How to quickly remove junk from Xiaomi smartphone in MIUI 12

Owners of devices based on the shell MIUI 12 often face a paradoxical situation: after buying a new flagship flies, but after a few months of active operation, the system begins to slow down, and free space disappears at an alarming rate. This is not magic or factory defect, but the accumulation of digital debris that inevitably forms during the operation of the Android operating system and installed applications. Cash, remnants of remote programs, temporary messenger files and error logs occupy gigabytes of useful space, turning powerful hardware into a slow machine.

Cleaning up Xiaomi’s smartphone from this digital ballast is a necessary procedure if you want to return the device to its former sharpness and make room for new photos or games. Unlike previous versions of the firmware, MIUI 12 offers advanced tools for analyzing disk space, but many users simply do not know where to look for hidden partitions and how to use the built-in optimizer correctly so as not to remove excess.

It is important to understand that blindly deleting files through third-party file managers can lead to unstable system operation or loss of important data. It is better to use proven regular tools or understand the structure of the folders you are going to clean. Below is a detailed guide that will help you safely and efficiently clean up your device memory.

Analysis of occupied space and search for memory eaters

Before you start taking any drastic measures, you need to do an audit to understand what is taking up the lion's share of your storage. MIUI 12 has a built-in analytics that visualizes the data and shows the file categorization. Go to Settings → Phone → Storage to see a detailed diagram, and it immediately catches your eye which apps or parts of the system consume the most resources.

Often, it turns out that the main users of memory are not system files, but the cache of social networks and messengers such as Telegram, Viber or WhatsApp. These applications store every photo and video you view into local memory, creating huge archives that the user may not even know about, and a significant amount of files are occupied by system updates, which are sometimes not deleted automatically after successful patch installation.

• 📱 System files and firmware usually take up a fixed volume of 10 to 20 GB.
• 📸 Gallery and camera can grow to hundreds of gigabytes when shooting video in the video 4K.
• 💬 Messengers often hide gigabytes of cache in hidden folders.
• 🎮 High texture games require extra space for data cache.

Note the Other section in the storage, which is where the most common remnants of remote applications and erroneous logs are hidden, which are the safest to remove through the built-in cleanup utility. If this partition takes up an abnormally large amount of space (more than 10-15 GB), it is worth doing a deep cleaning of the application cache manually or through Safe Mode.

⚠️ Warning: Do not attempt to manually delete files from system folders that you don't know the names of, especially if they are at the root of the internal drive. MIUI.

Use of the built-in "Security" application

The easiest and safest way to remove the main debris is to use the regular Security app, which is preinstalled on all Xiaomi smartphones. This tool is integrated deep into the system and has the necessary permissions to clean temporary files without affecting important user data. Launch the application and click on the Cleanup button, after which the system will conduct an automatic scan.

Once you've finished scanning, you'll see a list of threats and junk files that you've found, but don't press the clean-up button immediately. Click on "Junk" to see what's suggested for removal, and you can selectively rule out some categories if you're afraid of losing, like thumbnails or browser history.

Deep Clean, which is often in the same menu or in the Services section, allows you to find large files, duplicate photos and rarely used applications. Deep Cleanup is a powerful tool that helps you find what is hidden from the surface, such as empty folders or APK installation packages left after updating programs.

Regular use of this application helps to keep the system in good shape. It is recommended to start the scan at least once a week to prevent critical memory filling, which directly affects the speed of the processor and the speed of writing data to flash memory.

Cleaning the cache of applications and messengers manually

Automatic cleaners don’t always handle the cache of heavy apps, especially instant messengers that store media files in specific directories. To maximize efficiency, you need to go to the settings of each “heavy” application separately. Go to Settings → Apps → All applications, select the desired program (for example, YouTube or Instagram), and find Memory.

