How to send a theme to Xiaomi: official and alternative methods

Why send themes to Xiaomi and what restrictions exist

Creating and distributing themes for Xiaomi devices is a popular hobby among customization enthusiasts. However, the process of sending a theme to the MIUI platform is not always intuitive. Unlike standard wallpaper, the themes in the Xiaomi ecosystem are complex packages with customizations of icons, fonts, animations and even system sounds, which requires not only creativity but also technical training.

The main problem is the limitations of the platform: Xiaomi strictly moderates content, prohibiting themes with copyright infringement, incorrect elements or inconsistency with design guides. For example, the theme will not be moderated if it uses brand logos without permission or if icons are not adapted to dark / light modes. In addition, there are separate rules for Mi TVs (Xiaomi TVs) – it is important to consider screen resolution and remote compatibility.

In this article, we’ll look at all the current ways to send themes to Xiaomi in 2026, including official channels through Mi Theme Editor, workarounds for unpublished themes, and pre-submission testing methods.

Method 1: Submitting theme via Mi Theme Editor (official method)

Mi Theme Editor is the official Xiaomi theme creation and publishing app, available only for devices running MIUI (starting with version 12) and requires registration with the developer system.

1. Install Mi Theme Editor from the Mi App Store (only available in China; other regions require it) VPN or APK-file).
2. Create or import a theme in.mtz (standard Xiaomi theme format).
3. Click Submit Theme in the upper right corner and fill in the metadata: 📌 Theme title (should be unique, with no characters except letters and numbers). 🎨 Category (select from the following: “Minimalism", "3D", "Anime.). 📝 Description (in English and Chinese - mandatory!). 🖼️ Screenshots (minimum) 3, permit 1080×1920).

Confirm the shipment and wait for moderation (term - from 3 days to 2 weeks).

⚠️ Note: If your theme contains elements borrowed from other topics (even with color changes), it will be rejected because of Copyright Infringement. Xiaomi uses automatic scanning for plagiarism, so it is recommended to create unique assets or buy licenses for stock images.

Download all required screenshots | Check the uniqueness of the theme name |Indicate supported devices (Mi 11, Redmi Note 10, etc.)|Add a bilingual description |Make sure.mtz is not larger than 50MB

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Method 2: Download the theme through ADB (for testing)

If you want to test the theme on your device before you send it to the public, you can use ADB (Android Debug Bridge), which is a developer-friendly method that requires USB debugging enabled.

1. Connect the device to your PC and activate Developer Mode (click 7 times on the MIUI version in your phone settings).
2. Enable USB debugging in Settings → Additional → For developers.
3. Download Google’s Platform Tools and unpack them.
4. Place the theme file (.mtz) in the folder with the platform-tools.
5. Open the command line in this folder and execute: adb push your theme.mtz /sdcard/MIUI/theme/ adb shell am broadcast -a miui.intent.action.CHANGE_THEME --ez extra_pkg_name com.android.theme.icon_pack.android --es extra_pkg_name com.android.theme.icon_pack.android

After you execute the commands, the theme will appear in Settings → Themes. This method does not send the theme to the store, but allows you to check its performance on a real device. Please note that some firmware (for example, MIUI Global) may require additional commands to apply:

adb shell settings put secure miui_theme_manager_last_theme_pkg com.android.theme.icon_pack.android

Method 3: Publishing a topic through third-party platforms

If your theme is not moderated in Mi Theme Editor or if you want to distribute it independently, you can use third-party resources.

• 🌐 XDA Developers is a forum where custom themes and firmware are published, and it requires registration and adherence to community rules.
• 📦 Telegram channels (e.g, MIUI Themes or Xiaomi Customization. You can upload the theme as a.mtz file and get feedback here.
• 💾 GitHub is open source. You can create a repository with a theme and installation instructions.

The advantage of this method is the lack of strict moderation, but there are also risks:

• The theme can be stolen and passed off as your own (it is recommended to add watermarks to screenshots).
• There is no guarantee of compatibility with the latest MIUI versions.
• Users may encounter errors when installing (e.g., Parse error due to an incorrect.mtz structure).

⚠️ Note: By sharing themes through third-party sources, you take responsibility for their performance.If the theme contains malicious code (even accidentally), your account may be blocked on all Xiaomi platforms.

Official MIUI|XDA Developers|Telegram channels|Other forums|I create myself

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Method 4: Sending theme to Mi TV (features)

Xiaomi Mi TV and Redmi TV support the theme change, but the process of sending them is different from mobile devices.

1. The format of the theme should be adapted to the screen resolution (for example, 3840×2160 for 4K-Use the Mi templates. TV Theme SDK.
2. The theme must be packed in.zip with a mandatory structure: theme/ ├── preview/ # Preview (JPG, 1920×1080) ├── wallpaper/ # Wallpaper (JPG/PNG, 4K) ├── icon/ # Application icons (PNG, 192×192) └── config.json # Metadata config.
3. Submit the theme through the Mi TV developer portal (Chinese account required).

Features of moderation for Mi TV:

• 🎵 Themes with distracting animations (for example, flashing elements) are prohibited).
• 🖥️ Icons should be readable on a large screen (minimum size — 128×128).
• 📺 Color palette must comply with Dolby Vision standards (for models with support) HDR).

💡

Before submitting a theme to Mi TV, check it out on the Mi TV Assistant emulator (available in the Mi TV SDK) to help identify issues with scaling elements on larger screens.

Method 5: Cloud-based themes synchronization (for personal use)

If you've created a theme for your own personal use and want to sync it between your devices, you can use Mi Cloud storage, which is not a good way to publish, but is convenient for backup:

1. Save the.mtz file to the MIUI/theme/ folder on your device.
2. Enable theme synchronization in Settings → Xiaomi Account → Mi Cloud → Synchronization → Themes.
3. On the second device, log in to the same Mi Account and wait for the theme to appear in the list.

Limitations of this method:

• 🔄 Synchronization only works between devices with the same version. MIUI.
• ☁️ Xiaomi Cloud Stores Themes for 30 Days Without Activity.
• 🔒 Some custom elements (e.g. fonts) may not be synchronized.

⚠️ Note: If you delete the theme from the main device, it will disappear from the cloud.

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Even experienced designers face rejection of themes during moderation, and here are the most common reasons and ways to fix them:

• 🚫 Error: "Invalid theme structure" Reason: Incorrect file packaging in.mtz. Use the official Mi Theme Editor to create an archive.
• 🚫 Error: "Unsupported device" Reason: config.json No supported models listed. Add lines for Redmi Note 12, Mi 13 etc.
• 🚫 Error: "Copyright violation" Reason: Use someone else's icons or wallpaper. Replace them with your own or licensed ones (for example, with Flaticon).
• 🚫 Error: "Theme too large" Reason: 50MB limit exceeded. Optimize images with TinyPNG or reduce the number of animations.

Another common problem is that elements are not displayed correctly across devices, such as icons that may move to Mi TV Stick because of a different aspect ratio.

1. Test the theme on multiple devices (at least on a smartphone and tablet).
2. Use the relative units of measurement in config.json (for example, "icon_size": "24dp" pixel-free).
3. Check compatibility with the dark mode (dark_mode_compatible: true).

💡

The most common reason for rejecting themes is that they don’t meet the resolution requirements of icons. Xiaomi requires all icons to be in a vector or at least 192×192 pixel resolution.

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions