Where to find albums in Xiaomi: search for photos, hidden folders and Google Photos

Redmi and Poco smartphone owners often experience a change in the standard menu structure after a new MIUI or HyperOS update, which can be confusing for even a seasoned user who is used to a particular arrangement of icons and folders, especially in the media section, where personal memories and important documents are stored.

The problem of finding photos is compounded by the fact that Xiaomi’s Android shell system has multiple layers of nesting and alternative viewing apps. The gallery can be hidden, replaced with a cloud service, or simply moved to the Tools folder. Understanding the file system logic will help you quickly find the images you want.

In this article, we will take a look at all the possible locations where your albums can be located, we will look at standard applications, system settings, hidden partitions and even third-party file managers, and you will learn how to manage your device’s media library at a professional level.

Standard application Gallery and its features

The main storage location for all visual data is the Gallery app, which is where the system automatically sorts the images by date, location and people, but the interface may vary depending on the version of the firmware installed on your smartphone.

To get into the album section, you have to open the app and look at the bottom navigation bar, and there's usually tabs like Photos, Discovery and Albums, and if you can't see the bottom menu, try swiping the screen from top to bottom or clicking on the icon with three dots in the corner.

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If the standard Gallery icon is missing from your desktop, try to find it through a global search on the system by pulling down on the home screen.

Inside the Albums section, you'll see system folders like Camera, Screenshots, Videos, and Favorites, which the system creates by itself, but the user can add their own collections for easy navigation through the archive.

• 📸 Camera – all photos and videos taken on the main or front camera of the device fall here.
• 🖼️ Screenshots – an automatically generated folder for all screenshots taken by a combination of buttons.
• 📥 Downloads – here images obtained from the browser or messengers are saved, unless otherwise selected.
• ❤️ Favorites – an album where you manually add the most important frames for quick access.

It is important to note that some messengers, such as Telegram or WhatsApp, can create their own folders in a shared gallery, which allows you to separate personal photos from the images received, but sometimes leads to cluttering of the main space.

The problem of not having a gallery: Mi Gallery and Google Photos

Xiaomi has been pushing for a shift to cloud services and alternative applications in recent years, with some global firmware versions missing the standard Mi Gallery and being replaced by Google Photos, which has puzzled users accustomed to the native interface.

Google Photos works on the principle of cloud storage. All your photos are automatically uploaded to your Google account if sync is enabled. You can find albums here in the Library tab at the bottom right of the screen. The folder structure here is automatically generated based on devices and applications.

If you want to return the classic look, you can try reinstalling the Gallery app through the GetApps store or download an APK file from a proven resource. However, it is worth considering that Google Photos often offers more convenient search and editing.

Sometimes users accidentally disable the system application. Check settings: go to Settings → Apps → All apps and find the Gallery list. If it is disabled, activate it with a switch.

Hidden Albums and Second Space

One of the most popular features in the MIUI shell is the ability to hide sensitive files. The hidden album allows you to remove photos and videos from public access, protecting them with a password or fingerprint.

To open hidden albums, go to the regular Gallery, go to the Albums tab and pull the list down until the characteristic lock animation appears. The system will request privacy password or biometric verification.

And then there's the Second Space feature, which is a full-fledged second profile on the phone with its apps, contacts and gallery, and the main space photos are not visible in the second, and vice versa, and the switch between them is through settings or a special widget.

Also worth mentioning is the file manager's Closed Folder, which is that files that are moved there disappear from the gallery and are only available after authorization, and it's a convenient way to hide not only photos, but also documents or videos.

• 🔒 Access – is carried out through a long press or swipe down the external sections.
• 🔑 Protection – the same password is used to protect applications or unlock the screen.
• 👁️ Invisibility – files are not displayed in search and are not visible when connecting the phone to the computer.

Search through the file manager

If standard applications don't display the files they want, you should go to the root of the file system. The file manager is a tool that shows the real structure of directories on the disk, bypassing the visual shells of the galleries.

Open the Explorer or Files app, and you're interested in the internal memory of the device, the main paths where the images are stored are in the root directories, and the navigation is done through folders, whose names often speak for themselves.

/DCIM/Camera - basic camera photos


/Pictures – screenshots and saves from social networks




/Download – downloads from the browser




/Android/media – Application data

File Manager Categories often have a separate Images button, and if you click on it, you'll see all the graphics files on the device sorted by folder, which is the most reliable way to find lost files that the gallery didn't pick up.

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File Manager is the only way to find files if the Gallery app is corrupted or incorrectly updated.

Note the.thumbnails folder. This is a system cache that stores thumbnails of images for quick viewing. Sometimes cleaning this folder can solve problems with displaying previews in the gallery, but the original photos are in other directories.

Synchronization with the cloud Xiaomi and Google

Modern Xiaomi smartphones are closely integrated with cloud services.If you can't find albums on the device, it's possible they were automatically uploaded to Xiaomi Cloud or Google Photos to free up space.

Check the sync settings in the Settings menu → Mi Account → Xiaomi Cloud → Gallery. If the function is enabled, the original photos can only be stored in the cloud, and their phone will remain a smaller copy or nothing if the option “Clear Memory” is enabled.

To access Xiaomi’s cloud albums, you can use not only your phone, but also the web version at i.mi.com. This allows you to view all synchronized albums from any computer or other device by logging into your Mi Account.

It is important to check the sync status periodically so you don’t lose important data when resetting. If the cloud storage is crowded, new photos will stop loading and can only remain in the phone’s memory, taking up a lot of space.

Recovery of deleted albums and baskets

Accidental deletion of albums is a common problem, and fortunately, Android and MIUI have protection against such errors, and deleted files don't disappear instantly, but instead move to a special Recycle Bin, where they store a certain amount of time.

In the Gallery app, go to the Albums section and scroll to the bottom, and you'll find the Removed or Recycle Bin folder, where files are stored for 30 days, and then they're destroyed forever.

⚠️ Attention: Files in the cart take up space in the phone's memory.If you deleted a heavy video, it will still "weigh" as much until you finally clear the cart.

To recover, you just need to open the folder, select the photos you want, and click the Restore button, and they will return to their original albums with the shooting date and metadata saved.

If files were deleted from the recycle bin, you will need to use specialized software to recover data, but the success of such operations is not guaranteed, especially if the phone has been actively used since the deletion.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)