How to find photos in the Xiaomi Explorer: 7 working ways

Lost an important photo in the maze of folders of Xiaomi smartphone? Can you remember where the photos from the camera or downloaded from instant messengers? The problem is familiar to every second user — according to statistics, 47% of owners of Redmi and POCO at least once lost access to their photos due to the chaos in the file system. In this article, we will analyze all possible ways of searching, including hidden folders, system directories and even restore deleted files.

Modern smartphones Xiaomi on the basis MIUI 14/15 They offer a few built-in tools to search for media files, but not everyone knows they exist, like not many people use a filter by date or search by photo. EXIF-And some photos are stored in non-obvious places — say, screenshots from Telegram or uploaded via WhatsApp often end up in folders with random names.

If you've already tried to search through a standard gallery and you haven't found it, don't panic. 90% of the time, files are simply in a different directory or hidden from the user's eyes. Next, we'll take a look at step-by-step instructions for all versions of MIUI, including the features of working with the Redmi Note 12, POCO X5 and other popular models.

1. Standard search through "Files"

The most obvious, but often underrated, way to do this is to use the Files by Xiaomi built-in file manager, which not only shows folders, but also indexes media by key parameters, and here's how to use it effectively:

Open the Explorer app** (the blue folder icon) and go to the Category tab at the bottom menu, and you'll see automatically generated sections here:

If the photo is not in the Images section, try the advanced search:

1. Use filters by date of change or file size.

💡

If you are looking for a photo taken on a particular day, sort files by date in the Explorer - for this, tap three points (⋮) → Sorting → By date.

Note that by default, Explorer does not show hidden folders. To see them, go to Explorer Settings → Show hidden files. This is especially true for photos from messengers (for example, Viber stores media in the.ViberMedia folder).

2.Folder search: where Xiaomi stores photos by default

The MIUI file system has a strict media storage structure, and by knowing the standard paths, you'll save time searching. Here are the main directories where your photos can be stored:

If you use two of them SIM-card SD-map, check it out too:

• 📱 /storage/emulated/1/DCIM/ — second-second SIM (if)
• 💾 /storage/XXXX-XXXX/DCIM/ — external SD-map (where) XXXX-XXXX — serial number)

View at /DCIM/Camera/

Check /Pictures/Screenshots/

Check out /Download/

Enable the display of hidden folders

Check the outside SD-card (if any)-->

Important: on some models (for example, Redmi) 10C or POCO M4 Pro) the path to the camera may be different - instead of DCIM use MIUI/Camera. This is due to the features of firmware for budget devices.

Search by date and EXIF-marker

If you remember the approximate date of the shooting, but you don't know the name of the file, use time filtering. In Xiaomi Explorer, it's done like this:

1. Open "Conductor" → "Categories" → "Images".
2. Slip on the filter icon (🔧) top-right.
3. Select Date and specify range (for example, January 2026 – March 2026).
4. Press Apply.

For more accurate search, use EXIF-Data is the meta-information that is stored inside each photo:

• 📅 Date and time of shooting
• 📱 Model of the device
• 🌍 Coordinates (if geolocation is enabled)
• ⚙️ Camera parameters (exposure, ISO, focal length)

To view EXIF:

1. Open the photo in the standard gallery.
2. Slap three points (⋮) → Details.
3. Scroll down to the Information block.

On Xiaomi models with MIUI 15 (e.g. Xiaomi 14) EXIF-data may be hidden by default due to privacy policy. To see it, go to Settings → Confidentiality → Additionally. → Showing metadata of media files.

4. Search for hidden and system photos

Some photos are not displayed in the gallery, but are physically present in the device's memory.

• 🔒 Screenshots from protected applications (banks, instant messengers)
• 📱 Photos used as wallpaper or avatars
• 🗑️ Deleted photos not yet cleared from the cart
• 🤖 System images (for example, debugging logs from the screen)

To find them:

1. Enable the display of hidden files in Explorer (see Section 1).
2. Check the folders: /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/ This is where media files from apps are stored (e.g. /com.whatsapp/ or /org.telegram.messenger/).
3. Use Extensions Search: Enter.jpg or.png in the Explorer Search bar.

⚠️ Note: Do not delete files from folders /Android/data/ manually, this can disrupt applications. If you need to free up space, use the built-in cleaning function in the application settings.

To search for deleted photos, check the cart:

1. Open the Gallery → Albums → Cart
2. Photos are stored here for 30 days (on some models - 15 days).
3. To restore, select files and tap Restore.

In the standard DCIM folder

In messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram)

In downloads (Download)

Nana SD-map

I don't know where to look.-->

5.Use of Third-Party File Managers

If Xiaomi's built-in Explorer doesn't work, try alternative file managers with advanced search features.The best options for MIUI are:

For example, in Solid Explorer you can:

1. Open side menu → Search.
2. Enter a query (e.g. *.jpg size:>5MB – search for JPG files larger than 5MB).
3. Use filters by date, type and even EXIF-tagam.

Tip for POCO F5 and Redmi K60 owners: If you have global firmware installed, some system folders may not be available to third-party managers. In this case, temporarily disable MIUI Optimization in the developer settings (Settings → About Phone → MIUI version – tap 7 times, then return to Additional → For Developers).

6. Recovery of deleted photos

If you delete photos and they're not in the cart, don't despair, you can try to recover them, and the rule is, don't write new files to your device so you don't overwrite deleted data.

Recovery methods:

⚠️ Note: On devices with encrypted memory (for example, Xiaomi 13 Pro with a high-end memory) MIUI 14) recovery without root rights is almost impossible, in which case the only option is backup in the cloud.

If you use SD-card, remove it and connect it to the computer through a card reader - the chances of recovery are higher than when working through a card reader USB-cable.

7 Search Automation: How to Avoid Losing Photos in the Future

To avoid wasting time searching, set up automatic sorting and backup:

• 📁 Date folders: Use apps like FolderSync to automatically move photos to folders by year/month (e.g., FolderSync, /Photos/2026/05/).
• ☁️ Cloud Storage: Enable autoload in Google Photos or Mi Cloud (Settings) → Xiaomi account → Mi Cloud → Autoboot).
• 🏷️ Tags and Albums: In the Standard Gallery MIUI You can create albums and add tags (e.g., “Vacations”, “Documents”, “Family»).
• 🔍 Search by content: Apps like Google Photos can search for photos by object (for example, “dog”, “sea”, “passport” or “dog»).

For owners of the POCO X5 Pro and Redmi Note 12 Pro+, it is useful to know that MIUI 15 has a feature called Smart Albums, which automatically group photos by person, place and event.

1. Open the Gallery» → «Albums».
2. Slip on the plus icon (+) → Create a smart album.
3. Select criteria (such as People or Places).

💡

Check /DCIM/.thumbnails regularly – it stores thumbnails of all photos that can be used to search for originals.

FAQ: Frequent questions about finding photos in Xiaomi