Personalizing a smartphone’s interface is not just a matter of aesthetics, it’s also an important element of usability. When a loved one or important business partner calls, instant identification of a subscriber from a photo allows you to instantly navigate and make the right decision about whether to pick up the phone right now. Owners of budget and mid-budget devices from Chinese giant Xiaomi often face the nuances of the MIUI shell, which differs from standard Android in its logic of creating a menu.
Redmi 9, despite its age, remains popular due to its reliable hardware and affordable price, but newcomers may not be used to the lack of familiar buttons or the presence of additional confirmation of actions. Contacting the image seems trivial, but in the Xiaomi ecosystem, this process has its own peculiarities related to account synchronization and the priority of data sources. If you just bought a device or updated from another version of firmware, you will be useful to understand the intricacies of the local phone book.
In this article, we will discuss in detail all possible ways to add and replace avatars, and pay special attention to situations where the image is not saved or displayed when an incoming call. Understanding the principles of the contact management system will help you avoid data loss and ensure maximum comfort when communicating. We will consider both standard methods through built-in applications and alternative options that can be useful in non-standard situations.
Image Preparation and Format Requirements
Before you start uploading a photo directly to the phone book, you need to make sure that the source file meets the technical requirements of the system. The Android operating system with the MIUI shell is quite flexible in terms of formats, but for the correct display on the lock screen and during conversation, it is better to use images of a certain resolution. The optimal choice will be files in JPEG or PNG format, since they provide a good balance between the quality of the picture and the amount of memory occupied.
It is worth considering that the photo will be cropped by the system to a round or square format depending on the use case, so the central objects in the picture should be enough for recognition. If you plan to use high-quality shots from the main camera, make sure that they do not weigh too much, although modern smartphones easily cope with large files. For the best result, it is recommended to pre-frame the image on the computer or in the gallery, leaving a face or important object in the center.
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Use photos with a bright contrast background – this will help the system to recognize the face faster and correctly display the avatar even in poor screen lighting.
It’s also important to note that the source of a photo can be any kind of built-in gallery, file manager or cloud storage. Redmi 9 allows you to select images from any available directory, but to simplify the process, it’s better to save the desired images in advance to the Downloads or Camera folder, which will save you from long searches for a file in the depths of the system directories at the time when you need to quickly add contact.
Standard method through the Contacts app
The most obvious and frequently used method of adding photos is to work directly through the regular Contacts app, which is pre-installed on every Xiaomi device, which ensures that the image is tied to the local record or Google account chosen by default. First, open a list of all the entries and find the right subscriber by searching or manually scrolling the list to the required letter of the alphabet.
Once you open your subscriber card, look at the top of the screen, where the first letter of a name is usually a gray stub or a standard person's silhouette. Clicking on this area or the edit button (often indicated by a pencil or three dots in the corner) will open a change menu. In the window that opens, you need to find the "Add a photo" or a camera icon that will allow you to go to select an image from the device gallery.
☑️ Algorithm of adding photos
Once you select a file, the system will ask you to fraternize the image by moving the frame or resizing it so that the face falls into the right circle. This is a critical step, because this part of the photo will be visible to your interlocutors when you call. Once you make sure that the composition of the frame is suitable, press the confirmation button, and then remember to save the changes in the contact card, otherwise all actions will be in vain.
Add a photo through the Gallery and File Manager
An alternative and often more convenient way to start the process is not from the phone book, but from the image itself. If you view photos in the Gallery app and see the appropriate picture you want to assign to an avatar, you don't have to copy it or remember the path to the file. You just open the photo you want, click on the menu (three dots or button "More") and select the option "Assign an image" or "Install as".
In the action list that opens, MIUI will offer several options for using the image: set it as a desktop wallpaper, lock it onto a lock screen, or, as we need it, "Contact." When you choose the latter, the smartphone will automatically switch you to the contact selection interface from the phone book, which is especially useful when you take a new photo specifically for the avatar and want to use it immediately without going to other applications.
