Personalizing your smartphone interface is the first step to creating a comfortable digital environment that reflects your individual style. Owners of Xiaomi and Redmi devices often wonder how to capture a favorite image on the home screen so that it is always in front of their eyes. The MIUI shell and the new HyperOS offer many tools for this, going far beyond simply installing a static picture.
In this article, we will go through all the available methods, from classic background replacement to creating interactive widgets and live wallpaper, you will learn not only to change the picture, but also to control its display so that it does not overlap the icons of applications and looks aesthetically pleasing. Understanding these nuances will allow you to make using the gadget more enjoyable and functional.
It’s worth noting that the algorithms for working with the gallery may vary slightly depending on the firmware version and model of your device. However, the basic principles remain the same for the entire ecosystem of the Chinese manufacturer.
Basic installation of the image through the Gallery
The easiest and most obvious way to install a photo on your desktop is to use the built-in Gallery app, which requires no third-party software installation and is available immediately after unpacking the device, so you need to open the app and find the image you want in the Camera album or in the Downloads folder.
Once you open a photo, click on the “More” button (usually the three dots at the bottom of the screen) and select “Install as Wallpaper.” The system will offer you several options for using the image: on the lock screen, on the desktop or on both screens at the same time. It is important to choose “Desktop” if your goal is to change the background behind the application icons.
In the preview phase, the system will ask you to fram the image. Modern smartphone screens have elongated proportions, so a standard 4:3 photo can be cropped around the edges. Move the picture with your finger to select the best shot, and click "Apply" or "Ready."
- 📸 Open the photo in the Gallery app on your Redmi.
- ⚙️ Click the three-dot menu and select “Install as wallpaper».
- 🖥️ In the list, select the option “Work table».
- ✂️ Adjust the image’s scale and position before saving.
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If you want your photo to be displayed in high quality, make sure it’s at least as high as your smartphone’s screen resolution (e.g., 2400×1080 pixels).
Customization through the design menu and Themes
The second method involves using the Themes system app, a built-in Xiaomi service that serves as the device's visual style control center, where you can not only download new themes in their entirety, but also set your own photo from the gallery as a desktop background.
Go to the Topics app and find the profile icon or My Pages section. The profile management menu often has the Wallpaper option. Clicking on it will take you to the system image gallery, but in the top corner (usually at the top right) there will be a plus button or gallery icon.
By clicking on this icon, you can select any photo from your phone's memory, and the advantage of this method is that the Themes app often offers additional overlay, blur, or filter effects that are not available when you install it directly through a standard gallery, which allows you to better tailor the photo to the MIUI interface.
⚠️ Note: When using live wallpaper or complex themes through the Themes app, battery consumption can increase by a factor of 5-10% daily due to the constant activity of the processor for drawing graphics.
Using the Image widget for a unique design
If you don't like standard methods, and you want to put a picture on the whole screen, but in a Polaroid image, for example, or in a beautiful frame in the center of the screen, you can use the Image widget, which allows you to turn any photo into an interactive desktop element.
To implement this method, pinch the empty area on your desktop with your finger until the bottom menu appears, and select "Widgets." In the list, find the category "Image" or simply "Photos." Drag the widget to the free screen space.
Once you have installed the widget, click on it to select the source of the image. You can choose a particular photo from the gallery or customize a slideshow from a particular album. The unique thing about this method is that you can resize the widget to make it square, rectangular or round (depending on the version of the shell), which gives you a huge amount of space for creativity.
Path to the widget: Clip screen → Widgets → Image → Select photoIn addition, widgets in HyperOS and newer versions of MIUI support depth of field, which means that if there is a clear foreground object in the photo, the widget can automatically separate it from the background, creating a stylish effect when the clock is partially overlapped by the object in the photo.
- 🖼️ Clutch the empty desktop area to call the menu.
- 🧩 Select the "Widgets" item in the bottom toolbar.
- 🔍 Find the Image widget and add it to the screen.
- 🖌️ Customize the shape, size and select the desired photo.
Creating live wallpaper from videos
Modern Xiaomi smartphones allow you to install video as desktop wallpaper, creating a “live” background effect. The moving image gives the interface a dynamic and looks very impressive, especially on the Internet. AMOLED-screens where black remains truly black.
Live Wallpaper is built into the system, but installing your own video file may require a third-party app or using a built-in converter in the gallery. In some versions of the firmware, when selecting a video, the gallery will have a button "Install as live wallpaper." If there is no such button, the system will prompt you to download the plugin.
When installing video wallpapers, it is important to consider the performance of the device. Constant decoding of the video stream loads the GPU and the processor. On budget models of the Redmi series, this can lead to micro-latency when scrolling through desktops. It is recommended to use short videos up to 15 seconds with low bitrate.
| Parameter | Static photo | Live wallpaper (Video) | Live wallpaper (Animation) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Battery consumption | Minimum | High-pitched | Medium. |
| CPU loading | Absent. | Tall. | Medium |
| Occupied memory | 2-5 MB | 10-50 MB | 5-20 MB |
| Support for Always On | Yes. | No (usually) | Partially. |
How to optimize live wallpaper?
Rotating Wallpaper and Slideshow
For those who can’t decide on a single image, Xiaomi offers a feature called “Carousal Wallpapers” (Carousal Wallpapers), which allows you to automatically change the image on the desktop and lock screen at a given frequency or with each screen turn on.
You can configure this feature in the Wallpaper section of the system settings. Here you can choose the source of the images: these can be recommended collections from Xiaomi, your own albums from the gallery or even picture news. Critically, this feature requires an active Internet connection if you choose online sources.
You can set the frame intervals in the rotation settings, every time you turn on the screen, every hour or every day, and it creates the feeling of an ever-updating interface, but it's worth remembering that constantly uploading new images can consume mobile Internet traffic if you don't have Wi-Fi.
Also available in this section is the Smart Wallpaper feature, which changes the image depending on the time of day or current location, for example, in the morning it can be a bright landscape, and in the evening it can be a calm night scene, which adds contextual awareness to the device.
⚠️ Note: When you enable the wallpaper rotation function from online sources, make sure that the mobile network settings allow background data loading for system services, otherwise the images may not be updated outside the Wi-Fi zone.
☑️ Check before installing complex wallpaper
Solving quality and display problems
Often, users experience a photo that becomes blurry, too dark or sideways after installation, due to differences in screen resolution and the original image, as well as the MIUI compression algorithms.
If the photo looks grainy, check its format. The system works best with high-quality JPG or PNG files. Formats like HEIC (the iPhone standard) can be converted with loss of quality when ported to Android, in which case it is better to pre-convert the image to a standard JPG.
The problem with dimming is often solved by turning off the Adaptive Brightness Wallpaper function or the Darkening for Energy Savings feature, which is located in the screen settings or in the wallpaper preview menu, which darkens the background to make the icons read better, but can spoil the impression of a bright photo.
- 📉 Use images with a resolution of at least 1080 pixels on the short side.
- 🎨 Avoid small-scale photos in the center where the icons will be.
- 📱 Consider the camera cutout (Dynamic Island or hole) so that it does not cover important parts of the face in the photo.
Another common problem is the displacement of the image on different pages of the desktop. MIUI The background can swim with swipes. To capture an image, some themes have a Parallax effect setting. Turn it off in the theme settings or in the More menu» → «Desktop settings to make the picture stand dead.
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The quality of the final image on the desktop directly depends on the original file resolution and the absence of aggressive compression during transmission (for example, through messengers).