Modern smartphones like Xiaomi or Redmi store huge amounts of data about our communications, and the call log is no exception. Over time, this list can grow to hundreds of records, making it difficult to find the right number and sometimes creating confusion when dialing. Deleting the entire story at once is a useful feature for those who value privacy or just want to clean up their device.
With MIUI and the new HyperOS, the cleaning process may differ from standard Android, offering users more control. In this article, we will explore all the available methods, from banal removal through menus to the use of hidden features and third-party tools, you will learn how to erase entries selectively or completely, and what to do if the log stopped working correctly.
It’s worth noting that cleaning the call log doesn’t remove the contacts themselves from the phone book, but only the history of your interactions with them. This is an important nuance that beginners often miss out on for fear of losing important numbers. Deleting call records is instantaneous and does not require superuser rights (Root), which makes the procedure safe for any smartphone owner.
Standard method of cleaning through the application "Phone"
The most obvious and frequently used method is to work with the built-in call app. MIUI Dialer allows you to manage your history with a lot of flexibility, although the Delete All button is not always visible.
Go to the Journal or Recent tab, which displays a chronological list of all incoming and outgoing connections. To delete a particular entry, it is usually enough to swipe it left or right, but it will take another action to bulk clean it. Press and hold your finger on any entry in the list until the selection menu or checkboxes appear.
Once the highlight mode is activated, an additional toolbar will appear at the top of the screen, and you need to find an All button or a three-dot icon that will open the drop-down menu, and you will have the option to delete everything or Clear the Log, the confirmation of which will permanently erase the selected entries.
- 📱 Open the Phone app and go to the History tab.
- ✋ Press and hold any number to activate Select Mode.
- 🗑️ Click on the All button in the top corner and then select Delete».
- ✅ Confirm the action in the pop-up window to complete the cleanup.
It is important to understand that once confirmed, it will be impossible to recover deleted records through standard system tools. If you accidentally erase an important number that was not saved in contacts, it will only be possible to return it through the details of the carrier or backups if they were created automatically.
Removal through system settings and storage
Sometimes the standard menu of the phone doesn't display all the records or it works with errors, for example, it doesn't highlight the entire list. In these cases, Android system settings come to the rescue, which allow you to manage the application data more deeply, this method is especially useful if the call interface freezes when you try to clean up the mass.
You need to go to the smartphone settings section by looking for Apps or All Apps. In the installed program list, find Phone (often with a green handset icon) and it’s important not to confuse it with Contacts or Telephony, although some firmware versions may combine them.
Inside the app menu, we're interested in the Storage or Memory section, and here you'll see the Clear or Delete button. Attention: using this feature will reset the call app settings to factory settings, which will also clear the call log, but can reset other personalized settings, such as blocking unknown numbers.
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Before clearing the phone app data, make sure that important numbers are saved in the Google or Mi Account cloud, as local settings may be lost.
An alternative way through the system storage sometimes allows you to see the amount of data occupied by the log. If the data size of the Phone application is large, this often indicates a sprawling database of calls. Clearing the cache in this section will not delete the history, so be sure to choose to clean the data if the goal is to delete calls.
⚠️ Attention: Clearing the phone application data through settings can cause resetting of forwarding settings and blocking spam calls. After the procedure, it is recommended to check these parameters manually.
Use of Google Contacts and Synchronization
Many Xiaomi users use Google’s ecosystem to store their data, which provides another history management channel: If sync is enabled on your device, the call log can be duplicated in the cloud, and deleting on your phone doesn’t always clear the cloud copy right away.
To manage your history through your Google account, open the Contacts app (from Google, with a colorful icon) or go to contacts.google.com from your computer. The web interface on the left often has a menu where you can find the Calls section or history, if it syncs with Google services.
However, more often than not, Google Contacts only store the numbers themselves, not the logs of the calls. Call logs can be synced through the App History and Web Pois feature in a Google account. To delete them, you need to go to the Google account settings, the Data and Privacy section, and find My Actions, and you can filter the actions on the Phone product and delete the records en masse.
☑️ Checking Google Syncs
The advantage of this approach is that clearing the history at the account level will prevent it from reappearing on a new device after logging into the same Google account.This is critical for those who often change gadgets or sell an old phone in the care of digital hygiene.
Cleaning through engineering menus and hidden codes
For advanced users looking to get to the deepest settings, there are special codes that open the engineering menu. On Xiaomi smartphones, this menu is often hidden or limited, but basic testing features are available through a standard number set.
The most common code to log into the test menu is ##4636##. By entering it in the dialer, you will be taken to the Verification menu, where you can select Phone Information. Although there is no direct Delete All Calls button here, this section allows you to reset the radio module, which sometimes clears the call error logs, but not the connection history itself.
A more radical method is to use ADB (Android Debug Bridge) from a computer, which requires you to enable USB Debugging in developer mode, and by connecting the phone to a PC, you can execute a command that will forcefully clear the call database.
adb shell pm clear com.android.dialerThis command is similar to manually clearing data through settings, but it is performed remotely. Be careful: executing commands through ADB requires care, as a syntax error can affect other system components. Before using, make sure that the computer has Xiaomi drivers and the ADB platform installed.
What if the code doesn't work?
Comparison of journal cleaning methods
The choice of removal depends on your goals: whether you just need to make room, hide information from prying eyes or completely erase the traces of activity. Different methods have their own characteristics, speed and level of risk.
The table below compares the basic methods discussed in the article so that you can choose the best option for your situation.
| Method | Difficulty | Speed. | Risk of data loss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Through the phone app. | Low. | Tall. | Only the history of the calls. |
| Application settings (Reset) | Medium | Tall. | Resetting the call settings |
| Google Account (Web) | Medium | Medium | Removal from the cloud |
| ADB Teams | Tall. | Instant. | High (in case of errors) |
For most users, the first method is a good one through the application interface, it is secure, intuitive and does not require a computer connection, and the use of ADB or engineering codes is justified only in cases where standard methods do not work due to software failures.
Recovery of remote calls and work with backups
Sometimes you don't have to delete your call history, you have to restore it. If you accidentally clear your log, you only have hope if you've backed it up in advance. Xiaomi does that with Mi Cloud or Google's standard backup.
To check for backup, go to Settings → About Phone → Backup Restore (or through the Security app). If you see the date of the last copy preceding the time of deletion, you can try to restore the data. However, recovery often affects the entire application, returning both the settings and the history at the time of backup creation.
Third-party data recovery apps available in the Play Market often promise miracles, but their effectiveness on modern versions of Android with data encryption is extremely low. Without Root rights, access to the database contacts2.db or calllog.db is closed to scanners.
⚠️ Warning: Don't install questionable "data recovery" software that requires weird permissions. They can steal your contacts and passwords, rather than returning your call history.
If there is no backup, the only official way is to request detail from your mobile operator. In the operator's personal account (MTS, Beeline, MegaFon, Tele2, etc.) the history of all calls over the past 3-6 months is stored. By uploading this report, you can see the numbers and time of calls, although it is no longer possible to restore them as a clickable list in the phone - only transfer it manually.
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Regularly syncing contacts and history with a Google Account is the only reliable way to ensure that data is safe in case of crashes or loss of your phone.