How to download information from a broken Xiaomi phone

The situation when the screen of Xiaomi smartphone stops responding to touch or completely covered with cracks, familiar to many users. At this point, the main goal is not to repair the display, but to save important data: family photos, work documents and phone numbers. Fortunately, the Android operating system and the MIUI shell provide several tools to access the file system even when the touchscreen is broken.

Before you start to act, you need to assess the degree of damage to the device. If the matrix somehow displays the picture, but the touchscreen does not work, your chances of success are much higher than with a full black screen. In any case, the first step should always be to try a standard connection to the computer, because this is the least risky method.

In this article, we will discuss in detail the different scenarios: from simple use to simple use. USB-cable to more complex manipulations with debugging USB. Remember that if the phone turns on, makes sounds or vibrates when you connect a charger, then with a high degree of probability your data is intact and waiting for its time.

Basic diagnostics and preparation of the device

Before any manipulations, make sure that the smartphone is able to maintain a stable connection with external devices. If the screen is completely black, listen to the sounds of the system when connecting the power cable or try calling the device number. The presence of sound, vibration or light indication indicates that the motherboard is functioning normally.

A critical point is to check the condition USB-If the connector is shattered or oxidized, none of the software methods will work, and it's worth trying to connect the phone to the computer with different cables, because some of them only support charging and do not transmit data.

⚠️ Warning: If the device gets too hot or makes strange clicking sounds, disconnect it immediately from the network.Attempting to charge or connect to a PC of a faulty battery can cause a fire.

For further work, you will need a computer with Windows or macOS operating system, as well as a serviceable one. USB-Type-C or Micro-USB cable. Make sure your PC has basic mobile drivers installed, although modern versions of Windows typically install them automatically.

USB-drive method: file transfer mode

The easiest way to download information from a broken Xiaomi phone is to put the device into storage mode. If the screen shows even a partial image, you can try to blindly unlock the phone and allow access to data. When you connect the cable to the PC, the USB mode selection menu should appear on the screen.

If the touchscreen doesn't work at all, but you've previously connected that computer to your phone and checked "Always Allow," you can open files automatically, in which case a new device will appear in My Computer that allows you to copy DCIM, Download, and Documents folders.

However, if the phone is connected for the first time or the default mode is "Only Charge", you can not do without interaction with the screen. USB-If you've activated it in advance in the Developer Menu, without this setting, the computer only sees the device as a charger.

It is important to understand that modern versions of Android have high security standards, and simply copy files from a locked device without first logging in to the screen of the smartphone is almost impossible for reasons of protecting user data.

Use of the Mi Cloud cloud service

If the screen is broken but the phone is connected to Wi-Fi, the most effective way to save data is the Mi Cloud cloud service. Xiaomi account owners often have default sync enabled for contacts, messages, notes and galleries. You can check for backups through any browser.

To access the official cloud service website, log in to your Mi Account, and if sync is active, you can see your photos, contacts and other data in the web interface, and download them to your computer in full.

Special attention should be paid to the function "Find device". Even if the synchronization of the gallery was disabled, through this section you can sometimes access the last location or take a screenshot remotely, which can help in identifying the device.

The advantage of this method is that it doesn't require physical interaction with a broken screen, and the only condition is that the phone has to be turned on and have an Internet connection, and if the Wi-Fi wasn't configured, but the mobile Internet is running, the data can also be synchronized, although that consumes traffic.

Connection USB-mouse-wise OTG-cable

One of the most effective "hardware" methods for devices with a broken touchscreen, but a working display is the use of OTG-Adapter, by connecting a normal computer USB-mouse to the smartphone through the adapter, you will see on the screen a cursor that will allow you to control the interface.

With the help of the mouse, you can unlock the phone (by entering a pattern lock or PIN-Open a gallery and upload files to a computer or the cloud, which is ideal when you have an image but you don't feel your finger on the screen.

• 🖱️ Connect. OTG-cable.
• 💻 Put the usual in. USB-mouse-side.
• 👁️ A cursor (circle or arrow) should appear on the screen).
• 📂 Use clicks to navigate menus and copy files.

Not all Xiaomi models support OTG out of the box, although most of the brand’s current smartphones support this technology. If the cursor doesn’t show up, try restarting the device with the adapter connected.

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If you don't. OTG-cable, but there is USB-You can try to plug in a keyboard, you can try to enter a password, and it can be even easier than trying to get your finger into the small numbers on a broken screen.

Remote management through ADB and Find My Device

For advanced users who have been pre-enabled USB-Debugging, opens the possibility of using the command line ADB (Android Debug Bridge: This tool allows you to control the phone’s file system directly from your computer without having to touch the screen.

If debugging is active, you can use the adb pull command to copy entire directories from your phone to your PC. For example, the adb pull /sdcard/DCIM/C:/Backup/Photos command will copy all your photos to a folder on your computer.

adb devices


adb pull /sdcard/ /backup_folder/

The alternative is Google Find My Device, which is primarily designed to search and block, but in some cases, it can clean a device or access certain features if the phone is online, but it is less effective than ADB for direct file copying.

⚠️ Attention: Teams ADB Carelessly deleting system files via adb shell rm can cause a bootloop to fail. Use only the backup commands).

Table of compatibility of recovery methods

To make it easier for you to navigate the methods, we have compiled a summary table that will help you choose the right way depending on the state of your device and preliminary settings.

The table shows that the presence of USB-Mi Cloud debugging or active synchronization is a critical success factor. If none of these conditions are met and the touchscreen doesn't work, the options narrow down to using the mouse through the mouse. OTG.

It is also important to consider the operating system version. On older versions of Android (up to 6.0), access to files via USB was often opened by default, while modern versions of MIUI based on Android 10-14 require mandatory confirmation on the smartphone screen.

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The most reliable way to avoid data loss is to automatically sync regularly with Mi Cloud or Google Photos, which will save you time and nerves at a critical moment.

Specialized recovery programs

There are many PC programs that promise to recover data from broken phones (such as Dr.Fone, Tenorshare UltData), but it is worth understanding the principle of their work: they are not a magic wand and often require that the phone already has a special application installed or debugging allowed.

Most of these utilities are actually graphical shells for the same ADB tools. Unless the phone is defined by the computer as a debugging device, third-party software is unlikely to be able to break through the bootloader or lock screen protection.

However, if you have debugging enabled, such programs can make it easier for inexperienced users to retrieve contacts and messages by providing a user-friendly interface instead of a command line.

In conclusion, the success of a data rescue operation depends on the user’s foresight. Regular backups and synchronization functions are the best protection against hardware troubles. We hope that one of these methods will help you return important files.