How to get deleted photos from the cart on Xiaomi phone: the complete guide

Deleting photos on Xiaomi, Redmi or POCO smartphones often seems irreversible — especially if you didn’t know there was a shopping cart in the MIUI gallery. In fact, you have up to 30 days to recover photos, even if you’ve already cleared the “Recently Deleted” folder. In this article, we’ll break down all the working methods from standard MIUI features to professional tools like ADB and DiskDigger.

It's important to understand that recovery success depends on three factors: time elapsed since the deletion, activity of writing new data to the phone and firmware version. For example, on the Xiaomi 13 Pro with MIUI 15, the algorithm for storing deleted files differs from the Redmi Note 10 to MIUI 12.5. We took these nuances into account and prepared instructions for different scenarios, from simple return from the basket to deep memory scanning.

1. Standard recovery from the folder “Recently deleted”

The most obvious way is to check the system basket in the gallery, which is called "Recently Deleted" on Xiaomi and stores files for up to 30 days (on some models, 15 days).

1. Open the Gallery app (flower icon).
2. Slip on three horizontal lines in the lower right corner (menu).
3. Select the Recycle Bin or Recently Deleted.
4. Find the right photos, hold your finger on the thumbnail and click Restore.

If the folder is empty or not on the menu, it means:

• 🔹 You have already cleaned the basket manually (through Clean the basket in the menu).
• 🔹 The files were deleted more than a month ago.
• 🔹 On your Xiaomi model, the basket function is disabled (rarely, but it happens on old firmware).

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If the gallery doesn't have a Recycle Bin item, try updating the app via Google Play or reinstalling it. On some firmware, the feature is hidden until the update.

On POCO F5 and the new Redmi with MIUI 14+, the basket may be called the Album Archive to find it:

1. Open the gallery. → Albums.
2. Scroll down to the Utilities section.
3. Slip on the Album Archive and look for deleted files there.

2. Restore via Google Photos (if synchronized)

If your Xiaomi has autosynchronization enabled with Google Photos, the chances of returning photos increase by up to 90%, the service stores deleted photos in its shopping cart for 60 days - twice as long as a standard MIUI gallery.

1. Open the Google Photos app (if not installed, download from the Play Market).
2. Slip on the profile avatar in the upper right corner.
3. Pick the basket.
4. Find the right photos, hold your finger on them and click Restore.

If the basket is empty, try:

• 🔍 Enter a Google Photo search query by date or location (e.g. beach August 2023).
• 🔍 Check the Archive folder – sometimes photos are moved there instead of deleting.
• 🔍 Go to the web version of photos.google.com from a computer - it is more convenient to filter there.

Important: If sync has been disabled, this method will not work. You can check backup status at Google Photos → Backup and Sync. If it says Off, go to the following ways.

3.Use of the file manager to search for hidden copies

Sometimes photos are not deleted completely, but remain in hidden folders of the system, which is true for Xiaomi with MIUI 12-14 firmware, where the gallery can back up thumbnails.

1. Install a file manager with access to root folders (such as Solid Explorer or FX File Explorer).
2. Go to /storage/emulated/0/ (internal memory).
3. Open folders: DCIM/.thumbnails Pictures/.trash MIUI/Gallery/cloud/
4. Look for files with.jpg,.png, or.nomedia extensions (the latter may be hidden).

On Redmi Note 11 and similar models, sometimes a search by file change date helps.

• 📁 In the file manager, select Sort → By date.
• 📁 Scroll down to the day the photo was removed.
• 📁 Files with names like IMG_20230515_123456.jpg.bak — These are potential backups.

Warning: Do not move the files you find directly to the gallery. First, copy them to your computer or the cloud to avoid being deleted again.

4. Recovery through ADB (for advanced users)

If the standard methods didn’t work, you can try to extract photos using Android Debug Bridge (ADB), which is suitable for Xiaomi with an unlocked bootloader or root rights, but some commands work without them.

