How to transfer photos from Xiaomi phone to your computer: all working ways

Transferring photos from Xiaomi to your computer seems like a simple task — until you encounter errors like “device unrecognized” or slow transfer speeds. Even experienced users sometimes take an hour to flip a couple of gigabytes of images if you choose the wrong method, and meanwhile, there are at least six ways to transfer, and each of them has its pros and pitfalls.

In this article, we will look at all the current methods, from classic USB connection to cloud services and wireless protocols, learn how to avoid loss of image quality, why MIUI sometimes blocks file transfer, and what to do if your computer "can't see" your Redmi or POCO, and also a comparative table of transfer speed and reliability of each method to choose the best one for your situation.

If you are in a hurry, go to the section "Fastest Way" - there we highlighted the method that works in 90% of cases without additional settings. For others, we recommend reading the article in full: there are nuances that are not written about even in the official documentation of Xiaomi.

1 Transfer by USB- Cable: classics with pitfalls

Connecting your phone to your computer via cable is the most obvious and seemingly simple way, but it has three common problems: an unidentified device, no access to files, and slow transmission speeds. Let's look at how to avoid them.

To start, check the cable: Xiaomi’s original wires (especially those from the Redmi Note 12 or POCO X5) support USB 2.0 or USB 3.0, but cheap Chinese counterparts are often limited to USB 1.1 speeds – it’s 10 times slower! If your cable is older than 2 years, it’s better to buy a new one labeled USB 3.1 Gen 1 (blue connector).

Now, Step-by-step,

• 📱 Connect your phone to your PC with the original cable. The Xiaomi screen will display a notification "Charge through USB."
• 🔧 Swipe down the screen to open the notification bar, and tap on Charge via USB → select File Transfer (or MTP on older versions MIUI).
• 🖥️ On your computer, open "This computer" (Windows) or "Finder" (Mac). Your Xiaomi should appear as a removable drive.
• 📁 Go to Internal Storage → DCIM → Camera (retains photos taken with the main camera). For screenshots, look for Pictures → Screenshots.

The cable supports USB 3.0 (blue connector)

The phone has enabled File Transfer (MTP) mode.

On the PC installed drivers for Xiaomi (download from [en.miui.com](https://en.miui.com)

Antivirus does not block the connection (disable for a while)

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If your computer can’t see your phone, try the following:

1. Reconnect the cable by changing the USB port (it is better to use the back ports on the system unit).
2. On your phone, go to Settings → About → MIUI version and tap 7 times on the MIUI version to turn on Developer Mode. Then go back to Settings → Additional → For Developers and activate Debugging on USB.
3. On Windows, update drivers: open Device Manager, find Portable Devices → Xiaomi → PCM → Update Driver.

⚠️ Warning: If you connect Xiaomi to a computer at work, note that in MTP IT- mode, the department can see your device's serial number in connection logs. To hide this information, use Charge Only mode and transfer files over Wi-Fi.

2. Fastest way: transfer via Mi Cloud (Xiaomi cloud)

Mi Cloud automatically syncs photos in their original quality (up to 15 MP) and allows you to download them to a PC without a phone connection — this is the only method that works even if the USB- port is broken. However, it has a limitation: only 5 GB of cloud storage is available for free. If you have thousands of photos, you will either have to clean the cloud or buy additional space (from 149 ₽/month for 50 GB).

How to transfer photos through Mi Cloud:

• ☁️ On your phone, open Settings → Xiaomi Account → Mi Cloud.
• 📸 Enable "Gallery Sync" and wait until the download is complete (may take anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours depending on the number of photos).
• 💻 Go to the [i.mi.com](https://i.mi.com) website on your computer and log in to the same Xiaomi account.
• 📥 Select Gallery → tick photos → click Download. Files will be uploaded to the ZIP- archive.

Advantages of the method:

• ✅ Works without cable and on any PC (even on other devices).
• ✅ Photos are saved in the original resolution (unlike Telegram or WhatsApp).
• ✅ You can choose specific albums or dates to download.

Disadvantages:

• ❌ Volume limit (5 GB free).
• ❌ If the internet is slow, the download can take hours.
• ❌ Photos from some folders (such as WhatsApp Images) are not automatically synced.

💡

If you have a lot of photos but not enough space in Mi Cloud, temporarily delete unnecessary app or chat backups. Go to Mi Cloud → Storage Management → Backups and clear old data.

Wireless Wi-Fi: no cables or clouds

If you don't have a cable or don't want to use the cloud, you can transfer photos over your local Wi-Fi network, which works at up to 10MB/s (2-3 times faster than Bluetooth) and doesn't require Internet access. There are two options: through the built-in MIUI function or through third-party applications.

Method 1: Built-in File Transfer (MIUI 12+)

• 📶 Connect your phone and computer to the same Wi-Fi network.
• 📱 On Xiaomi, open Explorer (or Files) → select photos → tap Send → Wi-Fi Direct.
• 💻 On a PC, open your browser and enter the address that appears on your phone screen (e.g., 192.168.1.100:8080).
• 📥 Download files through the web interface.

Method 2: LocalSend (alternative to AirDrop)

1. Install LocalSend on your phone (from Google Play) and on your computer (the Windows/Mac/Linux version is available on the site).
2. Run the app on both devices and make sure they are on the same Wi-Fi network.
3. On your phone, select a photo → “Send” → “LocalSend” → select your computer from the list.
4. Confirm PC admission.

Po Po Po USB-cable

Through Mi Cloud or another cloud

Wi-Fi (LocalSend, FTP)

Through Bluetooth.

Another way.-->

4. Bluetooth Transfer: When There Are No Other Options

Bluetooth is the most versatile, but also the slowest way, it is suitable if you want to throw 1-2 photos (for example, a document or a screenshot), and there are no other options. Transfer speeds rarely exceed 1-2 MB / s, and even then, provided that both devices support Bluetooth 5.0.

Instructions for Windows:

• 🔵 On your phone, turn on Bluetooth in the notification panel and make the device "Visible to all."
• 💻 On PC, open "Settings" → "Devices" → "Bluetooth" and click "Add Device."
• 📱 Select your Xiaomi from the list and confirm pairing (code must match on both screens).
• 📸 In the phone gallery, select a photo → Share → Bluetooth → Select your computer.
• 📥 On the PC, confirm the file acceptance (usually saved to the Downloads folder).

⚠️ Warning: On a Mac, photos can be saved in.jpeg format with reduced quality (compression up to 70%) to avoid this, use AirDrop (if you have MIUI 13+, supported on Redmi Note 11 and later).

If Bluetooth does not find the device:

• Make sure that the distance between the phone and the PC is no more than 10 meters (walls and furniture reduce the range).
• Reboot the Bluetooth module on your PC: open Device Manager → find Bluetooth Radios → PCM → Disconnect the device → turn it on again.
• On your phone, turn off power saving mode: Settings → Battery → Power saving mode (it can limit Bluetooth operation).

5. Memory Card Use: For Xiaomi Owners with MicroSD Slot

If your Xiaomi supports memory cards (such as the Redmi 10C, POCO M5 or Mi 11 Lite), you can transfer the photo to a microSD and then paste it into your computer through a card reader.

• ✅ It does not depend on drivers or network settings.
• ✅ Read/write speed is higher than USB (up to 90 MB/s on UHS-I cards).
• ✅ It is possible to carry large volumes (up to 1 TB on modern microSDs).

How to do this:

1. 📱 Insert the memory card into the phone (if you haven't already inserted it).
2. 📸 Open Gallery → select photo → Move → Memory Map (or copy through Explorer).
3. 💻 Remove the microSD from your phone, paste it into your card reader, and connect it to your PC. Photos will be in the DCIM → Camera folder.

Important nuances:

• If the card is formatted as "Inner Memory" (in the phone settings), it will not be read on a PC!
• Do not remove the card during transfer – this can damage the file system (sign: folders become “unreadable”).
• For maximum speed, use a class A2 or U3 card (such as the SanDisk Extreme or Samsung EVO Plus).

6. Alternative methods: Telegram, mail and FTP- server

If none of these methods work, you can use alternatives, which are less convenient, but sometimes help in unusual situations.

Method 1: Telegram (for small volumes)

• 📱 Open the chat "Saved messages" in Telegram.
• 📸 Drag the photo to chat (maximum 2GB per file).
• 💻 On your computer, open [web.telegram.org](https://web.telegram.org), find the photos you sent, and download them.

⚠️ Limitations: quality compression to 12 MP, maximum file size is 2 GB.

Method 2: Email (for documents)

• 📧 Send a photo to your post (Gmail, Yandex, Mail.ru) as an attachment.
• 💻 Open the email and download the files on your computer.

⚠️ Restrictions: Gmail accepts attachments up to 25 MB, Yandex - up to 30 MB.

Method 3: FTP-server (for advanced users)

1. Install a FTP- server on your phone (e.g. WiFi FTP Server).
2. Start the server and write down the address (e.g. ftp://192.168.1.100:2221).
3. On PC, open "Conductor" → enter the address in the address bar → log in (login and password from the application).
4. Copy the photo as if it were from a regular network disk.

💡

The FTP- server is the only way to transfer photos from Xiaomi to a PC if the USB- port is broken and the Wi-Fi is disabled. The transfer speed reaches 20 MB / s, but requires configuration.

Frequent mistakes and their solutions

Even if you follow instructions correctly, sometimes you have problems, and here are the most common mistakes and ways to fix them:

If none of the solutions worked, try resetting the network settings on your phone:

1. Go to Settings. → SIM-maps and mobile networks → Resetting network settings.
2. Confirm the reset and restart the device.
3. Repeat the attempt to transfer the photo.

FAQ: Answers to popular questions