What to remove from Xiaomi Redmi: Safe memory cleanup

Xiaomi Redmi smartphones are known for their price-performance ratio, but even they eventually start to “brake” due to overcrowded memory. Users often face the question: what can you uninstall with Redmi to make room without disrupting the system?

It's important to understand that not all junk files are equally useful, for example, application cache can be deleted without consequences, but system folders /data or /system should not be touched, we will analyze 5 key categories of data that can be safely deleted, and also warn against common errors that lead to failures.

The article is relevant for all Redmi models (including Redmi Note 12/13, Redmi 10/11, POCO X5, etc.) based on MIUI 14/15 and HyperOS. If your smartphone runs on an older version of the firmware, some points may differ - check before action!

1.Applications: What can be removed without consequences

The first thing that comes to mind when cleaning up memory is to remove unnecessary applications, but not all programs are equally useful, for example, Xiaomi system services (like com.miui.securitycenter) can not be deleted, but most preinstalled games and software can be.

List of safe applications to remove:

• 🎮 Xiaomi Games: Mi Game Center, Game Turbo (if you don't play), POCO Launcher Games.
• 📰 News aggregators: Mi Browser, Xiaomi News, GetApps (similar to Play Market).
• 📊 Analytics and tracking: Mi Analytics, User Feedback, MSA (Mobile Services Framework).
• 💼 Business applications: Mi Pay (if you do not use contactless payments), Mi Credit.

How to remove system applications without root rights? Use the ADB command:

adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.weather2

Replace com.miui.weather2 with the package of the desired application. The complete list of packages can be obtained by the command:

adb shell pm list packages | grep 'miui'

⚠️ Note: Deleting Mi Account (com.xiaomi.account) or Security (com.miui.securitycenter) will cause smartphone malfunctions. Also, don’t delete Google Play Services, which will disrupt many apps.

2.Cache and temporary files: how to clean up without harm

Application caches are temporary files that speed up programs, take up gigabytes of memory over time, but can be safely deleted, and unlike applications like saved games, the cache is automatically restored.

How to clear the cache:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Select an app (like YouTube or Chrome).
3. Press Warehouse. → Clear the cache.

For mass cleaning, use the built-in MIUI tool:

• 🧹 Settings → Memory. → Cleaning (remove the cache of all applications).
• 🗑️ Files. → Basket → Clean the cart (if automatic backup is enabled).
• 📁 Files. → Categories → Downloads (remove unnecessary ones) APK, images, documents).

For advanced users, Dalvik cache (*.dex files) can also be cleared via TWRP or command:

adb shell su -c "rm -rf /data/dalvik-cache/*"

After this operation, the smartphone will restart longer than usual (up to 5-10 minutes) - this is normal, the system restores the cache.

3 System Files: What You Can and Can't Touch

The /system, /data, and /vendor folders store critical files, and their accidental deletion can cause a device to "brick" (inoperability), but there are a few exceptions:

To clean the logs, use the command:

adb shell su -c "find /data/log -type f -mtime +7 -delete"

This command will delete files older than 7 days in the /data/log folder.

⚠️ Note: Do not delete files with the.odex or.vdex extension in the folder /system — These are optimized versions of applications, without them, programs will not run.

4. Multimedia: how to free up space from photos and videos

Photos and videos take up the lion's share of memory on Redmi, and you can optimize their storage in several ways:

• 📸 Google Photos: Enable automatic download in "high quality" (free, compressing up to 16 MP for photos).
• ☁️ Mi Cloud: sync media files with Xiaomi’s cloud (5GB for free).
• 🗃️ Local folders: transfer files to SD-card (if supported) or external drive.
• 🎥 Video compression: Use apps like Video Compress to reduce the size of your videos.

How to find and remove duplicate photos:

1. Open the gallery. → Albums. → Duplicate.
2. Click Remove duplicates (the feature is available in MIUI 14+).
3. For deep cleaning, use Files by Google (scans even hidden folders).

If you shoot 4K or 60 FPS videos frequently, try lowering the resolution to 1080p in the camera settings. The difference in quality is minimal, and space is saved significantly.

💡

Before mass deleting a photo, back up your PC or cloud. Use Windows/macOS Explorer or Mi PC Suite for quick transfer.

5. Updates and firmware: how to delete unnecessary files

System system MIUI Stores update files in the folder /data/ota_package. After installing the firmware, they stay and occupy up to 2-3 GB space. They can be safely removed:

• 📦 Go to the Files. → Internal memory. → ota_package.
• 🗑️ Delete files with the.zip extension (for example, miui_*.zip).
• 🔄 Reboot your smartphone (optional, but recommended).

If you use custom firmware (like LineageOS or Pixel Experience), clean the /sdcard/TWRP folder – it stores backups and recovery logs.

⚠️ Note: Do not delete files from the folder /cache manually, this can disrupt the update process. To clean the update cache, use the command: adb shell rm -rf /cache/*

If you want to roll back to the previous version of MIUI, don't delete the firmware file until the downgrade process is complete, otherwise you'll have to download it again.

6. cache of Google Play and other services

Google’s Play Market, Play Services, Chrome services are actively using cache and temporary files, and can be cleaned without harming the work:

• 🛒 Google Play Market: Open Settings → Annexes → Google Play Store → Storage. Click Clear cache and Delete data (you will have to log in again).
• 🌐 Google Chrome: Enter the address bar chrome://settings/clearBrowserData. Select cached images and files → Delete the data.

Google Play Services

1. Clear the cache in the application settings.
2. Do not delete data – this can disrupt the work of Google services!

Also check the /sdcard/Tencent/MicroMsg/backup folder, where WeChat stores backups of chats. If you don't use the messenger, you can delete the folder completely.

⚠️ Note: If you use Titanium Backup or other third-party backup utilities, their files may be stored in the /sdcard/TitaniumBackup. Remove only backups you don’t need (e.g. older versions of apps).

FAQ: Frequent questions about Xiaomi Redmi cleanup