Where are the recently deleted photos on Xiaomi: all ways to restore

You accidentally deleted important photos from your Xiaomi, Redmi or POCO — and now you don’t know where to look for them? Don’t panic: MIUI-based smartphones have multiple layers of protection against irretrievable data loss. Even if you cleared the gallery or clicked Delete in the Photos app, files often stay on the system for another 30 to 60 days.

In this article, we’ll look at all the possible storage locations for deleted photos on Xiaomi devices, from the standard shopping cart to hidden system folders to cloud reserve, how to recover root-free images, what tools to use for deep memory scanning, and why photos sometimes disappear from the gallery but remain in the phone, and how to distinguish truly deleted files from those that are simply hidden by the system.

1.The basket in the Gallery app is the first place to search

The most obvious and quick way to return deleted photos is to check the Recycle Bin in the standard Gallery app, which works on the principle of “soft removal” in MIUI: files are not erased immediately, but moved to temporary storage for 30 days (in some versions of the firmware – up to 60 days).

To open the basket:

• 📱 Open the Gallery app (icon with multi-colored squares).
• 🗑️ Click on three dots in the upper right corner → pick the basket.
• ⏳ View the file list: here you can see all deleted photos and videos from the last months.
• 🔄 To recover, select the necessary files. → press Restore.

⚠️ Note: If you manually cleaned the Recycle Bin or have been more than 30 days, files will be permanently lost (unless you have backed up) and the Recycle Bin does not work for photos deleted through Explorer or third-party file managers.

2.Mi Cloud Cloud Storage: Checking Backups

If your Xiaomi has Mi Cloud sync enabled, the deleted photos could be saved to the cloud, which works even if you reset your phone to factory settings or lost your device, and the key is to remember the Mi Account data that your smartphone is attached to.

How to check the cloud:

1. Go to i.mi.com and log in.
2. Select Gallery → Cart (if any) or All Albums section.
3. Use the date filter to find missing photos.

🔹 Important nuances:

• 📤 Sync photos in Mi Cloud is enabled manually: Settings → Xiaomi account → Mi Cloud → gallery.
• 💾 Only 5GB is available for free (this is the case). ~2000 high-quality photos).
• ⏳ Photos in the cloud basket are stored for 60 days, after which they are deleted forever.

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If you don't remember if sync was enabled, check the settings: Settings → Memory → Backup. This shows the date of the last backup creation.

3. Hidden folders: DCIM/.thumbnails and other system directories

Sometimes photos disappear from the gallery, but they are physically stored in the phone's memory, because of a media scanner (a system process that indexes files to be displayed in a gallery) that requires a Explorer with access to hidden folders to find them.

Where to look:

⚠️ Note: Not all folders are visible in standard Explorer. Use Total Commander, FX File Explorer or Solid Explorer with the "Show Hidden Files" option enabled, be careful: deleting files from system folders can disrupt your work. MIUI.

4. app cache: where are stored "deleted" photos from messengers

If you deleted a photo from a WhatsApp, Telegram or Viber chat, it could have stayed in the cache of those apps. Messengers often save media files to separate folders that are not cleared when deleted from the gallery.

Ways to cache popular applications:

• 💬 WhatsApp: /storage/emulated/0/WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Images
• 📎 Telegram: /storage/emulated/0/Telegram/Telegram Images
• 📱 Viber: /storage/emulated/0/Viber/Media/Viber Images
• 📧 Gmail (attachments): /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.google.android.gm/files

🔹 How to repair:

1. Open the application folder through the Explorer.
2. Copy the photo to another directory (for example, DCIM/Camera).
3. Restart the phone – after the reboot, the media scanner will update the database, and the photos will appear in the gallery.

5. PC recovery: programs for deep scanning

If the photos are not found in the cart, cloud or hidden folders, the last chance is to recover using a PC. To do this, connect Xiaomi to your computer and use specialized utilities that scan memory at a low level.

🛠️ Top.-3 recovery:

⚠️ Note: When recovering via PC:

• 🚫 Do not save recovered files to the same disk from which the scan is being conducted (this can overwrite data).
• 🔌 Use the original Xiaomi cable – cheap analogues can interrupt the connection.
• 🔋 The battery must be at least 50% charged to avoid being turned off during the process.

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The faster you start recovering from deletion, the better the chances of returning a photo, and each new record in your phone’s memory (installing apps, shooting videos) reduces the likelihood of success.

6.If nothing has worked: Professional services

When all of these methods fail, you have to go to a service center or data recovery lab, and this is true if:

• 📵 The photo was deleted more than 6 months ago.
• 🔄 The phone was reset to factory settings.
• 💥 There was a physical failure of memory (fall, moisture hit).

🔹 What the services offer:

• 🔬 Chip-off recovery: retrieving memory chips and reading data directly (expensive but efficient).
• 🛠️ JTAG-repair: Connecting to test contacts of the board for access to memory.
• 📊 Dump analysis: if the phone is not turned on, specialists can recover data from the broken sectors.

⚠️ Note: The cost of such services starts from 5 000 rubles and depends on the model Xiaomi and the type of damage:

• Does the service have experience with MIUI (some labs specialize only in iPhone or Samsung)?
• Are there any guarantees for recovery (some photos may be damaged without the possibility of repair).
• How long will the process take (in complex cases - up to 2 weeks).

FAQ: Frequent questions about photo recovery on Xiaomi