How to make one of two photos on a Xiaomi phone

Xiaomi smartphones today have powerful cameras that can take hundreds of pictures a day, but there are often situations when you need to combine two images into one: to compare the result “before and after”, create an original collage for social networks or just to save space in the gallery. Owners of Redmi and Poco devices may be faced with the question of where this feature is, because the interface of the shell MIUI or HyperOS has its own features.

Fortunately, you don’t have to download heavy graphics editors. The System Gallery offers basic yet effective image management functionality. The Android ecosystem also provides many alternatives that may be even more convenient than standard ones. In this article, we’ll take a look at all the methods available, from built-in tools to professional apps, so you can choose the most suitable option.

Regardless of the model of your smartphone, whether it is a budget Redmi Note or flagship Xiaomi 14, the principles of combining photos remain similar. We will look at the nuances of working with resolution, compression quality and file formats to make the final image look as clear and professional as possible.

Use of the built-in MIUI Gallery and HyperOS

The fastest way to combine two photos is to use a pre-installed app. The MIUI shell and the new HyperOS have a built-in collage-creating module that's hidden in the editing tool menu. You don't have to look for a separate "Create" button, just highlight the files you want.

To start, open the Gallery app and go to the Albums or Photos tab. Click on the select button (usually a long press on the first photo) and mark the second image. Once you highlight both files, an action bar will appear at the bottom of the screen. That's where you look for the Create button, which often looks like a magic wand or a plus in a circle.

When you click on the Create button, the system will offer you a few options: Collage, Video, or Slideshow. We're interested in Collage. When you select this mode, you'll see an editor where the photos will automatically be placed next to you, and you can change their position, rotate or change the proportions of the frame with just a touch of a finger.

⚠️ Note: When you save a collage through a standard gallery, the quality of the original images may decrease slightly due to the compression algorithms. For ordinary posts on social networks, this is not noticeable, but for printing it is better to use the originals.

It is important to note that different versions of the firmware may have different locations, and if you didn’t find the creation button right away, try tapping the tripod in the corner of the screen or swiping up an open photo to see the full list of editing tools available.

The function of collages in the Google Photo app

Almost every Xiaomi smartphone sold globally has Google Photos installed, not just a cloud storage app, but a powerful editor with a great collage creation feature, and the main advantage of this method is cross-platform and synchronization, allowing you to immediately send the result to your computer or other phone.

To create a two-photo composition, open the app and highlight two shots. Unlike the system gallery, you click on the Add In button, which is at the bottom of the screen. In the menu that appears, select Collage, and the system instantly generates multiple layout options that can be flipped horizontally.

Google Photos offers more flexible edge settings and corner rounding than the standard Xiaomi gallery. You can make the junction between photos invisible by choosing the minimum thickness of the frames, or, conversely, highlight each image with white or black edges, which is especially useful if the photos have different colors.

💡

Use the Auto Improve feature in Google Photos before creating a collage so that the colors in both images look harmonious and do not require manual color correction.

Once you select the right layout, click the Save button, and the file will be saved to a separate folder called Collages inside the app store, but it will be available in the phone's general gallery, which takes literally a few seconds and doesn't require any additional software.

Third-party applications for advanced editing

If standard features aren’t enough and you need to overlay photos with transparency, masks or complex geometry, you’ll have to turn to third-party software.The Google Play store offers dozens of solutions, but not all of them are optimized for Xiaomi screens with their cutouts and high refresh rates.

One of the market leaders is Layout from Instagram, which is as simple as possible and devoid of unnecessary features, which is ideal for fast gluing of two photos. Another popular option is PicCollage, which allows you to add stickers, text and draw on top of images. For professionals, PicsArt, where you can work with layers, like Photoshop.

When installing these applications, pay attention to the permissions requested. Often editors require access to all media files on the device. In the MIUI settings (Settings path → Security → Special features → Data access), you can restrict the application to only specific folders, increasing privacy.

Using third-party software has the biggest advantage of controlling the proportions of each element, so you can make one photo small and place it in the corner of another, creating a picture-in-picture effect that you can't do with standard tools without cropping.

Comparison of methods of combining photos

The choice of method depends on your ultimate goals. If you want to send a meme quickly to a friend, a built-in gallery will do. For a beautiful blog, you should use specialized applications. Below is a table that helps you determine the tool.

As you can see from the table, Google Photos or the system gallery is enough for most household tasks, but if you plan to process regularly, it makes sense to master more sophisticated tools that give you complete control over every pixel of the image.

Customization of quality and preservation formats

When working with graphics on Android, it is important to understand the difference between formats. Xiaomi cameras are often shot in HEIC format to save space, but many simple editors do not know how to work with it, automatically converting photos to JPG with loss of quality. To avoid double compression, you better set up the camera in advance.

Go to the camera settings and find Format. If you plan to actively edit your pictures, select Compatibility or standard JPEG. This will increase the file size, but ensure that no pixel is lost when you transfer it to the editor.

Advanced editors always put a quality slider on their export (save) and don't put it on them. 100%, If you're not planning to print a poster, it's the best value — 90-95%. You won’t notice the difference visually, and the weight of the file will decrease. 20-30%, What will save space in the memory of the phone.

⚠️ Note: When saved in format PNG The file size can be much larger than the JPG, Especially if there are a lot of gradients in the photo. PNG only if you need a transparent background.

Frequent problems and their solution

Xiaomi users sometimes experience a photo that changes orientation or gets cropped after gluing, often due to the aspect ratio of the screen to the canvas. If you create a collage of vertical and horizontal photos, the system can automatically crop the extra one to fit them into the square.

To avoid cropping, open each photo in the editor before creating the collage and add white borders where there is not enough space, which will save the entire composition of the frame. 4K-Photos from older Redmi models.

If the application crashes when trying to save the result, try to reduce the resolution of the source before combining. MIUI This can be done through the "Resize" menu in the gallery. 2000-3000 pixels on the wide side will significantly reduce the load on the processor.

💡

For stable operation of heavy photo editors on Xiaomi, be sure to close the background applications and clear RAM through the built-in accelerator.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions