How to transfer photos from your phone to your phone Xiaomi: all the ways 2026

Why standard photo copying methods don’t always work for Xiaomi

Transferring photos between smartphones of the same brand seems a trivial task — until you face the limitations of MIUI. For example, many users of Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 or POCO X5 complain that when you try to send pictures via Bluetooth files “hang” in the stage “99 percent accepted”, and cloud services like Google Photos compress the originals to unacceptable quality, it’s all about optimizations of the MIUI shell, which block the background activity of applications and limit the speed of data transfer through wireless protocols.

Another trap is the difference in MIUI versions. If one phone has MIUI 14 installed and the other has HyperOS (the new firmware for flagships in 2026), the standard Mi Share may refuse to see the device, but the manufacturer does not always warn about such nuances in the official instructions. We tested 7 ways to transfer photos to Xiaomi, taking into account these pitfalls, and selected those that work stably even with large archives (1000+ files).

Importantly, if you’re moving photos between Xiaomi and a phone from another brand (such as a Samsung or iPhone), some of the methods in this article won’t work. For cross-platform transfer, you’d better use cloud services or universal apps like Send Anywhere.

Method 1: Mi Share (Fast and without Internet)

Mi Share (formerly Xiaomi Share) is a proprietary file transfer protocol built into MIUI. It uses Wi-Fi Direct, so speeds reach 10-15 MB/s (3-5 times faster than Bluetooth).

• 🔹 It only works between Xiaomi devices (including the POCO and Black Shark)
• 🔹 Requires Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled on both phones
• 🔹 The maximum size of one file is 1 GB (for photo packets this is not a problem)
• 🔹 HyperOS may require an update to the Mi Share app via Google Play

Instructions:

1. Open the Gallery on the sender phone, select the necessary photos and click "Share".
2. In the list of options, select Mi Share (the icon with two phones).
3. On the second phone, confirm the connection request in the notification.
4. Wait until the transfer is completed – the files are saved to the Download/MiShare folder.

⚠️ Note: If Mi Share does not find the device, check that both phones are in Wi-Fi settings → Additionally. → Mi Share has enabled the "Visibility for All" option. On HyperOS, this path may differ: → Connections and sharing → Mi Share.

Enable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on both phones

Update the Mi Share app to Google Play (if there are any updates)

Turn off battery saving mode for the Gallery app

Make sure there is enough memory on the receiving phone-->

Method 2: USB OTG + adapter (for large archives)

If you need to transfer tens of gigabytes of photos (for example, after a trip), wireless methods will be too slow, which will help direct connection via USB OTG.

• 🔌 USB-C OTG-cable USB-A → USB-C old-model)
• 📱 Supported telephone OTG (Checked in the phone settings → Specifications)
• 🔋 Charging at least 30% on both devices (transferring large files drains the battery)

Step-by-step:

1. Connect. OTG-cable to the receiver phone, and the other end to the source phone (like a flash drive).
2. On the source phone, select File Transfer (MTP) mode in the connection notification.
3. Open Explorer on your receiver phone, find the DCIM → Camera folder and copy the photo.

⚠️ Note: On HyperOS phones (e.g. Xiaomi 14) when first connected via OTG There may be a request to unlock USB-It's okay -- confirm the action, but don't turn on debugging in the developer settings without the need to.

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If the phone doesn't recognize. OTG-try restarting both devices or using an active-powered cable (for models with a power supply) USB-C 3.1).

Method 3: Xiaomi Cloud (for backup)

Xiaomi Cloud offers 5GB of free storage, which is enough for ~1,500 photos in original quality (at a size of 3-4 MB each), the advantage of the method is automatic synchronization: photos are uploaded to the cloud from one phone and immediately become available on another.

• ☁️ Download speed depends on your internet connection (on mobile). 4G ~2-5 MB/s).
• 🔒 Photos are stored in compressed format (quality) ~90% of the original).
• 📅 Free storage cleansed after 30 days without activity.

How to use:

1. On the source phone: Settings → Xiaomi Account → Mi Cloud → Gallery → turn on “Sync Photos”.
2. On your receiver phone: log in to the same Xiaomi account and wait for sync.
3. Photos will appear in the folder Mi Cloud → Gallery in the Files app.

Method 4: Google Photos (for cross-platform transmission)

If one of the phones is not from Xiaomi or you often throw photos between different devices, Google Photos will be a universal solution.

• 📸 Unlimited storage for high quality photos (compression up to 16 MP).
• 🔍 Convenient search by persons, places and objects.
• 🤝 Automatic sync across all devices with your Google account.

How to transfer the photo:

1. Set Google Photos on both phones and log in to one account.
2. On the source phone: open the app, click on the avatar → “Library Photo” → “Backup”.
3. On the receiver phone: wait for synchronization and download the necessary photos (long press → “Save to the device”).

⚠️ Attention: Google Photos compresses originals to 16MP if you choose the High Quality option (free).To keep full resolution, use Original Quality (tariffed after 15GB).

Xiaomi Cloud

Google Photo

Yandex Disc.

iCloud

Other-->

Method 5: Local area network through FTP-server (for advanced servers)

If both phones are connected to the same Wi-Fi network, you can organize the phone. FTP-server on the source phone and download the photo directly, this method is suitable for transferring large archives (for example, RAW-Photo from Xiaomi 13 Ultra) without loss of quality. FX File Explorer or Solid Explorer.

Instructions:

1. Install FX File Explorer on the source phone.
2. Open the side menu → “Remote Manager” → “Run the server”.
3. Remember the address of the species ftp://192.168.x.x:2221 and entry data.
4. On the receiver phone, connect to this address through any file manager (e.g., ES Explorer).

Transfer speed depends on the router: on Wi-Fi 6 (for example, Xiaomi Router AX6000) reaches 50-70 MB / s.

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FTP-Transmission is the only way to transfer photos in their original quality without compression and without cloud services. RAW or TIFF.

Method 6: Bluetooth (if nothing else)

Bluetooth is the slowest but most versatile way. On Xiaomi, it runs at 1-2 MB/s, which is critically slow for large archives. Use it only to transfer 10-20 photos or if other methods are not available.

How to send:

1. Turn on Bluetooth on both phones and pair them.
2. In the Gallery, select a photo, click "Share" → Bluetooth.
3. Select the target device and confirm reception on the second phone.

⚠️ Attention: MIUI 14+ When transmitted via Bluetooth, the photos are automatically converted to JPEG quality ~85% of the original was in the HEIF or PNG.

Method 7: MicroSD Memory Card (for slot phones)

If both phones support microSD (e.g., Redmi Note 12 Pro or POCO M5), transferring photos through the memory card will take a minimum of time, and read/write speeds on modern UHS-I cards reach 90 MB/s.

Algorithm:

1. Copy the photo from the source phone to the microSD (via Explorer or Gallery).
2. Remove the card and insert it into the receiver phone.
3. Copy files into internal memory (we recommend the DCIM → Camera folder for convenience).

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Before buying a microSD, check if your Xiaomi supports cards over 256GB. For example, Redmi 10C only works with cards up to 512GB, and Xiaomi 12T – up to 1TB.

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions