الصورة الشخصية متل صورة امي.

It can mean either, depending on context.

In everyday modern usage, الصورة الشخصية often means profile picture / display picture, especially online.
More literally, it means the personal photo.

So if this sentence appears in a social-media or messaging context, a native speaker would very likely understand it as the profile picture.

Because in Arabic, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe.

So:

• صورة = picture/photo
• شخصية = personal

Together:

• صورة شخصية = a personal photo
• الصورة الشخصية = the personal photo / the profile picture

This is the normal Arabic word order: noun + adjective, not adjective + noun as in English.

Because Arabic adjectives agree with the noun in definiteness.

If the noun is definite, the adjective also has to be definite.

So:

• صورة شخصية = a personal photo
• الصورة الشخصية = the personal photo

Here, الصورة is definite, so الشخصية must also be definite.

متل means like or similar to.

It is very common in Levantine Arabic and is used to compare two things:

• X متل Y = X is like Y

So in this sentence, متل is linking:

• الصورة الشخصية and
• صورة أمي

It is a very natural Levantine word. In Modern Standard Arabic, you are more likely to see مثل.

Because in Arabic, the verb to be is usually omitted in the present tense.

So a sentence like this does not need a separate word for is:

• الصورة الشخصية متل صورة أمي

Literally, it is something like:

• the profile picture like my mother’s picture

But naturally in English, we say:

• The profile picture is like my mother’s picture

This is completely normal Arabic grammar.

If you wanted was, will be, and so on, then Arabic would usually use a verb.

This is a possession / attachment structure, often called iḍāfa.

It works like this:

• صورة = picture
• أمي = my mother

Together:

• صورة أمي = my mother’s picture or a picture of my mother

Arabic often expresses of or ’s relationships just by putting two nouns next to each other.

So instead of saying something like picture of my mother with a separate word for of, Arabic simply says:

• صورة أمي

Because the final ة in صورة is a taa marbuuTa.

When the word stands alone, it is usually pronounced like -a or -e at the end:

• صورة = suura / soora

But when it is followed by another word in a structure like صورة أمي, that ending is pronounced as t:

• صورة أمي = suurat emmi / soorit emmi

So the spelling stays صورة, but the pronunciation changes when the grammar connects it to the next word.

Because Levantine pronunciation is different from formal Modern Standard Arabic.

In Levantine, أم is commonly pronounced more like imm or emm, so:

• أمي is often pronounced immi or emmi

Also, in casual writing, people may write امي without the hamza, even though the formal spelling is أمي.

So you may see:

• أمي
• امي

and hear something like:

• emmi / immi

All of that is normal in colloquial Levantine usage.

Yes, متل is especially common in Levantine Arabic.

Some related forms are:

• متل = very common in Levantine
• مثل = the more formal / standard form
• زي = common in Egyptian Arabic

So if you are learning Levantine, متل is absolutely the natural choice here.

A natural Levantine-style pronunciation would be approximately:

es-soora esh-shakhsiyye mitl soorit emmi

A few things are happening there:

• الـ in الصورة sounds like es- because ص is a sun letter
• الـ in الشخصية sounds like esh- because ش is also a sun letter
• صورة أمي is pronounced more like soorit emmi because the ة turns into a pronounced t in this structure

So the written sentence is:

الصورة الشخصية متل صورة أمي

but the natural spoken form sounds closer to:

es-soora esh-shakhsiyye mitl soorit emmi

In normal Arabic spelling, no.

You still write:

• صورة أمي

not:

• صورت أمي

Even though you pronounce it with a t sound, the spelling usually keeps the ة form.

So:

• Written: صورة أمي
• Pronounced: soorit emmi or suurat emmi

This is very common with words ending in ة.