The situation when a gallery on a Xiaomi or Redmi smartphone opens for a few seconds or freezes when you flip through is familiar to many users. It is not just an annoying bug, but a signal that the system lacks resources to process graphical content. Most often the problem lies in crowded cache, excess media files or conflicts of synchronization with cloud services.
Owners of budget models such as Redmi 9, Redmi Note 10 or older versions face this more often because of less productive iron. However, even flagships can suffer from software errors, especially after updating the MIUI shell or HyperOS. Understanding the root cause is the first step to returning performance to your device.
In this article, we will take a closer look at all the possible causes of the Gallery app’s slowdown and suggest proven methods to address them. You don’t need to be an expert in Android to do the proposed actions.
Overflow of cache and temporary files
One of the most common reasons why a gallery takes a long time to load is the bloated cache.The app saves thumbnails (previews) of all the images and videos viewed to speed up their re-display. Over time, this database can reach several gigabytes, which puts a strain on the drive and the processor.
When you open a gallery, the system tries to index that data, which causes a delay. If you rarely clean it up, the index file grows to an inadequate size, and the interface becomes sluggish and the scrolling becomes jittery.
To solve this problem, you have to force the app data to be cleaned, and it won't delete your photos, but it will reset the display settings and delete the temporary preview files. It takes less than a minute, but the effect is noticeable immediately.
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After cleaning the cache, the gallery can work slowly first. 10-15 It's a minute until it re-previews the photos.
To do the cleaning, go to the Settings menu, then select the Apps section and click All Apps. Find the Gallery (or Gallery) list, tap it, and select the Clean option. Here, it is important to choose Clean All or Clear Cache to dump the accumulated garbage.
- 🗑️ Open your phone’s settings and go to the Application Management section.
- 📱 Find the standard Gallery app in the list».
- 💾 Press the data cleanup button and confirm the action.
- 🔄 Restart the device to apply changes.
Problems with cloud synchronization Xiaomi Cloud
The second biggest drag on the gallery is background sync with the Xiaomi Cloud, which, if you have Gallery Sync enabled, is constantly trying to download previews of photos from the cloud or upload new images, and when the Internet is unstable, it can hang the app.
This is especially true if you have thousands of photos in the cloud and you've just logged in or changed your device, and the gallery is trying to build a single folder structure by combining local files and cloud data, which requires computational resources.
⚠️ Note: If the gallery is stuck in the “Download from the cloud” phase, try to temporarily disconnect the Internet. If the application opens quickly, then the problem is in the network request.
To check the sync effect, go to Settings → Xiaomi Account → Xiaomi Cloud → Sync. Try temporarily disabling sync for the gallery and check the speed. If the problem has disappeared, it is worth reviewing the number of synced albums.
Also, when you turn on the “Free space” option, the original photos are deleted from the device, only their reduced copies remain. When you open such a photo, the gallery needs time to download the original in full resolution, which creates the illusion of lags.
Internal memory overflow and fragmentation
Free space on the internal drive is a critical parameter for any operating system, including Android. When free space runs out (less than 10-15%), the speed of writing and reading data drops significantly, and the gallery, which constantly turns to the storage for displaying thumbnails, suffers from this first.
Also, the constant recording and deletion of files (especially high-resolution video) results in fragmentation of data. The file system loses information about the location of the pieces of files, and the processor takes longer to assemble them, especially for models with the type of eMMC memory, which is slower than modern UFS.
Regular file audits are recommended, delete unnecessary screenshots, duplicate photos and old videos, and check the DCIM and MIUI folder, which often accumulate messaging.
☑️ Clearing the phone space
If freeing up space doesn't work manually, you can use the built-in Security tool. The app has a Cleanup feature that finds large files and duplicates. However, manual control is always more effective than automatic control.
Conflicts after the update of MIUI or HyperOS
Often users notice that the gallery began to load for a long time immediately after the system update. New versions of the MIUI or HyperOS shells may contain optimized photo processing algorithms that are heavier for the processor, or have software errors (bugs).
In such cases, the system may not index media files correctly, for example, after an update, the Media Storage database, which is responsible for recognizing all images in the phone, may be lost, and until the system rebuilt this index, the gallery will not work correctly.
Sometimes waiting helps: leave your phone connected to Wi-Fi and charging overnight, the system will try to complete the indexing and optimization of applications in the background, and if the problem persists after a day, there may be a critical error in the new firmware version.
| Symptoms. | Probable cause | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Gallery opens 5-10 seconds | Cache of preview overflowing | Cleaning the application data |
| Photos appear one at a time when scrolling | Lack of RAM (RAM) | Closing of background applications |
| Black squares instead of photos | Error of codecs or format | Update to Google Photos or Galleries |
| Lags after system update | Media Storage Indexing Failure | Waiting or resetting settings |
In rare cases, an update can damage system libraries, and if nothing helps, consider resetting your settings to factory settings, but only after you have created a full backup of important data.
Alternative solutions and third-party applications
If Xiaomi’s standard gallery continues to run slowly even after all the optimizations, it makes sense to consider alternatives: The Google Play store has plenty of lightweight and fast photo-browsing apps that consume fewer resources.
One of the best solutions is Google Photos, which is able to automatically load previews, has great search, and does not require powerful hardware for basic viewing, and it is often pre-installed on the system.
⚠️ Note: When installing a third-party gallery, the system may still offer to open photos through the standard application. To change this, go to the application default settings.
Other popular options include AGallery or F-Stop Gallery, which often run faster than standard solutions because they are not overloaded with the manufacturer's cloud sync functions, and installing such an application can be a great temporary or permanent solution.
How to Change the Default App
It's also worth checking if you have a lot of gallery widgets on your desktop. Each widget is a running process that consumes battery and RAM. Remove the extra widgets to unload the system.
Deep cleaning and resetting settings
When software fails, radical measures are needed: Hard Reset is guaranteed to eliminate any software conflicts that have accumulated over the years, bringing the device back out of the box.
Before doing this, be sure to back up your contacts, messages and photos to your computer or the cloud, and the reset process will delete all user information without any recovery.
To perform the reset, go to Settings → About Phone → Settings Reset → Erase all data. Once rebooted, the phone will work as fast as it could on the first day of purchase.
- 📂 Copy all important photos and documents on PC.
- 🔋 Charge your phone to at least 60%.
- ⚙️ Complete the reset via the settings menu.
- 🚀 Set up your phone as new without restoring your old app backup right away.
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A complete reset is a last resort, but it is more effective than any cleaner if the problem lies in deep system errors.
If the gallery loads for a long time after reset, the problem may be hardware-related, such as flash memory degradation or overheating of the processor, in which case you should contact an authorized service center for diagnosis.