How to view blurred text in a screenshot with Xiaomi: from standard tools to advanced methods

Why the smeared text on the screen may not be so hidden

You took a screenshot of an important message, document or correspondence on Xiaomi, but some of the text was blurred — whether automatically (for example, in banking applications) or manually (through editors like Markup or Google Photos).

Many of the ways you smear text on Android devices (including Xiaomi, Redmi, and POCO) don’t delete pixel-level data, but only superimpose a translucent layer over it, which means that if you do the right thing, you can restore the text partially or completely — especially if the screenshot wasn’t processed by specialized tools (like Adobe Photoshop with the Content-Aware Fill tool).

In this article, we will discuss 5 proven methods, from simple (using built-in MIUI features) to advanced (working with ADB and analyzing the cache of applications). Importantly, the effectiveness of each method depends on how the text was hidden. For example, if the smearing is done through the system editor of screenshots (as in MIUI 14+), the chances of recovery are higher than with manual processing in Photoshop.

Method 1: Recovery through editing history in Google Photos

If you edited a screenshot in Google Photos, chances are that the original version of the file is still stored in the cloud, and this method works even if you manually smeared the text with a Marker or Blur tool.

How to check:

• 📱 Open the Google Photos app on your Xiaomi.
• 🔍 Find an edited screenshot and tap it.
• ⚙️ Click on three dots in the upper right corner → Change. → Back to the original.
• 🔄 If the option is active, you can roll back all the edits and see the source code.

⚠️ Note: The feature only works if you didn't save the changes over the original. If the screenshot was exported as a new file, the original could have been deleted.

Method 2: Analyzing the cache of the system screenshot editor (MIUI)

Xiaomi smartphones on MIUI 12+ automatically save screenshots to the Pictures/Screenshots folder, and create temporary files in the system editor cache (Markup).

Search instructions:

1. Connect Xiaomi to your PC via USB (in file transfer mode).
2. Go to the folder: Internal Storage → Android → data → com.miui.gallery → cache
3. Look for files with the.png or.jpg extension created on the screen edit date.
4. Open them on PC – sometimes intermediate versions are saved there.

⚠️ Note: The com.miui.gallery folder may be hidden. To see it, enable the display of hidden files in the file manager settings (for example, in the file manager settings). ES Conductor or Total Commander).

Use the original USB-Xiaomi|Enable debugging on USB developer-setting|Install drivers ADB on PC (if necessary)|Make a backup copy of important data-->

Method 3: Using ADB to extract raw data

If the text has been smeared through MIUI system tools, you can try extracting the raw screenshot buffer through ADB (Android Debug Bridge), a technique that requires technical skills but has a high probability of success.

Step-by-step:

1. Turn on USB debugging on Xiaomi: Settings → About Phone → MIUI Version (tap 7 times) → Return to “More” → For Developers → Debugging on USB
2. Connect the phone to the PC and confirm the trusted device.
3. Open the command line (Windows) or terminal (macOS/Linux) and type in: adb pull /data/data/com.miui.screenshot/cache/
4. Check the extracted files for original screenshots.

💡 Helpful advice: If the team isn't working, try an alternative path:

adb shell "run-as com.miui.screenshot cat /cache/screenshot_*.png > /sdcard/screenshot_recovered.png"

This will copy the last screenshot to the root folder of the device.

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Before working with ADB, make sure that the drivers for Xiaomi are installed on the PC, and you can download them from the official MIUI Downloads website (section "Mi Phone Manager").

Method 4: Recovery through third-party apps (with caution!)

There are apps on Google Play that promise to restore blurred text to images, but most of them are either ineffective or contain malicious code. We tested several tools and identified three relatively safe options:

⚠️ Note: Do not install apps with names like "Magic Unblur" or "Text Recover Pro" - they often contain spyware. Check reviews and ratings before installing (should be higher than 4.0 at 4.0 at 10K+ installation).

Method 5: Manual restoration in Photoshop or GIMP

If you've done the overlay over text (like a brush or a rectangle), you can try to increase contrast or remove the top layer in graphics editors, a method that takes time, but produces better results than automatic tools.

The algorithm of actions in Photoshop:

• 🖼️ Open the screenshot in Photoshop.
• 🔧 Go to Image. → Adjustments → Levels (Levels).
• ⚖️ Move the Input Levels sliders to increase the contrast between the smeared area and the background.
• 🧹 Use the Clone Stamp tool to gently remove the patch if it is uniform in color.

💡 Alternative to Free Software: B GIMP (Photoshop analogue: use the Colors filter → Levels and Heal Tool for text recovery.

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The thinner the layer and the higher the resolution of the screenshot, the better the chances of successful text recovery. For example, on screens with a resolution of 1080p and higher, the method with contrast levels works in 60-70% of cases.

What to do if nothing helps: alternatives

If all of these methods fail, it means that the text has been deleted at the pixel level (for example, through the Content-Aware Fill tool in Photoshop or specialized applications for irrevocably erasing data).

• 🔄 Ask to send the screenshot again (if it is correspondence).
• 📄 Check if the information is stored elsewhere (for example, in your browser history if the text was copied from there).
• 📧 If the screenshot was sent by mail or messenger, check the server copies (in Gmail or Telegram, the originals can be stored longer).
• 🔍 Use it. OCR-Scanners (e.g. Google Lens) for partially visible character recognition.

⚠️ Note: If the text was smeared in banking applications (for example, in Sberbank Online or Tinkoff), its recovery may violate security rules.

FAQ: Frequent questions about the restoration of blurred text