• 🖥️ Computer with installed ADB Tools.
• 📱 USB-cable (preferably original).
• 🔧 Included debugging by USB on the phone (Settings) → The phone. → Version. MIUI → 7 times to tap according to the version → return to → For developers → Debugging by USB).

Step-by-step:

1. Connect the phone to the PC and confirm access to debugging on the smartphone screen.
2. Open the command prompt (Windows) or terminal (Mac/Linux) in the folder with ADB.
3. Enter the command to search for deleted files: adb shell su -c "find /storage/emulated/0/ -name '.jpg' -o -name '.png' -mtime -30" (this is looking for JPG/PNG deleted in the last 30 days).
4. If you find files, copy them to your PC: adb pull /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/.thumbnails/ C:\Xiaomi_Recovery\

No root rights. ADB It can't scan all the memory, but it can sometimes find files in the cache of the gallery. TWRP root.

Debugging is on. USB|Installed drivers Xiaomi on PC|The phone is charged at least 50 times%|Backup of important data is made|Connection with Adb Devices Team-->

Attention: ⚠️ Wrong teams ADB If you're not sure what you're doing, you can skip this method.

5. Deep memory scanning programs

If previous methods failed, then we have to use specialized tools that scan internal memory at the binary data level and recover even fragmented files.

Instructions for DiskDigger (the easiest option):

1. Download the app from the Play Market.
2. Start and select Start basic scan (without root).
3. Wait until the process is completed (it can take 10–30 minutes).
4. Check the necessary photos and click Restore.
5. Save files to SD-map or cloud (not internal memory!).

Important: The more data you write to your phone after you delete a photo, the lower your chances of recovery, for example, if you shoot 10 new videos after you delete them, they could overwrite old files.

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When using reclaimer software, NEVER save recovered files back to your phone's internal memory. SD-Map, cloud, or PC to avoid overwriting.

6. Contact the Xiaomi Service Center

If the photos are critical (for example, documents or unique frames), and independent attempts were unsuccessful, you can contact the official service Xiaomi (eMMC/UFS). But keep in mind:

• 💰 Service paid (from 1,500 to 5 000 rubles depending on the model).
• ⏳ Recovery time: 3-7 days.
• 🔒 The warranty on the phone can be canceled (if you need a disassembly).
• 📌 Not all services are taken for data recovery – check in advance.

To increase the chances of success:

1. Do not use your phone after deleting your photo (turn off your mobile data and Wi-Fi).
2. Do not update the firmware and do not reset the settings.
3. Tell the master the exact date and time of removal.

The addresses of official Xiaomi service centers in Russia can be found on the website mi.com/ru/service. Before visiting, check by phone whether they are engaged in data recovery.

7. How to prevent future photo loss

To avoid the problem of deleted photos, set up automatic backup on Xiaomi:

• 📱 Google Photos: Settings → Backup and synchronization → Select Quality High (unlimited) or Original (paid).
• ☁️ Mi Cloud: Settings → Accounts. → Mi Cloud → gallery → Synchronize. Gives 5GB for free.
• 💾 Local Backup: Once a month, copy a photo to a computer or external drive through a computer or disk MIUI+ Xiaomi PC Suite.
• 🔄 Duplication: Use apps like SyncMe to automatically send photos to a second account (e.g. Yandex Drive).

Also useful:

• 🔒 Disable Gallery Optimization in Settings → Annexes → gallery → Memory. → Clean the cache (so that miniatures are not removed).
• 📂 Create a separate folder for important photos and exclude it from cleaning in Settings → Warehouse → Cleanup.
• 🛡️ Set a password to the folder with the photo through the Secure folder in the gallery (available on the MIUI 13+).

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Xiaomi with MIUI 14 has a feature called “Temporary Deletion Lock”: if you turn it on in the Gallery Settings, photos will be deleted only after confirmation by fingerprint.

FAQ: Frequent questions about photo recovery on Xiaomi