Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphones sooner or later face an unpleasant situation: the storage is crowded, but on detailed analysis it becomes clear that the lion’s share of space is occupied by the mysterious category “Other”. The system shows that photos and apps take up little, and the free space is rapidly melting. This causes confusion and irritation, since the user does not understand where exactly gigabytes are disappearing.
In fact, this partition is not a system bug or a virus. The other is a hodgepodge of temporary files, application cache, residual data after deleted programs and system logs. Understanding the structure of this category will allow you to effectively manage the space without using questionable software-cliners.
In this article, we will discuss exactly what the volume of this folder is made of, why it can grow to 10-20 GB and what safe methods exist for cleaning it on the shell of MIUI or HyperOS.
The Anatomy of the Other: What’s Hiding There
When you see a memory band where "Other" takes up more space than all your photos and videos, it usually means a buildup of cached data. The apps you use every day (browsers, social media, navigators) save temporary files to speed up work. Over time, these files cease to be useful, but the system does not delete them automatically.
Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber have a habit of storing all the images and videos viewed into hidden folders, which a standard memory analyzer often refers to as “Other” if you are in dozens of channels and chats, the amount of such “junk” can reach tens of gigabytes.
- 📂 App cache: temporary files that speed up content loading.
- 📦 Residual files: data from remote programs that have not been completely erased.
- 📝 System Logs: Error and System Reports that Pile Up Months.
- 🎵 Downloaded content: offline music and maps from navigators.
⚠️ Warning: Do not attempt to delete files from system folders through root-righted file managers unless you are sure of their purpose. MIUI.
Also in this category are often files that the system cannot identify as media or documents, such as archives, APK installation packages, or game data that are not clearly classified.
The impact of messengers on memory bloating
The main culprits in filling up storage on Xiaomi smartphones are messengers, which involve saving media files for quick re-view, but unlike some other OS, Android and HyperOS shell do not always correctly display the size of the messenger database in the standard category of “Apps”.
For example, Telegram stores the cache in a separate directory that can weigh more than the app itself. If you actively watch videos on Favorites or channels, the cache grows uncontrollably, the same goes for WhatsApp, which stores copies of files sent and received even if you have already deleted them from the chat.
To clean up, you have to go to the settings of the app itself. In Telegram, the path looks like this: Settings → Data and memory → Memory Use. Here you can see the exact size of the cache and clean it. It's important to understand that cleaning the cache will not delete your correspondence, but will cause the application to re-download images when you re-view it.
Why doesn't the cache clear itself?
It is recommended to set a cache size limit in the messenger settings. This will prevent the situation when the “Other” suddenly takes 15 GB. It is also worth turning off auto-save to the gallery for group chats, where heavy videos are often dropped.
System Files and Firmware Updates
Another big part of The Other is the operating system itself, and after every major MIUI or HyperOS update, the device has the installation packages and backups of the older versions, just in case the new update turns out to be buggy and you need to roll back, but in normal mode, these files only take up space.
It also keeps detailed logs, and if an application is constantly producing errors, the log file can grow indefinitely, and in some cases, users have experienced a situation where a single log file takes up several gigabytes, which is a clear anomaly.
| Type of data | Where to find | Can be removed | Risks. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash updates. | /data/ota_package | Yes. | Not (if the system is working) |
| Logs of debugging | /data/log | Yes. | Low. |
| Temporary files | /data/tmp | Yes. | No. |
| Databases | Inside the app folders | Careful. | High (data loss) |
Access to system folders often requires extended rights or an ADB connection. It is best for the average user to limit himself to standard cleaning tools so as not to compromise the integrity of system files.
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Rebooting the smartphone every 2-3 days helps the system automatically reset some temporary files and close the frozen processes that occupy memory.
Using Xiaomi's built-in cleaner
Every Xiaomi smartphone has a Security app preinstalled, which is not just an antivirus, but a powerful harvester to maintain the system, and the built-in Cleanup tool can find a significant portion of the garbage that is classified as Other.
When you start scanning, the system analyzes the files and suggests removing the "junk." However, standard cleaning is often superficial. To get to the deep deposits, you need to click on the "Clean" button and then look closely at the additional categories that appear below, such as "Large files" or "Dublicates."
- 🧹 Deep Cleanup: Finds Old Installation Files and Unnecessary Packages.
- 📸 Photo analysis: looking for similar pictures and screenshots that can be removed.
- 📱 Application Management: Shows which programs take up the most space.
It's important to trust automation. Always check the contents before you delete them. Sometimes, the big files contain important documents or downloaded maps for navigation.
☑️ Safe cleaning algorithm
⚠️ Attention: The Acceleration feature in Task Manager often just restarts processes, which can temporarily increase battery consumption.
Manual cleaning through the conductor
For advanced users, the way to do this is to manually analyze through the built-in Explorer, which allows you to see the real folder structure, go to the Analysis section (or Folders), sort by size, and look for folders with the names of applications that you haven't used in a long time.
Pay special attention to the Android/data folder. This is where the app data is stored. If you delete a game but the cache folder (often a few gigabytes) is still there, you can delete it. Also check the Download folder, which often accumulates forgotten files from the browser.
Use file extension search. Search.apk to find all installers, or.log to find reports. Deletion of these files is safe for the system to work.
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Manually checking Download and Android/data folders allows you to free up to 30% of the space that standard cleaners often ignore.
Radical measures: Resetting and formatting
If the Other takes up a critical amount of space (e.g., 40-50GB of 64GB of storage) and doesn’t shrink after all the cleanings, it’s possible that the file system is corrupted or there’s an indexing error, in which case only a radical solution helps.
The first step is a complete factory reset (Settings → About Phone → Settings Reset) that will delete all data and return the system to a “out of the box” state. Before you do that, make sure to back up to the Xiaomi Cloud or your computer.
If even after the reset, the problem returns instantly, it may indicate a physical malfunction of the memory module, in which cases the phone may not correctly display the free space, and a replacement of the drive or motherboard at the service center is required.