Cleaning up the cache of the gallery on Xiaomi Redmi: a complete guide with pictures and videos

The cache of the galleries on Xiaomi Redmi smartphones is one of the most voracious folders in the system. Even if you regularly delete unnecessary photos, the Gallery app continues to accumulate gigabytes of temporary files: thumbnails, previews for fast download, editing data and even duplicate images, as a result, the phone begins to “brake” and the free space melts before your eyes.

In this article, we’ll look at 5 proven ways to clean up gallery cache, from standard MIUI tools to hidden features and third-party utilities, how to safely delete unwanted files without hitting the original photos, and why, after cleaning the gallery, it can bloat again in a few days, and at the end, an exclusive life hack for Redmi Note 12/13 users with a Deep Clean feature that few people know about.

Why does the gallery cache take up so much space?

Cache is a temporary file that an app creates to speed things up, and in the case of Xiaomi, it's about:

• 📸 Miniatures (thumbnails) – reduced copies of photos for quick scrolling.
• 🎨 Editing data – history of changes (trimming, filters, corrections).
• 🔄 Previews for albums - covers of folders and collections.
• 📁 Duplicates – copies of photos created during import or synchronization.

For example, if you edited 10 photos in MIUI Photo Editor, the gallery will retain both the originals and the modified versions — even if you didn't export them. And thumbnails for albums with 500 shots can weigh up to 1-2 GB!

But the problem is that the cache doesn't clear automatically. Unlike system debris that MIUI removes when it optimizes, gallery files accumulate for years, and if you've never manually cleaned them, the.thumbnails folder can take 5 to 10 GB or more.

⚠️ Don't confuse cache with folder DCIM — It's where the originals of your photos are stored. DCIM This will lead to irretrievable loss of photos.

Method 1: Clean through the settings of the Gallery application

The easiest method is to use the built-in MIUI tools. It is suitable for all Xiaomi Redmi models, including the Redmi Note 10/11/12/13, Redmi 9/10/11 and even older versions like the Redmi 8.

Instructions:

1. Open the Gallery app (flower icon).
2. Slip along three horizontal lines (menu) in the lower right corner.
3. Select Settings → Clean the storage.
4. Click “Clear Cache” and confirm the action.

It's going to show you how much space is going to be vacated, which is typically 500MB to 2GB, but if you haven't cleaned your phone in a while, it can go up to 5.+ GB.

Backup important photos |Close all applications |Connect phone to charge |Check free space after cleaning-->

⚠️ Attention! After cleaning, the gallery can take longer to load when it first opens -- that's OK.

Method 2: Delete the cache through the “Settings” of the phone

If the first method didn’t work (for example, the Clear Cache button is inactive), try to delete the data through system settings, which is more radical – it will reset the gallery settings to factory ones, but will not affect the photos themselves.

Step-by-step:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find the Gallery (or com.miui.gallery) and tap it.
3. Select Warehouse. → Clear the cache.
4. For a complete cleanup, click Clear Data (this will remove sorting settings, albums, and browsing history).

If you still have a slowdown after cleaning the gallery, try restarting your phone, and sometimes MIUI background processes block memory release.

Method 3: Manually clean the.thumbnails folder

For power users, there is a more efficient method, which is to remove the hidden.thumbnails folder where all thumbnails are stored, which requires access to a root file manager or use ADB, but allows you to free up 3-10 GB at a time.

Instructions via file manager (e.g. MiXplorer or Solid Explorer):

1. Open the file manager and enable the display of hidden files (in the settings).
2. Go to /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/.thumbnails
3. Select all files in the folder and delete them.
4. Reboot the phone.

Once you remove the thumbnails, you'll recreate them, but without the junk duplicates, which is especially useful if you've moved the picture to a memory card, but the thumbnails are still in your internal memory.

Method 4: Use of third-party utilities (CCleaner, Files by Google)

If standard methods don't work, you can use third-party cleaning apps to scan the phone deeper and find cache that MIUI can't see.

• 🧹 CCleaner – deletes gallery cache, duplicate photos and residual files.
• 📁 Files by Google – Shows junk files by category (including thumbnails).
• 🔍 SD Maid – an advanced utility for cleaning system debris (requires root for full functionality).

Example of cleaning through Files by Google:

1. Install an app from the Play Market.
2. Open the Cleanup section.
3. Select the category of Cash applications → Gallery.
4. Click “Clear” and confirm the action.

⚠️ Attention! Some utilities (such as Clean Master) can delete important files under the guise of junk.

💡

Before using third-party cleaners, back up your photos to your PC or cloud. Some utilities mistakenly define the originals as "cache."

Method 5: Reset Gallery settings (for advanced)

If the gallery cache is restored in a day or two, the problem may be the damaged settings of the application, in which case the gallery reset to a factory state will help, this method will not delete your photos, but return all parameters to default.

How to drop a gallery:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management → Gallery.
2. Press Warehouse. → Delete the data.
3. Confirm the action and restart the phone.
4. After turning on, open the gallery and wait for the photo to be indexed again (it can take 5-10 minutes).

If after resetting the gallery again begins to "brake", check:

• 🔄 Autosynchronization with Mi Cloud – it can create duplicates.
• 📱 Background processes – some apps (such as WhatsApp or Telegram) save copies of a photo to the gallery.
• 🔧 Updates MIUI — In new versions of firmware can be bugs with caching.

💡

If the gallery is still slow after cleaning the cache, check the version of the app in the Play Market, sometimes it helps to remove updates and return to the factory version.

How to prevent the accumulation of cache in the future?

To avoid cleaning the gallery every month, follow these tips:

• 📅 Set up automatic cleaning in Settings → Warehouse → Cleaning up garbage (enable the option to “Clean the cache automatically»).
• 🖼️ Turn off the creation of thumbnails for rarely used folders (in the gallery settings).
• ☁️ Use cloud services (Google Photos, Mi Cloud) to store originals, and leave only previews on your phone.
• 🔄 Regularly transfer the photo to a memory card or PC – this reduces the load on internal memory.

It is also worth turning off autoloading media files in messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram) so that they do not clog the gallery with unnecessary pictures.

For owners of Redmi Note 12/13 there is a hidden function "Deep Clean":

1. Open the "Security" (Shield icon).
2. Go to the Cleanup. → Deep cleaning.
3. Select Media Files and Miniatures.
4. Click Clean – this will delete even files that the standard cleanup doesn’t see.

FAQ: Frequent questions about cleaning gallery cache