How to Transfer Accounts and Data from the Old Xiaomi to the New: All Ways 2026

The transition to a new Xiaomi smartphone is always exciting, especially when it comes to saving all the data from the old device. Contacts, messages, photos, app settings and even call history are all lost if you approach the process without preparation. Fortunately, the MIUI ecosystem offers several reliable ways to migrate, but each has its own nuances.

Many users mistakenly believe that it is enough to simply log into Mi Account on a new phone, and all data is automatically synchronized. In practice, this only works partially: some applications (such as Gallery or Notes) do sync through the cloud, but most data – from the history of the browser to saves in games – requires manual transfer. In this article, we will discuss all the current methods of transferring accounts and data between Xiaomi devices, including hidden MIUI 14/15 functions, which are not written in the official instructions.

We will pay special attention to the problems that users face when switching between different generations of smartphones (for example, from Redmi Note 10 to Xiaomi 13T), and also consider how to circumvent restrictions on the transfer of certain types of data (for example, messages from third-party messengers or smart home settings).

1. Preparing the old and new Xiaomi for data transfer

Before migrating, there are several critical steps to follow on both devices, and neglecting them can lead to data loss or portability failures.

On an old smartphone:

• 🔋 Charge the battery to at least 50% – transfer data can take from 10 minutes to an hour depending on the volume.
• 📶 Connect to a stable Wi-Fi network (mobile internet is not recommended due to traffic restrictions).
• 🔑 Make sure your device is synced to Mi Account (Settings) → Xiaomi account → Synchronization).
• 📁 Free up space in memory – you will need at least 1-2 GB of free space to create a backup copy.

On the new smartphone:

• 📱 Complete the initial setup before you sign in to Mi Account (don’t miss this step!).
• 🔄 Update. MIUI Up to the latest version (Settings) → The phone. → Updating the system).
• 🚫 Turn off battery optimization for the Mi Mover app (Settings) → Battery → Optimizing the battery).

⚠️ Note: If your old phone has custom firmware installed (like LineageOS or Pixel Experience), standard portability techniques may not work. In this case, use manual copying via PC (section 4).

Transfer data between devices with different versions MIUI (like the old one. MIUI 12 for new MIUI 15) may cause you to lose settings for some system applications (e.g. Topics or Security). MIUI.

2. Method 1: Transfer through Mi Mover (recommended method)

Mi Mover is a proprietary application from Xiaomi, designed for wireless data migration between devices on MIUI. It supports the transfer of:

• 📞 Contacts, call history and SMS
• 📸 Photos and videos (including Gallery albums)
• 🎵 Music and audio files
• 📁 Documents and downloads
• ⚙️ System settings (wallpaper, sounds, brightness, etc.)
• 📱 Installed applications (without data if the application does not support backup)

Step-by-step:

1. On the new phone, during the initial setup, select Data Transfer → With Xiaomi.
2. On your old phone, open Mi Mover (if you don’t have one, download from Google Play).
3. Select the role of "Sender" on the old phone and "Receiver" on the new one.
4. Scan it. QR-code from a new phone on an old one.
5. Select the data to transfer and confirm the start of the process.

The speed of the transfer depends on the volume of data and the stability of the connection, an average of 10 GB of data is transmitted in 15-30 minutes.

⚠️ Note: If the new phone has already installed apps (such as WhatsApp or Telegram), the data from them will not be transferred through Mi Mover.

Charging both phones > 50%|Disabled. VPN firewalls|Both devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.|The new phone does not have apps that need to be moved-->

3. Method 2: Backup to Mi Cloud and Restore

The Mi Cloud service allows you to back up your old phone and restore it to a new one, which is useful if you don’t have physical access to both devices at the same time (for example, the new phone hasn’t arrived by mail).

