Previous articleMissing photos from Xiaomi phone: how to recover in 5 minutes

You opened a gallery on Xiaomi, and there's a void? Vacation photos, important screenshots or family photos disappeared without a trace? Don't panic: 80 percent of the time, files can be returned, even if you accidentally deleted them or after resetting them.

Xiaomi smartphones (including Redmi, POCO and Mi) store photos in several places: internal memory, gallery basket, cloud Mi Cloud or on the computer. SD-Even if the images are not displayed in a standard gallery, they could have stayed in one of these vaults. In this article, we have 5 proven recovery methods, from the simplest to the most advanced, with firmware features in mind. MIUI.

The more important thing is that the less you use your phone after a photo is lost, the better the chances of success. Every new photo, app installed, or system update can overwrite deleted data, so start restoring it right away and follow the instructions in order.

1.Check the basket at Xiaomi Gallery

The standard MIUI Gallery app automatically sends deleted photos to the cart, where they are stored for 30 days (some models up to 60 days), and if the photos are recently missing, the first thing you should do is look there.

How to open the basket:

• 📱 Open the Gallery app (image with multi-colored squares).
• 🗑️ Swipe down the three horizontal lines at the bottom (or swipe right on some versions). MIUI).
• 🔍 Select the Recycle Bin (or Recently Deleted).
• ✅ Click on the photo, then Restore (the icon with the arrow up).

If the cart is empty or there is no photo, go to the next method. Note: the cart is cleaned automatically if there is a lack of memory or after manual cleaning in the settings (Settings → Storage → Cleaning).

⚠️ Note: On some models POCO (for example, POCO X3 Pro) the cart can be disabled by default. To activate it, go to Gallery Settings → Basket → Turn on.

2. Recovery via Mi Cloud (Xiaomi Cloud)

If your Xiaomi had Mi Cloud sync enabled, the photos could have been saved to the cloud, and that's true even after you reset your phone to factory settings.

Instructions for remediation:

1. 🌐 Go to i.mi.com from any device and log in to the same Mi Account as you do on your phone.
2. 📁 In the menu on the left, select Gallery (or Photos).
3. 🔎 View Camera, Screenshots or All photos. Use the filter by date if you want to find specific pictures.
4. ⬇️ Select the desired photos and click Download (cloud icon with a down arrow).

If the photo is not in the cloud, check:

• 🔄 Whether synchronization was enabled: Settings → Xiaomi account → Mi Cloud → gallery.
• 📅 Last synced date (same menu) may have been deleted before backup.
• 💾 Cloud storage: free is only 5 GB, the rest is paid.

⚠️ Note: If you delete photos from the Mi Cloud, they are taken to the cloud basket, where they are stored for 10 days. → The basket is on the site.

3. Use Google Photos (if backed up)

Many Xiaomi users set up automatic photo backups in Google Photos. If you’ve logged in to a Google account and enabled this feature, the chances of returning photos are high.

How to check:

• 📲 Install Google Photos app (if removed) or open it.
• 🔄 Log in to the same Google account as on your phone.
• 📅 Go to the Photo tab and sort the pictures by date (Search) → By date).
• 🗃️ Check the basket folder in the menu (photos are stored there for 60 days).

If photos are found, they can be:

• ⬇️ Download back to the phone (select) → Save it to the device).
• 🔄 Restore from the basket (if there are any).
• 📤 Send to another media (for example, on a PC via Google Drive).

Note: Google Photos compresses photos with free backup (High quality) and to save the originals, you had to choose the option “Original quality” (paid after 15 GB).

4. Connect your phone to your computer and check for hidden folders

Sometimes photos don't show up in the Xiaomi gallery, but they stay in the phone's internal memory. This can happen after a MIUI update, an app crash, or a file transfer. To find them, connect the phone to your PC.

Step-by-step:

1. 🖥️ Connect Xiaomi to your computer via USB-cable (use the original cable for a stable connection).
2. 📱 On the phone, select File Transfer Mode (or MTP) plug-in.
3. 📂 On PC, open this computer. → Find a Xiaomi device (usually a Redmi or Mi).
4. 🔍 Go to the Internal Storage folder → DCIM (Check the subfolders: Camera, camera photos; Screenshots, screenshots;.thumbnails, thumbnails, hidden folder); MIUI — System images (for example, for wallpaper).

If there are no folders or they are empty, try to turn on the display of hidden files:

• 🖥️ On Windows: in Explorer go to the tab View → Check the hidden elements.
• 🍎 On Mac: In Finder, press Command + Shift +. (point).

⚠️ Warning: If you connect your phone to your PC and you see a lost.dir folder, don't delete it! This is the system directory where Android saves fragments of corrupted files. Sometimes you can find partially restored photos.

5. Software for Recovery of Deleted Files

If the previous methods didn't work, you'll have to use specialized tools that scan the phone's internal memory and look for traces of deleted files.

Top.-3 photo recovery software:

• 🛠️ DiskDigger (free version) – works without root, but with root finds more files.
• 🔧 EaseUS MobiSaver – Supports MIUI, recover photos and videos.
• 📱 Recuva (for PC) – scans the phone as an external drive.

How to recover photos with DiskDigger:

1. 📱 Install DiskDigger from Google Play.
2. 🔍 Start the app and select Basic Scan (without root) or Full Scan (with root).
3. 📷 Wait for the scan to be completed (may take 10 to 30 minutes).
4. ✅ Select the photos you want and press Recover. Save them to SD-map.

Important: Recovery programs don't guarantee 100% results, the longer it's been since the removal, the less likely it is.

• 🚫 Don’t save restored photos to the same phone – use a PC or cloud.
• 🔋 The charge of the phone should be at least 50% to avoid interruption of scanning.
• 🛡️ Avoid “memory cleaners” (such as Clean Master) – they can overwrite deleted data.

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If you have root rights, disable the Mi File Manager app in your settings before you restore it. It can block access to your system folders.

6. Contact Xiaomi Service Center (extreme case)

If the photos are critical (such as documents or unique photos) and self-recovery did not help, you can try contacting Xiaomi’s authorized service center.

What you need to know before your visit:

• 📋 Bring a check or confirmation of purchase of the phone (for warranty cases).
• 🔒 If your phone is locked, unlock it, otherwise access to your data will be restricted.
• 💰 The cost of data recovery starts from 1,500-3000 rubles (depending on the complexity of the data).
• ⏳ The process can take from 1 to 5 days.

Note that even in a service center, you can't always get 100% of your data back, and the odds are that you can:

• 🕒 Time elapsed since the removal;
• 📱 Phone models (on Xiaomi with) UFS 3.1 Recovery is more difficult than on eMMC);
• 🔄 Availability of data overwriting (installation of applications, shooting new photos).

⚠️ Warning: Don't settle for a "total reset" in the service without first analyzing! Some "masters" suggest resetting the phone to "fix the bug," but this will lead to irretrievable data loss.

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The highest chance of recovery is in the first 72 hours after deletion, and the longer you wait, the greater the risk that the data will be overwritten.

FAQ: Frequent questions about photo recovery on Xiaomi

If none of these things worked, don't despair: maybe the photos were saved on another device (like sending them in messengers) or you can restore them with professional services. The main thing is not to use the phone to take new photos or install apps, so as not to reduce the chances of success.