Google Photos on Xiaomi: Why You Need This App and How to Manage It

You opened a list of installed apps on your Xiaomi smartphone and found Google Photos, a program that you didn't consciously install? Or maybe you're looking for a reliable way to back up photos, but you don't understand how it works on shell devices. MIUI? This article will help you understand what Google Photos is, why it is preinstalled on many Xiaomi models (even if you did not use Google services), and how to properly configure it to your needs - from automatically uploading photos to freeing up space on your phone.

Google Photos is not just a gallery, but a full-fledged cloud service from Google, which automatically saves your photos and videos on the Internet, sorts them by dates, persons and places, and also offers tools for editing and sharing. On Xiaomi smartphones, this app is often installed by default along with Google Mobile Services package (GMS), Even if you are using a standard gallery MIUI. But there are a lot of questions: does it duplicate the functions of the built-in gallery? How much space does it take up? Can it be deleted without consequences? And most importantly, is it safe to store personal images in the cloud?

In this article, we will not only answer these questions, but also show you how to turn off automatic uploading of photos to Google Photos on Xiaomi if you prefer other services (for example, Mi Cloud or Yandex Drive), how to configure backup so that it does not “eat” mobile traffic, and what to do if the application stops syncing files.

What is Google Photo and Why You Need It on Xiaomi

Google Photos is a cloud-based photo and video storage, organization and editing service developed by Google, which performs several key functions on Xiaomi smartphones (as on other Android devices):

• 📁 Backup: Automatically uploads all your photos and videos to the cloud, protecting them from loss when your phone is dropped or broken.
• 🔍 Search and organization: recognizes objects in a photo (such as “dog”, “beach”, “document”), people’s faces and even text, allowing you to quickly find the right files.
• 🎨 Editing: Offers built-in tools for color correction, cropping, adding filters and creating collages.
• 📤 Sharing: allows you to share albums or individual photos via link or directly with contacts.
• 📱 Free up space: can automatically delete files already uploaded to the cloud from your phone, saving memory.

On Xiaomi, this app is often installed by default, even if you don’t use other Google services.The reason is simple: Google Photos is included in the Google Mobile Services package (GMS), Preinstalled on most Android smartphones (except for devices for the Chinese market or models without Google certification, for example, Xiaomi Mi). A3 This means that the app can appear on your phone even after resetting or updating the firmware.

It’s important to understand that Google Photos isn’t just a take on a standard gallery. MIUI. Unlike the built-in gallery app, it:

• ✅ Works with the cloud (photos available from any device).
• ✅ Offers more powerful search tools (for example, keywords like “sunset” or “cat»).
• ✅ Can automatically create animations, collages and movies from your photos.
• ❌ Takes up extra space in memory (unless you configure synchronization correctly).
• ❌ Requires a Google account for full-time work.

If you’ve never used Google Photos, but it’s on your Xiaomi, don’t rush to delete it. It may already have saved some of your photos to the cloud – check this in the Photos section. → Settings → Backup and synchronization.

How Google Photos Works on Xiaomi: Synchronization and Storage

The main feature of Google Photos is automatic synchronization of photos and videos with the cloud. On Xiaomi smartphones, this process can work differently depending on the settings and version. MIUI. Let’s see how it works and what to pay attention to.

1. How backups are enabled

By default, Google Photos can offer backup immediately after the first launch or after connecting a Google account. On Xiaomi, it looks like this:

1. The application requests access to photos, videos and files.
2. Offers you to choose the download quality: Original (saves without compression, but takes up space in your Google Drive) or High quality (compresses files, but provides unlimited storage until 2021; now up to 15 GB per account).
3. Starts uploading existing and new photos in the background.

If you don’t remember whether you turned on backup, check this out:

1. Open Google Photos.
2. Slip on the profile avatar in the upper right corner.
3. Select Photo Settings → Backup and Synchronization.
4. If the switch is active, the copy is enabled.

2. What is synchronized and what is not

By default, Google Photos uploads:

• 📸 All photos and videos from folders DCIM, Pictures, Screenshots and other standard directories.
• 📁 Files from messenger folders (such as WhatsApp Images or Telegram) if you do not manually disable this option.
• 🎞️ Video, but with a limitation: files larger than 10GB are not downloaded.

Out of sync:

• 🔒 Photo from folders marked as “personal” (for example, Private in the gallery) MIUI).
• 📂 Files in the root folder of the phone or on SD-maps, if not in standard catalogs.
• 📱 Screenshots if the option Save screenshots in backup settings is disabled.

