How to Clean the Recycle Bin on Xiaomi Phone: Instructions for MIUI 12-14

You deleted unnecessary photos or documents on your Xiaomi, but the memory is still busy?The fact is that the MIUI operating system (like many other Android shells) does not erase files immediately after clicking Delete. Instead, they end up in a shopping cart, a temporary storage bin where they can lie for 7 to 30 days, occupying precious space, a problem especially relevant for owners of smartphones with 64 or 128 GB of memory, where every megabyte is in the account.

In this article, we will discuss all the ways to clean the cart on Xiaomi, including hidden folders of the system that are not visible in the standard file manager. You will learn how to delete files from the basket forever, how to turn off its automatic saving, and what to do if the basket is not cleaned or “hung”. Instructions are suitable for all modern models: Redmi Note 12/13, POCO X5/F5, Xiaomi 13/14 and other devices on MIUI 12-14 (including global and Chinese versions of firmware).

Why Xiaomi’s Recycle Bin Takes Memory and When to Clean It

The MIUI Recycle Bin works on a soft delete principle: files don't disappear from the device immediately, but move to a hidden folder called.trash or Recycle, so that the user can recover randomly deleted data, but there are downsides to this approach:

• 📉 It takes up space: even after "deletion" files continue to weigh as much as before. For example, a 2GB video will lie in the basket and take up those 2GB.
• 🔄 Autocleaning doesn’t always work: By default, the cart clears after 30 days, but due to failures MIUI This process could be hanging.
• 📁 Hidden folders: Some applications (such as Gallery or Files) create their own shopping carts that are not visible in the main storage.

Clean the cart on Xiaomi in the following cases:

• 🚨 Less than 10% of the memory is left on the device (the system starts to slow down).
• 📸 You deleted a lot of photos or videos, but your memory didn’t free up.
• 🔧 Before selling or resetting your phone (so that the old files don’t get to the new owner).
• ⚙️ After updating MIUI (Sometimes the basket is reset and the files remain in memory forever).

If you’ve never cleaned a cart, there’s a good chance that it’s piling up gigabytes of unnecessary data, for example, Redmi Note 10 Pro users often find that after a year of use, there’s up to 5 to 7GB of trash in the cart, from old screenshots to remote apps.

Method 1: Clean the Recycle Bin through a standard MIUI file manager

The easiest way is to use the File Manager app, which is on all Xiaomi smartphones by default, and allows you to manage the cart without additional software.

1. Open the Files app** (Blue folder icon).
2. In the lower menu, tap on the “Baskbasket” section** (or Trash in the English version of MIUI).

If there is no “Clear Cart” button, then your MIUI version uses a different path:

• 📂 Go to Categories → Basket.
• 🔍 Click on the basket icon in the upper right corner.
• 🗑️ Select “Delete Everything” or “Clean Up».

In some firmware (e.g., on POCO F4), the basket may be called Recycle Bin or Deleted Files. If you don't see this section, update the Files app** via Google Play or check the display settings (see next section).

Method 2: Manually remove files from the Recycle Bin (selective cleaning)

If you don't want to delete the entire contents of the shopping cart, you can only select the files that you don't need, which is useful when there's something important in the deleted data that you want to recover, like you accidentally erased the photo and you want to return it, but you want to clean up the rest of the garbage.

How to do this:

1. Open the Files» → «Basket».

Please note that some files may not be deleted the first time, because they are used by other applications (e.g. Gallery or Downloads).

• 📱 Check if the file is open in another application (e.g. Google Photos).

Important: After manual deletion, files cannot be restored using standard MIUI tools. If you are in doubt, it is better to first transfer the data to another place (for example, to a computer or the cloud).

💡

If the basket contains files with the.nomedia extension, they can be safely deleted - these are service data that are not displayed in the gallery, but take up space.

Method 3: Cleaning the basket through the Gallery (for photos and videos)

The Gallery app on Xiaomi has its own shopping cart, which doesn't always sync with the main one. If you deleted photos or videos through the gallery, they could have stayed in its temporary storage to clear it:

1. Open the Gallery.
2. Slip on three lines (menu) in the upper left corner.
3. Select the "Baskbasket"** (or Albums → Trash).

Features of the basket in the Xiaomi Gallery:

If you use Google Photos, please note that this app also has its own shopping cart, which is cleaned separately, to delete files from it:

1. Open Google Photos → Library → Cart**

Method 4: Disable the Recycle Bin in MIUI (so that files are deleted immediately)

If you don't want the files to get into the bin, you can turn it off completely, which will make space available and speed up the deletion process, but it will make it impossible for you to recover the data that was accidentally erased.

1. Open Files** → click on the three dots in the upper right corner.
2. Select “Settings” → “Basket”.

After that, all deleted files will be erased forever, bypassing the basket.

• ⚠️ It will be impossible to recover files without special programs (for example, DiskDigger or Recuva).

The alternative is to reduce the storage time of files in the bin.

1. Go to Settings** baskets.
2. Select “Shelf life”** and set a minimum value (e.g. 7 days).

⚠️ Note: If you turn off the Recycle Bin and you use Google Photos or Mi Cloud, the files can still be saved in their cloud bins. To disable backup completely, check the sync settings in these apps.

Method 5: Remove hidden folders of the cart through Root or ADB

Sometimes standard methods don't help, because the Recycle Bin in MIUI stores files in hidden system folders that aren't visible through a regular file manager. If you're confident in what you're doing, you can manually delete them.

Option 1: Through ADB (without Root)

To do this, you will need a computer with ADB drivers installed and USB debugging on the phone enabled.

1. Connect the phone to the PC and open the command line (cmd).
2. Enter the command to check the connection: Adb devices should appear the name of your device.
3. Execute the command to remove the basket: adb shell rm -rf /storage/emulated/0/.trash/* adb shell rm -rf /storage/emulated/0/Recycle/*
4. Reboot the phone.

Option 2: Root rights (for power users)

If you have Root, use any file manager that supports superuser rights (such as Root Explorer or Solid Explorer).

• /storage/emulated/0/.trash
• /storage/emulated/0/Recycle
• /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.mi.android.globalFileexplorer/files/.trash (for MIUI File Manager)

Delete all the contents of these folders.

⚠️ Attention: misuse ADB If you're not sure what you're doing, you should go to the service center, and remember that after manually deleting the basket folders, they can be restored the next time you delete the files.

💡

If you don't know ADB or Root, don't use this method. A team error can lead to data loss or MIUI failure.

Method 6: Restoring the place if the basket is not cleaned

There are times when the MIUI basket is stuck, the files are not displayed, but the memory is still busy, and this can be due to a failure in the file manager database or damage to the system folders.

Step 1: Cleaning the File Manager Cache

1. Go to "Settings» → «Annexes» → «Application management»**.

Step 2: Reset the File Manager Settings

If cleaning the cache didn’t help, reset the app settings:

1. In the same Files menu, select Storage → Clear Data**.

Step 3: Virus testing

Some malware blocks access to the cart or creates hidden files in it. Scan your phone using Malwarebytes or Xiaomi’s built-in Security.

Step 4: Update MIUI

If the problem has occurred after the firmware update, check for new versions:

1. Go to Settings → About Phone → System Update**.

If none of these methods worked, the last option is to reset your phone to factory settings. Make sure to back up your important data before doing so!

Frequent Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

When working with a shopping cart on Xiaomi, users often face typical problems, and here are the most common ones and ways to solve them:

Another common mistake is to delete files not through the file manager, but through other applications, for example, if you delete photos via WhatsApp or Telegram, they may not get into the MIUI basket, but instead remain in the messenger cache, to clear such files:

• 📱 Go to the settings of the messenger → «Warehouse» → «Clear the cache».

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions