Today’s Xiaomi and Redmi smartphone users are constantly in need of quick access to information displayed on the display, whether it’s an important message, a route map, an app error, or just a fun moment in correspondence, saving the screen image becomes a routine but critical task. The MIUI operating system and the new HyperOS have many ways to capture the content of the display, allowing each user to choose the most convenient method for themselves.
But beginners often struggle to understand why the standard keyboard shortcut doesn’t work or how to capture a long page. The Chinese giant has introduced advanced tools that vastly expand the basic functionality of Android. In this article, we’ll take a look at all the current techniques, from classic physical buttons to hidden gesture settings, so you can snap snap snapshots instantly in any situation.
Understanding how to take a screenshot on Xiaomi opens up access to more efficient information management, so you can not just save a picture, but immediately edit it, highlight important details or send it to colleagues without too much fuss. Let's look at the main ways that work on most current models, including the Mi, Redmi Note and POCO series.
Classical Method: A Combination of Physical Buttons
The most common and familiar way, which works on 99% of Android devices, including Xiaomi products, is that it requires no pre-tuning and activates instantly. To create a screenshot, you need to simultaneously press two buttons: Loudness down and Power. It is important to press them synchronously and hold a fraction of a second until you hear the characteristic click of the camera shutter and see visual animation on the display.
This is a universal technique that works even when the touch screen is temporarily unresponsive or frozen, but it has a nuance: on bezel-less smartphones with a side power button, it can sometimes be difficult to hit both regulators at the same time, especially with one hand. If you didn't work the first time, try changing the angle of inclination of your fingers or the force of pressing.
⚠️ Note: Do not press the buttons too long (more than 2 seconds), as on some Redmi and Poco models, prolonged retention of this combination can cause a forced reboot of the device or start the Recovery mode.
Once you've successfully created the image, you'll have a thumbnail in the top right corner, and if you click on it, you'll be taken to the editing menu, where you can use the tools to crop, draw and add text, and if you ignore the thumbnail, the file will automatically be saved to the gallery in the Screenshot folder.
💡
If you have large palms, try pressing the power button with your thumb and volume with your index hand of the same hand, bending the device slightly for convenience.
For those who prefer visual instructions, below is a table comparing the effectiveness of different methods depending on the use situation.
| Method | Speed. | Convenience with one hand | Settings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buttons (Loudness + Power) | Tall. | Low. | Not required |
| Three-finger gesture | Maximum | High. | We need to turn it on. |
| Notification curtain | Medium | Average. | Add a label |
| Voice assistant | Low. | Maximum. | Setup Mi AI |
Use the Quick Settings Menu (Stork)
If you find physical buttons uncomfortable or damaged, a control panel is a great alternative, and this is especially true when the phone is on the table or you're holding it in one hand, and it's hard to reach the side edges, and you need to swipe from top to bottom to open the Control Center or the notification curtain.
In the expanded menu, look for the icon with the image of scissors. It is usually located among the main switches (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, flashlight). If you do not see it on the first screen, click on the edit button (often looks like a pencil or three dots) and drag the screenshot icon into the active zone, after which one touch of your finger will create a snapshot of the current screen.
The advantage of this method is that it's visually visible and doesn't risk accidentally rebooting, and it's also the only way to take a screenshot if you have a completely non-functioning volume button and the touchscreen is functioning normally, taking a little longer than the button combination, but it's more controlled.
It’s worth noting that new versions of the HyperOS shell may have changed the design of the curtain, but the functionality has remained the same. The scissors icon remains the de facto standard for all Android devices, making it easy to navigate even when switching from a different brand.
The magic of gestures: a screenshot with three fingers
One of Xiaomi users’ favorite features is the ability to take screenshots with a simple swipe. This method requires pre-activation in settings, but once enabled becomes the fastest way to capture an image. To customize it, go to Settings → Additional Features → Screenshots (the path may vary slightly depending on the version of MIUI).
In the menu that opens, you need to tick the box against the item Three fingers. Once activated, just swipe three fingers from top to bottom down the center of the screen any time you need to save an image. The system will instantly respond with an audible signal and save the file. This is especially convenient when browsing social media feeds or web pages.