Here you will see two buttons: Clear and Clear All (or Reset) and it is important not to confuse their purpose. The Clear button only deletes temporary files (cache), which is secure and does not require reauthorization. The Reset or Clear All button deletes all application data, including logins, passwords and settings, returning the program to state immediately after installation.

For messengers like Telegram, it's better to use built-in cleanups. Telegram itself has a Data and Memory section → Memory Use where you can clear your cache and even autodelete your media files, which is much more effective than cleaning through Android system settings, because you can see what you delete.

• 🗑️ Browser cache can take up hundreds of megabytes after watching a video.
• 🎵 Streaming services save music for offline listening in cache.
• 📷 Photo editors keep temporary copies of projects in memory.

⚠️ Before clearing messenger data, make sure you have a backup copy of your correspondence if you use local storage instead of cloud storage.

Work with Download folder and file system

Download is the black hole in most users' memory, automatically storing all files downloaded from the Internet, attachments from email, and stored images from browsers, and over time accumulating hundreds of files that you no longer need but continue to occupy space. Open Explorer and carefully examine the contents of this directory.

In addition to the obvious files, you should check the Android → data folder. It stores game and application data. While it is dangerous to touch files inside the folders of specific applications, you can find folders of already deleted games that for some reason were not deleted by the system when uninstalled. Also often forget about the DCIM →.thumbnails folder, which stores miniatures for the gallery, which can grow to gigabytes.

For easy analysis of large files, use size-sorting in the conductor. Often, it turns out that the place is occupied by forgotten movies, TV shows or game installers that were downloaded a month ago, and removing such heavyweights instantly frees up a significant amount of space.

Removal of duplicates and similar photos

Modern Xiaomi smartphone cameras allow you to take great pictures, but users often shoot in series of 10-20 frames to choose the best. The rest of the frames remain dead weight. MIUI 12 has a feature of smart albums that can group similar photos, but for complete cleaning it is better to use third-party but proven tools or built-in search.

In the Gallery app, go to Albums and scroll down to Similar Photos or search for images, and the system will suggest you choose the best photo from the series and delete the rest, not only saving space, but also speeding up the gallery, which does not need to index thousands of extra files.

Don't forget to check the "Basket" album in the gallery. Deleted photos are taken in and stored for 30 days, continuing to occupy space. If you're sure you haven't accidentally deleted something important, clear the basket for instant freeing up space.

Hiding applications and cleaning up system debris

MIUI 12 has an app hide feature that is often misused or forgotten: Hidden apps don't disappear from the device, they just hide from the menu, but continue to take up space and can even run in the background. Check the list of hidden apps in the security settings and remove the ones you don't need.

Also worth paying attention to is the system debris that accumulates during updates: debugging log files, error reports, and temporary installer files can take up space. You can use developer mode or special commands to delete them, but for the average user it is safer to limit yourself to cleaning through Security.

If you use cloud services like Google Photos or Xiaomi Cloud, turn on the “Free Space” feature, which automatically removes photos and videos from your device that have already been successfully uploaded to the cloud and have a backup.

Flood prevention and optimization of work

To avoid going back to cleaning every two weeks, you need to implement a few smartphone habits: first, turn off auto-save media files in group chat messengers, which are constantly downloading pictures, which will significantly reduce the flow of garbage. Second, regularly delete applications that have stopped using.

The second important aspect is the use of Lite versions of apps. For Facebook, VK or Instagram, there are lightweight versions that consume less memory and create less cache. On older or budget Xiaomi models, this can be a salvation.

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Use Turbo mode in the Safety app before launching heavy games – it not only frees up RAM, but also temporarily limits background processes, preventing the recording of excess debris during the game.

Regularly restarting the smartphone, at least once every 3-4 days, also helps the system reset the accumulated time processes and clear the RAM, which indirectly affects the speed of writing data to the disk.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Regular hygiene of digital memory on Xiaomi is not a one-time promotion, but a habit that prolongs the life of the device and maintains high speed of the MIUI 12 interface over the years of use.