⚠️ Note: When assigning a photo through the gallery, make sure that the contact you assign the image to already exists in the phone’s memory. If you try to create a new contact this way, the system may request additional data such as a phone number or name before saving the picture.
Also worth mentioning is the ability to work through a file manager if your photo is stored in a specific folder or received through a messenger and lies in the back of directories. Once you find a file, you can act on a similar scenario: open a file, call a context menu and choose a contact destination. This approach is universal for any image files, regardless of where they are physically located on your Redmi 9 drive.
Sync with Google and Mi Account
One of the key aspects of using Xiaomi smartphones is the correct sync setting. The photo added to the contact can be saved in different places depending on where the contact itself is stored: in the phone’s memory, in a Google account or in the Mi Cloud. If you want the photo to be restored automatically when you change your device or after resetting your settings, you need to have the contact linked to the synced account.
You can check and change the save location when creating or editing a contact. At the top of the edit screen, there is often a drop-down list or an inscription indicating the current storage (for example, “Phone” or “username@gmail.com”). Sync with a Google account is the most reliable way, since it allows you to see the same avatars on all devices where you are logged in, including tablets and other smartphones.
| Type of storage | Photo availability | Risk of loss | Synchronization |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phone memory | Only on this device. | High (on discharge) | Absent. |
| Google Account | All devices. | Low. | Automatic. |
| Mi Account. | In the Xiaomi ecosystem | Low. | Through the Mi Cloud |
| SIM-map | Only number and name. | Medium. | Not supported |
If you notice that after adding a photo on one device, it does not appear on another, check the sync settings in the Accounts and Sync section. Make sure that the slider opposite the Contacts item is activated. Sometimes you need to manually start sync by pressing the corresponding button in the account menu so that changes, including new avatars, are transmitted to the server and distributed to other gadgets.
Why a contact photo is not displayed when you call
It is quite common for the user to successfully upload an image, but during an incoming call, a standard gray plug appears again on the screen, which can be caused by several reasons related to system caching or duplicate recordings. Often, there are two records about one person in the phone book: one is saved on the phone. SIM-map, and the other in the memory of the phone or Google account.
The system can prioritize information from one entry, ignoring photos from another, in which case it is recommended to combine duplicate contacts. To do this, open the contact menu, select the "Combine" function (often in the settings or through the three-dot menu), and follow the instructions of the unification wizard, which will create a single card in which all data, including the photo, will be correctly pulled.
Hidden causes of display problems
Another reason could be image format or damage. If a file was downloaded from the Internet and has a non-standard extension or broken structure, the system may not be able to process it to display in the call interface. Try replacing the current photo with another, pre-saving it in JPG format with basic quality settings.
Working with duplicates and contact groups
Contact management on Redmi 9 allows you to not only add individual photos, but also assign images to entire groups, which can be convenient for categorizing calls (for example, “Work”, “Family”, “Sports Hall”). However, it is worth remembering that an individual photo of a particular person always takes priority over a group. If you have installed a photo for a group, but a specific subscriber in this group is given a personal photo.
When dealing with a lot of records, there is often a duplicate problem, where the same person is recorded several times with or without different numbers. MIUI has a built-in tool to find such matches. Regularly cleaning and combining such records not only frees up space, but also ensures that you always see the actual photo of the caller, regardless of which number the call came from.
⚠️ Note: When connecting contacts, the system may request confirmation of the data merger. Carefully check which fields (number, address, email) will be combined so as not to lose important information or confuse the data of different people with the same names.
To create a group and assign a photo to it, go to the Groups section within the contact app. Create a new group, add the necessary contacts to it, and select the option to add an image from the group edit menu, which will allow you to visually highlight the categories of calls, although in practice users often rely on individual avatars for quick identification.
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Individual contact photos are always a priority over group contact photos, so always set a personal image for important subscribers, even if they are in a group with a common avatar.