Xiaomi’s ‘Other’: What It Is, Why It Grows, and How to Clean Up

Mysterious “Other” in the storage Xiaomi: where it comes from and what is dangerous

Have you ever looked into your Xiaomi, Redmi, or POCO storage settings and seen the frighteningly large “Other” section? It can take anywhere from a few hundred megabytes to tens of gigabytes — and it doesn’t give you any clues about what’s underneath the label. Unlike photos, videos, or apps that are clearly displayed in the statistics, “Other” looks like a black box: the system stubbornly doesn’t want to reveal its contents, and users are lost in guessing.

It's not actually a bug or a virus, it's a feature of MIUI (and not only one), and the Other section collects everything that doesn't fall into the standard categories: system process cache, temporary update files, debugging data, remnants of deleted applications, and even hidden folders of some services. The problem is that over time, this garbage accumulates, eating up precious space, especially on devices with 32/64 GB of memory, and it's often impossible to clean it with standard tools.

In this article, we will not only look at what is included in the Other on Xiaomi smartphones, but also show 4 proven ways to clean it, from safe to radical, you will learn which files can be deleted without risk and which should not be touched, even if they take gigabytes, and most importantly, how to prevent the accumulation of this garbage in the future.

What exactly is hidden under the “Other” in the memory of Xiaomi

If you think that "Other" is just a cache of applications, you're wrong. In fact, under this label there is a whole "menagerie" of files that MIUI can't categorize as standard.

• 📁 Cache of system applications – temporary files from Google Services, MIUI Launcher, Security App, and other services are needed for fast work, but often don't clear automatically.
• 🔄 Remains of updates – after installing the new version MIUI or security patches, old update files can stay in memory for years (especially if the update was airborne, OTA).
• 🗑️ Logs and dumps are debugging files (.log,.dmp) that are created when crashes or for diagnostics.
• 👻 Deleted but not erased data – when you delete an application, its settings and some files may remain in folders /data/data/ or /sdcard/Android/obb/.
• 🔒 Hidden application folders – some programs (such as instant messengers or games) create hidden directories that don’t appear in the standard file manager.
• 📱 Data data MIUI-themes and widgets – if you change themes frequently or use custom widgets, their cache and backups accumulate in the background.

The Other is growing especially strongly on devices with MIUI 12/13/14, where the system actively uses dynamic memory allocation and creates many temporary files to speed up work. For example, after a major update (say, from MIUI 13 to MIUI 14), the Other partition can suddenly increase by 2-5 GB - and this is normal, but not always justified.

How to Check What’s in the Other’s Place

Before you clean the Other, you need to understand which files inflated it. The standard MIUI File Manager doesn't show hidden folders or system files, so you'll have to use third-party tools.

The most reliable way to do this is to analyze memory through ADB, which requires you to connect to a computer, but gives you a complete picture.

1. Enable USB debugging in the developer settings (Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (click 7 times) → Return to Additional Settings → Developer settings).
2. Connect the phone to your PC and start the command: adb shell du -h -d 1 /sdcard/ | sort -h It will show the size of all folders on the internal storage, sorted by volume.
3. For system folder analysis, use: adb shell du -h -d 1 /data/ | sort -h ⚠️ Be careful: Delete files from the /data/ It may cause the system to fail.

If ADB seems too complex, use apps like Storage Analyzer or Files by Google, which show hidden files and sort them by size. For example, in Files by Google, go to Clean up → Storage Analysis, which often shows large files from Other that can be manually deleted.

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If you see a folder /MIUI/ota/ larger than 1 GB, you can clean it up — it's the remnants of old updates. But the /MIUI/backup/ folder is not worth touching, it stores backups of your data.

Method 1: Cleaning the Other with standard MIUI

If the Other partition is less than 1-2 GB, try to clear it without third-party tools. MIUI has hidden features that help reduce unnecessary files.

Here's the step-by-step instruction:

1. Open the Settings. → Memory (or Warehouse).
2. Click on the “Other” section (if it is clickable) or select Cleanup in the upper right corner.
3. Turn on the Deep Clean option and wait for the analysis.
4. Delete the files you have submitted (usually cache and temporary data).
5. Restart the device and it will clear the /cache/ folder.

If standard cleaning didn’t help, try resetting the app cache:

• 🔧 Go to Settings. → Annexes → Application management.
• 📊 Sort applications by cache size.
• 🧹 Clean the cache from the most voracious (especially Google Play Services, MIUI Security, Gallery).

⚠️ Warning: Do not clear the application data (Delete Data button) - this will result in resetting and logging out of accounts!

Make a backup copy of important data|Check the vacant space (should be available) ≥10%)|Disable automatic update of applications|Close all background applications-->

Method 2: Manually delete files through file manager

If the Other is 3GB or more, standard methods are unlikely to help. You have to manually search and delete unnecessary files, and any file manager with access to root folders, such as Solid Explorer or FX File Explorer, will do this.

