How to Save Your Theme on Xiaomi: Backup, Export, and Recovery

Why Xiaomi Themes Are Disappearing and How to Avoid It

You spent hours customizing the perfect theme on your Xiaomi, picking up wallpapers, icons, fonts and animations — but after updating MIUI or resetting, everything is gone? This is a typical problem for custom theme users who are unaware of the built-in backup mechanisms. Unlike standard themes from Theme → Online, custom settings are stored locally and do not sync with your Mi Account automatically.

In this article, we will discuss all the working ways to save themes on Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO devices, from manual file export to the use of hidden MIUI functions. The methods are tested on MIUI 12-14 firmware (including HyperOS) and work even on locked bootloaders. Importantly, some steps require root rights or debugging over USB, but we will start with the simplest solutions.

If you're already experiencing a loss of the topic, don't panic: at the end of this article, there's a section on recovering deleted files through MIUI Hidden Settings and third-party utilities, and for those who are just planning a design experiment, we've prepared a training checklist to help avoid typical errors.

Method 1: Exporting theme through MIUI built-in tools

The safest method is to use the standard export tome feature that MIUI has been using since version 11.0.3.0. It allows you to save the theme to a.mtz file (MIUI Theme Zip) that can be imported back or shared with other users.

Step instructions:

1. Open the Themes app (icon with brush).
2. Go to the My Themes tab (or Offline in older versions).
3. Click on the three dots (⋮) in the upper right corner and select Export theme.
4. Tick the elements you want to save: wallpaper, icons, fonts, sounds, etc.
5. Click Export and select the folder to save (recommend Download/MIUI/theme/).

⚠️ Warning: In some firmware (e.g., POCO Launcher or Redmi Note 12 on HyperOS), the theme export item may be hidden. If it is not, try updating the Themes app via Google Play or use an alternative method from the next section.

Make sure the topic is applied (active)

Close all background applications (especially SEOs)

Free at least 500 MB of memory in the device

Connect to charging (for long themes with animations)

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Exported.mtz file can be:

• 📁 Save to the Cloud (Google Drive, Mi Cloud)
• 📤 Send to your own mail or messenger
• 💾 Copy to a computer via MTP or ADB
• 🔄 Import to another Xiaomi device via Themes → Import

💡

If there is an error “Insufficient Memory” when exporting, try clearing the Topic app cache in the settings or using the root file manager to manually copy files from /data/system/theme/.

Method 2: Manually copy theme files through file manager

If the built-in export doesn’t work or you want to save all custom themes at once (including those downloaded from the Internet), you can manually copy system files. This method requires access to hidden folders, so it is suitable for advanced users.

You'll need:

• 📱 File manager with access to the root directory (e.g. MiXplorer or Solid Explorer)
• 🔓 Root rights (optional but simplifies the process)
• 💻 Computer with ADB (if no root)

The path to topics at MIUI:

/data/system/theme/ – This is where you can find active topics


/sdcard/MIUI/theme/ – here are the downloaded themes (.mtz)




/data/data/com.android.themes/files/ - cache

Step-by-step:

1. Connect the device to your PC and enable Debugging over USB (Settings → About Phone → MIUI Version → 7 times press to unlock the developer mode).
2. In the command line, execute: adb pull /data/system/theme/ C:\Xiaomi_Themes\ (replace the path with your own)
3. If you have a Permission denied error, use: adb shell su cp -r /data/system/theme/ /sdcard/Backup_Themes/ (requires root)
4. Copy the Backup_Themes folder from your phone to your PC.

⚠️ Warning: Do not edit files in the /data/system/theme/ folder directly, which could cause the MIUI interface to crash and need to be completely reset. If you need to change the theme, import it through the standard menu.

Method 3: Using Mi Cloud to synchronize themes

The official Mi Cloud service can synchronize some of the theme settings, but it doesn't work well, like wallpaper and fonts can save, but icons and animations can't, but it's a good way to do basic backups.

How to turn on synchronization:

1. Open your Settings → Xiaomi Account → Mi Cloud.
2. Make sure you are logged in to one account on all devices.
3. Activate the Slider Sync Themes (in some versions of MIUI this item is called Screen Settings).
4. Press Sync now.

Limitations of the method:

• ❌ Does not save custom.mtz files
• ❌ Does not work for themes installed through APK (e.g. from Xiaomi Themes Store)
• ✅ Save wallpaper and some system fonts
• ✅ Restores basic settings after reset (if the device is linked to the same account)

Built-in export to.mtz

Manual copying of files

Mi Cloud

App side (e.g. Swift Backup)

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For full backup, we recommend combining Mi Cloud with manual export of.mtz, for example, synchronize wallpaper through the cloud, and save icons and animations to a file.

Method 4: Complete device backup (including themes)

If you're planning to reset, upgrade your firmware, or upgrade to custom ROM, the best option is to create a full backup of your device, which will not only save themes, but also all the system settings.

Selection recommendations:

• 🔄 Mi Backup is enough for a normal reset (but the themes will not be fully recovered).
• 🛠️ Use TWRP or Swift Backup to flash it.
• 🖥️ If you don't have root, do ADB Backup with packet indication: adb backup -f xiaomi_themes.ab -app com.android.themes -app com.miui.themeeditor

💡

Full backup via TWRP is the only way to save themes when you upgrade to custom firmware (like LineageOS or Pixel Experience).

How to Restore a Theme After Resetting or Updating

If you have already lost the theme but have a backup, follow this instruction.Recovery options depend on which backup method you used previously.

Option 1: Restore from a.mtz file

1. Place the.mtz file in the /sdcard/MIUI/theme/ folder.
2. Open the Themes app → Offline.
3. Find your theme in the list and click Apply.
4. If the theme doesn’t show up, restart the device.

Option 2: Recovery from a manual backup (folder /data/system/theme/)

Root or TWRP is required:

adb push C:\Xiaomi_Themes\ /data/system/theme/


chmod -R 755 /data/system/theme/

Option 3: Recovery via Mi Cloud

1. Sign in to the same Mi Account.
2. Go to Settings → Xiaomi Account → Mi Cloud → Synchronization.
3. Turn on the screen settings and press Sync.
4. Reset the device.

⚠️ Warning: If the theme is not applied correctly after recovery (e.g. icons don’t change or artifacts appear), clear the theme app cache (Settings → Applications → Application Management → Topics → Clear cache).

Frequent mistakes and their solutions

Even with the right backup, users are facing problems, and here are the most common errors and ways to fix them:

If none of the methods worked, try resetting the Themes app settings:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find themes and click Warehouse.
3. Choose Clear Data and Clear Cache.
4. Restart the device and try to import the theme again.

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions