Smartphone personalization is not just a matter of aesthetics, but also an important aspect of ergonomics of device usage. When the phone rings, we often don’t look at the name of the subscriber, but instantly read the visual image, which allows you to quickly identify the caller. Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco devices may find that standard methods of installing an avatar don’t work as expected, or the image does not appear during an incoming call. This is due to the features of the MIUI and HyperOS shell, which have their own nuances of working with contacts.
In this article, we will take a look at all the ways to set photos to contacts, from basic actions through the system phone book to advanced sync methods through a Google account. You will learn why sometimes a gray silhouette is displayed instead of a photo and how to fix this problem in a couple of minutes. We will also touch on the topic of displaying images from messengers, as this often causes confusion among users.
Customizing your phone book makes it much easier to navigate your call list. Imagine that you see not just a list of numbers, but the faces of colleagues and relatives, which reduces the risk of missing an important call or taking an unwanted one. Xiaomi's system gallery automatically creates thumbnails for contacts, but it requires certain proportions and file formats to be observed correctly during the call. Let's get to the practical part.
Basic installation of the image through the Contacts app
The easiest and most common way is to use the standard Contacts app, which is preinstalled on each device. The interface may vary slightly depending on the Android version and shell, but the logic of action remains the same, first you open the application and find the right subscriber in the list or use a search.
Once you open the contact card, you'll usually have a round avatar area at the top of the screen, and if you click on it or the pencil icon (edit), you'll get access to the image selection menu, and the system will offer multiple sources: take a photo right now, select from a gallery, or take from existing profiles.
- 📸 Take a new picture: the camera will open in portrait mode, which will immediately framing the face.
- 🖼️ Select from the gallery: you can download any saved image from the phone's memory.
- 👤 Use Google Avatar: If a contact is linked to an account, a profile photo will be pulled up.
It's important to note that when you select an image from a gallery, the system will offer a framing tool. Square trimming is a requirement, because the contact avatars are round or square. Don't ignore this step, otherwise the photo may crop incorrectly, cutting off important parts of the image. Once the selection is confirmed, the changes are saved automatically.
☑️ Pre-installing check
Configure through the system menu and profile SIM-map
Sometimes users confuse setting a photo to a specific number and setting up their own profile image, which is seen by others when calling you (if the operator supports this feature) or which is displayed in the settings header. Xiaomi has a separate section for this. To change your photo, you need to go to Settings and click on the top plaque with the name of your Mi Account or Google account.
However, if you are talking about assigning a photo to an incoming number, it is important to understand the difference between storing contacts. SIM-It's in the memory of your phone, or in the Google cloud. SIM-It is technically impossible to record a high-quality image in high resolution, the maximum is a low-quality miniature, which modern smartphones often ignore.
⚠️ Note: If the contact is maintained exclusively on SIM-If you have a card, the system may not allow you to set a high-quality photo on it or even hide this option, you should copy the contact to your phone or Google account for full personalization.
To transfer contacts, use the Contacts app, select a menu (three dots or bars) and find Import/Export. Select the SIM-to-phone copy option. This will take a few seconds, but will ensure compatibility with all MIUI personalization features.
💡
Always save contacts in your Google account, not your phone’s memory, and this will allow you to recover the entire phone book with photos when your device is lost or broken by simply logging in.--WIDGET
Problems with displaying photos during a call
One of the most common problems faced by Xiaomi users is that there is a photo in contact, but during the incoming call, a standard gray plug is displayed. This can be caused by several factors, including caching of the phone application data or access rights conflicts. Often the problem is that the system “hangs” on the old version of the thumbnail.
The first step in diagnosing is to clear the app cache. Don't worry, your contacts and call history won't be deleted, only the temporary buffer will be cleared. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps, find Contacts and Phone in the list. In each of them, select Clear → Clear cache.
If that doesn’t work, check the image format and size. The system may not handle HEIC files correctly (standard for iPhone) or PNG files that are too heavy. Converting to standard JPG often solves the problem. Also make sure that the contact doesn’t specify multiple numbers with different priorities, and the photo is tied to the main contact profile, not to a separate number.
| The cause of the problem | Symptoms. | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Contact on SIM | No photo selection button | Copy in the memory of the phone |
| Cash app. | Photos are in contact, but not when you call. | Clear the cache of the phone application |
| File format | Black square or error | Convert to JPG |
| Synchronization | Photo missing after dumping | Enable Google Sync |
Synchronization with Google Account
The most reliable way to store your contacts and their images is in the Google cloud, which ensures that when you change your phone or restore the system, all avatars will remain in place, and to do this, you need to make sure that your Google account settings on your Xiaomi have enabled contact sync.
You can check this by going to Settings → Accounts and Sync → Google. Make sure the slider opposite Contact is activated. If you add a photo on your phone, it will automatically upload to the cloud and show up on any other device where you log in to that account, including tablets or computers via your browser.
The advantage of this approach is that if you have a contact of "Mom" on your phone and "Mom (Worker)" on Google, the system will suggest combining them, saving all the numbers and setting a single photo for all the communication lines, which makes the phone book neat and convenient.
What to do if the synchronization is suspended?
Displaying photos from messengers (Viber, WhatsApp, Telegram)
Modern Xiaomi smartphones are able to pull up avatars from instant messengers if the phone number is saved in contacts, and the person has a photo installed in the application itself (for example, Viber or WhatsApp), but often users notice that a standard MIUI call displays a photo from Google, not from the messenger, or vice versa.
The priority of image sources in MIUI is usually as follows: a manually installed photo in contact has the highest priority. If not, the system looks at the Google account. Photos from instant messengers are often displayed only within the applications themselves or in special widgets, but are not always integrated into the system screen of the call for privacy and data separation reasons.
For a photo from Viber or WhatsApp to be accurately displayed, you sometimes need to give these apps permission to read and write contacts, and synchronize their internal lists. In the settings of the messenger itself, find the Privacy or Data section and click Sync Contacts.
⚠️ Note: Photos from messengers may be updated with a delay. If the interlocutor has changed the avatar, on your phone it can only be updated after re-synchronization or a new incoming message from him.
Use of third-party themes and launchers
The standard call interface can seem boring, and many Xiaomi users install themes from the MIUI Themes store. Some themes completely change the incoming call screen. In such cases, standard photo display settings may be ignored or work incorrectly if the theme is not optimized for the current version of Android.
If you notice that after a change of topic, photos are lost or displayed in a small circle with black fields, try returning the standard theme "Classic" or "Basic" in the Theme app, which will help you understand whether the problem is in the system or in the code of a third-party theme.
There are also third-party calling apps like Truecaller or Call App that have their own photo databases, and when they're installed, they can take control of the call screen, and then they'll be taken from their cloud database, which is often better than the phone book, but requires constant Internet access.
💡
Third-party call themes are the most common culprit in missing photos. If you like customization, choose high-rated themes with more installations, they are better tested by developers.