Here’s what you can manually remove (with minimal risk to the system):

• 🗑️ folder /sdcard/MIUI/ota/ — This is where update files are stored. Delete everything except the current version (its name usually contains the build number, for example, the update file file, V14.0.5.0.TKUMIXM).
• 📝 folder /sdcard/MIUI/backup/ — Backups of themes and settings, unless you use backups MIUI, It can be cleaned.
• 🖼️ folder /sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails/ — Photo thumbnails. You can delete them safely (they will recover automatically).
• 📦 folder /sdcard/Android/data/ — Here, look for folders of remote applications (for example, if you have long deleted the game, but its data remained).

Deleting system files (such as logs) requires root rights. Without them, you can't clear folders to /data/ or /system/. If root is not, use ADB:

adb shell pm clear com.miui.securitycenter #Cache clearing


adb shell rm -rf /data/local/tmp/* # Delete temporary files

⚠️ Note: Delete files in /data/app/ or /system/priv-app/ without root, you can't boot the system. Don't experiment with those folders!

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If the Other has grown again after a week after manual cleaning, system processes are to blame, in which case only a factory reset or a rollback to a more stable version of MIUI will help.

Method 3: Reset to factory settings (nuclear version)

If the Other takes 10GB or more and all previous methods have failed, the last chance is a hard reset, a radical solution, but it is guaranteed to clear all unnecessary files, including hidden system data.

How to do the reset correctly:

1. Back up your important data (photos, contacts, messages) and use Mi Cloud or Google Drive.
2. Go to Settings → About the phone → Reset settings.
3. Choose to erase all data and confirm the action.
4. After reset, don't restore data from the backup immediately - first check if "Other" has returned. If so, the problem is in the backup itself (it may have contained unnecessary files).

If the “Other” grows again after reset, this may indicate:

• 🐛 Bug in the current version MIUI — Try to upgrade or roll back to a more stable firmware.
• 📱 Memory problems of the device – on some models (for example, Redmi Note 8 Pro) bugs with an incorrect display of free space are known.
• 🔄 Automatically recover unnecessary data – some applications (e.g. Xiaomi Cloud) can recover old files.

⚠️ Attention: On devices with MIUI 14 and later reset can take up to 30 minutes.Do not interrupt the process, even if the screen is stuck on the Mi logo for a long time.

Method 4: Alternative methods (for advanced users)

If you’re not afraid of experimentation, here are some unconventional ways to fight the Other:

• 🔧 Disabling diagnostics MIUI: Go to Settings. → Memory. → Three dots (menu) → Diagnose the storage and disable data collection, which will reduce the number of logs generated.
• 📉 Restriction of background activity: C Settings → Battery → Power saving mode, turn on background process restriction, which will reduce the number of temporary files.
• 🔄 Fastboot Flashing: If “Other” is associated with corrupted system files, clean installation will help MIUI Download the firmware for your model on the official Xiaomi website and follow the instructions.
• 🛠️ Use of custom Recovery (TWRP): With help. TWRP You can manually clean folders. /data and /cache, It doesn't affect user data, but it requires an unlocked bootloader.

For devices with MIUI 13/14, there's another trick: turn off automatic memory optimization.

1. Enable the Developer Mode (as described above).
2. Go to Settings → Additional settings → Developer settings.
3. Find the option to Limit processes in the background and set the value without background processes.
4. Reset the device.

This will reduce the number of temporary files the system creates, but it can affect multitasking.

How to Prevent the Re-Accumulation of the Other

Cleaning the Other is half the battle, and the key is to keep it from growing again. Here are some tips for prevention:

• 🔄 Update regularly MIUI — In new versions, memory management bugs are often fixed.
• 🚫 Turn off automatic update downloads in Settings → The phone. → Updating the system → Three points. → Settings: Better to update manually to avoid accumulation OTA-file.
• 📱 Use lightweight alternatives to standard applications, such as MIUI Install Google Photos instead of Google Photos MIUI Security — Files by Google.
• 🗑️ Set up automatic cleaning in Settings → Memory. → Autoclean. Turn on options for cache and unnecessary files.
• 🔍 Periodically check hidden folders with Storage Analyzer or DiskUsage.

If you install and delete applications frequently, you should disable automatic data backup to Settings → Accounts → Mi Account → Backup. This will prevent unnecessary backups from accumulating in Other.

For devices with 128GB of storage or more, the Other problem is less critical, but on smartphones with 32/64GB (like the Redmi 9A or POCO M3), every gigabyte is in your account. In this case, consider migrating data to a microSD (if supported) or using cloud storage.

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On devices with MIUI 14 and newer, "Other" can be artificially inflated due to the Dynamic feature RAM Expansion (Use of memory for virtual storage) RAM). Turn it off in Settings. → Additional settings → Expanding memory if you don’t play heavy games.

FAQ: Frequent questions about the “Other” in the memory of Xiaomi