Xiaomi and Redmi smartphone owners often face a situation where only a small round avatar is displayed during an incoming call instead of a full image. This is not a system bug, but a feature of the standard MIUI or HyperOS shell, which saves space on the screen by default. However, modern users are accustomed to visual comfort, and the desire to see the interlocutor close-up is quite natural.
Unfortunately, the basic settings for Google’s caller or the standard MIUI Dialer app often lack a direct “Install Full Screen” button. The system can automatically crop the image or fit it into a circle. To get around this limitation and activate a full-screen photo, you need to use hidden features or third-party software.
In this article, we'll take a look at all the ways that this feature can be implemented, how to prepare the right size image, what settings are hidden in the engineering menu, and what applications will help make the call interface as personal as possible, a process that requires no root rights and takes only a few minutes.
Image Preparation: Format and Size Requirements
The first step to getting the picture perfect is to get the file ready right. If you just pick a photo from the gallery when you make a contact, the system will cut it itself, often leaving your face outside the frame. To properly display the full screen, you need to consider the resolution and proportions of your smartphone display.
Modern Xiaomi screens have an aspect ratio of 19.5:9 or 20:9. Standard square photo 1:1 here will look like a small preview. For the image to fill the entire display without black fields and distortion, its vertical size must be equal to or exceed the resolution of the screen in height.
- 📐 Use images with at least a resolution 1080x2340 pixels+ screen.
- ✂️ Cut the photo vertically, leaving the face in the center, but with a margin of space above and below.
- 💾 Save files in format JPG or PNG Maximum compatibility with the system gallery.
It's important to understand that the better the source quality, the clearer the picture will be during the call. Images compressed by messengers can look blurry when stretched to the full screen. It's best to take the original photos from the device's memory.
⚠️ Note: Do not use images with transparent backgrounds (PNG with alpha channel) for installation through a standard contact editor - the system can replace the transparency with black or white, which will spoil the composition.
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Use the built-in editor in the MIUI Gallery to pre-frame your photo at a 9:16 ratio before you put it on the contact.
Standard method of installation through the Contacts application
The basic way that everyone can do without installing any additional software is to use a built-in contact manager, but there's a caveat: the standard interface often suggests that you set the photo as a thumbnail only, and you need to act consistently to activate the full potential.
Open the Contacts or Phone app and find the entry you want in the phone book. Press the edit button (usually a pencil or three dots in the corner). In the menu that opens, select the camera icon or avatar icon to add the image.
After selecting a photo from the gallery, the system will suggest framing the image, at which point it is important to not agree with automatic cropping, but to manually expand the selection boundaries by capturing more background. If the interface allows, select the option "Full screen" or "Fill screen" if it is present in your version of the shell.
☑️ Installation of photo contact
After saving, try to make a test call. If the picture is still in a circle, then your version of Google Dialer or MIUI Dialer is yours.
Using the theme of the design to change the interface of the call
One of the most effective and legal ways to change the way an incoming call is using themes. There are thousands of designs in the MIUI Themes store that completely replace the call interface, making the photo of the interlocutor full-screen by default.
To do this, open the Themes app on your device. Search for queries like "Call screen," "Full screen photo," or "Big caller ID." Many designers create themes specifically to remove the round frame and stretch the image over the entire display.
Choose your favorite theme and apply it. Note that you don't have to use the whole theme. From the theme settings menu, you can select System or Challenges and apply only the changes to the call screen, leaving the icons and wallpapers unchanged.
| Type of topic | Influence on photo | Difficulty setting up |
|---|---|---|
| Standard theme | Round avatar | Low. |
| The fashion theme rings | Full screen | Medium |
| Castom louncher | Depends on the plugin. | Tall. |
The good thing about this method is that it doesn't require you to install suspicious apps from unknown sources, but it's worth remembering that themes can consume a little more battery life, as they use animations and graphical interface elements.
Where to find the best topics?
Third-party applications for Caller ID and full-screen photos
If the built-in tools don’t meet your needs, specialized apps from Google Play come to the rescue, intercepting incoming calls and displaying their own photo window, ignoring the standard limitations of Xiaomi’s system.
One of the most popular solutions is the Truecaller app or the specialized Big Photo Caller ID. Once installed, you must give it permissions to access contacts, phone and display over other windows. Without the last permission (Display over other apps), the program will not be able to show photos.
In the settings of these applications, you can often find flexible tools for cropping photos, so you can configure the display so that the photo of a particular contact occupies 100% of the screen area, and for unknown numbers there is a standard stub, which creates the effect of a premium device.
- 📲 Download the call management app (e.g. Calls - Caller) ID & Block).
- 🔐 Give all permissions requested, especially access to Contacts and Phone.
- ⚙️ Enable Full Screen Photo in the program settings.
⚠️ Warning: When using third-party calls, make sure they don't block important system notifications.Sometimes aggressive Xiaomi battery optimization can "kill" the application process and the call will pass with a standard screen.
The advantage of this approach is maximum flexibility, you can customize different styles for day and night calls, add effects when a call arrives, or integrate spam search, but be prepared for the fact that the interface may be slightly different from the usual style of MIUI.
Adjusting access rights and optimizing the battery
Android, especially in the shell from Xiaomi, very strictly monitors the background processes. If you installed a third-party application for a photo or theme, but when you call the screen goes out or shows a standard stub, the problem lies in the energy saving.
You need to find the installed app in the Settings menu → Apps → All apps. Find your call or theme program in the list. Go to Battery and select No Limits mode. This will prevent the system from putting the app to sleep in the background.
Memory access is also critical. In modern versions of Android (11, 12, 13 and later), file system access is limited, make sure the app is given permission to access all media files, not just selected photos, without which it cannot load a heavy image at the time of an incoming call.
Another important thing is auto-start. In the Safety (green shield) app, find the Auto-Start section and turn on the switch for your call app, which ensures that the service will start immediately after the phone is turned on and is ready to intercept the call at any time.
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Without setting up auto-start and removing battery restrictions, third-party applications for full-screen photos will not work!
Problem Solving: Photos not displayed or cropped
Even after all the settings, there can be situations where the image behaves unpredictably, such as a photo is in contact, but when you call a black screen. Often this is due to the cache of the Contacts or Phone application. Try clearing the cache of these system applications through the storage menu.
If the photo is displayed but heavily cropped at the edges, then the proportions of the image are not the same as the screen, in which case re-fracture will help. Go to the gallery, open the photo, click Change → Frame and select preset Full Screen or manually set the ratio 9:16, then save as a copy and re-contact it.
In some cases, especially on global versions of firmware with Google Dialer, the full-screen photo feature can be programmatically limited to a region, only changing the region in the phone settings (for example, India or China) or using the methods described above through themes.