operator’s tariff will not be consumed, and the speed will be much faster than when transferring through cloud services.
What if the Mi Mover can’t see the device?
Use of the Mi Cloud cloud service
An alternative and highly reliable method is to sync via the Mi Cloud, which is ideal in situations where you don’t have physical access to both phones at the same time, or if an old smartphone has already been sold/broken but the data is still in the cloud.
On your old device, go to Settings → Mi Account → Mi Cloud. You need to activate sync for the desired categories: Contacts, Messages, Notes, Recorder, Gallery. Once sync is enabled, the data will start to load on the company's servers. Make sure the indicators opposite the points are green, which means that the download is successfully completed.
On the new smartphone, you just need to log in to the same Mi Account. The system automatically prompts you to recover data from the cloud. If you don't get an automatic offer, just turn on the sync sliders in the cloud settings, and the content will start appearing in the corresponding applications. This takes longer than a direct transfer, because it depends on the speed of your Internet connection.
| Type of data | Free storage limit | Synchronization speed | Network dependency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contacts and SMS | 5GB (total) | Instantly. | Required. |
| Photos and videos | 5GB (total) | Depends on the channel. | Wi-Fi required |
| Notes and Recorder | 5GB (total) | Quickly. | Required. |
| Backup copies of applications | 5GB (total) | Slowly. | Required. |
In this case, critical photos are better transferred to your computer or external hard drive, or purchase an extended rate of cloud storage for a month, which will ensure the complete security of your archives.
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Mi Cloud allows you to recover data even on a device of another brand, if it can be installed by Xiaomi services or logged in via a web interface, making this method versatile for changing the ecosystem in the future.
Synchronization through Google Account
The foundation of any Android system, a Google account, is the main method for many users, as it allows you to transfer contacts, calendar events, Google Keep notes and shopping lists, and restores the list of previously installed apps through the Google Play Store.
To make sure all data is saved, open Settings → Google → Sync on your old phone. Check the check boxes for Contacts, Google Calendar, Tasks and Google Photos. For photos and videos, use a separate Google Photos app and enable Autoboot and Sync.
When you first activate a new Xiaomi smartphone, the system will ask you to enter your Google account details. If you agree to restore, the phone will automatically download a list of apps that were on the previous device and begin installing them in the background. Contacts and calendars will appear in the corresponding applications immediately after connecting to the network.
- 📧 Contacts: saved in the Contacts section of your Gmail and accessible from any device.
- 📷 Photos: stored in Google Photos in original or compressed (space saving) quality.
- 📝 Passwords: If you have used Google Password Manager, all saved passwords will automatically be downloaded to the Chrome browser and system.
This is a good cross-platform approach, and if you decide to switch to a Samsung or Pixel tomorrow, you just need to log in to your Google account and most of your digital life will come back into place, but MIUI system settings like themes, app-specific alarm clocks or widget placement are not portable through Google.
Transferring Multimedia over Wi-Fi and FTP
Sometimes there are situations where you only need to transfer heavy files, such as movies, archives with work or raw photos, and you can not use the cable, in which case file managers with FTP support or Wi-Fi transfer features built into the standard Xiaomi Explorer come to the rescue.
Open the Explorer app on both phones. On the sender device, select PC Access or Remote Control. The phone will create an address of the type ftp://192.168.1.55:2121. On the receiving phone in the conductor, select Network → Add Server or FTP, and enter this address. Once connected, you will have full access to the old phone's file system.
⚠️ Note: When transferring files through FTP-Connection ensure that both phones are on the same Wi-Fi network. Transferring large amounts of data (over 10 GB) can take considerable time, and interrupting the network will lead to the need to start copying the file again, since the protocol FTP In mobile implementations, it rarely supports doping.
The good thing about this is that it doesn't require any additional software to be installed, and it works at the file system level, so you can copy the entire DCIM folder or select specific directories, but you can't migrate the application settings and the applications themselves, just user-generated content.
Possible problems and solutions
Although processes are fine, there can be some failures, and one of the common problems is that there is not enough space, even when there is free space, and this can be due to file system fragmentation or reserved space for system processes, so try clearing the application cache before you start porting.
Another common situation is that the process freezes at a certain percentage (often 99%), which usually means that the system cannot copy a corrupted file or file with incorrect access rights. Mi Mover in new versions is able to skip such files, but if the process is dead, it is better to interrupt it, restart both phones and start the procedure again, selecting selective synchronization, excluding suspicious folders.
If some apps (e.g. banking) don't work after the transfer, that's fine. For security reasons, authorization data in banking apps and messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram) often isn't transferred directly with the application. You'll have to re-enter them using your phone number and confirmation codes. For WhatsApp, use the built-in backup function in chat settings before you switch.
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To speed up the transfer process through Mi Mover, close all background apps on both smartphones, which will free up RAM and CPU time for the task of copying data, which can reduce latency by 15-20%.