How to find hidden photos on Xiaomi: hidden folders, cloud and backups

Have you accidentally hidden important photos on a Xiaomi smartphone and can't find them? Or do you suspect someone has hidden them from your eyes? MIUI has several built-in mechanisms to hide files, from the standard Hidden Albums feature to system folders that don't show up in the gallery. But even if the photos are deleted, they can be recovered through backups or cloud services.

In this article, we’ll look at 7 ways to find hidden photos on Xiaomi, from the obvious (like checking the.nomedia folder) to the little-known (like searching through ADB or backing up Google Photos). You’ll also learn how to recover deleted photos if they’ve been hidden and then erased. All instructions are relevant for Redmi, POCO and Xiaomi’s flagship 13/14 lineups based on MIUI 14/15.

Some methods require root or PC access, and if you’re not sure about your skills, start with the simplest methods (sections 1-3) and then move on to the advanced ones.

1.Standard feature "Hidden Albums" in the Xiaomi Gallery

The most obvious way to hide a photo on Xiaomi is to use the built-in Hidden Albums feature in the Gallery app, which is available on all devices with MIUI 12 and later, to check if your pictures are hidden there:

1. Open the Gallery app (icon with multi-colored squares).
2. Slip on three dots in the top right corner → select Hidden Albums.
3. Enter your password or fingerprint (if you have installed protection).

If the album is empty but you are sure the photos were hidden in this way, try:

• 🔍 Reset password through Settings → Annexes → gallery → Warehouse → Clear the data (Warning: This will delete all hidden files!).
• 📁 Check the folder. DCIM/.hidden File Manager (more on this in the next section).

⚠️ Warning: If you didn't set a password for hidden albums, but the system requires it, maybe someone else hid the photos and protected them.

2. Search for hidden folders through the file manager

Files on Xiaomi can be hidden not only through the Gallery, but also by moving to.nomedia system folders, which are not displayed in standard galleries, but are accessible through a file manager.

• 📂 folder DCIM/.hidden — Here are the photos hidden through the gallery.
• 📂 folder MIUI/Extra — Sometimes backup copies of media files come in here.
• 📂 Any folders with a dot at the beginning of the name (e.g..thumbnails,.cache) – they are hidden from standard viewing.

To see the hidden folders:

1. Open Files (standard manager from Xiaomi)
2. Switch to three points → Settings → Turn on Show hidden files.
3. Go to Internal Memory and manually check the paths from the list above.

If you use a third-party manager (such as Solid Explorer or FX File Manager), enable hidden files to be displayed in its settings. Please note that some folders (such as Android/data) may not be available without root rights.

3. Recover hidden photos through MIUI backups

If photos were hidden and then deleted, you can try to restore them through MIUI backups, and the system automatically creates backups of media files when you connect to Mi Account, to check:

1. Go to Settings → About Phone → Backup and Reset.
2. Select Local Backups or Cloud Backups (if synced with Mi Cloud).
3. Find a backup with the desired date and recover data from the Gallery or Multimedia section.

If there are no local backups, check out Mi Cloud:

• 🌐 Visit i.mi.com from your PC or phone.
• 📁 Go to the Gallery section → Recycle bin (files are stored there for 30 days).
• 🔄 Restore the photos you need or download them directly.

⚠️ Warning: Restore from the backup will overwrite the current data in the Gallery.If you are not sure that the backup has the right photos, first check its contents through the Mi Cloud in the browser.

4. Search through Google Photos and other cloud services

If your Xiaomi has Google Photos installed, check:

• 📸 The cart (photos are stored there for 60 days).
• 🔍 Archive (you can manually move photos there to hide them from the main stream).
• 📁 Hidden folder** (if you have previously used the hide feature in Google Photos).

To find the hidden photos:

1. Open Google Photos → tap on the avatar in the upper right corner.
2. Choose the Basket or the Archive.
3. If photos were hidden through the Hide on Device feature, they can be displayed in the web version of photos.google.com.

Also check out other cloud services that could sync photos:

• 🌥️ Yandex Drive (autoupload photo to Camera Upload folder).
• 📱 OneDrive (if autosynchronization is configured).
• 🍎 iCloud (if previously used iPhone and photos transferred).

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If you don’t remember which cloud services were connected, check Settings → Phone Accounts. This shows all the synchronized apps.

5.Use ADB to search for hidden files

If standard methods don’t work, you can try to find hidden photos through ADB (Android Debug Bridge), which does not require root rights, but you need a computer with Xiaomi drivers installed and USB debugging enabled.

Instructions:

1. Turn on Developer Mode on Phone: Settings → About Phone → MIUI Version (Tap 7 times)
2. Activate USB Debugging in Settings → Additional → For developers.
3. Connect your phone to your PC and open the command line (Windows) or terminal (macOS/Linux).
4. Enter the commands in turn: adb devices adb shell su (if root) find /storage/emulated/0 -name ".jpg" -o -name ".png" | grep -i "hidden"

This command looks for all.jpg and.png files in your phone’s memory that have the word hidden on the way. If you want to find all media files (including videos), use:

find /storage/emulated/0 -type f \( -name ".jpg" -o -name ".png" -o -name "*.mp4" \) | grep -E "(hidden|secret|private)"

⚠️ Note: Adb shell and su commands give access to system files. Do not delete or change anything if you are not sure of the actions - this can lead to a failure. MIUI.

6. Recovery of deleted hidden photos

If the hidden photos were deleted, you can try to restore them using specialized programs. On Xiaomi without root rights, the chances are low, but there are several working methods:

• 🔧 DiskDigger (Android app) scans internal memory for deleted files, works without root, but with limitations.
• 💻 Recuva or EaseUS Data Recovery (for PC) – if the phone is defined as a removable disk.
• 📱 Dumpster – a shopping cart application that saves deleted files (you need to install in advance).

Step-by-step instructions for DiskDigger:

1. Install DiskDigger from Google Play.
2. Start the basic scan (without root).
3. Select the JPG, PNG, MP4 file types.
4. Wait until the scan is completed and save the files found to a memory card or cloud.

If your phone isn’t defined as a removable disk on a PC, try:

• 🔌 Connect through MTP (in the notification curtain when connected USB Select File Transfer).
• 📁 Use a memory card (if the photos were stored on it, the chances of recovery are higher).

⚠️ Warning: The more you use your phone after you delete a photo, the lower your chances of recovering it. When scanning, don't save new files to your device, which can overwrite deleted data.

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The most reliable way to recover deleted photos is to use the program immediately after deleting, and after 1-2 weeks of active use of the phone, the chances tend to zero.

7. Check hidden photos through the engineering menu (for advanced)

MIUI has a hidden engineering menu that allows you to access system logs and some hidden memory partitions, a method that is only suitable for advanced users and requires caution.

Instructions:

1. Open the phone app and enter the code: ##4636##
2. Go to Storage or Usage Statistics.
3. Check the list of apps that take up a lot of space – sometimes hidden photos are stored in the cache of messengers (for example, Telegram or WhatsApp).

You can also try the code to access the media test settings:

##34971539##

This code opens the Camera Test menu, where some firmware shows paths to hidden media, but newer versions of MIUI 14/15 may not work.

If the engineering menu doesn't work, the last option is to flash TWRP Recovery and scan the phone's memory through it, which requires unlocking the bootloader and can lead to a loss of warranty.

FAQ: Frequent questions about hidden photos on Xiaomi