Where to look for a personal album on Xiaomi: hidden folders, passwords and photo recovery

Why don’t you see a personal album in the Xiaomi Gallery?

You took photos, saved them to a "personal album" on Xiaomi, but now you can't find these photos? The problem is familiar to many users of Redmi, POCO or Mi smartphones - the hidden album feature in MIUI does not work clearly. The fact is that the system automatically hides some folders if they are marked as confidential or password protected. In addition, after upgrading to MIUI 14/15, the location of these albums may have changed.

Another common reason is that you accidentally hide a folder through the Gallery settings, for example, if you click Hide an album in the context menu or activate Secure Storage in the security settings, in which case the photos are not deleted, but become invisible in the main interface, then we will look at all the ways to return access to personal photos from basic to advanced.

Before proceeding to the instructions, make sure that:

• 🔍 You check the correct Mi Account (if the album synced to the cloud).
• 🔒 The guest mode is not activated on the phone (it blocks access to personal data).
• 📱 You do not use a third-party gallery (such as Google Photos) that can ignore the system hidden folders.

Method 1: Enabling the display of hidden albums in the MIUI Gallery

The easiest method is to enable the display of hidden folders directly in the standard Gallery app, which works on all versions of MIUI (12 to 15) and does not require superuser rights.

1. Open the Gallery app (an icon with a colored rhombus).
2. Slip along three horizontal lines (☰) top-right.
3. Select the Album item.
4. In the upper right corner, click on the icon. ⚙️ Settings.
5. Scroll down and activate the Show Hidden Albums switch.

After that, the folders with a gray lock will appear in the list of albums - these are your personal photos. If the albums are not, then they are either deleted or password protected (more on this below).

Check out the Gallery Update in Play Market|Reboot the phone|Clear the cache of the Gallery app|Try another launcher (like Nova Launcher)-->

⚠️ Note: Some firmware (e.g. Xiaomi.eu) may call the item Display hidden folders. If you have an English-language interface, look for this option.

Method 2: Search through the file manager (for hidden folders)

If the Gallery does not show the albums even after you have enabled the corresponding option, try to find them manually through the file manager. Personal photos in Xiaomi are stored in special folders, the path to which depends on the version of MIUI:

• 📁 /storage/emulated/0/Pictures/.hidden — standard location of hidden photos.
• 📁 /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/.thumbnails — thumbnails and cached images.
• 📁 /storage/emulated/0/MIUI/Gallery/cloud/private — Private albums (if synced with Mi Cloud).

To see these folders:

1. Open Files (standard manager from Xiaomi)
2. Go to the Inner Memory → Pictures or DCIM.
3. Enable the display of hidden files: click on three dots (⋮) → Settings → Show hidden files.
4. Find folders with a dot at the beginning of the name (e.g..hidden).

If there are no folders, check the basket in the Gallery - it is possible that the photos have been deleted and have not yet been completely cleaned.

1. Open the gallery → Albums → Basket.
2. Select the desired photos and click Restore.

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If you connect your phone to your computer, hidden folders may not show up even when file transfer mode is turned on. Use the FX File Explorer or Solid Explorer app, which shows all files without restrictions.

Method 3: Unlocking Secure Password Albums

If your personal album is password-protected or your fingerprint is protected, you can't open it with standard methods. MIUI has a Private Safe feature that encrypts photos and videos.

1. Open Settings → Applications → Permissions → Special Permits.
2. Select Secure Storage.
3. Enter a password or use biometrics (if configured).
4. Inside the vault, you will see all the blocked albums.

If you have forgotten your password, you can only restore access through Mi Account:

1. Go to account.xiaomi.com.
2. Sign in with the same account as on your phone.
3. In the Devices section, find your smartphone and reset the storage password.

⚠️ Note: When you reset your password through Mi Account, all data in Secure Storage will be deleted! Backup important photos in advance if you remember the old password.

Method 4: Recovering deleted photos from a personal album

If the album is missing after resetting or updating MIUI, try to restore photos through the cart or specialized utilities. In Xiaomi, deleted files are stored in the basket for up to 30 days, so the chances of returning them are high:

1. Open the gallery → Albums → Basket.
2. Select the desired photos with a long tap.
3. Click Restore (Icon with arrow down).

If the cart is empty, use recovery apps, such as:

• 🛠️ DiskDigger scans internal memory for deleted files.
• 🔍 Recuva (requires root rights for deep scanning).
• 📱 Dumpster – an alternative shopping cart that saves deleted files.

Important: After deleting a photo, do not write new files to your phone – this reduces the chances of recovery, as new data can overwrite old ones.

Method 5: Access to a Personal Album via Mi Cloud

If your Xiaomi is synced to Mi Cloud, the photos could be saved to the cloud even after being deleted from your phone.

1. Open the Settings. → Accounts. → Mi Account.
2. Make sure that the synchronization of the gallery is enabled.
3. Go to i.mi.com and log in.
4. In the Gallery section, check the Private or Hidden folders.

If the photos are in the cloud but not on the phone:

• 🔄 Update the data in the Gallery (pull the screen down for an update).
• 📥 Upload photos manually through the web version of Mi Cloud.
• 🔧 Reinstall the Gallery app (remove updates to Settings) → Annexes → gallery → ⋮ → Remove updates).

⚠️ Warning: Free Mi Cloud account only provides 5GB of space. If the limit is exhausted, new photos will not sync. Check available space in Settings → Mi Account → Warehouse.

Yeah, synchronizing everything.|Yes, but only important photos.|No, I'm keeping the photo locally.|No, I'm using Google Photos.|I don't know what it is.-->

Problem Solving: The album doesn't open or makes a mistake

Sometimes a personal album may not open due to MIUI failures or file corruption, and consider common errors and ways to fix them:

If none of these methods worked, try resetting the Gallery settings:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Gallery → Storage.
2. Click Clear Data (this will remove the app settings, but not the photos themselves!).
3. Reboot the phone.

In a pinch, reset your phone settings (but it will delete all the data!):

Settings → About the phone → Reset settings → Reset all settings

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Before reset, be sure to back up through Settings → Additional → Backup and Reset!

FAQ: Frequent questions about personal albums on Xiaomi