Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphones often face a situation where the internal memory is full, and the system shows the mysterious category “Other files”. It can take up tens of gigabytes, although the user has not downloaded as many movies or games. Understanding what is hidden under this name is the first step to optimizing the device.
This partition in the repository is not a bug, but a system dump for data that the analyzer could not classify as music, photos, apps or documents. Cleaning this partition requires caution, since there may be both temporary debris and important messenger caches. Let's figure out how to safely remove excess.
What is hidden in the “Others” section
The Other or Other category in the MIUI and HyperOS shell is a collection of data, including cached data from social networks, remnants of deleted applications, temporary system update files and program logs, and it is often messengers like Telegram or WhatsApp that inflate this partition into obscene size.
The system analyzer can’t always determine the type of file if it has a non-standard extension or is stored in a hidden application folder. For example, downloaded maps for navigation or offline tracks for listening to music in streaming services often fall here.
Don’t panic if the volume of Other Files has increased dramatically since the system upgrade, temporary installer files can remain in memory until the first full reboot or manual cleaning, however, if the volume growth is constant and uncontrolled, it is a signal of a buildup of digital debris.
⚠️ Note: Do not attempt to delete files from system folders through root-righted file managers without understanding their purpose).
Use of built-in cleaner
The easiest and safest way to start the fight for space is to use the regular Security app, which is pre-installed on all brand devices and has access to system areas closed to third-party programs. Launch the application and select Cleanup.
After scanning, the system will suggest removing obvious debris: advertising caches, remnants of deleted applications and temporary files. Press the clean button. For more in-depth analysis, go to the Deep Clean section, where you can selectively delete large files or duplicates.
☑️ Checking before cleaning
It's important to understand that the built-in tool doesn't always see the messenger cache because it considers it user data, so after a standard cleaning, the Others section may decrease slightly.
- 📱 Launch the Security application from the Tools folder».
- 🧹 Press the Clean button and wait for the analysis to be completed.
- 🗑️ Select categories to remove and confirm the action.
- 🔄 Restart the device to apply changes.
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Periodically run a deep cleaning every 1-2 weeks to prevent a critical proliferation of system debris that slows down the interface.
Analysis of storage through settings
More detailed information about what takes up space can be obtained through system settings. Go to the Settings menu → Memory. This is a visualization of the space that's occupied. If you click on a specific category, you'll see a list of the apps that take up the most space.
Pay attention to applications with a lot of data. Often they're social networks or video services. When you click on an application like this, you'll be taken to the management menu, where you can select Clear Data or Clear Cache. Clearing the cache is safe and will only delete temporary files, whereas clearing the data will reset the application to the state of the first installation.
If you use Xiaomi with an SD card, make sure that the camera and bootloader settings indicate saving media files to an external medium, which will prevent overflowing internal memory, which is faster but limited in scope.
Some versions of MIUI have a feature called "Memory Extension," which is part of the internal storage for virtual RAM, and disabling this feature in the Memory Extension settings can free up several gigabytes if you have enough physical RAM.
Clearing messenger cache
The lion’s share of Other Files is chat media. Telegram, Viber and WhatsApp messengers, by default, store all the photos and videos they receive in the phone’s memory, and to fix this, you need to go to the settings of the app itself.
On Telegram, the path is: Settings → Data and memory → Memory Use → Clear cache. Here you can set up autodelete cache in, say, 3 days or a week, this is a critical setting for active users.
WhatsApp uses the same procedure: Settings → Data and Storage → Storage Management. The system will show the most “heavy” chats. You can selectively delete media files from specific dialogues without losing your correspondence history.
| Annex | The path to cleanup | Safe for correspondence? | Impact on volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| Telegram | Settings → Data and memory | Yes. | High (up to 10 GB+) |
| Settings → Storage | Yes (unless you delete the base) | Medium (up to 5GB) | |
| Viber | More. → Settings → Memory. | Yes. | Medium (up to 3 GB) |
| Phone settings → Appendix | Yeah (cache only) | Low/Mediocre |
⚠️ Note: When clearing the messenger data (not the cache, but the data), you will log out of the account, and the correspondence history can be deleted if a backup to the cloud was not made.
Working with Android folder and hidden garbage
In newer versions of Android, access to the Android/data folder is restricted to third-party file managers for security reasons, but this is where heavy caches of games and applications often hide.
Look for folders with app names you haven't used in a long time, like the com.spotify.music folder that can store gigabytes of offline music, and removing the contents of those folders will make room, but it will require you to re-download the content the next time you run the app.
Should I delete the folder.thumbnails?
Also worth checking is the Download folder, which often downloads APK installation files, documents and images from browsers that are no longer needed, and sorting files by size will help you quickly find heavyweights.
- 📂 Open the conductor and go to the root of internal memory.
- 🔍 Find folders with names of remote applications.
- ❌ Remove the contents of cache folders inside application directories.
- 📉 Check the folder. DCIM/.thumbnails hysterically.
Resetting settings as a radical method
If none of the methods worked and the Other Files category continues to grow, occupying the lion’s share of memory, it is possible that critical file system errors have accumulated in the system, in which case the only effective solution is a complete reset to factory settings.
Before you do this, make sure to back up all your important data. Reset will delete everything: contacts, photos, apps and settings. Phone will go back out of the box.
To perform the reset, go to Settings → About Phone → Settings Reset → Erase all data. The process will take 5 to 15 minutes. Once turned on, you will get a clean system where the Others category will be minimal.
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A complete reset is the only way to ensure that you remove system debris that cannot be removed by regular means, but it takes time to reconfigure the device.
⚠️ Warning: Make sure the battery charge is at least 50-60%, Or better, connect the device to the charger, interrupting the reset process can damage the memory partitions.
Prevention of memory overflow
To keep the Other Files problem from returning, you need to develop a digital hygiene habit: regularly check the storage and delete the unnecessary. Use cloud services like Google Photos or Xiaomi Cloud to automatically upload media files.
Turn off autoloading media in mobile data messengers. Not only will it save memory, it will also save traffic. Set up automatic cache cleaning in apps where possible.
Keep an eye out for MIUI/HyperOS updates. Often, new firmware versions optimize the file system and fix memory leakage bugs. The latest version of the software is a guarantee of stable operation.
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Use the Memory widget on your desktop to always see the current status of the free space and respond quickly to its shortage.