How to Transfer All Data from Xiaomi to Another Xiaomi: A Complete Guide

Buying a new smartphone from Xiaomi is always a pleasant event, but it can cloud the prospect of a long and tedious setup. Mi ecosystem owners often wonder how to move to a fresh model as quickly and without loss, while maintaining their familiar digital environment. Fortunately, the company’s engineers have developed several effective migration methods, each suitable for different use cases.

Modern smartphones accumulate gigabytes of user information, from instant messenger correspondence to smart home settings. SIM-A full clone of an old phone requires a systematic approach. In this article, we will discuss all the current ways of transferring it so that you can start using it immediately after unpacking without spending hours installing apps.

The choice of method depends on the amount of information and the state of the old device. If the previous phone is broken or not turned on, the options will be one, and if both devices are fully functional, the other. MIUI HyperOS, which work faster than third-party analogues.

Using the Mi Mover app for direct migration

The fastest and most reliable way to transfer data between devices of the same brand is using the proprietary Mi Mover utility. This tool is pre-installed on most Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones, and its main advantage is working through a local Wi-Fi connection, which provides high transfer speeds without spending mobile traffic.

The old smartphone has to be the "Sender" and the new one the "Receiver" and then the device has to create a temporary hotspot, and it's important that the screens of both devices are on and the battery is at least 50 percent charged, because it can be energy intensive, and the system will suggest sorting the data into categories.

⚠️ Warning: When transmitting large amounts of data (more than 50 GB), try not to run heavy games or the navigator on the receiving device, so as not to create unnecessary load on the processor and Wi-Fi module.

The user interface allows you to flexibly customize what you want to copy, you can choose only system settings and contacts, or you can make a full copy, including the gallery and installed programs. The Mi Mover algorithm is designed to try to save the folder structure and even the location of icons on the desktop.

It is worth noting that some secure banking application data or corporate profiles may not be automatically transferred for security reasons, and in such cases, re-authorization within the programs themselves will be required after the migration is completed, which is normal practice for Android systems.

Sync with Mi Cloud and Xiaomi account

For those who prefer cloud technology, the Xiaomi ecosystem offers a powerful synchronization tool: If your old device has been synced to Mi Cloud, when you enter your Mi Account on your new phone, most of the data will be automatically pulled up, ideal if the old phone is already out of hand or damaged.

The cloud stores contacts, messages, notes, voice recordings and, most importantly, photos. The gallery can take up a significant amount of space, so it's worth checking the available space in the cloud in advance. 5GB is free for the user, but for a full backup of media files, this may not be enough.

In addition to personal files, your account restores your system settings, including themes, alarm clocks, alarm settings, and even Wi-Fi connectivity settings, and you just need to log into Settings → Mi Account on your new device and press the recovery button.

But there are limitations to this method, and applications are not migrated through the cloud as ready-made applications. APK-The system only notes which programs have been installed, and starts downloading them from the GetApps store or Google Play, which means that installing 100 applications will require a stable and fast Internet connection.

Backup to the computer and recovery

The classic method that never loses its relevance is to create a local backup on your PC, which is especially good because it doesn't depend on Internet speed or cloud storage, you'll need a USB cable and a computer with software installed to manage your files.

First, you need to create a backup on your old phone. To do this, go to Settings → About Phone → Reserve and Restore. Here you can choose to create a copy on the internal drive. Once the process is complete, the backup file (usually weighing several gigabytes) must be copied to the computer.

After connecting a new smartphone to a PC, the copied backup file must be placed in the appropriate directory (usually MIUI/backup/AllBackup).

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Use the original cable from the kit or a certified analogue with support for high data rates. Cheap charging cables can significantly increase the time to copy gigabytes of photos.

This method is considered the most “clean” from a privacy perspective, since your data does not leave your devices or download to third-party servers, but it requires free space on your computer’s hard drive.

Transfer via Google Account and Google Photos

Don’t forget the standard Android tools, too: When you first set up a new Xiaomi, it will prompt you to log in to a Google account. If you’ve synced your old phone, contacts, calendar events, and passwords (via Google Password Manager) will appear instantly.

For photos and videos, Google Photos is the best service. It allows you to store media files in a compressed but high-quality format without limiting volume (under certain tariff conditions) or in original quality, taking up space in the Google One storage. On a new phone, you just open the application and all the pictures will be available.

For apps, the Google Play Store will remember the list of installed programs, and when you log in, you can restore the entire list, but like the Mi Cloud, the application files will have to be re-downloaded, and some of the data inside the games may be saved if the developer has used Google Play Games to progress.

An important nuance is that Google can’t handle MIUI system settings, such as control gestures, design themes, or specific power saving settings, which you’ll have to manually adjust or use a bundle with Mi Mover.

Features of transferring WhatsApp and Telegram

Messengers require special attention, as their correspondence is often stored in isolated containers. Telegram is simpler: the history of correspondence is stored on the server. Just enter the phone number and confirmation code, and all chats (except secret ones) will appear on the new device.

WhatsApp is a more complicated situation, because to save your correspondence history, you have to back up your Google Drive on your old phone, and when you install WhatsApp on a new Xiaomi, the app will find the copy in the cloud and suggest that you restore it, and without that, the correspondence will be lost.

⚠️ Note: WhatsApp backup in Google Drive doesn’t take up space in your Google storage if it’s recently created, but the recovery process requires a stable internet connection.

There are also third-party utilities for WhatsApp portability, but using them doesn't always guarantee data integrity and can be paid.Native method via Google Drive or local folder copying WhatsApp/Databases (For advanced users, it is the most reliable.

After data recovery in messengers, it is recommended to check the privacy settings and two-factor authorization, since changing the device may require re-confirmation of identity in some corporate chats.

What to do if data is not transferred or lost

Sometimes the migration process may not be perfect, users may find that some photos are not displayed in the gallery, or contacts are duplicated, and first of all, you need to check whether the copying process is successful, without errors.

If your contacts are missing, check the groups displayed in the Contacts app. Often, the phone only shows contacts with the contact information. SIM-maps, hiding the ones in your Google or Xiaomi account.Switch the display filter to All Contacts".

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If you have a port failure, don’t panic or drop the new phone right away. Most problems are solved by re-synchronizing a particular service (e.g., only photos or only contacts).

For files that are "lost" when transferred through Mi Mover, it is worth checking the File Manager → Internal Storage folder. Sometimes downloaded files end up in the root of internal memory or in the Download folder, rather than in the usual gallery album.

If none of these methods helped to recover critical data, you may need the help of specialized software to recover data from Android, although the chances of success in such cases depend on many factors, including the presence of root rights on the old device.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)