What is saved in Mi Cloud:

• 📇 Contacts, calendar, notes
• 📷 Photos and videos (if Gallery synchronization is enabled)
• 🔧 System settings (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, sound)
• 📱 List of installed applications (without data)

What is NOT saved:

• 💬 Messages from third-party messengers (WhatsApp, Viber, etc.)
• 🎮 Game Save (if the game does not support cloud storage)
• 📂 Files in Download or Documents folders, unless manually uploaded to the cloud

Instructions for creating a backup copy:

1. Open your Settings → Xiaomi Account → Mi Cloud.
2. Turn on synchronization for all necessary data.
3. Go to Settings → Additional → Backup and Reset → Local Backup.
4. Click "Create a backup" and select the data to save.
5. Once completed, the copy will be available in Mi Cloud (Section "Backups").

To recover on the new phone:

1. Log in to the same Mi Account.
2. Go to Settings → Additional → Backup and Reset.
3. Select the last backup and click "Restore".

💡

If you have a slow Internet connection, connect your phone to Wi-Fi before you back up in Mi Cloud and turn off the automatic upload of high-resolution photos (Settings → Gallery → Sync with Mi Cloud → Download quality).

Method 3: Manual transfer via PC (for power users)

If you need to migrate specific files (such as game saves, application databases, or Xiaomi Home settings) and standard methods don’t work, you can use manual copying via your computer.

Tools required:

• 🖥️ Computer with Windows, macOS or Linux
• 🔌 USB-cable (preferably original)
• 📂 The program for accessing Android files (Mi) PC suite ADB)

Step-by-step:

1. Connect your old phone to your PC and enable File Transfer Mode (MTP).
2. Copy the folders you need: /storage/emulated/0/DCIM – photos and videos /storage/emulated/0/Download – downloads /storage/emulated/0/Android/data – application data (root rights required)

new phone

SMS and calls

SMS Backup & Restore

To transfer application data (e.g. game saves) you may need ADB:

adb backup -f backup.ab -apk -obb -shared -all


adb restore backup.ab

⚠️ Attention: Copying the folder /Android/data root-free is useless — most applications store data in encrypted form.

5. data transfer of third-party applications (WhatsApp, Telegram, etc.)

Standard methods (Mi Mover or Mi Cloud) do not transfer data from third-party messengers.

WhatsApp:

• 📱 Open the Settings. → chat → Backup copy.
• 🔄 Click “Create a copy” (the data will be saved to Google Drive or locally).
• 📲 On your new phone, install WhatsApp, log in to the same account and restore chats.

Telegram:

• ☁️ All chats and media files are synced automatically through the Telegram cloud.
• 📁 For local backup, export data to Settings → Additionally. → Chat data export.

Viber:

• 🔄 A backup copy is created in Settings → Account. → Backup copy.
• 📎 A copy is saved to Google Drive or to a memory card.

Games (e.g. Genshin Impact, PUBG Mobile)

• 🎮 Most games are linked to a Google Play account, Facebook account, or your own gaming account.
• 🔑 Before transferring, make sure that the game is linked to the account, otherwise the progress will be lost.

💡

For instant messengers, always use their built-in backup features – standard MIUI methods don’t keep chat history!

6. Smart Home Settings Transfer (Mi Home, Yeelight, Roborock)

If you're using the Xiaomi Smart Home ecosystem, migrating devices to a new phone can be challenging.

• 🏠 Some devices (Roborock, Aqara) are linked to an account, not a phone.
• 🔌 Others (Yeelight, some sensors) require re-pairing.
• 📡 Smart lamps and sockets can “forget” settings after changing the phone.

Step-by-step transfer algorithm:

1. Make sure that both phones use the same Mi Home account.
2. On your old phone, open Mi Home → Profile → Settings → Data Transfer.
3. Export the device configuration to the file.
4. Import this file on your new phone.
5. For non-export-supporting devices (such as Roborock), reset and re-add.

If the device does not want to connect:

• 🔄 Restart the router and device.
• 📱 Remove the device from Mi Home and add again.
• 🔌 Check that the new phone is connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the old device.

7. Frequent errors and their solutions

Even when following instructions, users face problems. Consider the most common ones:

Additional advice:

• 🔄 If the transfer is interrupted, do not turn off the phones - wait for the completion or restart the process.
• 📡 To speed up transfer via Mi Mover, connect your phones to the router at 5 GHz.
• 🔋 If the battery is draining too quickly, connect the phones to charging after the transfer starts.

8. FAQ: Answers to popular questions