Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphones often face a frustrating situation: the device’s memory is full, although the gallery has few photos and only the most necessary applications are installed. A detailed analysis of the storage reveals that the lion’s share of space, sometimes up to 20-30 GB, is occupied by the mysterious “Other” category, which becomes a kind of “digital attic”, where the MIUI operating system and HyperOS put everything that they could not identify as standard photos, videos or application installation files.
This amount of garbage can cause a serious slowdown in the interface, problems with installing updates, and the inability to take new pictures. System cache can grow exponentially, especially if you are actively using messengers or streaming services. In this article, we will discuss safe and effective cleaning methods that will help you return gigabytes of free space without losing important data.
Don't panic and run for a factory reset, and in most cases, the problem is solved by manually cleaning specific directories and using built-in optimization tools. Understanding the structure of the Android file system will allow you to take control of the storage in your own hands.
The Anatomy of the Other: What’s Hiding There
Before you start deleting, you need to clearly understand what this volume is formed from. The “Other” category is a hodgepodge, which includes the cache of installed applications, remnants of remote programs, system process logs, offline maps, downloaded playlists from music and, of course, files from instant messengers. Telegram and WhatsApp often become the main culprits, as they save all the media files viewed into hidden folders that the system does not see as part of the application.
Also, a significant part is occupied by temporary MIUI update files, which were not deleted automatically after installing a new firmware version, as well as thumbnails from the gallery, browser data and backups. Android by its nature does not always effectively manage this data, allowing it to accumulate for months. Without regular prevention, the folder can grow to critical size.
⚠️ Note: Before any manipulation of system files is strongly recommended to back up important data. Deleting system files from the Android folder can lead to malfunctioning of applications.
Special attention should be paid to the cache of streaming services like Spotify, YouTube or Netflix. If you listen to music online or watch videos, the app stores buffered data to speed up loading when you re-watch, over time, this buffer can take up several gigabytes, remaining invisible to the average user in the standard storage menu.
Clearing the messenger cache: Telegram and WhatsApp
The fastest way to free up space is to work with messengers, as they are the leaders in the consumption of disk space in the category “Other”. Telegram has a convenient cache management system that allows you to delete temporary files without affecting correspondence. To do this, go to Settings → Data and memory → Memory Use. Here you will see the total size of the cache and you can clear it with a single button.
For WhatsApp, the procedure is slightly different and requires a more careful approach through the file manager, since the built-in cleanup is not always effective against the Other. You need to find the Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Media folder. Inside are the WhatsApp Images, WhatsApp Video and others subfolders. It is the files from the Private folder that often take up the most space, but you need to delete them carefully.
- 📱 Telegram: Go to settings, select Data and Memory, then Memory Use, and click Clear Cache. You can also set autodelete.
- 💬 WhatsApp: Use the built-in “Storage Management” feature in chat settings or delete files manually through Explorer.
- 🗑️ Viber: In the application settings, find the Memory option where you can delete cache and media files from the dialogs.
- 📂 File Manager: Manually check the folders of messengers for heavy files that you have already saved to the gallery.
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In Telegram, enable the “Auto-Delete Media” function in your cache settings, which will allow the app to automatically delete files you haven’t opened in the last 3 days, 1 week or 1 month.
It is important to understand the difference between cleaning the cache and cleaning the data. Clearing the cache is secure and only deletes temporary files. Clearing the data (or deleting the application) will result in the loss of all correspondence history if it is not stored in the cloud. So for instant messengers, always use the internal cleanup menu, not the “clean” button in the Android app settings.
☑️ Checklist of cleaning messengers
Working with a File Manager: Finding Hidden Folders
The standard Explorer (Mi File Manager) or the more advanced Files by Google will help you find what is hidden from view. You need to enable the display of hidden files (usually this is done through the Explorer settings menu where you need to check the “Hidden Files” box). After that, you can see folders that start from a point, for example,.thumbnails. This folder contains thumbnails of all the images and videos viewed and can grow to huge sizes.
