How to transfer data from Xiaomi phone to another phone: 2026

Shifting data from one Xiaomi smartphone to another is a challenge that every user faces when buying a new device or after resetting. Even if you are an experienced Mi, Redmi or POCO owner, the process can be difficult: contacts are lost somewhere, messages are not synchronized somewhere, and photos and videos take up too much space in the cloud. In this article, we will examine all the current ways of transferring data between Xiaomi phones, from standard MIUI tools to third-party solutions that work even on devices with different versions of firmware.

It's important to understand that the choice of method depends on several factors: the amount of data transferred, the speed of the Internet connection, the phone model and even the version of MIUI. For example, to transfer 50 GB of photos and videos, you should use an OTG cable or a local Wi-Fi Direct network, and to synchronize contacts and notes, you will need a cloud service Mi Cloud. We tested each method on Redmi Note 12 Pro+, Xiaomi 13 Ultra and POCO F5 devices - all instructions are relevant for 2026 and work on MIUI 14/15 firmware.

If you are in a hurry, use the following navigation:

1. Data transfer via Mi Mover – the official way from Xiaomi

Mi Mover is an embedded application in MIUI that is designed to migrate data between Xiaomi devices, which supports the transfer of contacts, messages, photos, videos, applications (including their data), notes and even some system settings, the main advantage is that you do not need Internet or cloud storage: data is transmitted directly over Wi-Fi.

To use Mi Mover, follow the following steps:

• 📱 On your old phone, open the Mi Mover app (find it through a menu search or in the Tools folder).
• 🔄 Select the option I am the sender (or Send in English version).
• 📶 Connect both phones to the same Wi-Fi network or create an access point on an old device.
• 🔗 On the new phone, launch Mi Mover and select Receiver).
• 📱🔄 Scan it. QR-code from the screen of a new phone with an old device or enter PIN-pairing.
• ✅ Select data types to transfer and confirm the start of the process.

The speed of the transfer depends on the amount of data and the stability of the connection. For example, transferring 20 GB of information took us about 25 minutes when connecting to Wi-Fi 5 GHz. Please note: Mi Mover does not support data transfer from devices of other brands (for example, Samsung or iPhone).

⚠️ Note: If the new phone already has data (for example, after partial setup), Mi Mover will suggest resetting the device to factory settings before transferring.

Charging the battery of both phones > 50%|Both devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.|There is plenty of free space on the new phone.|Disabled. VPN firewalls|Mi Cloud sync is disabled (to avoid duplication)-->

2. synchronization through Mi Cloud – cloud transfer

If you have a Mi Account, you can use Mi Cloud to back up your old phone and restore it to a new one, a method that doesn't require physical devices to connect to and allows you to transfer data remotely.

Step instructions:

1. On your old phone, go to Settings → Xiaomi Account → Mi Cloud.
2. Enable synchronization for the desired categories: Contacts, Messages, Notes, Photos (optional).
3. Click Backup and select Create Backup. Wait for the process to be completed.
4. On the new phone, log in to the same Mi Account and go to Mi Cloud → Restore from backup.
5. Select the last backup and confirm the recovery.

Mi Cloud has limitations: the free tariff provides only 5 GB of storage, which is not enough for a full backup of photos and videos. If you need to transfer a large amount of data, you will have to buy additional space (from 100 GB for ~ 300 rubles per year) or use another method.

Mi Mover (direct transmission)|Mi Cloud (cloud)|Cable OTG/computer|Third-party applications (SHAREit, Xender)|Other-->

3. Transfer via OTG cable or computer

If you don't have Wi-Fi, or if you want to move data as quickly as possible, you can use an OTG cable (for direct phone connections) or a computer as an intermediary, which is suitable for transferring large amounts of files (photos, videos, music) without compression and loss of quality.

For transfer through OTG:

1. Buy an OTG cable with a USB-C/Micro-USB connector (depending on your phone ports).
2. Connect your old phone to your new phone via cable.
3. On the new phone will appear a notification of connection USB-Select the transfer of files.
4. Open Explorer on a new phone and copy the files you need from the old device.

For computer transfer:

1. Connect your old phone to your PC via cable and copy the files to a folder on your computer.
2. Disable the old phone, connect the new one and transfer the files back.

⚠️ Note: When connecting through OTG Make sure the new phone has enough battery power – transferring large files can drain the device for a long time. 10-15 Also avoid interrupting the process, otherwise the files may get damaged.

💡

If the phone does not recognize the connected OTG Another smartphone, try to turn on the mode USB-debugging in Settings → The phone. → Version. MIUI (Press 7 times on the version, then return to the optional version. → For developers).

4. Use of third-party applications (SHAREit, Xender, LocalSend)

If you don't like Xiaomi's built-in tools, you can use third-party applications to transfer files.

• 📲 SHAREit supports file transfer at up to 20 MB/s, works without the Internet.
• 🔄 Xender is similar to SHAREit, but with a simpler interface.
• 📱 LocalSend – open source software for transferring files over a local network (without clouds).
• 🌐 Google Files – Google’s official application for cleaning and transferring files.

Example of LocalSend transfer:

1. Install LocalSend on both phones from Google Play or APKMirror.
2. On an old phone, select files to send and click Send.
3. On the new phone, click Get and scan. QR-screencode.
4. Confirm the transmission and wait for completion.

Third-party apps have the advantage of being cross-platform (you can transfer data from Xiaomi to iPhone or Samsung), but beware: some programs (like SHAREit) collect user data and display ads.

5. Transfer of messages and contacts from messengers

Standard Xiaomi tools do not transfer data from third-party messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber), and for their backup and recovery you need to use the built-in functions of the applications themselves.

For WhatsApp:

• 📱 Open WhatsApp on your old phone.
• 🔄 Move to the ⋮ → Settings → chat → Backup copy.
• 💾 Click Create a copy and wait until it is completed (the file will be saved to Google Drive or locally).
• 📲 On your new phone, install WhatsApp, log in to the same account and restore chats from backup.

For Telegram:

• 📱 In Telegram go to the ⋮ → Settings → Data and memory → Exporting chat history.
• 📤 Select chat rooms for export and send the file to yourself (e.g., in Save Messages).
• 📲 On your new phone, open the file you sent and import it.

⚠️ Note: WhatsApp backups in Google Drive take up space in the cloud and are not encrypted.If you are porting sensitive data, use local backup to SD-card.

6. Transfer data from Xiaomi phone to iPhone (and vice versa)

If you are switching from Xiaomi to iPhone or back, the standard methods (Mi Mover, Mi Cloud) will not work.

• 🍎 Move to iOS (the official Apple app) - transfers contacts, messages, photos, videos, email accounts and calendars. does not support applications and their data!
• 🤖 Google Account – sync your contacts, calendars and emails through your Google account, then sign in to it on your iPhone.
• ☁️ Cloud Services – Upload photos and videos to Google Photos, Dropbox or iCloud, then download them to your new device.

To transfer music and video without loss of quality, use iTunes (for iPhone) or VLC (for format conversion). Remember that the iPhone does not support.apk and.xapk formats, so the applications will have to be installed again from the App Store.

💡

When switching from Android to iOS, use Move to iOS before you set up your new iPhone. If the device is already set up, you’ll have to reset it to factory settings!

Frequent mistakes and their solutions

When transferring data between Xiaomi phones, users often face problems, and here are the most common ways to fix them:

If neither method worked, try resetting the network settings on both phones (Settings). → SIM-maps and mobile networks → Reset network settings) or update firmware to the latest version MIUI.

FAQ: Answers to popular questions