How to make stickers like on iPhone on Xiaomi

Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphone owners often envy iOS users who can instantly turn objects in photos into instant messenger stickers. This feature, which has become Apple’s trademark, is really convenient and allows you to quickly cut an object without a background. However, the Android ecosystem, and in particular the shell of MIUI or HyperOS, also offers powerful tools for creating such content.

The essence of the process is to use AI algorithms to recognize the boundaries of an object. You don't have to be a professional designer to get a quality result. Modern neural networks can cut hair, animal hair and complex geometric shapes in fractions of a second.

In this article, we will discuss in detail the native features of the system, third-party applications and secrets that will help you recreate the functionality of the iPhone on your Xiaomi device. You will learn not only to cut objects, but also to properly decorate them for sending to Telegram, WhatsApp or Viber.

Native capabilities of MIUI and HyperOS

Many users are unaware that their smartphone already has a feature similar to iOS’s Live Stickers. Starting with certain versions of the MIUI 13 shell and all HyperOS builds, the standard gallery has a smart cut option that works locally without requiring photos to be uploaded to the cloud, which ensures high speed.

To use this method, open any image in the gallery and click on the "Edit" button. The bottom menu often hides the AI Cutout tool or "Smart Cutout"; the system automatically identifies the main object in the picture. If there are several objects in the photo, you will be asked to choose the one you want.

⚠️ Note: Smart cut function may not be available in global firmware versions for budget Redmi models with 2 GB of RAM, as it requires significant processing resources of the processor.

Once the object is highlighted, it can be copied as a transparent background image, using the "copy" or "save as PNG" button, and it's important to understand that the PNG format is critical to maintaining transparency, and if you save the file as JPG, the transparent background will be replaced by white or black.

💡

For best results in native cutting, try to make the object in the photo has a clear contrast with the background. Neural networks are better at dealing with well-lit pictures.

Using Google Photos to Create Stickers

If Xiaomi's built-in gallery doesn't do the job or the interface seems inconvenient, the standard Google Photos app comes to the rescue. It's pre-installed on most Android devices and updated regularly to get new machine learning algorithms. The Magic Eraser feature and object cutting are brilliantly implemented here.

The process of creating a sticker takes seconds. Open a photo in the Google Photos app. Click on the Edit button (the slider icon). From the tool menu, select Stickers or find the Cut Object option (sometimes available immediately when you press the object long in view mode).

Once you auto-select the circuit, you'll see a Save or Copy button, and what's unique about this is that Google often suggests you add a shadow or a winding effect right away, making the sticker look more like the ones used in iOS, and the winding helps the object not to merge with the dark or light background of the chat.

• 📸 Open the photo in the Google Photos app.
• ✂️ Click on the "Edit" button and select the cut tool.
• 💾 Save the result as PNG-file.
• 📤 Send the file to the messenger as an image.

The edge-processing quality in Google Photos often outperforms native tools of Chinese manufacturers, especially when it comes to complex textures like clear glass or fluttering hair.The algorithms are trained on millions of images, making them versatile.

Third-party applications: when staff funds are scarce

There are times when automation goes wrong, and you need complete control of the process of creating the sticker, and then specialized apps from the Google Play Market come to the rescue, and they provide advanced retouching tools, allowing you to manually adjust the highlight mask.

One of the leaders in this niche is the Sticker.ly app, which allows you not only to cut objects, but also to add text signatures, emojis and even create entire sticker sets for WhatsApp and Telegram. The interface of the application is intuitive: you choose a photo, the application offers to cut the object, and you adjust the outline with your finger if necessary.

Another powerful tool is PicsArt, which is a full-fledged graphics editor that can do wonders. PicsArt's Cutout allows you to choose either Human or Subject mode, and then you can use a thin brush to finish or erase the extra areas, which is perfect for complex cases where Xiaomi or Google automation is surrendering.

Using third-party software has one undeniable advantage: batch processing: You can upload 10 photos at once, cut objects and form a ready-made pack to send to friends, which saves time if you need to prepare materials for a channel or group.

Setting up stickers for Telegram and WhatsApp

Just cutting out a picture is half the battle, and to make it work as a full-fledged sticker in messengers, you have to comply with technical requirements, Telegram and WhatsApp have their own design standards, ignoring which will lead to white frames or poor quality.

For Telegram, the ideal format is WebP. This format supports transparency and weighs less than PNG. You can convert your cut-out images to WebP directly from @Stickers bot or using online converters. The image size should be exactly 512x512 pixels, although the sticker creation app often scales them automatically.

WhatsApp is even easier: Sticker.ly or something similar will create a package and suggest adding it to the messenger, but if you do it manually, make sure there is a small padding around the object, otherwise it will overlap when you press the sticker.

• 📐 Keep the size. 512x512 pixels.
• 🖼️ Use the WebP format for better optimization.
• ⚪ Leave a transparent background, do not pour it with color.
• 📦 Combine stickers into packs for easy storage.

It's important to remember the "safe zone." Don't place important image details too close to the edges. In different messengers and on different screens (especially with cutouts or bangs), the edges can be trimmed. Center the object for maximum compatibility.

Quality problems and artifacts of cutting

Even the most advanced algorithms on Xiaomi sometimes fail, and a common problem is the appearance of "noise" or artifacts around the contour of an object, which can look like a thin white or black edge that spoils the impression of the sticker, especially in dark backgrounds in the night mode of messengers.

To avoid artifacts, try to use the original photos in high resolution. If you take a photo from social networks (for example, a screenshot from Instagram), it is already compressed, and the cutting algorithms lack the data to accurately determine the boundaries. Always work with the original file.

⚠️ Attention: When cutting objects with fine details (e.g. wires, threads, mustaches), automation can cut them off.

Another common mistake is to work with translucent objects incorrectly: a glass of water, smoke, glass or veil often cut with the background or become completely transparent, and for such cases, it is better to use professional tools like Photoshop on a PC or advanced PicsArt features where you can adjust the transparency threshold.

💡

The quality of the sticker is 90% dependent on the quality of the original photo, and blurry or noisy images cannot be processed with even the best neural networks.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions