How to transfer a gallery from your phone to your Xiaomi phone: all the ways of 2026

Transferring photos and videos from one Xiaomi smartphone to another can seem like a trivial task — until you face limitations in volume, speed or sudden errors. 2026 Users have at least one year of 5 reliable ways of migration of the gallery, each of which is suitable for different scenarios: from quick transfer 10-20 Photos to complete synchronization of tens of gigabytes of media files.

The main problem is the loss of quality when transmitted through messengers or clouds with compression, as well as the break in the structure of albums when files “scatter” to folders on a new device. In this article, we will examine not only standard methods like Mi Cloud or Bluetooth, but also little-known tricks: for example, how to transfer a gallery with all metadata (dates, geotags, album covers) or how to circumvent the file size limit of 50 MB when sent via Telegram.

We will pay special attention to the hidden folders.thumbnails and.nomedia, which are often ignored when copying, but without them, the gallery on the new Xiaomi can display files incorrectly or duplicate thumbnails. MIUI, How to set up synchronization to avoid duplicates.

1.Moving through Mi Cloud: Pros and pitfalls

The Mi Cloud cloud storage is the most obvious way for Xiaomi owners to use it, but it’s not the most universal. MIUI And it automatically backs up photos if you have Auto Sync enabled, and it also has very limited capabilities:

• 🔹 5 GB free – this is enough for one-time for 1-2 thousand photos in compressed format, but not for video files in the video format. 4K.
• 🔹 File size limit: videos over 200MB are only uploaded via the desktop version of the site.
• 🔹 Synchronization only over Wi-Fi – with mobile Internet download is blocked.
• 🔹 Regional restrictions: In some countries (e.g. India), Mi Cloud runs on-premises servers at reduced speeds.

To move the gallery through the Mi Cloud:

1. On an old phone: Settings → Xiaomi account → Mi Cloud → gallery → Enable Synchronization of photos and wait for the download to be completed.
2. On a new phone: Sign in to the same Xiaomi account and enable sync in the same menu.
3. Open the Gallery app, swipe down and click Update – the files will start to download.

⚠️ Note: If the new phone already has photos with the same file names, Mi Cloud will not overwrite them, but will create copies with the suffix 1, 2, etc. Before synchronization, we recommend clearing the gallery or renaming the folders.

2. Direct Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct: When Justified

The method seems archaic, but still relevant for transferring a small number of files (up to 1-2 GB) without the Internet, the main advantage is that there is no compression, unlike instant messengers.

• 📶 Bluetooth 5.0 (starting with Xiaomi Mi 8) transmits data at speeds up to 2 MB/s. ~7,200 photos per hour.
• 📶 Wi-Fi Direct (in the Settings menu) → Connection and exchange → Wi-Fi Direct is 10-15 times faster, but can break a connection when it is large.
• 📶 File limit: when transferring more than 500 files at a time, the system can “hang".

Instructions for Wi-Fi Direct (recommended method):

Enable Wi-Fi Direct on both phones

Make sure the battery is more than 50% charged.

Close the background applications (especially messengers)

Turn off mobile internet on both devices-->

1. On an old phone: Open the Gallery, highlight files → Share. → Wi-Fi Direct.
2. On a new phone: Confirm the receipt of files in the notification.
3. Wait until the screen is completed, or the transmission will be interrupted.

If the transmission stops, try:

• 🔧 Break files into batches of 200-300 pieces.
• 🔧 Use Flight Mode on both phones (sometimes background processes interfere).
• 🔧 Reboot both devices before starting.

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If Wi-Fi Direct does not find the device, check if modem modem is enabled on one of the phones (it blocks direct connections).

3. Cable transfer OTG: maximum speed and reliability

The fastest and safest way to connect a new phone to an old one is to connect it to a new phone. USB-adapter OTG. Transfer speeds reach 40–60 MB/s (depending on version) USB), The risk of data loss is minimal, suitable for carrying tens of gigabytes without compression.

What you need:

• 🔌 adapter USB-C to USB-C OTG (For modern Xiaomi or Micro-USB to USB OTG (old-model).
• 🔌 Cable USB-C (usually comes with a phone).

Step-by-step:

1. Connect the adapter. OTG to the new phone, and to the adapter - cable from the old phone.
2. On your old phone, select File Transfer (MTP) mode in the connection notification.
3. On the new phone, open Explorer (or Files) → find the folder DCIM or Pictures on a connected device.
4. Copy Camera, Screenshots, and others folders into similar folders on your new phone.

⚠️ Note: If you are copying the folder DCIM The new phone doesn't show photos, so check for the.nomedia file at the root of the folder, and it needs to be deleted or renamed, or the gallery will ignore the content.

4. Computer use: reliable but long-term

If you have a PC or Mac on hand, transferring over a computer is one of the most reliable methods, especially for large volumes (50).+ Advantages:

• 💻 The ability to check files for viruses before copying.
• 💻 Maintaining the original folder structure (important for gallery albums).
• 💻 Ability to convert formats (e.g, HEIC into JPG) before transfer.

Instructions for Windows:

1. Connect both phones to the PC via USB and select the File Transfer Mode.
2. Open This Computer → Find both devices in the Portable Devices section.
3. Copy the folders. DCIM, Pictures, Download (if there is a photo) from one phone to another.
4. Use TeraCopy or FastCopy to speed up, as they bypass Windows’ limitations on copying large numbers of files.

For Mac, you will need to install Android File Transfer (official software from Google). MIUI 14+ You may need to allow access to files in your phone settings (Settings) → Connection and exchange → USB-connection).

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When copying via PC, always check the hash amounts of files (for example, through a computer). 7-Zip → CRC SHA), to ensure that the data is not damaged during the transfer.

5. Local area network (FTP or SMB): for advanced users

If both phones are connected to the same Wi-Fi network, you can arrange the transfer of files over protocols. FTP or SMB. This method is suitable for carrying large volumes (100).+ HB) without loss of quality but requires some technical skills.

To set up FTP-server-side:

1. Install the FX File Explorer or Solid Explorer app.
2. Launch it. FTP-server in application settings (usually in the Network or Remote Access section).
3. Write down the server address (e.g. ftp://192.168.1.10:2221) and login details.
4. On your new phone, connect to this address through any supported file manager. FTP.

For SMB (more reliable protocol):

• 📡 On your old phone, install MiXplorer and turn it on. SMB-server.
• 📡 On the new phone, connect through \\IP-address/folder (e.g, \\192.168.1.10\DCIM).
• 📡 Speed will be higher than the speed FTP, You may need to enter a login/password.

⚠️ Note: When transmitting over a local network, turn off mobile Internet on both phones - traffic can go through the Internet. 4G/5G, Which will lead to additional costs.

6. Alternative ways: messengers, Google Photos and third-party clouds

If the standard methods don't work, you can use third-party services, but each has its own limitations:

For Google Photos, it's important:

• 📷 If High Quality is selected, the photos are compressed to 16 MP, and the video is compressed to 16 MP. 1080p.
• 📷 To save the originals, you need to pay for Google One (from 139). ₽/month).
• 📷 When downloading files through the mobile application >50MB may not load – use the web version.

For Telegram:

• 📎 Send files to yourself in Save Messages so they won’t be lost when you delete the chat.
• 📎 For the video. >50MB use File, not Video (otherwise compression will be used).
• 📎 Download speed is limited – 10GB of data can take hours.

7. Gallery optimization after transfer

Once you copy the gallery files on the new Xiaomi, it may not work properly: duplicate thumbnails, no albums are displayed, or shooting dates are lost.

• 🔄 Renew the media base: Open the gallery → Albums. → swipe down for update.
• 🔄 Reconfigure the cache: Settings → Annexes → gallery → Warehouse → Clear the cache.
• 🔄 Recover Metadata: Use apps like ExifTool or Photo Exif Editor to recover dates and geotags.
• 🔄 Remove duplicates: Files by Google or CCleaner will help you find duplicate files.

If the photos are not on the albums:

1. Check that the folders have the correct names (e.g. Camera, Screenshots).
2. Make sure that the folders do not contain.nomedia files (they hide the content from the gallery).
3. Restart your phone - sometimes MIUI Not immediately applying changes to the media base.

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Once transferred, check the.thumbnails folder at the root of the internal memory. If it weighs a few gigabytes, it can be safely removed — this is a thumbnail cache that the gallery will restore automatically.

FAQ: Frequent questions about moving the gallery to Xiaomi