How to Clean Memory Another on Xiaomi Android: Deep Cleanup

Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face a situation where internal storage is overflowing with the mysterious “Other” section, a phenomenon particularly characteristic of the MIUI shell and the new HyperOS. The system starts to run slower, applications fly out, and notifications of space shortages appear at the most inopportune moment.

The problem is that standard cleaning tools often don’t see (deep) system files, application logs, and remnants of remote programs. In this article, we’ll look at proven methods to free up space that will help return the gadget to its previous speed.

What is hidden in the “Other” section

The Other section (or System in some versions) is a hoard of data that the storage analyzer cannot uniquely classify, including messenger cache, temporary update files, remnants of remote games, and even debugging logs.

Often users mistakenly believe that these are system files that will cause a breakdown, and in fact, much of this is done by application data that can be safely deleted without losing personal information, but beware that some files may be responsible for the correct operation of MIUI.

And we should pay special attention to messengers like Telegram or WhatsApp, which have been accumulating media files for years, which the system perceives as a single data set.

⚠️ Before removing files from system folders, make sure you have an up-to-date backup of important data on a cloud service or PC.

Standard cleaning through Android settings

We should always start with built-in tools, because they are the most secure for inexperienced users, and modern versions of HyperOS and MIUI have made cleaning algorithms smarter.

Go to Settings → Memory. Here the system will suggest a basic cleanup. Click on the Clean button to remove obvious debris. However, this often only removes the surface layer.

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Use the built-in Security → Cleanup app once a week to prevent a critical mass of temporary files from accumulating.

You can do a deeper analysis through the application management menu. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps. Sort the list by size of space.

Select a “heavy” application (such as a social network or navigator) and click “Memory”**.

It is important not to confuse Cache Clearing with the Erase Data button, and the second action will completely delete the accounts and settings of the app, returning it to the state immediately after installation.

• 🗑️ Cache cleanup only removes temporary files, speeding up the app.
• 📱 Erase data resets the application to factory settings, requiring re-authorization.
• 🔄 Regularly cleaning the browser cache frees up hundreds of megabytes of space.

Using the “Conductor” application for manual removal

To do more point work, you need access to the file system. Xiaomi’s Standard Explorer can hide system files by default.

Open the Explorer app, click on the menu (three bars) in the corner and select Settings. Activate the Show Hidden Files switch.** Now you will have system directories available.

The most interesting are the folders. Android/data and Android/obb. The first stores application data, the second - game cache files.

If you delete a game but its files are still in obb, they will take up gigabytes of space. MIUI — There could be a directory inside. debug_log, where the logs of system errors are stored, which often inflate to incredible sizes.

Another hidden threat is the.thumbnails folder inside DCIM, which stores thumbnails of your photos and videos. With a large gallery, this folder can weigh 5 to 10 GB. It can be cleaned, but the system will recreate it the next time the gallery opens.

Working with the category "Applications" and their data

Some apps, especially streaming services like Netflix, Spotify or YouTube Premium, allow you to download content for offline viewing.

Often users forget about downloaded movies or podcasts that take up the lion's share of memory. Check the settings of each such application separately.

In Settings → Applications, you can see how much space a particular application takes up with the data. If you rarely use a navigator, but it takes 2 GB, you may want to delete the downloaded maps of the regions.

Special attention should be paid to the "doubles" of applications, the function of Cloning applications creates a full copy of the software with its cache.

If you cloned the messenger, but you don't use the second account, delete the clone, which will instantly free up space equivalent to the size of the main application.

Cleaning through ADB: an advanced method

If standard methods don’t work, Android Debug Bridge (ADB) comes to the rescue, a tool that allows you to remove system debris that is hidden from the user even with superuser rights in some cases.

You will need a computer to work, USB-cable and installed drivers ADB. On the phone, you need to activate the developer mode: click 7 times on the build number in the About Phone menu, then turn on “Debugging by phone” USB»**.

adb shell pm list packages -f | grep "name appendix"

This command will help you find the exact name of the package you want to clean, but be very careful: removing system packages can lead to a bootloop.

With ADB, you can also force the cache of all applications at once, which normally requires root rights. the adb shell pm trim-caches 999999999 will try to free the specified number of bytes by removing the cache.

⚠️ Attention: Use of teams ADB To remove system applications requires accurate knowledge of packet names.

Table: Comparison of cleaning methods

To make it easier for you to choose the right method, we have prepared a comparative table of the effectiveness of various methods.

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The combination of methods (manual cleaning + cache cleaning) gives the best result without the risk of data loss.

Prevention of memory overflow

It's easier to prevent than to solve. Set up automatic upload of photos and videos to cloud services like Google Photos or Yandex.Disk.

Enable the “Free Space” feature, which automatically deletes files already stored in the cloud from the device, which will keep local memory free.

Also keep an eye out for MIUI and HyperOS updates. In new firmware versions, Xiaomi engineers often optimize the file system and improve cache algorithms.

Check Download regularly, and browsers and instant messengers often save documents and pictures that you have long forgotten about.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)