Recovering Deleted Notes on Xiaomi Android: A Complete 2026 Guide

You're not alone: Statistically, one in three MIUI users has lost data from the Notes app at least once, and luckily, 90 percent of the time, files can be recovered -- even if you've cleaned your cart or reset your phone to factory settings.

In this article, we’ll look at all the ways you can return deleted notes on Redmi, POCO and Xiaomi devices (including the 2020-2026 models). From standard MIUI features to hidden ADB features and third-party utilities, you’ll find out which method is right for your situation.

Important: the speed of the reaction is critical! The sooner you start recovery, the better the chances of success. For example, notes deleted less than a day ago are returned 100% of the time through the application basket, but if more than a week has passed, you will need backups or deep memory scans.

1. Check the basket in the Notes app

The first thing you need to do is to look into the Notes application's built-in Recycle Bin, where in MIUI 12-14, deleted records are stored for up to 30 days (up to 7 days in older versions), which works even without the Internet and does not require backups.

Instructions:

• 📱 Open the Notes app (yellow notebook icon).
• 🗑️ Slip along three horizontal lines in the upper left corner → pick the basket.
• 🔍 Find the desired note, click on it and select Restore.
• 📤 To return all records at once, press the Control → tick off → Restore.

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If the cart is empty, but you're sure you've deleted notes recently, try rebooting your phone. Sometimes MIUI won't show files in the cart because of the cache.

⚠️ Warning: After manual cleaning of the basket (Clean the basket button) or automatic cleaning at the end of the storage period, the notes are deleted irrevocably from the device memory.

2. Recovery via Mi Cloud (Xiaomi Cloud)

If your Xiaomi has enabled Mi Cloud sync, you can return deleted notes from the cloud, which works even after you reset your phone to factory settings or replace your device.

How to check and restore:

1. 🌐 Go to Settings. → Xiaomi Account → Mi Cloud.
2. 🔄 Make sure the switch opposite the Note is on (green). If not, turn on the sync and wait 5-10 minutes.
3. 📱 Open the app Notes → tap on the profile avatar in the upper right corner → Settings → Restore notes.
4. 📅 Select a backup date (before deleting notes) and confirm the recovery.

⚠️ Note: If you delete your Mi Account or change your password, your access to cloud copies will be lost.

3. Use of Google Drive (if notes are synced with Google)

Many Xiaomi users don’t know that the Notes app can sync not only with Mi Cloud, but also with Google Drive.If you’ve ever set up this option, the chances of recovery are high.

How to check:

• 🔗 Open Google Drive in your browser on your PC or phone.
• 🔍 In the search box, type:note or Notes.
• 📄 If you find files with the.note extension or the Xiaomi Notes folder, download them.
• 📱 Install Google Keep or Google Notes on your phone – sometimes files are automatically imported there.

💡 Tip: If notes are saved in.json or.zip format, they can be opened through a text editor (for example, Notepad).++) Or an archiver. Look for blocks of text between tags in the file. <content>.

4.Recovery through MIUI backup (local backup)

MIUI allows you to create local backups of all data, including notes. If you've ever done a backup through Settings → About Phone → Backup, try recovering notes from there.

Step-by-step:

1. 📱 Go to Settings. → The phone. → Backup.
2. 🔄 Click Restore and select the most recent copy (before the date of deletion of notes).
3. ⚙️ In the data list, tick only Notes (so as not to overwrite other settings).
4. 📤 Confirm the recovery and wait for the process to be completed.

⚠️ Attention: Local backups MIUI stored in a folder /MIUI/backup/AllBackup/. If you manually deleted files from that directory or formatted your phone, the copies could disappear. ADB or third-party utilities (sections) 5 and 6).

Make sure there is enough space on your phone (minimum 500MB)

Connect your phone to charge (the process can take 10–30 minutes)

Turn off Wi-Fi and mobile data (to avoid sync conflicts)

Take a screenshot of current notes (in case of a recovery error)-->

5. Deep memory scanning with DiskDigger or EaseUS

If standard methods don't work, you'll have to use advanced tools, like DiskDigger or EaseUS MobiSaver, which scan the phone's internal memory at the file system level and can find notes even after cleaning the cart.

📌 Important: Install the program immediately after deleting - every new file saved to the phone reduces the chances of recovery.

Instructions for DiskDigger:

• 📱 Install DiskDigger from Google Play.
• 🔍 Launch the app and select Full Scan (root rights required for maximum efficiency).
• 📄 In the results, look for files with.note,.txt or.db extensions (note databases).
• 💾 Select the files you need and click Restore → keep them on SD-map.

💡 Tip: If you have root access, use it. TWRP Recovery to create a complete partition image /data. This will increase the chances of recovery. TWRP For your Xiaomi model, look for the forum XDA Developers.

6. Recovery through ADB (for power users)

If you are familiar with Android Debug Bridge (ADB), You can try extracting notes directly from the application database. USB-Debugging and works even without root rights, but is suitable only for technically savvy users.

Instructions:

1. 🖥️ Install. ADB Tools on PC.
2. 📱 Turn it on on the phone. USB-debugging (Settings) → The phone. → Version. MIUI → 7 times tap the version number → Go back to Settings → Additionally. → For developers → USB-debugging).
3. 🔌 Connect your phone to your PC and execute the command: Adb devices (you should display your device).
4. 📂 Download the Notes Database: Adb pull /data/data/com.miui.notes/shared_prefs/com.miui.notes_preferences.xml adb pull /data/data/com.miui.notes/databases/notes.db
5. 🔍 Open the note.db file with the help of DB Browser for SQLite – Notes are stored in a note table.

⚠️ Note: Without root rights, you can only read notes that were not encrypted. MIUI Encryption of data is enabled (Settings option) → Lockdown and protection → Phone encryption,.db files will not be readable.

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ADB-This method is only suitable for notes deleted less than 24 hours ago, and then the system can overwrite the memory sectors where the data was stored.

7. Appeal in support of Xiaomi (extreme case)

If none of the methods worked and notes are critical (such as passwords or legal information), you can try to contact official Xiaomi support.The company has internal tools to recover data, but they only help in exceptional cases.

How to make a request:

• 🌍 Go to the Xiaomi Support Website.
• 📝 Select Notes → Losing data and filling out the form.
• 📎 Attach screenshots (such as an empty cart or recovery errors).
• 🔑 Indicate. IMEI phone and account details of Mi Account.

💡 Important: Xiaomi support rarely recovers data, but can provide system logs that help to understand the cause of the loss.

⚠️ Warning: Don't trust "specialists" who promise to recover data for money through remote access. These are scammers! The only safe way is through official channels or proven utilities (such as DiskDigger).

FAQ: Frequent Questions About Recovering Notes on Xiaomi