Personalizing a phone book is not just a matter of aesthetics, it’s an important aspect of the usability of a smartphone. Xiaomi Redmi 9, with its powerful MIUI shell, offers flexible settings for working with contacts, but the interface sometimes hides obvious features. By setting an image for each subscriber, you can instantly recognize the caller without even reading the name, which is especially useful in noisy environments or when entering from unknown but saved numbers.
In this article, we will take a look at all the ways you can add avatars, from the standard menu to sync with your Google account. You will learn why a photo may not show up and how to forcefully update your phone book cache. MIUI 12 and more recent versions have their own features with application permissions, which we will also take into account.
And don't ignore the quality of the original image, because it automatically compresses the graphics to optimize performance, and the resolution and proportions of the image play a key role in how it will look on the lock screen and during the conversation. Let's move on to practical steps that will take you just a few minutes.
Image Preparation and Format Requirements
Before you start editing your phone book, you need to make sure that your photo meets the technical requirements of the system. Android, which runs Redmi 9, is flexible enough, but for a perfect display better use square images. The optimal solution is to crop the photo in the gallery in advance, so that the person’s face is in the center of the frame.
The system automatically trims round avatars, so it's important that the edges don't contain important information. If you plan to put a group photo, make sure that the resolution is high enough, otherwise, when zooming, pixelation will make the image unreadable. Supports JPG and PNG formats, the latter preferable for graphics with a transparent background.
⚠️ Attention: Avoid using animated images (GIF) It's a photo of the contact. MIUI can incorrectly process the animation, which will lead to a static first frame or complete absence of the picture when calling.
The best way to store the source files is in the DCIM or Pictures folder so that the Contacts app can quickly access them without any delays when downloading. If the photo is stored in the cloud and not downloaded to the device, the installation process can take longer or fail without a stable Internet connection.
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Use photos with contrasting backgrounds – they are better read on a small screen during an incoming call than blurry or dark shots.
Standard way to install photos through the Contacts app
The easiest and most reliable method is to use a built-in call management app, open the standard Contacts app on your desktop or in the menu of all apps, find the right subscriber on your list and click on their name to open the card with the details.
At the top of the screen, you'll see a gray silhouette or a current photo. Press it or the Edit button (usually a pencil icon). In the editing menu that opens, tap the photo area again. The system will suggest you select the source: Gallery, Camera or Files.
☑️ Photo installation algorithm
Once you select the image, you'll see a framing interface, and you can move the frame and zoom in to highlight the area of your face, and when you make sure you're satisfied, click the "Done" button or the box in the corner of the screen, and then make sure you click Save in the top right corner of the contact card.
If you use dual-SIM, the photo is tied to the contact in the phone book, not the SIM card, so it will be displayed regardless of which number the call is made to. However, if the contact is duplicated (one in the phone's memory, the other in Google), the system can show different avatars depending on the priority of the source.
Editing through the System Phone Book
An alternative path is through the Phone app (green handset), and go to the Contacts tab at the bottom of the screen, which is often more convenient if you just got a missed call and want to give your face a picture right away.
Find the subscriber in the list, click on the name bar. In the menu that opens, select the "Change" option or the pencil icon. Then the actions are similar to the previous method: tap on the avatar, select the file, framing and saving. The difference can only be in the interface of the image editor, which in the Phone application sometimes offers more filters.
It's important to know where the contact is stored, and at the top of the editing screen, you can see the source: phone, Google or whatever. SIM-map, to make full use of functions MIUI It is better to keep contacts in your Google account.
- 📸 Click on the avatar to select a new photo from the options offered.
- 💾 Save changes only after you press the final confirmation button.
- 🔄 When changing the storage source, the photo may be reset if synchronization is not performed.
Why is the photo not saved?
Working with Google Contacts and Synchronizing
Xiaomi Redmi 9 is the default to integrate with the Google ecosystem. If your contact is saved in your Gmail account, the photo you set will automatically upload to the cloud, which means that when you change your phone or reset Redmi 9 to factory settings, all images will return after you log in.
To check where the contact is stored, open it and look at the top of the screen, and it will show an email address or the words "Phone." If the contact is in the phone's memory, it can be moved to Google for security. To do this, click on the account name at the top and select "Copy on Google."
Sync can take time depending on the speed of the Internet. If you have a photo on one device and it does not appear on Redmi 9, try opening the system settings, finding the Accounts and Sync section, selecting Google and clicking Sync.
| Parameter | Phone memory | Google account | SIM-map |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photo storage | Yes (locally) | Yeah (in the cloud) | No (usually) |
| Synchronization | No. | Automatically. | No. |
| When discharged | Removed. | It's still there. | It's still there. |
| Photo quality | High. | High. | Low/No |
Using cloud storage ensures that your settings are not lost in the event of a smartphone breakdown, and Google contacts often pull up photos from social networks or other public sources if they are linked to that email address.
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Keeping your contacts with photos in your Google account is the only way to guarantee their safety when you move to a new smartphone or after a complete reset.
Why a contact photo is not displayed when you call
A common problem with Xiaomi users is that the contact is saved, the photo is worth it, but when the call comes in, you see the gray silhouette again. This may be due to duplication of records. There may be two identical contacts in the phone book, one with a photo, the other without. The system can choose the "empty" version when calling.
Another reason is the aggressive battery optimization in MIUI, which could have offloaded the phone book update process from memory, and the image cache didn't update, in which case it helps to restart the device or force the Contacts app to stop through settings.
⚠️ Note: If you use third-party themes, they may conflict with the standard call screen. Try switching to the standard theme in the Themes app to see if the problem has gone away.
If the number in the contact is written as +7 999 000-00-00, and the caller is determined as 8 999 000 00 00, the system may not automatically link them, especially if the records are separated from different sources (SIM and Google).
Setting up the display of photos in messengers (Viber, WhatsApp, Telegram)
It is important to distinguish between a photo in the phone book and an avatar in messengers. WhatsApp, Viber and Telegram have their own contact databases. To display a photo inside the application when you communicate, it must be uploaded through the settings of the messenger itself.
However, to display the photo of the caller from the messenger to the full screen (when the phone is locked), you need to give the applications the appropriate permissions. Go to Settings → Applications → All applications, find the desired messenger, select Other permissions, and make sure that items related to displaying on top of other windows and accessing contacts are included.
Some versions of MIUI have a separate Call Photo setting for each application, go to the specific messenger settings, look for Notifications or Calls, and check if the profile photo option is activated.
- 📱 Open the settings of the messenger application in the Android system.
- 🔔 Check permissions for “Publish Notifications».
- 👤 Upload profile photo directly in the settings of the messenger account.
If you have a photo in your phone book, but you don't have it on WhatsApp, that's okay, because the messenger is giving you a higher priority to show your avatar, and to change that, you have to delete the photo from your WhatsApp profile, and then the system will pull the image from the phone book.
Removal and Replacement of Existing Images
If a photo is outdated or you want to replace it with a more relevant one, the process doesn't require removing the entire contact. Open the subscriber card, click on the pencil icon to edit. Tap the current image.
In the menu that appears, in addition to selecting from the gallery, there is often an option to delete a photo (basket icon or cross). After deleting, there will be a standard silhouette. To replace a photo, simply select a new image from the gallery over the old one, the system will suggest replacing the file.
When you replace an image in a Google contact, the old photo can be saved in the contact version history. To clear the history, go to contacts.google.com from your computer, find a contact, and select Restore Contacts or browse the change history if you want to clean the data completely from the action menu.