Find the MIUI folder in the root directory and the gallery is > cloud inside it. You can store deleted photos that have not yet been erased, or sketches, and you can check the Android/data folder. It stores application data, including the cache of games and programs. However, in modern versions of Android (11 and above), access to this folder is limited, and it may require a third-party file manager with special rights to clean it.
The way to check: /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/When deleting files from your Android/data folder, be extremely careful: Deleting a folder with the name of a particular application (for example, com.spotify.music) will reset the settings of this application or delete downloaded music. Only delete folders that you know exactly belong to or that are related to already deleted applications.
How to access the Android/data folder on Android 11+?
System settings and cleaning through “Security”
In the MIUI and HyperOS shell, there's a built-in Security app that has a fairly powerful toolkit for primary cleaning, run the app, select Cleanup, and the system will analyze the device and suggest that you remove the garbage, but standard cleaning is often superficial.
For a deeper analysis inside the Security app, go to Memory or Storage, and here you will see a diagram of the space distribution, click on Apps and sort the list by size, select heavy apps (social media, browsers) and click Clean. It's important to choose Cache, not All Data, if you want to save logins and settings.
| Type of data | Where to find | Security of removal | Impact on the system |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash app. | Settings → Applications | Tall. | Applications can be loaded a little longer |
| Folder.thumbnails | DCIM/.thumbnails | Tall. | The gallery will recreate the miniatures. |
| Logs of debugging | Section for developers | Medium | No impact on the job |
| Download folder | File manager | Depends on the files. | Important documents can be removed |
Also worth a look at the Deep Cleanup section (if available in your firmware version) is the tool that can find duplicate photos, similar images and rarely used applications. Cleanup algorithms in new versions of HyperOS have become smarter and less likely to remove the excess, but manual verification always does not hurt.
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The built-in Security tool is good for quick prevention, but to free gigabytes in the Other category, manual cleaning of messenger folders and cache is necessary.
Using ADB for Advanced Cleaning
For users who are not afraid of the computer and want to achieve maximum results, there is a method of cleaning through the computer. ADB (Android Debug Bridge. This is a way to remove system debris and cache that can't be accessed through the phone interface. You'll need a PC, USB-cable and installed drivers ADB.
First, you need to enable USB debugging on your smartphone. To do this, go to Settings → About Phone and quickly click on the build number (MIUI Version) 7 times. In the Developer menu, activate the USB debugging option. Connect the phone to your computer and start the command prompt.
adb shell pm trim-caches 99999999999This command forcibly trims the cache of all applications to a minimum, and you can use commands to remove specific system applications (bloatware) that take up space but are not used, for example, removing unnecessary services from Xiaomi or Google can free up a significant amount of volume.
⚠️ Attention: Use ADB Introducing the wrong command can remove the system components necessary for the phone to work.
Another useful command for ADB is to clean the logs, which, while they take up a little space, can be noticed over the long run of the device. Adb logcat-c clears the log buffer in real time, but to clean the system logs completely, it's better to use the adb shell pm trim-caches command in conjunction with the reboot.
Prevention: How to prevent the growth of the “Other”
To prevent the problem from returning in a month, you need to change your smartphone usage habits: first of all, set up automatic cache cleaning in messengers. On Telegram, set a limit of 100-200 MB, on WhatsApp, turn off saving media to the gallery if this is not urgently necessary.
Check Download regularly, at least once a week, often with APK installation files that are no longer needed or documents that can be transferred to your computer, and keep an eye out for system updates — sometimes newer versions of MIUI fix memory leaks.
- 🔄 Automation: Use autoclad apps or built-in scripts to run a schedule cache cleanup.
- ☁️ Cloud storage: Move photos and videos to Google Photos or Yandex.Disk with the function of freeing up space on the device.
- 🚫 Installation control: Do not install applications from unknown sources, they often contain ad modules that generate garbage.
- 📉 Monitor: Check vault statistics once a month to see the Other’s dramatic rise early on.
Remember that your smartphone flash memory is faster and more stable when it is no more than 80-85% full. Constant space shortages lead to memory degradation and slowdown of data recording. Regular digital hygiene is the key to long life for your Xiaomi.