How to install a wallpaper carousel on the lock screen Xiaomi

Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphone owners often notice that the images on the lock screen change automatically, even if they did not install special applications. This is a proprietary feature of the MIUI and HyperOS system, known as “Wallpaper Carousel”, which is designed to personalize the device, showing each time a new high-quality picture when the screen is turned on.

But not everyone is happy with the default behavior, and some people are annoyed by ads, some people want to see only thematic photos, and some people want to turn off this feature to capture one favorite image, and the management of this process is hidden in the depth of settings, but knowing the right paths allows you to have complete control over what you see.

In this article, we’ll look at all aspects of how the function works, from basic activation to fine-tuning sources to disabling intrusive elements, and learn how to create your own sets and understand why the carousel may not work on your device.

What is a wallpaper carusole and how it works

Wallpaper carousel is a system service built into Xiaomi’s Android shell, and its primary purpose is to automatically update the background image of the lock screen without the need for manual user intervention. Unlike the standard gallery, where the image is static, here content is dynamically loaded from cloud storage or local folders.

The mechanism is tied to the Wallpaper (or Wallpaper Carousel) system app, which analyzes your preferences, time of day, and even geolocation (if permitted) to suggest relevant content. Algorithms can suggest landscapes in the morning and abstractions in the evening, creating a live interface.

⚠️ Warning: By default, the service can upload advertising images from partners, not viruses, but a regular, though annoying, monetization feature for the company.

It's important to understand the difference between a normal wallpaper and a carousel. Live wallpaper is a constant animation that consumes battery power, and the carousel changes the static image only when the screen is activated, which makes it much more energy efficient.

You can flexibly adjust the frame rate, you can set the "Every Time" update when you turn on the screen, or you can select an interval, such as "Every hour," which allows you to balance between diversity and the familiar visual range.

Step-by-step instructions: how to enable and configure the function

You don't need to download third-party software to activate and set up first, all the necessary tools are already built into the system, and you first need to get into the theme management menu.

Go to your smartphone Settings. Find the Wallpaper section (in some versions of MIUI it may be called "Themes" or be inside the Themes app), and you're interested in the tab or the Wallpaper Carousel button.

Once the main switch is turned on, the system will suggest that you select the sources of the images, which can be categories like Travel, Nature, City or Art, and the choice of categories directly affects what content is displayed.

Next, adjust the refresh rate. In the carousel settings menu, find the refresh rate. Here are options: "Every time" (each time you turn on the screen), "Daily", "Weekly" or "Never" (actually turns off the shift, leaving the current photo).

If you want to use your photos, select Local Photos or My Photos from the same menu, and the system will suggest selecting albums from the gallery to be used for rotation, a great way to create slideshows from personal photos of family or travel.

Management of sources and local galleries

One of the strengths of the feature is the ability to combine cloud and local sources, you can mix professional photos from Xiaomi with personal archives, which makes the lock screen unique for each owner.

To add personal photos, go to the carousel settings and select Add images. You can choose a file manager or gallery. You can choose multiple albums at once. The system will randomly take frames from all selected sources, unless otherwise indicated.

It's important to monitor the orientation of images. Portrait is ideal for the lock screen, while landscape can be cropped or displayed with black fields. The framing algorithm tries to guess the center of the composition, but the result is not always predictable.

If you use local photos, the system may periodically suggest that you "improve" the selection by analyzing faces or objects, and you can opt out of such proposals, maintaining the original order or random sampling.

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Tip: Create a separate album in the gallery specifically for the carousel and fill it with only high-resolution vertical photos, which ensures that the images look clear and without trimming important details.

How to remove advertising in the Wallpaper Carousel

Many users are faced with the fact that along with beautiful landscapes on the lock screen, promo pictures with offers to download a game or buy a product appear on the promo screen, which is an advertising mechanism that can and should be turned off.

To get rid of advertising, you need to find the item in the carousel settings that is responsible for "Recommendations" or "Receive recommendations." Often it is disguised under an innocuous name like "Content selection." Disabling this item leaves only the categories you select or local photos.

Some versions of HyperOS firmware or new MIUI may have different paths. Look for the Show Ads switch in Settings → Passwords & Security → Wallpaper Carousel. If it's clean, check the settings of the Security app itself in the Ads section.

⚠️ Warning: Completely disabling advertising may require the internet to be turned off for system applications or the use of specialized applications. DNS-filters if the standard settings do not help.

It’s also worth checking the permissions for the Wallpaper app. If you block it from accessing the internet (via Settings → Apps → Wallpaper → Activity Control), it will stop downloading new content, including ads, but only work with the local gallery.

Frequent problems and ways to solve them

Despite the system's fine-tuning, users sometimes encounter errors, the carousel may stop switching pictures, getting stuck or showing black images, most often the problem is a lack of memory or a conflict of access rights.

The first thing to do when you crash is to clear the app cache. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps, find Wallpaper or Wallpaper Carousel, click Clear and select Clear Cache. This won't delete your settings, but it will reset temporary files.

If the problem persists, check the permissions. The application needs access to Memory (for local photos) and the Web (for online directories), without these permissions, functionality will be limited.

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The main reason for the failure of the carousel is a lack of RAM or aggressive energy saving, which “kills” the background process of updating the wallpaper.

Also make sure that the phone has the current version of the theme installed. A standard Classic or Basic theme may not support all of the carousel's features. Try applying the default theme in the Themes app.

Impact on autonomy and productivity

The carousel's effect on the battery is a concern for many, and in theory, replacing a static image requires the processor and the display, but in practice, the energy consumption is minimal, because it happens all at once when the screen is turned on.

This is different if you choose the refresh rate “Every Time” and use heavy online sources when the network signal is bad, in which case the phone will constantly try to load the picture, using the modem and CPU charge.

• 📉 Using local photos saves traffic and battery.
• 📶 Online carousel requires stable internet for fast download.
• 🔋 Aggressive energy saving settings can block background updates.

If you notice that the phone is discharged faster after turning on the feature, try to reduce the frequency of updates or switch exclusively to the local gallery.

Comparison of MIUI and HyperOS versions

With the release of the HyperOS operating system, the interface and logic of the carousel have changed somewhat, visually the menu has become more minimalistic, and the algorithms for selecting content are more intelligent.

In older versions of MIUI (e.g. MIUI 12 or 13), source management was more disparate; HyperOS has a hub where you can quickly switch between categories, and improved horizontal imagery, which is now more scalable.

HyperOS users also note a smoother animation of the transition between slides. Whereas on older firmware, the picture could simply "blink" when changing, there is now a light, barely noticeable appearance, which is more pleasing to the eye.