Cleaning up Xiaomi Cloud Storage: A Complete Guide to Android

Xiaomi’s Mi Cloud cloud storage is a handy backup tool, but over time it gets filled with unnecessary files: old backups, duplicate photos, deleted contacts or notes. If you’ve received a notification about a space shortage or just want to optimize space, this article will help you figure out how to clean up cloud storage on a Xiaomi smartphone without losing important data.

Unlike cleaning up your phone’s internal memory, working with Mi Cloud requires care: some files (such as message backups) can be critical to recovering data when you reset your settings. We’ll look at all the options available, from manual deletion through the app to using the web version of storage, and we’ll also tell you which data can be safely deleted and which ones are best left behind.

This article is relevant for all modern smartphones Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO based on MIUI 12-14 (including global and Chinese versions of firmware).If you use a device older than 2018, some menu items may differ - we will warn you about this separately.

1. Checking occupied space in Mi Cloud

Before you start cleaning, you need to understand what exactly is taking up space in your cloud.

1. Open the Settings app on your smartphone.
2. Go to the Accounts section → Mi Account (or Xiaomi Account in the new versions) MIUI).
3. Select Mi Cloud (or Cloud)
4. At the top of the screen you will see a diagram of occupied space broken down by categories: Backups, Photos, Notes, etc.

For example, if a diagram shows that 70% of the memory is occupied by Backups, and you have not reset your phone to factory settings in a long time, this data can be deleted without risk.

2. Delete backup copies of the device

Backup is the largest type of data in the Mi Cloud, created automatically when you reset your settings or manually through the Settings menu → About phone → Backup.

• 📱 You don’t plan to restore your phone from a backup.
• 🔄 You have a copy of it on another device or in another cloud (Google Drive, Yandex Disk).
• 📅 Last copy is over 6 months old (the probability of using it is minimal).

To delete the backup copy:

1. Open the Settings. → Mi Account → Mi Cloud.
2. Select backup copies of devices.
3. Click on the device you want to delete a copy of.
4. In the upper right corner, tap on ⋮ → Delete.

Is there a copy on another medium?

Are you planning to drop your phone soon?

Does the copy contain unique data (e.g., last year’s call history)

Whether application passwords are saved elsewhere (e.g. in Google Password Manager)

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Attention! If you use Auto Backup (includes in Settings → Additional → Backup and Reset), new copies will be created automatically. To avoid re-filling the cloud, disable this option or set exceptions for unnecessary data (such as application cache).

3. Clean up photos and videos in Mi Cloud

Photos and videos can take up to 50-80% of cloud storage, especially if autosynchronization is enabled. Unlike Google Photos, Mi Cloud does not offer image compression, so the originals occupy full volume.

How to delete unnecessary media files:

1. Open the Gallery app on your smartphone.
2. The album is called Mi Cloud (or Cloud).
3. Select files to delete (multiple selection mode can be used).
4. Click Delete and confirm the action.

Alternatively, through the web version of Mi Cloud:

1. Go to i.mi.com and log in.
2. Select the Photos section.
3. Sort files by date or size to find the most voluminous.
4. Delete unnecessary files by clicking on the basket icon.

If you're actively using Google Photos, it's likely that many images are duplicated.

• 🔍 Use date search on both services to find duplicate files.
• 📁 Turn off autosynchronization in Mi Cloud if primary storage is Google Photos.
• 🗑️ Clean your Recycle Bin regularly in Mi Cloud (files are stored there for 30 days before final deletion).

4. Manage synchronization of contacts, notes and other data

In addition to media files and backups, Mi Cloud syncs:

• 📇 Contacts
• 📝 Notes (Mi Notes)
• 📅 Calendar
• 🎵 Recorder recordings
• 📍 Location data (if option is enabled)

To clear this data:

1. Go to Settings. → Mi Account → Mi Cloud.
2. Select a category (for example, Contacts).
3. Click on Sync (or Manage in newer versions).
4. Select unnecessary records and delete them.

Features of working with contacts:

• Deleting a contact from Mi Cloud will automatically remove it from all devices associated with your account.
• If contacts are duplicated with Google Contacts, turn off sync in Mi Cloud to avoid conflicts.
• Remote contacts can be restored within 30 days via i.mi.com.

💡

If you use Mi Notes for work, export important notes in.txt or.pdf before cleaning. → ⋮ → Exports.

5. Disabling autosynchronization to save space

By default, Mi Cloud syncs almost all the data from the phone, which quickly fills up the storage.

1. Open the Settings. → Mi Account → Mi Cloud.
2. Go to the Synchronization Settings.
3. Turn off unnecessary options: 📱 Backups of devices (unless you plan to reset) 📸 Gallery (if you use Google Photos) 🎵 Recordings of the recorder (if you do not keep audio notes)

You can also limit sync only over Wi-Fi to avoid the consumption of mobile traffic:

1. In the same menu, select Synchronization Settings only over Wi-Fi.
2. Set a download limit if your fare is limited.

Warning! Disabling the synchronization of Contacts or Messages will result in no new data being stored in the cloud, and if you reset your phone without a backup, that data will be lost.

6.Using the web version of Mi Cloud for deep cleaning

The Mi Cloud mobile application has limited functionality, and it is easier to use the web version for complete cleaning:

1. Sign in to i.mi.com with the same account as your phone.
2. In the left menu, select the section to clean (e.g. Photos, Files, Backups).
3. Use date/size filters to find the largest files.
4. Select unnecessary data and click Delete.

If you decide to move to another cloud, don’t forget:

1. Export all important data from Mi Cloud before synchronization is disabled.
2. Check if the new cloud supports automatic backup for Xiaomi (e.g. Google Drive does not save SMS and call logs).

💡

Before you switch to another cloud, make sure it supports Xiaomi data backup (e.g. Google Drive doesn’t save call history and SMS, unlike Mi Cloud).

8. Frequent mistakes and how to avoid them

When working with Mi Cloud, users often face these problems:

• 🔄 "Synchronization is suspended": Restart your phone or turn off/on manual sync. If it doesn't work, check your Internet connection (especially when using it) VPN).
• 🚫 "You can't delete backup": Make sure you're logged in to the same account as your phone.
• 📱 "Data deleted from phone": This happens if the option to delete from the device after downloading to the cloud is enabled.
• 🔒 "There is not enough space, although the cloud is empty": "Perhaps there is space in the Recycle Bin (files are stored there for 30 days.

If the amount of free space has not changed after cleaning, try:

1. Update the Mi Cloud app via the Play Market or App Store.
2. Clear the app cache (Settings → Applications → Mi Cloud → Storage → Clear the cache).
3. Wait 24 hours – sometimes the volume data is updated with a delay.

Attention! If you use Xiaomi with China ROM, some of the features of the Mi Cloud may be limited without a Chinese phone number, in which case you will need to change the account region or firmware to the global version to work properly.

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions