Why the wallpaper on the Xiaomi phone has become dark: the reasons and how to return the brightness

Have you noticed that the wallpaper on your Xiaomi, Redmi or POCO smartphone suddenly darkened, lost color juiciness or became almost black and white? This problem occurs in many users, and there can be several reasons for it, from banal dark theme settings to serious malfunctions in the MIUI shell. In this article, we will analyze all possible reasons why the screen background has become dark, and give step-by-step instructions on how to return the wallpaper to its previous brightness.

It's important to understand that wallpaper darkening is rarely an accident, and it's most often a result of changes in system settings, firmware updates, or even hardware features on the screen, and we analyzed user reviews on the 4PDA and Mi Community forums, as well as official Xiaomi guidelines, to collect the fullest possible guide. If your phone is affected by this problem, don't panic: 90% of the time, it can be solved without going to the service center.

1. Dark subject matter MIUI: most common cause

The first thing to check is whether your smartphone has a dark theme activated, and in MIUI, it not only changes the color of the interface, but also automatically darkens the wallpaper to keep the same style, which can happen after you update the system or accidentally click on the settings.

To check and disable the dark topic:

• 📱 Open the Settings. → Display. → Dark subject matter
• 🌓 If the slider is active, move it to the off position.
• 🔄 Restart your phone so that changes apply to all interface elements

Note: In some versions of MIUI (e.g. MIUI 14 and later), dark theme can be activated automatically on schedule or depending on the time of day. Check Settings → Display → Automatic Dark Theme Mode and turn it off if it is enabled.

2. Reading mode and vision protection

Reading mode and vision protection are features that reduce the blue part of the screen to reduce eye strain, but sometimes they work too aggressively, making the wallpaper dull or yellowish. AMOLED-screens where the colors are more saturated.

How to check and disable:

1. Go to Settings → Display → Reading Mode
2. Turn off the slider or set the schedule if the mode is turned on automatically
3. In the same section, check the protection of vision - turn it off or reduce the filter intensity.

If after turning off these modes, the wallpaper still looks darker than usual, try resetting the color settings:

• 🎨 Go to Settings. → Display. → Colors.
• 🔍 Choose a Standard or Saturated profile (depending on the model)
• 🔄 Reset the device

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On some models (such as Xiaomi 12 Pro or Redmi Note 11 Pro+), there is a separate wallpaper contrast option in the screen settings. Try to increase its value to 100%.

3. Failures after MIUI update

Updates to MIUI often bring not only new features but also bugs. Many users complain that after upgrading to MIUI 13/14/15, wallpaper became dull and colors less saturated, due to a change in the algorithms for image processing at the system level.

What can be done:

• 🔄 Reboot your phone – sometimes it helps reset the GPU cache
• 🗑️ Clear the cache of the "Themes" app: Go to Settings → Annexes → App Management Find the Themes app and select Clear cache

Reset the theme settings

Settings → Topics → Three points (menu) → Reset the settings of the themes

If the issue appears immediately after the update, check the reviews on your version of MIUI on the forums.It may be a massive bug and Xiaomi has already released a patch.In this case, you just have to wait for the next update or roll back on the previous version (if you are a power user).

Hardware features AMOLED-screen

If you have a smartphone with AMOLED-display (e.g. Xiaomi 13 Ultra, Redmi) K50 pro POCO F5 Pro), the darkening of the wallpaper may be due to the features of this technology. AMOLED-The screens are not backlit, each pixel glows on its own, and to save battery power, the system can automatically darken the dark areas of wallpaper.

How to check it out:

• 🔦 See if the brightness of the wallpaper changes when the overall level of screen illumination changes.
• 🖼️ Try to install wallpaper with a predominance of light colors - if they are displayed normally, the problem is adaptive backlighting.
• 🔋 Check if the Battery Savings mode is activated in Settings → Battery
• 🗑️ Clear the data of the "Themes" application: Settings → Annexes → Application management → Topics → Warehouse → Clear the data ⚠️ This will remove all uploaded themes and wallpapers!
• 🔄 Reinstall the Themes app (if it was updated via Google Play)

If you use live wallpapers, try turning them off. They often conflict with MIUI optimizations and can cause graphic artifacts. Also check if wallpapers are installed through third-party launchers (like Nova Launcher or Action Launcher) - they can overlay their own filters.

6. Problems with graphics driver or firmware

In rare cases, wallpaper darkening is associated with serious GPU failures or damage to system files, which can occur after a failed update, manual intervention in system files (for example, through ADB or Magisk), or even after the phone falls.

Signs of hardware or software failure:

• 🖥️ Not only the wallpaper, but also other interface elements (icons, menus) have darkened)
• 🎮 In games or videos, colors are also distorted.
• 🔄 Reboot doesn’t help, and resetting to factory settings temporarily solves the problem