How to see hidden photos on Xiaomi: all the ways from system settings to ADB

You suspect that your Xiaomi, Redmi or POCO have hidden photos, but you don’t know how to find them?Maybe someone has hidden them through standard MIUI features, used third-party apps, or even moved files to system folders. In this article, we’ll go through all possible methods, from simple (via gallery) to advanced (using ADB and root-access file manager).

It's important to understand that some of the ways you do this require technical skills or they can violate privacy. If you're looking for hidden photos on your device, there's no problem. But if you're looking at someone else's smartphone, remember the legal and ethical boundaries. We're not talking about privacy invasions, we're just describing the technical capabilities of MIUI.

This article is relevant for all modern Xiaomi devices based on MIUI 12-14 and HyperOS, including the Redmi Note 12/13, POCO F5/X5, Xiaomi 13/14 and others. If your smartphone runs on pure Android (for example, Xiaomi A3), some methods may not work – we will warn about this separately.

1.Search through the standard Xiaomi gallery

To start with, MIUI has a built-in photo-hiding feature, and it works through a standard gallery. Here's how to check if there are hidden photos there:

1. Open the Gallery app (an icon with a floral logo).
2. Slip on three dots in the top right corner (or swipe right to left to open the side menu).
3. Select the "Albums" item → scroll down to the "Hidden" section.
4. If the folder exists, you will be asked to enter a password or fingerprint (if they have been installed).

⚠️ Note: If you haven't set a password for hidden albums, but it's requested, it means someone else has activated the function.

Check out the archive albums:

• 📁 In the gallery, go to the Albums. → Archives: This can store automatically hidden screenshots, memes or duplicates.
• 🔍 Use gallery search: type in keywords (e.g., “screen,” “video,” date) – sometimes hidden files are indexed but not displayed in the main folders.
• 📅 Check out "Recently Deleted" (which stores files for up to 30 days), and it's possible that the "hidden" photos were just moved to the cart.

2. Verification of system folders through the file manager

If there is nothing in the gallery, the next step is to manually search through the file manager. In MIUI, hidden photos can be stored in several standard locations:

To see the hidden folders:

1. Open Files (standard MIUI manager) or install Solid Explorer/FX File Manager.
2. Enable the display of hidden files: in "Files»: ⋮ → Settings → Show hidden files in Solid Explorer: ☰ → Settings → Hidden files.

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If the MIUI/Hidden folder is empty, but you're sure the photos were there, try rebooting the phone. Sometimes MIUI caches the content and doesn't show it right away.

3.Use ADB to search for hidden files

If standard methods don’t work, you can use Android Debug Bridge (ADB), a tool for low-level file system access that is suitable for advanced users and requires a smartphone to connect to a PC.

What you need:

• 🖥️ Computer with Windows/macOS/Linux.
• 📱 Included debugging by USB on Xiaomi (Settings) → The phone. → Version. MIUI → 7 times tap the version → Go back to Settings → Additionally. → For developers → Debugging by USB).
• 🔗 Installed drivers Xiaomi and ADB-tools (you can download from the official website).

Instructions:

1. Connect your smartphone to your PC via USB (select File Transfer mode).
2. Open the command prompt (cmd on Windows) and type: adb devices If the device is displayed – debugging works.
3. Run a command to search for files with the.jpg,.png extension: adb shell find /storage/emulated/0 -type f \( -name ".jpg" -o -name ".png" \) -exec ls -l {} \; This will display a list of all images on the device, including hidden ones.
4. To copy the found files to the PC: adb pull /storage/emulated/0/path/to/file.jpg C:\folder to pc\

⚠️ Attention: Teams ADB They give you access to the entire file system. Do not delete or modify files in folders. /system or /data — This can result in data loss or device blinking.

4. Search through third-party applications

If you don't want to go through the system folders, you can use specialized applications that scan the memory of the device and find hidden or deleted files.-3 test-driven:

• 🔍 DiskDigger — looks for deleted photos even after cleaning the cart. Works without root, but with root access efficiency is higher. Download from Google Play. Select the full scan (it takes 10-30 minutes.
• 📂 File Commander - file manager with hidden file search function. Open the app → Menus. → Settings → Show hidden files. Use the built-in search for extensions (.jpg,.png,.heic).
• 🔐 AppLock (or GalleryVault) – if photos are hidden through these apps, try resetting or deleting them (the data may remain in the app folder).

⚠️ Note: Apps like DiskDigger can find fragments of deleted files, but they don't guarantee 100% recovery. The more you use your phone after deleting, the lower the odds.

Install the application from the official store

Charge your phone at least 50%

Free 1-2 GB of memory for temporary files

Disable battery optimization for the scanner

Do not interrupt the scanning process-->

5.Reset gallery settings (if hidden albums don't open)

Sometimes hidden albums in the Xiaomi gallery become unavailable due to a configuration failure, in which case the cache and data reset of the Gallery app will help:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find the Gallery (or Mi Gallery) and tap on it.
3. Select Warehouse → Clear cache and Clear data.
4. Reboot the phone.

After that:

• 🔓 If the albums were hidden through the standard function MIUI, They may be visible again (but you will need to re-enter the password if it has been set).
• 📥 If the photo is missing, check the folder. MIUI/Hidden File Manager: Sometimes files remain in place after reset, but disappear from the gallery interface.

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The gallery data reset doesn't delete the photos themselves, only the app settings. The files stay in the DCIM and Pictures folders.

6 Advanced methods: root access and data recovery

If all the previous methods failed, radical measures remain, requiring root rights or special hardware, but giving the best chance of finding hidden files.

Method 1: Root + File Manager

• 🛠️ Get root access through Magisk (instructions for Xiaomi are available on the website) XDA Developers).
• 📂 Install Root Explorer or Mixplorer (with root support).
• 🔍 Check the folders: /data/media/0/ — storage. /data/com.miui.gallery/ — cache and gallery settings. /data/user_de/0/com.android.providers.media/ — database.

Method 2: Recovery via PC

If photos were deleted but not overwritten, they can be restored using programs like Recuva (for memory cards) or Dr.Fone (for internal memory).

1. Connect Xiaomi to your PC in MTP mode.
2. Run the program and select the internal memory scan.
3. Wait until it is completed (may take a few hours).
4. Look at the files found and restore the ones you need.

⚠️ Note: Recovering data from internal memory without root is often impossible due to Android limitations. SD-card, odds higher.

If you find hidden photos that do not belong to you, remember that viewing or sharing them may violate the law on privacy (Article 137 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

FAQ: Frequent questions about hidden photos on Xiaomi