Accidentally removing important photos on a smartphone is a stressful situation familiar to many Xiaomi users. Often we don't notice the finger slipping and valuable footage disappears from the gallery forever. However, it's too early to panic, since the MIUI and HyperOS operating system have multiple layers of data protection.
Recovery of information is possible thanks to built-in backup mechanisms and the features of the Android file system. In this article, we will discuss in detail how to find deleted photos on Xiomi using the regular system tools and third-party utilities.
The speed of your actions directly affects the success of the operation, the less new information you write to your phone after you lose files, the better the chances of returning them. Let's look at the basic methods of finding and saving your photos.
Search in the Gallery basket
The first and obvious step to take is to check the Recycle Bin system folder, which on Xiaomi smartphones does not erase deleted images instantly, but moves to a special buffer where they store a certain amount of time, usually a 30-day period, after which the files are deleted irretrievably.
To get into this vault, open the standard Gallery app. In the bottom menu, select the Albums tab and scroll down to the very end, and there you will see Deleted. Click on it to view the contents.
If you find the right shots, tap them long and press the Recover button, and the photos will return to their original albums, and if the basket is empty or the file was deleted more than a month ago, you will have to use other methods.
- 📸 Open the Gallery app on the main screen.
- 📂 Go to the Albums tab and find the Deleted folder.
- ♻️ Select the files you need and click the Restore button.
⚠️ Warning: Recycle bin files are limited to 30 days, and if you manually clean the recycle bin, recovery through regular funds will become impossible.
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The Gallery Recycle Bin is the first and fastest way to return accidentally deleted photos without installing additional software.
Use of the Mi Cloud cloud service
Many users ignore the sync settings, and Mi Cloud automatically creates copies of your photos if this feature was activated, even if you deleted the photo from the device, a copy of it could be saved in the cloud.
To check, go to your phone's settings and select your Mi Account. Go to the Cloud and find Gallery, where you can see sync status and manage remote data, and access the cloud via your browser at i.mi.com.
In the web interface or phone settings, there is often a separate folder called Deleted, which may differ from the cart on the device itself.Share life there is also limited, but sometimes up to 60 days for premium accounts.It's a powerful tool that's often overlooked.
It's important to understand the difference between locally removing and clearing the cloud. If you delete a photo from your phone but sync is enabled, it can stay in the cloud, but if you remove it from the cloud, it will disappear from all synced devices.
Recovery via Google Photos
Google’s ecosystem is deeply integrated into Android, and the Google Photos app often runs in parallel with the MIUI gallery. Even if you use the standard Xiomi Gallery, Google Photos could quietly back up your photos.
Open the Google Photos app and go to the Library section. At the bottom of the screen, find the Recycle Bin, where deleted photos are stored for 60 days, and for Google One subscribers up to 60 days for any photos and videos.
The recovery process is similar to the system one: select the images you want and click on Restore, and they go back to the device gallery and the cloud account, which is one of the most reliable ways, because Google's servers are very stable.
- ☁️ Launch the Google Photos app on your smartphone.
- 🗑️ Click on the Library and select the Recycle Bin.
- ✅ Select the lost photos and confirm the recovery.
⚠️ Note: If you used the "Free Space" feature in Google Photos, the originals may have been removed from the device but will remain in the cloud.
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Enable autoload in Google Photos right now so that your photos will be saved automatically in the future, even if your phone is lost.
Analysis of folders in the file manager
Sometimes users confuse deletion with moving or hiding files. Xiaomi's File Manager allows you to explore the structure of memory in depth. Some applications create their own folders for cache or saved images.
Open Explorer and go to Images, where files are sorted by type, but not always by deletion date, and check the DCIM folder and the.thumbnails subfolder, which stores thumbnails that can help you find your way to the original or at least see a preview of a lost file.
Also, check the MIUI/Gallery/cloud/cache folder. Some firmware versions may still have temporary sync files. A search for the.jpg or.png extension sorted by date of change can reveal files that are not formally deleted but are not displayed in the gallery.
/storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Camera
/storage/emulated/0/Pictures
/storage/emulated/0/MIUI/Gallery/cloud/cacheDon't forget hidden folders that start with a dot, and to see them in some explorers, you need to enable the hidden files to be displayed in the application settings.
Application of third-party recovery programs
When standard methods are exhausted, specialized utilities come to the rescue: data recovery programs scan internal memory for “siphany” clusters labeled free but containing information, most of which require root rights to work.
One of the popular programs is DiskDigger, which is the basic version of the software, it looks for cached thumbnails, and with superuser rights, it does deep scanning, and Dr.Fone and Tenorshare UltData, which work via USB connection to a computer, are also popular.
The process is, you install the application, you grant the necessary permissions, you run the scan, the files you find are marked with color or quality status, and it's important to immediately save the recovered data to a memory card or to the cloud, not to the same device.
☑️ Preparation for data recovery
The effectiveness of these programs depends on how much you used your phone after deleting, and the new data could overwrite the old sectors, making recovery impossible.
⚠️ Warning: Installing recovery apps directly on your phone can reduce your chances of success, as the installation file takes up space that remote photos could take up.
Table of comparison of recovery methods
To make it easier for you to navigate your search methods, we have prepared a summary table that will help you quickly assess the effectiveness of each method depending on your situation and availability of backups.
| Method | Necessary rights | Storage period | Efficiency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gallery basket | No. | 30 days | Tall. |
| Mi Cloud | Mi Account | 30-60 days | High (in synchronization) |
| Google Photo | Google account | 60 days | High (with synchronization) |
| Third-party software | Root / ADB | Depends on the re-recording. | Medium/Low |
As you can see from the chart, having accounts and syncing enabled is the best thing to do, and using sophisticated software without backup is a low-probability lottery.
Why do programs require a Root right?
Preventing Data Loss in the Future
The best way not to search for deleted photos on Xiomi is to set up automatic backups. In modern smartphones, this is done once and works in the background. Set up sync with Mi Cloud or Google Photos over Wi-Fi so that you don't waste mobile traffic.
Periodically make full copies of the data to your computer. Connect your phone with a cable and copy the DCIM folder to your hard drive. This will take a few minutes, but save thousands of memories in the event of a critical system failure or loss of the device.
Also worth paying attention to the “Duplicate” feature in some file managers, which allows you to create instant copies of important files in a secure folder. Regularly checking memory settings will help you avoid overflowing and automatically cleaning old files with the system.
- 🔄 Set up autosynchronization in Mi Cloud and Google Photos.
- 💾 Copy a photo once a month to a computer or external disk.
- 🛡️ Use the “Second Space” function for important files.
Don’t ignore notifications of space shortages. When memory is full, the system can behave unstable, and the process of writing new data can damage the file table, making it harder to recover.