3. How much space does Google Photos take up in Xiaomi

The Google Photos app itself weighs about 50 to 100 MB, but the main weight is the cache and thumbnails of the uploaded photos.

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find Google Photos in the list.
3. See the Warehouse section: the total size (including cache) will be indicated here.

If the place ends, clear the cache:

1. In the same Warehouse menu, click Clear Cache.
2. For complete cleaning (including downloaded thumbnails), choose Clear Data, but note that this will remove all local copies of the photo from the application (the files themselves will remain in the cloud).

💡

If you use Google Photos only for viewing, not for backup, disable automatic download in the settings. This will save space on the phone and traffic.

4. How Google Photos Interacts with Gallery MIUI

On Xiaomi, Google Photos and the standard Gallery work in parallel, but do not duplicate each other.

Many Xiaomi users prefer Google Photos because of easy search and unlimited storage (until the policy change in 2021).However, if you actively use the Xiaomi ecosystem (for example, sync photos with Mi Band or Xiaomi). TV), A standard gallery may be more convenient.

💡

Google Photos and Gallery MIUI They don't conflict, they just do different things, one for cloud backup and search, and the other for quick browsing and integration with Xiaomi devices.

How to set up Google Photos on Xiaomi: step-by-step instructions

If you decide to use Google Photos on your Xiaomi, it is important to set it up correctly to avoid unnecessary traffic, duplicate files and other problems.

1. Enabling or disabling backup

To control the automatic uploading of photos:

1. Open Google Photos.
2. Tap on the profile avatar → Photo settings.
3. Select Backup and Synchronization.
4. Activate or deactivate the switch.

If you are backing up for the first time, the system will prompt you to select:

• Download quality: Original - no compression (considered as space in Google Drive). High quality - compression to 16 MP for photos and photos 1080p Video (free up to 15 GB per account).
• Download method: Wi-Fi only (recommended to avoid spending mobile internet), Wi-Fi or mobile network (can consume traffic quickly).

2. Selection of folders for synchronization

By default, Google Photos uploads files from all the folders with photos, to eliminate unnecessary ones (for example, screenshots or memes from messengers):

1. Go to Settings. → Backup and synchronization → Backup of device folders.
2. Turn off the switches next to folders that don’t need to be synced (like Screenshots or WhatsApp Images).

3. Set-up of seat vacancy

If the phone runs out of memory, Google Photos can automatically delete local copies of photos that have already been uploaded to the cloud.

1. Open the Settings. → Make room.
2. Click Free XGB (the system will show you how much space you can save).
3. Confirm the action.

⚠️ Warning: Once the space is cleared, the photos will only be in the cloud, and you'll need an Internet connection to get them back to your phone. If you're often unconnected, you'd better leave copies on your device.

4. Optimization of traffic and battery consumption

Google Photos can consume mobile traffic and battery power if not configured correctly.

• 📶 Download only on Wi-Fi: Settings → Backup and synchronization → Backup networks → Select Wi-Fi Only.
• 🔋 Limit background activity: Go to Phone Settings → Annexes → Application management → Google Photos. Select the Battery. → Energy management. Set limits to background activity.

Delay the download of large files

Download only when connected to the charger

5. synchronization with Mi Cloud: can you use both services

Yes, you can use Google Photos and Mi Cloud at the same time, but that will create duplicate files in the cloud.

• 🔄 In Google Photos, set up the upload of all photos.
• 📱 In Mi Cloud (phone settings) → Mi Account → Mi Cloud → Gallery) also enable synchronization.
• ⚠️ Note that this will increase traffic consumption and space in cloud storage.
• 🚫 Limit folder sync: Turn off downloading unnecessary folders (e.g. screenshots).

4. "Can't upload photos" error

If there is an error when downloading:

• 🔒 Check Google Drive space: Go to drive.google.com and see how much space is taken.If the limit is exhausted (15GB for a free account), delete unnecessary files or buy extra space.
• 📡 Change Network: If you don’t download via Wi-Fi, try mobile internet (or vice versa).
• ⏳ Wait: Sometimes it takes a few hours to download large files.
• 📁 Remove Google Photos from the crawl: In the gallery settings, select Folders. uncheck the Google Photos folder (usually in the gallery settings). /storage/emulated/0/Pictures/Google Photos).