⚠️ Warning: The feature may not work in some secure applications (e.g. banking) or full-screen games where the system blocks unnecessary touches to avoid accidental action.
There's also a variation of this gesture to create long screenshots, so if you see a scroll button (or a down arrow) in the menu that appears, click on it. The phone automatically scrolls down the page, taking a few shots and gluing them together into one long picture, which is indispensable for saving messages in messengers or articles.
☑️ Tweaking the gesture with three fingers
Long screenshot: save the entire page
Often, there is more information on the screen than can fit in a single frame. In such cases, a standard screenshot is useless because it cuts off an important piece of content. Long Screenshot technology solves this problem by allowing multiple images to be stitched together into a single vertical tape, a mode available in almost all modern Redmi and Mi models.
You can start creating a long screenshot right after you take a normal screenshot (in any of the ways described above). Once you take a basic screenshot, the toolbar will appear in the upper right corner, and you'll find an icon that looks like a scroll or two arrows down, and you'll click on it. The device will automatically scroll through the content.
You can manually stop the process at any time by touching the screen or pressing the stop button. If you want to capture all the content to the end of the page, just wait until the scroll stops itself, the result is a single PNG or JPG image that is convenient to send as a document or save to the archive.
What to do if a long screenshot is not possible?
The quality of the final image depends on the screen resolution and pixel density. On high-resolution models (for example, 2400×1080 and above), the text in a long screenshot will remain readable even with a strong zooming down for viewing.
Voice control and Mi AI assistant
For those who like to control a smartphone voice, Xiaomi has prepared integration with voice assistant. Although Google Assistant also knows how to take screenshots, the native assistant Mi AI (or Xiao AI).
Once set up, just say "Take a screenshot" (or "Take a screenshot") and the phone will perform the action. This can be useful when your hands are busy or dirty and you can't touch the screen. However, it's worth considering that speech recognition requires a good Internet connection and can work with a slight delay.
In addition, in some use cases, such as reading books or news, you can use the Two Hands feature. Go to Settings → Additional Functions → One-Hand Control (or similar section) and check for the option to create a screenshot with a mixing of fingers. Although this method is less popular, it is a unique feature of the MIUI shell.
Where to look and how to edit saved screenshots
Once you’ve figured out how to take a screenshot on Xiaomi, it’s important to know where the files go. By default, all images are stored in internal storage in the MIUI/Gallery/screenshot folder (or just DCIM/Screenshots depending on the system version), and a separate album has been created in the Gallery app, making it easier to sort them.
The built-in image editor in Xiaomi has surprisingly powerful functionality. Immediately after you create a picture, you can:
- ✂️ Cut the image by removing extra fields or sensitive information.
- 🖍 Draw with a marker or pencil, highlighting important points with color.
- 📝 Add text with different fonts and styles.
- 🔢 Numbering objects in a screenshot to create instructions.
Blurr is also available, which allows you to hide personal data, card numbers or passwords before sending a screenshot to someone else, an important aspect of digital hygiene that is often overlooked. Just select the blur tool and swipe through the text you want to hide.
💡
Use the built-in editor immediately after creating a screenshot, so as not to clutter the gallery with unnecessary files and send ready-made, processed information.
If you need to find an old screenshot, search the gallery by date or file type. The system automatically tags the images created by the screenshot, allowing you to quickly filter them out from the photos taken by the camera.
Solution and additional settings
Sometimes users find that screenshots are not created or stored with artifacts. Often the problem lies in crowded memory or application conflict. Make sure your device has enough free space. Also check the permissions for the Screenshots app in the application settings, although it usually works at the system level.
In some secure applications (banks, incognito browser mode), screenshots can be blocked by security policies, in which case you will see a black screen instead of an image. This is not a malfunction of the phone, but protection of your data.
⚠️ Warning: Third-party apps from the Play Market that promise “super-screenshots” often require excessive permissions and may collect your data. MIUI, It's safer and more stable.
For advanced users, you can set the save format. In some versions of the firmware, you can choose whether to save screenshots in PNG (without loss of quality, but more weight) or JPG (compressed, less weight).