How to permanently remove the change of pictures on the lock screen Xiaomi: 5 proven ways

Why Xiaomi’s lock screen is constantly changing pictures – and how to fix it

You turn on a Xiaomi smartphone, Redmi or POCO, and instead of the usual wallpaper, you see a new picture that you didn't install. After an hour or two, the background changed again, and then unknown images appeared in the gallery. It's not a virus or a system failure: this is how the automatic wallpaper change function on the lock screen in the MIUI firmware works. It activates by default on most devices and downloads images from Xiaomi cloud services (for example, Mi Wallpaper Carousel or Themes).

The problem is that these wallpapers are not only annoying with constant changes, but also waste mobile traffic in the background (up to 50-100 MB per month), and sometimes even slow down the unlocking of the phone. Fortunately, you can turn off the automatic shift in 2-3 minutes - and we will show all the working methods, including hidden settings for older versions of MIUI.

In this article you will find:

• 🔍 Reasons why images change on their own (even if you haven’t customized anything).
• ⚙️ 5 ways to disconnect – from standard to hidden (including: ADB for advanced users).
• ⚠️ What to do if settings are reset after the update MIUI.
• 📱 Separate instructions for Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO (difference!).

Method 1: Disconnect via lock screen settings (the easiest)

This method works on all devices with MIUI 12-14 and later, including Xiaomi 13/14, Redmi Note 12/11, POCO F5/X5. The interface may be slightly different, but the logic is the same.

1. Open Settings → Lock screen (or Lock and Password on some models).
2. Slip on the item Wallpaper lock screen (sometimes it is hidden under the Additional).
3. At the top of the screen, find the Automatic Wallpaper Change Switch (or Wallpaper Carousel) and turn it off.
4. Choose a static background from the gallery or standard MIUI wallpaper.

If there is no Automatic Change, then the function is managed through the Themes application (see Method 2).

⚠️ Attention: On some firmware (MIUI 11 and older) after the carousel is turned off, the wallpaper may still change due to cache. To avoid this, clear the data of the Themes application in Settings → Annexes → Application management.

Method 2: Deactivate via Themes (if there is no item in the settings)

Themes is responsible for downloading new wallpapers, including those that appear on the lock screen. Even if you have disabled the automatic shift in the settings, Themes can ignore this and keep updating the background. Here's how to prevent it from doing this:

1. Open the Themes app (brush icon on desktop).
2. Go to the Wallpaper section → Lock screen.
3. In the upper right corner, click on the icon. ⚙️ (Settings).
4. Turn off the options: 🔄 Automatic wallpaper change 📥 Download new wallpaper over Wi-Fi 📶 Download new wallpaper over the mobile network

Themes

static

If after these actions the pictures still change, check if the synchronization of themes with the Mi Account account is enabled (about this in Method 4).

Method 3: Limit background data for Themes (to save traffic)

If you don’t want to completely disable automatic wallpaper change, but want to stop using mobile traffic, limit background activity of the Themes app:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find Themes and open its settings.
3. Select Mobile Data and turn off the Background Data Switch.
4. For reliability, also turn off AutoRun and Secondary Start in the same menu.

After that, Themes will be able to update wallpaper only over Wi-Fi, but even then the change will occur less often. To completely block the download of new images, use Method 5 (via ADB).

Method 4: Unlock wallpaper from your Mi Account (if settings are reset)

Many users complain that after updating MIUI or rebooting the phone, the lock screen settings are reset and the automatic wallpaper change is turned on again, the reason for this is synchronization with the Mi Account account.

1. Open Settings → Xiaomi account.
2. Go to Data Synchronization.
3. Find the Topic (or Themes) item and turn off sync.
4. Back to Settings → Annexes → Themes and click Clear Data (Storage button) → Clear the data).

Instructions:

1. Connect the phone to your computer and confirm the debugging permission.
2. Open the command prompt (cmd) in the folder with ADB.
3. Enter in turn the commands: adb shell pm hide com.miui.miwallpaper adb shell pm hide com.android.themes These commands will hide the system applications responsible for wallpaper, but will not remove them.
4. Reboot the phone.

To get it back, use the commands:

adb shell pm unhide com.miui.miwallpaper


adb shell pm unhide com.android.themes

⚠️ Note: Disabling system applications through ADB This can lead to unstable operation of some functions. MIUI, For example, a weather widget or a calendar on the lock screen, if the phone starts to brake after you run the commands, return the settings back.

💡

If ADB-commands are not working, try first to disable the Themes app via the standard menu (Settings) → Annexes → Themes → It's less radical, but it helps sometimes.

Frequent problems and solutions

Even after you turn off the automatic wallpaper, you're faced with nuances, and here are the most common situations and solutions.

• 🔄 Wallpaper changes after update MIUI: The reset occurs because new firmware versions overwrite Themes settings.Solution: Repeat Method 2 or Method 4 after the update (uncoupling from Mi Account).

If your problem isn’t described above, check to see if your phone has third-party launchers (like Nova Launcher or HyperOS Launcher) that may conflict with MIUI system settings.

💡

On HyperOS devices (such as Xiaomi 14), the path to wallpaper settings may be different.Look for Personalization instead of Themes.

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions