Recovery of deleted photos on Xiaomi: from the cart to deep scanning

Removing photos on Xiaomi smartphones is one of the most painful mistakes for users. Whether you accidentally clicked Delete Everything in the gallery, dropped your phone to factory settings or lost pictures after updating MIUI, the chances of recovery are almost always there, the main thing is to act quickly and correctly choose the method depending on the situation.

In this article, we will discuss all the current ways to return deleted photos on Redmi, POCO and Xiaomi devices (including models from 2023-2026), taking into account the features of the MIUI and HyperOS firmware. From the simplest recovery from the cart to the use of professional utilities, you will find a solution for even the most difficult cases. And in order not to waste time on inefficient actions, we will immediately indicate which methods work under certain conditions (for example, after resetting or formatting a memory card).

1.Check the basket at MIUI Gallery

The most obvious but often overlooked step is that MIUI (and the new HyperOS) firmware has a built-in bin where photos are stored 30 days after being deleted, but many users don’t know how to find it, especially after the interface updates.

To open the basket:

• 📱 Open the standard Gallery app** (not Google Photos!).
• 🗑️ Tap it on three points (⋮) top-right → pick the basket.
• 🔍 View the list of deleted files. Photos deleted more than a month ago won't show up here.
• 📤 For restoration, select the necessary pictures → Click Restore at the bottom of the screen.

Important: if you used third-party galleries (like Google Photos or Simple Gallery), they may have their own shopping carts. In Google Photos, the way is: Library → Recycle Bin, and the storage period is 60 days.

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If you don’t have the right photos in the cart, check the DCIM/.thumbnails folder through the file manager – sometimes thumbnails are saved even after the originals are deleted.

2. Recovery via Mi Cloud (Xiaomi Cloud)

If your Xiaomi has been enabled sync with Mi Cloud, the chances of returning photos are much higher.The cloud saves backups of media files, but there are nuances:

• ☁️ Automatic sync should have been activated before the photo was deleted (check Settings). → Xiaomi account → Mi Cloud → gallery).
• 📅 Photos are restored as they were at the time of the last synchronization.
• 🔄 If you deleted the photo and synced the device immediately, it could have disappeared from the cloud.

Instructions for remediation:

1. Open the web version of Mi Cloud on your PC or in your phone browser.
2. Sign in with the same Xiaomi account that was used on your phone.
3. Go to Gallery → Cart (if photos have been deleted recently) or Albums (to search by date).
4. Select the desired photos → click Restore or Download.

Critical detail: Mi Cloud only stores deleted photos in the cart for 30 days, after which they are deleted irrevocably. If more than a month has passed, try other methods.

3. Use of Google Photos (if backed up)

Many Xiaomi users are unaware that Google Photos could have saved their photos automatically.

• 🤖 Google account was connected to the phone.
• 📸 In the settings of Google Photos was enabled option Backup and sync.
• 📶 The device had access to the Internet (at least periodically).

How to check and restore:

1. Open the Google Photos app or go to photos.google.com.
2. In the side menu, select the basket (photos are stored there for 60 days).
3. If the cart is empty, try searching by date or keyword (e.g. beach 2023).
4. To recover, click on the photo → Restore (it will return to the main gallery).

⚠️ Note: If you have deleted a photo from Google Photos manually or disabled backup before the incident, this method will not work. Also note that Google Photos compresses images for free storage (quality High instead of Original).

4. PC recovery: programs for deep scanning

If the photos are not in the cart or the cloud, the most reliable (but also the most difficult) way is to scan the internal memory or memory card using specialized programs, which works even after resetting, but with reservations:

• 🛑 Do not write new files to your phone after deleting photos – they can overwrite deleted data.
• 💾 MicroSD cards have better chances than internal memory.
• ⏳ The process can take several hours (depending on the amount of memory).

Best Recovery Programs (with Xiaomi Support)

Step-by-step instructions for DiskDigger (recommended for beginners):

1. Download and install DiskDigger on your PC (official website: diskdigger.org).
2. Connect Xiaomi to your computer in File Transfer (MTP) mode.
3. Start the program → select your device → press Full Scan (deep scan).
4. Wait until it is completed (may take 1-3 hours) → tag the photos found → click Recover.
5. Save the recovered files to your PC (not your phone!).

Disable Wi-Fi and Mobile Data on Xiaomi

Not installing new applications

Use the original USB-cable

Charge your phone at least 50 times%-->

⚠️ Note: if the phone is not defined by the program, root rights may be required. On new Xiaomi models (such as Xiaomi 14 or Redmi Note 13), unlocking the bootloader and getting root can lead to loss of warranty and resetting all data!

5. Recovery after reset to factory settings

If you have done a Hard Reset (reset via Settings) → The phone. → Resetting, the chances of returning a photo are drastically reduced, but they are. Here it is important to understand two scenarios:

1. Reset without overwriting (quick reset via menu): some files can remain in memory and can be restored by programs like DiskDigger.
2. Full formatting (via Fastboot or after multiple resets): data is almost always deleted irrevocably.

What can be done:

• 🔧 Try a deep scan of internal memory (see section 4).
• ☁️ Check Mi Cloud and Google Photos – sometimes syncs happen automatically before resetting.
• 💾 If the photo was on the memory card, remove it and connect it to the PC through the card reader.

6. Contact the Xiaomi Service Center

If all of these methods have failed, and photos are critical (such as documents or unique photos), you can try contacting the official service center Xiaomi.

• 💰 Service paid (from 1,500 to 5 000 rubles depending on the complexity).
• ⏱️ The process can take 3-7 days.
• 🔒 Not all services are taken for data recovery – check in advance.
• 📱 New models (e.g. Xiaomi) 13T or POCO F5) With encrypted memory, chances are extremely low.

How to prepare for your visit:

1. Do not report that you have tried to recover data yourself (this can complicate the work of specialists).
2. Bring a check or purchase confirmation (for warranty devices).
3. Check if the service has chip recovery equipment (relevant for phones with damaged memory).

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Xiaomi service centers in Russia and the CIS rarely deal with data recovery – more often they offer flashing or replacement of the memory module. If photos are critical, consider specialized laboratories (for example, Data Recovery), but it will cost 10-20 thousand rubles.

7. How to prevent future photo loss

The best way to avoid losing a photo is to set up a backup in advance. Here is the minimum set of actions for Xiaomi owners:

• ☁️ Enable autosynchronization in Mi Cloud: Settings → Xiaomi account → Mi Cloud → gallery → Autoboot.
• 🤖 Set up Google Photos: Open the app → Settings → Backup and synchronization → Choose the original quality (if the location allows).
• 💾 Regularly copy your photo to a PC or external drive (for example, once a month).
• 📱 Use two memory cards: one for current pictures, the other for backups.

It's also useful to know:

• 🔄 After important events (wedding, travel) immediately transfer the photo to the cloud or PC.
• 🚫 Avoid “waste cleanup” apps – they often remove gallery cache where thumbnails can be stored.
• 📲 Set up a password for the gallery (in MIUI: gallery → Settings → Protecting albums to avoid accidental deletion.

FAQ: Frequent questions about photo recovery on Xiaomi