How to Clean Up ‘Other’ on Xiaomi 9T: The Complete Guide

Owners of Xiaomi Mi 9T smartphones often face a cryptic space shortage notice when the system reveals that memory is crowded with the “Other” category, a problem that is especially relevant for models with 64 or 128 GB of internal memory, where every gigabyte counts. Understanding the nature of this data is the first step to effectively freeing up space without losing important photos or contacts.

The MIUI system that powers the smartphone interface aggregates all files that can’t be classified as apps, images, music or videos into this category, including temporary files, messenger cache, remnants of remote programs and system logs. The Xiaomi 9T, with its powerful processor, uses buffering, which inflates this partition to tens of gigabytes over time.

Do not panic if you see that the "Other" takes 10, 20 or even 30 GB. This is not a virus or hardware failure, but a feature of the Android file system. Proper cleaning will return the performance of the device and eliminate constant requests to make room for new images.

The nature of the category “Other” in MIUI

To effectively combat memory overflow, it is necessary to clearly understand what exactly is behind this term in the shell of MIUI. Unlike standard Android, where files are more transparent, Xiaomi groups data aggressively. The bulk of the cached data of social networks and messengers such as Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber. These applications store the photos and videos viewed in hidden folders that the system does not consider the user’s media files.

The second important source is the remnants of remote applications and their configuration files. When you delete a game or program through a standard interface, some of the data may remain in the system directories, and this includes offline maps of navigators, downloaded podcasts and temporary browser files. Storage analytics often do not see these elements as separate objects, summing them up into a pile.

⚠️ Warning: Do not attempt to delete files from system folders manually through root-righted file managers without understanding their purpose.This could lead to Xiaomi's unstable operation 9T or an infinite reboot (bootloop).

The third aspect is system logs and error reports. If an application crashes frequently, the system can save logs to be sent to the developer, and these text files take up a substantial amount of space over time, and understanding the structure helps you choose the right cleaning method without removing the extra ones.

Using Xiaomi's built-in cleaner

The safest and first method to try out for Xiaomi Mi 9T owners is the regular Security app, which is deeply integrated into the system and has access to areas closed to third-party programs. To start the procedure, go to the menu and find the icon with the green shield. Click on the Cleanup button to analyze the memory status.

After scanning, click on the garbage cleanup button. However, the standard procedure is often superficial. For a deeper cleaning, click on the garbage icon or go to the Cleanup section, where additional categories will be suggested. Here you can select Deep Cleanup, which will scan large files and duplicates.

It is important to look carefully at what the system suggests to remove. Sometimes the screenshots or documents you want may be in the "Recommended Clean" section, the MIUI file manager allows you to preview content before deleting, and regular use of this tool prevents the critical growth of the "Other" category.

Cleaning the cache of messengers and social networks

The leaders in filling the category “Other” are always messengers. Telegram, for example, by default saves all media feed in the memory of the device. To fix this on Xiaomi 9T, go to the settings of the Telegram application itself, select “Data and memory”, then “Memory Use”. Here you need to click Clear cache. This action will not delete your correspondence, but will remove temporarily stored photos and videos.

You should do the same thing on WhatsApp. Open your in-app settings, go to Storage & Data, and select Storage Management. The system will show the files that take up the most space. You can sort them by size and delete unnecessary video files, which often weigh hundreds of megabytes each.

Social networks like VK or Instagram also accumulate a huge amount of temporary data. In the application settings, find the “Cash” section and clean it. If there is no such option inside the application, use the Android system settings: go to Settings → Apps → All applications, select the desired social network and click Clear the cache. Don’t confuse it with the “Clear Data” button, as this will lead to logging out.

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Set Telegram to auto-delete cache: Settings → Data and memory → Media auto-delete. Select the period “3 days” or “1 week”, and the application will free up space.

After cleaning the heavy application cache, the category “Other” should decrease significantly. If the volume has not changed, it is possible that the files are blocked by the process or that the device needs to be restarted to recalculate the file system indexes.

Analysis of storage through third-party utilities

Staffing doesn't always show the real picture of what's taking up space. For deep analysis on Xiaomi 9T, it's recommended to use specialized utilities like DiskUsage or Files by Google. These applications build a visual memory card where each square corresponds to a file or folder, which allows you to visually find bloated directories.

When you use these slits, you can find folders with names like.thumbnails or streaming cache. DiskUsage scans all partitions, including system ones, and shows them as a tree structure. Once you find a huge file, you can immediately move on to deleting it, which is especially useful for finding forgotten downloads or remnants of deleted games.

Some cleaners may be too aggressive and delete the configuration files needed to run the applications. Always check what you are going to delete, especially if the path to the file is in the /Android/data system directory.

Manual deletion of files through Explorer

For advanced users, Xiaomi 9T is available to manually clean through standard Explorer. Open the Explorer app and go to the root folder of the device. Pay attention to the folders with the names of the installed applications. Often there are folders cache or temp, the contents of which can be safely removed.

Pay special attention to the DCIM folder. It can have a.thumbnails folder inside it that stores thumbnails of your photos. If you deleted all the photos and the space didn't get vacant, the problem could be here. The.thumbnails file can weigh several gigabytes. It's safe to delete, the system will recreate it if needed, but smaller.

⚠️ Warning: When manually cleaning, never delete files with the.obb extension inside your Android folder if you want to keep progressing in games.

Another hidden threat is the MIUI folder at the root of the storage, which can be a gallery folder with cloud thumbnails or a cloud folder, and checking these directories often allows you to find gigabytes of forgotten garbage, and use the size sorting function to see the heaviest objects right away.

Radical methods: Resetting and flashing

If none of the softest methods have helped and the Other category continues to grow, occupying a critical volume, the radical but effective method remains - a complete factory reset.Be sure to back up all the important data to your computer or to the Mi Cloud. On Xiaomi Mi 9T, this is done through the Settings menu → About phone → Reset.

Select "Erase all data," which will delete all files, apps and settings, returning the phone to the "out of the box" state. Once reset, the "Other" category will be minimal, taking only the system minimum, and this is the most reliable way to get rid of file system software errors that could lead to incorrect display of memory.

Settings → About the phone → Reset settings → Erase all data

In extreme cases, when even a reset doesn't help (which is rare and indicates memory wear or a serious firmware bug), it may be necessary to flash the device through the computer using the Mi Flash Tool utility. This is a procedure for experienced users and requires downloading official firmware from the developer's website. Clean installation of the system is guaranteed to remove all artifacts and debris accumulation errors.

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Full reset is the only way to guarantee 100% clearing of the Other category if file system software errors do not allow you to do this by standard methods.

Prevention of memory overflow

To keep the “Other” category issue from returning on Xiaomi 9T in a month, it’s important to adopt a regular maintenance habit: Don’t wait for your memory to fill up. Run the built-in cleaner once a week and check your download folders. Setup automatic cleaning in messengers is a key factor in the long-term health of storage.

Use cloud-based photo and video storage services. Enable sync with Google Photos or Mi Cloud with the "Free Space" option. This will remove the original files from the device by leaving them in the cloud, which will significantly reduce the load on internal memory. Storage optimization is a continuous process, not a one-time promotion.

Also keep an eye out for system updates. Xiaomi periodically releases patches that fix errors in the MIUI file system. Installing the current version of the software can solve the problem of incorrect space counting. Be careful what applications you install, and regularly delete those that have stopped using.