Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphone owners are faced with an unpleasant notification of space shortages sooner or later. The built-in 5GB of free space in the Mi Cloud fill up instantly, especially if you actively use the camera or synchronize contacts. When the limit is exhausted, the system stops creating new backups, and data synchronization is suspended, which can lead to the loss of important information when you change the device or break it.
Fortunately, the MIUI and HyperOS ecosystem provides flexible tools for managing cloud space. The most effective way to free up space is not just to delete files, but to re-evaluate sync settings and clear the cache of applications that duplicate data in the cloud. In this guide, we will take a look at all optimization methods, from manually deleting photos to setting up automatic garbage cleaning.
Before we start taking radical measures, it's worth understanding what exactly takes gigabytes, most often these are "heavy" videos, full-size shots in the sky. RAW-Forgetting about old backups or formats, and managing your cloud storage properly will allow you to use the service for free or significantly reduce your subscription costs.
Analysis of occupied space in Mi Cloud
The first step should always be diagnostics. It is pointless to delete files at random if 90% of the space is occupied by one forgotten backup of the system or a folder with a video in 4K. The Xiaomi shell storage interface is quite visible, but hides important details in the submenu.
To start checking, go to the Settings menu, then select Mi Account and click on Xiaomi Cloud. Here you will see a color diagram visualizing the memory allocation. By clicking on a specific sector, such as Gallery or Dictator, you can get a detailed list of files sorted by date or size.
Note the Storage Management section. This is where old backups of apps you deleted from your phone are often hidden, but their data continues to be dusted on servers. Backup can take up to 70% of all available volume if left unchecked.
💡
The diagram in Mi Cloud is updated with a delay of up to 5 minutes, so after deleting large files, wait a little and update the page to see the current free memory status.
Cleaning the gallery and removing duplicates
Photos and videos are the main consumers of disk space. Unlike the local memory of the phone, where there is a basket, in the Mi Cloud, deletion often occurs instantly and without the ability to restore through standard interface tools, unless you use the web version.
It's recommended to use the Cleanup feature built into the Gallery app. It automatically finds similar images, screenshots and blurry photos. However, the cloud works best by manually sorting albums. Create a temporary folder to delete, upload all heavy videos, and then delete this folder entirely through the i.mi.com web interface - it works faster and more stable than from your phone.
It's important to distinguish between synchronization and just downloading. If you've enabled gallery sync, removing a photo from your phone will remove it from the cloud. If you just uploaded a photo manually, deleting it from your device won't free up space in the Mi Cloud. Check the status of each album in the sync settings.
☑️ Checking the gallery before cleaning
⚠️ Warning: Before mass deleting photos, make sure you have a copy of them on your computer hard drive or external drive!
Managing system and application backups
The hardest and most often ignored partition is the system’s backups. Xiaomi can default to saving a full copy of settings, app lists and data. If you change firmware frequently or experiment with settings, there may be multiple copies, each weighing several gigabytes.
To remove old restore points, go to the Reservations section inside the Mi Cloud menu. You will see a list of all saved devices and copy creation dates. Old backups, especially from devices you no longer use, can be safely removed. Leave only one current version for your current smartphone.
Also check the backup settings for individual apps. Messengers like WhatsApp or Telegram can save your correspondence history to the Xiaomi cloud by duplicating data; you’d better use the built-in backup features of the messengers themselves in Google Drive to avoid spending the limits of the Mi Cloud.
What happens when the cloud overflows?
Comparison of cleaning methods: Locally or via the Web
Users often argue about where it is more convenient to manage files, whether it is in a smartphone or through a browser, and each method has its advantages and disadvantages, which depend on the type of data being deleted and the speed of your Internet connection.
Smartphone deletion (Settings → Mi Account) is convenient for quickly editing multiple files on the go. The interface is adapted for touchscreen, and you can immediately see how memory occupancy changes. However, when working with thousands of photos, the application can slow down, and the process of synchronizing the deletion takes time.
The web version (i.mi.com) provides a more powerful toolkit, and it has Explorer mode, which allows you to select groups of files, sort them by exact size, and see the folder structure. For mass cleaning of gigabytes of garbage, the browser on your computer is the leader in speed and convenience.
| Parameter | Using a smartphone (MIUI/HyperOS) | Through a web browser (i.mi.com) | The Mi Cloud (Windows) app |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed of operation | Depends on the power of the phone. | High (PC-dependent) | Medium (requires synchronization) |
| Mass removal | Uncomfortable (selection limits) | Convenient (group highlighting) | Convenient (like a conductor) |
| Availability | Always on hand. | PC/Laptop required | Software installation required |
| Recovery | Limited. | Full access to the basket | Full access |
Optimizing the synchronization of contacts and notes
Contacts and notes are minimal, but synchronization is critical, and the problems are not volume, but version conflicts, and if you change phones frequently, there may be junk from old devices in the cloud that is duplicated.
The Contacts section of i.mi.com has a Recovery feature that allows you to roll back the list 30 days, but it also provides a cleanup of duplicates, automatically finds the duplicates and suggests combining them, which indirectly helps keep the database clean.
For Mi Notes, the situation is similar. Text files are lightweight, but if you insert images or voice recordings into them, the volume grows. Check the notes with attachments and delete the ones that have lost their relevance. Synchronization in this section works in real time, so the changes are immediately visible on all devices.
Remember that turning off synchronization of certain types of data (such as a voice recorder or browser) in the Sync Settings menu will instantly stop wasting space on these categories, an effective way to freeze traffic and memory consumption for secondary functions.
Switch to Google Photos and Alternatives
If you are not satisfied with the 5GB Xiaomi cloud and you do not want to pay, it is logical to move the main array of media files into the Google ecosystem. Google Photos offers more flexible compression settings and free storage (with quality limitations), which is an acceptable compromise for most users.
To switch, install the Google Photos app, log in to your account and enable autoload. Once all photos are uploaded to Google, you can safely disable gallery sync in Mi Cloud and delete files from the Xiaomi cloud by leaving them in your Google account.
Also worth considering are the plans for the Mi Cloud itself. For users deeply integrated into Xiaomi’s ecosystem (using Mi Home, Mi Fit, and other services), buying 50GB or 200GB can be justified by the convenience of a single space.
💡
Use the Save Space mode in Google Photos, which automatically deletes copies of photos that are already securely stored in the Google cloud, freeing up local memory without the risk of data loss.
⚠️ Note: When you turn off gallery sync in your Mi Cloud settings, the system may ask if you want to delete cloud copies!