What is the memory on Xiaomi: a full analysis and ways to free up space

Have you noticed that your Xiaomi, Redmi, or POCO suddenly ran out of space, even though you barely installed anything? Or your phone says "Memory is full" even though there are only a couple of photos in the gallery? This problem is familiar to many MIUI device owners -- the operating shell from Xiaomi is known for its "appetite" to storage. But what exactly eats precious gigabytes, and how to regain control of memory?

In this article, we’ll take a look at what memory is doing on Xiaomi smartphones, including hidden system files, app cache, and the “garbage” that accumulates over time. You’ll learn how to check memory allocation through built-in MIUI tools, which files can be safely deleted and which ones should not be touched, and most importantly, get step-by-step cleaning instructions without risking losing important data.

Spoiler: It's often not your photos that are to blame, but automatic MIUI updates, duplicate files from the Mi Cloud service, and aggressive caching of system applications, but everything in order.

1.How to check what memory is occupied on Xiaomi

Before you clean it, you have to figure out what's taking up space. MIUI has a built-in memory analyzer, but it doesn't always show the full picture. Here's how to get the most detailed information possible:

Open Settings → About Phone → Memory. Here you will see a pie chart with the distribution by category: System Data, Applications, Multimedia, and Other Files. Click on any category to see details. For example, under Apps, you can sort programs by size and see which ones take up the most space (often Facebook, TikTok, or Google Play Services).

For a deeper analysis, we recommend using third-party utilities:

• 🔍 Files by Google – shows junk files, duplicates and large media files.
• 📊 SD Maid (requires root permissions for full scanning) – finds residual files after deleting applications.
• 📁 DiskUsage – visualizes occupied space in the form of an interactive map.

⚠️ Note: If the "System Data" section is more 10-15 GB on a device with 64/128 GB of memory is not normal. It may be that the system created error dumps (.dmp or.log files) after crashes, and can be manually deleted through a root file manager or factory reset.

2. Top.-5 "Memory Eaters on Xiaomi

Research shows that on Xiaomi devices, the main culprits of crowded memory are usually the same.

Especially insidious updates MIUI. The system saves firmware packets in a folder downloaded_rom, But it doesn't always remove them after installation. 5–10 GB of unnecessary files. And the cache of Google Play Services often inflates to giant sizes due to synchronization errors.

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If you see a MIUI/extra folder that's a few gigabytes in size, these are backups before the updates, and you can delete them if the update is successful.

MIUI System Files: What Can Be Deleted and What Cannot Be Deleted

MIUI is known for creating a lot of utility files, many of which become useless over time, but it's dangerous to delete everything, it can crash.

• 🗑️ folder MIUI/bug_report — This is where you store your error reports, and you can delete everything except the current logs (if the phone is stable).
• 📁 folder MIUI/screen_recorder — Temporary screen recording files, often left behind after interrupted recording.
• 🔄 folder MIUI/backup/AllBackup — old backups. Leave only the last one.
• 📱 folder Android/obb — game cache (e.g, PUBG You can delete it, but you'll have to download it again.

Here's what you can't touch:

• 🚫 folder MIUI/system — shell-file.
• 🚫 folder MIUI/stability — data for stability diagnosis.
• 🚫 Files with.odex or.vdex extension in /system.

⚠️ Note: If you delete the folder MIUI/theme, All user themes and fonts will be reset, and you can only restore them through Mi Account if synchronization has been enabled.

folder downloaded_rom (except for the current update)|Cash Google Play Services|Old backups in AllBackup|Temporary files screen_recorder|Duplicate photos in Mi Cloud-->

4. App cache: how to clean properly

Cache is a temporary file that apps create to speed up work, and over time it grows to incredible sizes, for example, Instagram cache can take 1-2 GB, and Google Play Store — up to 500 MB. But you need to clean it wisely.

Method 1: Manual cleaning

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Select an app (like Facebook) and click Memory → Clear cache.
3. To clean up completely, click Clear Data, but note: this will reset all the settings of the application (you will log out of your account).

Method 2: Automatic cleaning

MIUI has a built-in tool: Settings → Memory → Cleanup. Here, the system will suggest removing unnecessary files, including cache, temporary data, and empty folders. However, this tool does not always find everything — for example, it can skip the cache of system applications.

For advanced users: if you want to clear the cache of all apps at once, you can use it. ADB-team:

adb shell pm trim-caches 1G

This command will clear the cache to a size of 1 GB (you can specify another limit).

5. Cloud Services: Why Mi Cloud and Google Photos Duplicate Files

One of the most common reasons for Xiaomi’s memory shortage is automatic sync with Mi Cloud and Google Photos, which not only upload your files to the cloud, but often save local copies of them, creating duplicates.

How it works:

• 📸 Google Photos in default settings can save “Original Quality” by taking up space in the cloud and on the device.
• ☁️ Mi Cloud automatically creates a folder with copies of photos, even if the originals are already in the gallery.
• 🔄 When editing photos (for example, in Google Photos) additional versions of files are created.

How to fix it:

1. Open Google Photos, go to Settings → Backup and Sync, and select “High Quality” (unlimited storage) instead of “Original Quality.”
2. In Settings → Device Memory → Memory Management, click Clear Duplicates (available in MIUI 12+).
3. Turn off autoload in Mi Cloud: Settings → Accounts → Mi Cloud → Gallery Sync.

⚠️ Note: If you turn off sync with Mi Cloud, all files that were only in the cloud (and not stored locally) will become unavailable.

6 Hidden MIUI features to optimize memory

MIUI has some hidden tools that help make room, but not everyone knows about them.

• 🧹 Deep Cleanup: Go to Settings → Memory. → Deep Cleanup: This is where the system scans the device for unnecessary files, including remnants of deleted applications and temporary data.
• 🔄 Storage optimization: In the same Memory section, there is an option to Optimize. It brings rarely used applications to sleep mode, freeing up RAM and reducing background storage consumption.
• 📦 Light Mode: In Settings → Special facilities → Light mode can enable a simplified interface that reduces the use of system resources (useful on weak devices like Redmi). 5A or Redmi 7).
• 🔍 Search for large files: The standard Files app has a filter by size. Sort files by descending - often forgotten videos are found in the file. 4K or ISO-imagery.

Another little-known feature: if you have Xiaomi with support for virtual memory (RAM Expansion), it can be turned off to free up 1-3 GB of internal storage. To do this, go to Settings → Additional → Expansion of memory and reduce the amount of virtual RAM to a minimum (or turn off altogether).

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Regular cache cleaning and disabling autoload media in instant messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp) can free up to 5-7 GB of memory in a few months.

7.Extreme measures: reset to factory settings

If all the methods are tried and the memory is still full of no one knows what, then there's a hard reset, which will delete all the data from the device, including the system debris, but all your files too.

1. Make a backup through Settings → Additional → Backup and Reset → Local Backup.
2. Copy important files (photos, videos, documents) to your PC or cloud.
3. Remember or save passwords from accounts (they will erase!).

To reset, go to Settings → About Phone → Reset and select Erase All Data. Once rebooted, the device will be as new.

⚠️ Note: Some Xiaomi models (e.g. Redmi Note 8 Pro) POCO X3) After reset, you may need to re-assign your Mi Account to unlock.Make sure you remember your login and password!

If the memory is refilled quickly after the reset, the problem may be in the corrupted file system, in which case only flashing through Fastboot or Mi Flash Tool will help.

FAQ: Frequent questions about memory on Xiaomi