How to Remove “Other” on Xiaomi: The Complete Guide

Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face a mysterious problem: the device’s memory is rapidly filled with a section called “Other” (which can take up tens of gigabytes, although the user did not download large files).

Understanding the nature of these files is the first step to freeing up space, most of the time it's application cache, temporary update files, system error logs, and remnants of remote programs. Standard cleanups don't always work well with deep system folders, so a more detailed approach is needed.

In this article, we will discuss safe methods for cleaning storage, how to manually find and remove excess without damaging the performance of the MIUI or HyperOS operating system. It is important to act consistently so that important account data is not accidentally erased.

What is hidden in the “Other” section on Android

The Other section (sometimes referred to as System Files) is a hoard of data that the file manager has not been able to uniquely identify, most often hiding a cache of messengers such as Telegram or Viber, which stores the media files viewed, as well as bootloader files, offline navigator maps and game databases.

Special attention should be paid to log files or logs. Applications and the system itself constantly write information about their work into special text files. Over time, these logs grow to giant sizes, especially if software has failed, deleting this data is safe and often returns several gigabytes of free space.

⚠️ Note: Do not delete files with the.apk extension unless you are sure of their origin, and never touch files in system folders with vendor, system or boot names, this may lead to loss of access to the phone menu.

You can use the built-in analyzer to analyze folder structure in more depth. Go to Settings → Memory and click on the colored space usage chart. The system will try to show which applications generate the most junk data. However, the built-in analyzer often hides the details, so manually checking through the file manager gives the best result.

Cleaning through the built-in Xiaomi conductor

The safest and most affordable method is to use Xiaomi’s standard Explorer app, which has built-in tools to find duplicates and large files that often make up the Other section. Open the app first and go to Documents or Folders.

Inside the Explorer, find the Android/data folder. It stores all the installed applications. Be careful: removing the folder of a particular application (for example, com.whatsapp) will reset its settings and delete correspondence. However, you can safely delete the contents of folders of already deleted games or programs that left behind tails.

Another hidden category of garbage is the MIUI/Gallery/cloud/cache folder, which stores thumbnails of photos from the Mi Cloud, and if you don't sync or have already moved photos, this folder can be cleaned, and the files in it have strange names and extensions.tmp or.cache, and deleting them will not affect the original images if they are stored in the main gallery.

• 🗑️ folder Download/Ad — There is a lot of advertising debris from system applications.
• 🗑️ folder Tencent/MicroMsg — WeChat cache and sometimes other Chinese services can take up a lot of space.
• 🗑️ Files with.log or.txt extension at the root of memory – technical logs that are safe to delete.

Use of the Cleanup App and Deep Cleanup

In the MIUI shell, there's a Security (or Cleanup) application preinstalled that runs deeper than a standard memory analyzer, run it and select Deep Clean. The scanner scans the device for residual files, large video files, and unused applications.

Of particular interest is the Apps tab, where you can see how much space each program has cache, click on a high-data app (like YouTube, Instagram, or Chrome) and select Clear Cache, which will delete temporary files but save your logins and passwords.

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Use the “Accelerate” function in the Security app before running a deep cleaning – this will close the background processes and allow the scanner to work faster and more accurately.

Remember to check the recent section in the file manager itself. Often users download application installation files (.apk) or heavy presentations, forget about them, and they are automatically classified by the system as Other. Deleting these files is the fastest way to free up space.

Analysis of storage using third-party utilities

If Xiaomi’s built-in tools don’t show the full picture, specialized tools like Files by Google or DiskUsage will come to the rescue, visualizing the file system as a block map, where the square size corresponds to the size of the file or folder, which allows you to instantly find the “culprit” of the memory shortage.

DiskUsage is particularly effective because it requires storage permissions and shows hidden system folders that are not normally visible. 10-20 Gigabytes. Most often, it turns out to be a cache of streaming services like Netflix or Spotify, which stores content for offline listening.

When using third-party analyzers, it is important to remember the seven-measure rule. If you see a file with a name that doesn't tell you anything, it's better to Google its extension or name first. Deleting system fonts or libraries can lead to unstable operation of the Launcher interface.

Radical methods: cleaning through ADB

For advanced users who have not been helped by standard methods, there is a way to clean through USB debugging (ADB), which allows you to delete files from system directories that are not accessible through the usual interface, this will require a computer, a USB cable and installed drivers Xiaomi ADB Driver.

First, activate Developer Mode. Go to Settings → About Phone and press the MIUI build number seven times. Then, in the Advanced Settings menu, turn on “Debugging on USB.” Connect your phone to your PC and enter a command to access the file system.

adb shell pm grant com.android.documentsui android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE


adb shell

While in shell mode, you can go to /storage/emulated/0/Android/data and manually delete the contents of folders of unnecessary applications. Also, you can effectively clean the /data/local/tmp folder, where temporary installation files often accumulate. This method requires maximum concentration, since an error in the command can lead to data loss.

Prevention of overflow of the “Other” section

To keep the problem from returning every couple of months, you should change your smartphone usage habits, first set up automatic cache cleaning in messenger apps. On Telegram, for example, you can set a limit on the size of the cache you take up: it will automatically delete old files, freeing up space in the “Other” section.

Check the Downloads folder regularly. Many apps default to saving files, documents and pictures, and if you don't clean it once a month, it becomes your main source of garbage, and you should also turn off auto-save media from chat rooms to the gallery if you don't need it.

Another important tip is to keep an eye out for system updates. Xiaomi engineers regularly release patches that optimize the file system and fix bugs that lead to proliferation of logs. The current version of Android and MIUI better manages temporary files.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Regular cleaning of messenger cache and Download folder prevents 90% of problems with overflowing of the “Other” section on Xiaomi smartphones.