Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face a nasty situation: the internal memory of the device is full, but standard analysis of storage does not give answers. The system shows that photos, videos and applications occupy only a small part, and the lion’s share is given to the mysterious category “Other”, which can grow to tens of gigabytes, causing the interface to slow down and inability to install new updates.
Understanding the nature of this partition is the first step to optimizing your Android device. Unlike the obvious categories like Gallery or Apps, the Other section is a collection of disparate data that the system cannot automatically classify, including temporary files, remnants of remote programs, messenger cache and system logs.
In this article, we will take a closer look at what this volume is made of, why it grows so fast on the shell of MIUI or HyperOS, and provide safe, proven methods for freeing up space.
The Anatomy of the Other: What’s Hiding There
The Other category is a kind of black box of the Android file system. When the operating system can't assign a file a standard type (like an image or audio recording), it puts it in this section. The main culprit is usually the app cache. Social media and instant messengers save thousands of thumbnails, voice messages and temporary data for fast download.
In addition, it often stores offline maps of navigators, uploaded movies on streaming services and backups of chats, sometimes files that are left after deleting applications fall into this category, the system sees that the file is busy with a process or has a specific format, and classifies it as other data.
⚠️ Note: Not all files in the Other section are garbage. Blindly deleting system folders can cause some programs to malfunction or lose settings.
System logs and error reports are a special feature. If Xiaomi was out of order, it could store detailed debugging reports that are large, and large download files can also be accessed if a user downloaded documents or installers. APK-files via browser.
Automatic cleaning with standard Xiaomi tools
Before you go to any drastic measures, you should use the built-in shell tools. Xiaomi smartphones have a Security app that includes cleaning functionality, which can find obvious temporary files and remnants of remote applications.
To start the procedure, you need to open the Security application and select the Cleanup item, the system will analyze the storage and suggest removing the debris found, but this method is often superficial and does not affect the deep caches of messengers, which form the basis of the category “Other”.
You can do a deeper analysis through the storage settings. Go to Settings → About Phone → Storage. Here's the memory visualization system. By clicking on the "Other" category, you can sometimes see a breakdown of the applications that consume the most space in this section.
☑️ Basic cleaning through settings
Therefore, before mass deletion, always check the contents of the folders, if the interface allows you to do this.
Manual cleaning of the cache of messengers and social networks
The most effective way to reduce the volume of the Other is to work with messengers. Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber have their own built-in memory management tools that work more efficiently than system cleaners, and this is where gigabytes of video and photos are most often hidden.
On Telegram, you need to go to Settings → Data and Memory → Memory Use. Here you will see the Cached Data slider. By clicking Clear Cache, you will free up space, but you will not delete any correspondence or media files — they will be re-downloaded from the cloud if necessary.
For WhatsApp, the path is a little different: Settings → Data and Storage → Storage Management. The app will show the chats that take up the most space and let you delete large videos or files selectively. It's a secure method that won't affect text history of messages.
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In Telegram, you can install automatic cache cleaning when you reach a certain size (for example, 500 MB) so that the memory overflow problem does not return.
Remember to check the Downloads folder in the file manager. Often installation files get there. APK, PDF-Documents and archives that the system classifies as "Other" because they are not media files, and removing old installers is a quick way to get free space.
Finding and Deleting Hidden Folders Through Explorer
For advanced users, manual revision is available through the built-in File Explorer. Many applications create their folders at the root of internal memory or along the Android/data path. This is where heavy files are often hidden that are not visible when you normally view a gallery.
Notice folders with app names that you haven't used in a long time, like the.thumbnails folder in the DCIM directory can grow to a huge size, this is a gallery sketch cache, and you can safely delete it, and the system will create a new one the next time you open the photo album.
| Folder/Directory | Description of the contents | Can I remove it? |
|---|---|---|
| DCIM/.thumbnails | Cash miniature photos | Yeah (safe) |
| Android/data/../cache | Temporary application files | Yeah (but the cache will recover) |
| MIUI/debug_log | Logs of system debugging | Yeah (unless it's debugging) |
| Tencent/MicroMsg | WeChat data (cache) | Careful (inside the annex) |
When working with the Android directory, be extremely careful. Deleting the obb folder can cause games to stop running and require re-uploading data. Only delete the contents of the cache folders inside the directories of specific applications.
Why the folder Android/data hidden on the new Android?
Using ADB for deep cleaning of the system
If standard methods don't work, you can use the Android Debug Bridge (ADB), which requires you to connect your smartphone to your computer and remove files that are not accessible to normal applications, a powerful tool for power users.
To start, you need to enable USB debugging. Go to Settings → About Phone and seven times click on the build number to activate Developer Mode. Then, in the “Additional” or “Extended Settings” menu, find Debugging over USB and turn it on.
adb shell pm clear com.android.browserThis command, for example, will completely clear the browser data, and you can do the same with other system components by changing the packet name, but using ADB carries risks: an incorrect command can lead to resetting or deleting system files.
⚠️ Attention: Use of teams ADB To remove system applications or files can lead to a “bricking” of the device or a cyclical reboot.
Before executing any commands through ADB, it is recommended to make a full backup of important data, which allows you to get to the deepest layers of the file system, which can not be penetrated by a standard file manager.
Radical measures: Resetting to factory settings
When the volume of the Other becomes critical and no cleaning methods help, the last option is a complete reset, which will return the phone to the “out of the box” state, removing absolutely all data, including hidden debris that cannot be found manually.
Before resetting, be sure to back up your contacts, photos and documents to the Mi Cloud or your computer. The process is irreversible: once it is complete, it will be impossible to recover deleted files without a backup.
To perform the reset, go to Settings → About Phone → Reset. Select Erase All Data. The system will warn of the consequences and request an unlock password. Once the reboot is done, the phone will be clean and the Bottom category will disappear as the memory will be empty.
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A full reset is a nuclear option, guaranteed to solve the memory problem, but it takes time to reset the phone and install apps.
After reset, don't be in a hurry to install all the apps at once. Try using your phone for a couple of days in a clean form, which will help you understand which app will cause the garbage to grow in the future if the problem happens again.