Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphones sooner or later face a lack of free space. MIUI is actively accumulating data, and modern applications take up more gigabytes. When internal storage is overflowing, the device begins to work slower, and video shooting can be interrupted.
Fortunately, the MiUI shell offers powerful built-in maintenance tools that do not require third-party software installation. Competent cleaning allows you to return the performance of the gadget without losing important photos or contacts. In this article, we will discuss proven ways to free up space.
System space notifications are not to be ignored, with 32GB and 64GB of storage being the least productive, with up to 40% of available storage capacity, and regular maintenance extending the life of the drive and improving overall stability.
Use of the built-in Security application
The easiest and safest way to clean up your mess is to use a standard developer utility, which is pre-installed on all your devices and has access to system partitions that are not allowed by regular cleaners.
To start the procedure, go to the menu and find an icon called Security. On the home screen, you will see the Clean button, and clicking on it will start scanning the system for temporary files, remnants of deleted applications and advertising debris.
⚠️ Warning: After scanning, the system will prompt you to delete the files you found. Carefully review the list so that important documents or saved dialogs in messengers are not accidentally erased if they were recognized as cache.
Deep Cleaning allows you to manually analyze the contents of folders, so you can sort files by size and date of creation, and it's especially useful for finding forgotten videos or heavy archives that take months to complete.
Cleaning up app cache and garbage in gallery
Social media and instant messengers often occupy the bulk of data, with apps like Telegram, WhatsApp and VK storing all the images and videos viewed in cache, which can reach tens of gigabytes over time, which is critical for budget models.
To make room, go to Settings → Apps → All Apps. Select the most voluminous app on the list. Inside the program menu, find Memory and click Clear Cache. It is important not to confuse this with the Clear Everything button, which will delete your logins and correspondence.
- 📱 Telegram: better to clean through the settings of the application in the section “Data and memory”, installing autodelete media.
- 📸 Gallery: Check the Recycle Bin folder, which can store files for up to 30 days.
- 🌐 Browsers: Clear up your download history and cache in Chrome or Mi Browser.
The DCIM folder is worth paying special attention to, and often it has bad duplicates of images or screenshots taken a year ago, and deleting such files is the fastest way to get free space.
☑️ Daily Memory Hygiene
Analysis of the storage through system settings
Newer versions of Android and the HyperOS shell have a powerful disk space analyzer built in, which visualizes data by showing which categories of files are eating up your memory, allowing you to act point-by-point rather than randomly.
To access the tool, open Settings → Memory (or About Phone → Storage). The system will plot the distribution of data. You will see a breakdown into applications, images, video, audio and system files. By clicking on each sector, you can move to content management.
| Category | What's taking place | Can I remove it? |
|---|---|---|
| Annexes | Games, social media, banks | Only unnecessary. |
| Images | Photos, screenshots, thumbnails | Yes, if there are copies. |
| Video | Camera footage, instant messenger videos | Yeah, they often take 80%. |
| Systemic | OS files, updates, logs | No, it's dangerous. |
Often users forget the Downloads section, which may contain installation files. APK from older versions of the program or PDF-documents that you no longer need, and their removal is safe and efficient.
Where do deleted files go?
Working with Android folder and system garbage
Inside the Android directory, the application data is stored on the drive, sometimes after deleting the program, its tails remain in the data or obb folders. It is not recommended to manually delete the contents of these folders unless you are sure about the purpose of the files.
However, there are safe ways to manually clean. For example, the MIUI/gallery/cloud folder may contain synchronization thumbnails, and Tencent/MicroMsg stores the WeChat and QQ cache. For system debris cleaning, it is better to use the Deep Clean feature in a standard security application.
If you use streaming services like Netflix, YouTube Premium or Yandex.Music, check your download settings. Often there are hundreds of offline movies and tracks that take up gigabytes.
⚠️ Note: Do not delete files with the extension.obb from the folder Android/obb manually if the game is still installed on the phone, this will cause the game to stop running and require re-uploading data.
Use File Manager Explorer to sort files by size, which will help you find forgotten archives or video files that are lost deep in the file system.
Transfer data to the cloud and memory card
The most radical way to free up space is to transfer media files to external storage, Mi Cloud is integrated into the system and can automatically upload photos and contacts, Google Photos and Yandex.Disk are also popular.
If you have a microSD card slot in your smartphone, use it to store your archives. In the camera settings, you can save new photos right to the card, which will instantly relieve internal memory.
- ☁️ Cloud: Enable Gallery Sync and Remove Originals from the Device.
- 💾 SD-map: transfer music, movies and documents to an external medium.
- 💻 Computer: Connect the phone to USB And throw the old archives on the hard drive.
Google Photos has a "Free Space" feature that automatically removes photos from your device that have already been successfully uploaded to your cloud account.
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Enable the “Compress Photo” feature in the Google Photos or Mi Cloud settings. This will store thousands of pictures, taking up a minimum of space, while the quality for viewing on the phone screen will remain excellent.
Frequent questions and additional advice
Even after cleaning, the place can run out quickly, often due to background processes or usage, and the following are answers to popular questions that will help keep the system in order.
Why does the memory re-energize immediately after cleaning?
Is it safe to use third-party programs like Clean Master?
What is “Other” in storage and how to remove it?
Can a full memory damage your phone?
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Regularly cleaning the messenger cache and transferring photos to the cloud are two of the most effective ways to keep your phone fast without buying a new model.
Keeping your file system in order is a habit that prolongs your life: Use a combination of built-in tools and cloud services for optimal results. Now you know how to clean your phone's memory quickly and safely.