Accidentally deleted video from the phone Xiaomi: how to restore on Android

Deleting a critical video from a Xiaomi phone is a situation that almost everyone has faced: one careless click in the gallery, cleaning the cache or resetting the settings - and precious footage disappears. But don't panic: 80 percent of the time, files can be returned if you act quickly and correctly. The main thing is not to write new data to the device until you have tried all the recovery methods.

Xiaomi smartphones (including Redmi, POCO and Black Shark) run on Android with a proprietary MIUI shell that has its own file storage features. For example, some firmware versions have a built-in bin where videos are stored 30 days after being deleted. And if you synchronize a media library with Google Photos or Mi Cloud, the chances of recovery increase by up to 95%. In this article, proven ways to return deleted video files, from simple to advanced, with the specifics of Xiaomi devices.

1.Check the basket at MIUI Gallery

The first thing you need to do is to look into the shopping cart of the standard Gallery application. In MIUI 12-14, deleted files are not erased immediately, but sent to temporary storage for 30 days (by default), except if you manually cleaned the shopping cart or used functions like Memory Optimization.

How to find the basket:

• 📱 Open the Gallery app (icon with multicolored photos).
• 🗑️ Slip on three dots in the upper right corner → Select the Recycle Bin (or Recently Deleted in Older Versions).
• 🔍 Scroll through the list or search by deletion date.
• 🖼️ Select the required video (long press) → press Restore.

Important: If the Recycle Bin is empty, it doesn't mean that the files are lost forever, but it may have been deleted long ago (more than 30 days ago) or through a third-party app (e.g. Files by Google), in which case move on to the next method.

2. Restore via Google Photos (if synchronized)

If your Xiaomi has autosynchronization enabled with Google Photos, deleted videos could have been saved to the cloud. The service stores files in the shopping cart for 60 days, even if they were erased from the phone.

1. 🌐 Open your browser on your PC or phone and go to photos.google.com (sign up with the same account as you do on Xiaomi).
2. ☁️ In the side menu, select Cart (or Archive if the video has been archived).
3. 🔎 Find the files you want by date or keywords (e.g., “birthday video").
4. 📥 Highlight the video → Click Restore (they will return to the main gallery and on the phone).

Google Photos compresses video if you have High Quality (free storage) enabled. To restore files to their original resolution, check:

• 📁 Google Photos folder in the Files app on your phone (path: Internal drive) → Pictures → Google Photos).
• 💾 Archives in Google Photos (files deleted more than 60 days ago).

💡

If the videos don't show up in the Google Photos shopping cart, try looking for them by tagging, for example, type "sea" or "party" in the search bar, and the service recognizes the content of the videos.

3.Use backups of Mi Cloud

Xiaomi offers its own cloud storage, Mi Cloud, where photos and videos are automatically backed up (if enabled).

1. 📱 On the phone, open Settings. → Xiaomi account → Mi Cloud.
2. 🔄 Make sure that the slider Synchronization gallery is active (green).
3. ☁️ Go to the Gallery section → Recycle Bin (similar to Google Photos, but 30 days of storage).
4. 📥 If there is a video, click Restore and select the folder to save.

Features of Mi Cloud:

• 📦 Free 5GB is provided (this is free of charge) ~20-30 video in Full HD).
• 🔒 If the space is over, old files can be deleted automatically.
• 🌍 Access to the cloud is only possible through a Xiaomi account (not to be confused with Google).

4. Connect your phone to your PC and use recovery software

If you don't find videos in the cloud service baskets, try the dedicated deep memory scanning tools that work even after formatting, but the effectiveness depends on how much new data is written on top of the deleted files.

Top.-3 Video recovery software with Xiaomi:

Step-by-step instructions for DiskDigger (most effective for Xiaomi):

1. 📱 Install DiskDigger from Google Play.
2. 🔍 Launch the application → Select Full Scan (requires root rights for internal memory).
3. 🎥 Mark file types: MP4, 3GP, MKV.
4. 📁 After scanning, select the required videos. → Click Restore and Save It on SD-card.

⚠️ Note: If you don't know root rights, don't try to get them to recover videos. Wrong actions can lead to a complete reset of your phone. In this case, use software on your PC (for example, Recuva) by connecting Xiaomi in File Transfer mode.

Turn off Wi-Fi and mobile data on your phone | Connect Xiaomi to your PC with the original cable | Select File Transfer Mode (MTP) | Do not run other programs during scanning-->

5. Check folders with cache and temporary files

Sometimes videos are saved in hidden app folders, especially if they were:

• 📤 Sent via messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber).
• 🎮 Recorded by gaming applications (e.g. Screen Recorder).
• 📼 Downloaded from social networks (TikTok, Instagram).

Where to look:

Internal storage → Android → data → [app package name] → cache


or




Internal storage → DCIM →.thumbnails (video miniatures)

To see the hidden folders:

1. 📂 Open the Files app (or Files by Google).
2. 🔍 Tap it on three points. → Settings → Enable Showing Hidden Files.
3. 🔍 Enter the video title or extension (for example) in search,.mp4).

Videos from the messenger cache often have names like VID-20260315-WA0001.mp4 (where WA is WhatsApp), which can be renamed and transferred to the main gallery.

6. Contact Xiaomi Service Center (extreme case)

If all methods failed and video is critical (such as a traffic recorder or family archive), you can try professional recovery. Xiaomi service centers do not deal with file returns, but specialized laboratories (such as HDD Recovery or Flashback Data) can extract data directly from the memory chip.

What you need to know:

• 💰 Cost: from 5 000 to 30 000 rubles (depending on the complexity).
• ⏳ Timeline: 1-5 days.
• 🛠️ Guarantee: 70-90% of successful recovery if no water is spilled on the phone and no physical damage is reported.

⚠️ Warning: Don't accept "data recovery" services in questionable workshops. Unqualified intervention can damage the memory controller, after which file recovery will not be possible even in the laboratory.

💡

The faster you start recovering, the better the chances of success, and every new file you write to your phone after you delete a video reduces the likelihood of a video being returned by 10 to 15 percent.

FAQ: Frequent questions about video recovery on Xiaomi