Xiaomi Redmi 4X, despite its age, remains a popular device due to its reliable metal body and autonomy. However, owners often face a critical lack of internal storage, especially in the version with 16 GB or 32 GB of memory. MIUI system over time acquires temporary files, application cache and system logs, which significantly slows down the gadget.
When the amount of free memory is reduced to a minimum, the phone starts to work unstable: applications fly out, messages do not come, and the camera refuses open. Memory cleaning becomes not just a desirable procedure, but a vital necessity for restoring performance. In this guide, we will discuss all methods of freeing up space, from standard tools to advanced file system techniques.
It’s important to understand that simply removing icons from your desktop doesn’t free up space. App data stays deep in the system. The.thumbnails file in the DCIM folder can take up to 4-5 GB of space on older Xiaomi devices. We’ll look at safe ways to remove this “digital ballast” without losing important photos and contacts.
Analysis of vault occupancy
Before we start taking any drastic measures, we need to know exactly what is eating up precious gigabytes, and we have a powerful monitoring tool built into the MIUI shell that users often ignore, and it allows us to visualize the distribution of data and identify the main eaters of space.
Go to the Settings menu and find the Warehouse (or "Memory") section. The system will quickly analyze and produce a color diagram. Here you will see a breakdown by category: apps, pictures, videos, documents and system files. Pay attention to the "Other" section, which is often where the remnants of remote programs and messenger cache are hidden.
You can use third-party utilities to explore this in more detail, but a built-in analyzer is usually enough to show you which applications are rarely used but take up a lot of space. Application cache is temporary data that speeds up the launch of programs, but over time inflates to a gigantic size.
Don't ignore the download folder. Browsers and social networks often save open files that you don't need anymore. Regularly checking this directory helps keep things in order. If you haven't cleaned your phone in a long time, sorpresa can make up the amount of garbage accumulated over a year of use.
Standard cleaning through the Security app
Every Xiaomi smartphone has a Security system app preinstalled, not just an antivirus, but a comprehensive tool to maintain the system, and its Cleanup feature can remove megabytes of junk files in a couple of clicks.
Launch the application and press the big green scan button. The system will find temporary files, residues of package installers (APKs) and unnecessary logs. After the analysis is complete, press the clean button. This is a secure procedure that will not affect your personal data.
But standard cleaning isn't always effective against heavy app cache, so you have to go deeper. In the Security menu, select Cleanup and scroll down to the Recommendations section, where you can hide large files that the system suggests you delete.
- 🗑️ Removal APK-Files: Old Application Installers Leftover After Updating.
- 📸 Cleaning thumbnails: Removing gallery cache that takes up a lot of space.
- 📦 Package cleaning: remove all types of garbage at once with one click.
☑️ Daily maintenance procedure
It's important to do this routine regularly, so that the system is stable, and if you ignore the accumulation of debris, the rate of writing new data can decrease, and flash memory is slower when it's almost full.
Deletion of cache and application data
The heaviest files are often hidden inside apps, messengers like Telegram and WhatsApp store all the photos and videos they’ve viewed in their phone’s memory by default, and these folders can grow to several gigabytes over time.
To clear a particular application, go to Settings → Apps → All apps. Find the program you want (like YouTube or Instagram) in the list. Click on it and select Memory. Here you will see two buttons: Clear cache and Clear everything.
⚠️ Warning: The Clear All button (or Reset) will not only remove the cache, but also your logins, passwords and settings inside this application.
For instant messengers, it's better to use built-in cleanup tools, like Telegram, you go to Settings → Data and Memory → Memory Use, you can set up the autodeletion of the cache and clean it manually, and this will free up space without losing correspondence, since they are stored in the cloud.
Some system applications, such as the Google Play Store or Google Play Services, also accumulate data.Cleaning them often solves problems with updating programs.Just click Clear cache in the menu of the corresponding system application.
Working with photos, videos and folder Thumbnails
Media files are the main source of memory filling on Redmi 4X. The camera of the smartphone takes high-quality pictures that weigh a lot. In addition, the Android system has a hidden folder.thumbnails, which stores thumbnails of all your photos for quick viewing in the gallery.
This folder is hidden from the average user, but over time it may exceed the size of the original photos. To get to it, you will need a file manager with access to hidden files, such as MI Explorer or Total Commander.
Turn on the hidden files in the Explorer settings (usually a three-dot button or menu). Go to DCIM →.thumbnails. If you see large files there, you can delete them safely. The system will create them again the next time you open the gallery, but they will not be bloated.
| File type | Location. | Can I remove it? | Impact on the system |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photo (JPG/PNG) | DCIM/Camera | Yes (if you don't need to) | Frees up a lot of space. |
| Video (MP4) | DCIM/Camera | Yes (if you don't need to) | Critical for memory |
| Thumbnails | DCIM/.thumbnails | Yes. | Accelerates the gallery after re-creating |
| WhatsApp Images | Android/media/WhatsApp | Yes (chosen ones) | Cleans up the chat rooms from trash |
How to prevent the growth of Thumbnails folder?
It's also worth checking social media folders. Viber and WhatsApp create separate directories for each chat, they can contain old postcards and videos that you've long forgotten, and manually sorting those folders frees up gigabytes of space.
Use of memory card and cloud storage
Xiaomi Redmi 4X is equipped with a slot for microSD memory cards, which is a salvation for owners of versions with 16 GB. Transferring media files to an external card is the most effective way to relieve internal memory.
In modern versions MIUI You can set up automatic photo and video saving on SD-Go to the Camera app, click on the three bars in the corner and select Settings. SD-Now, all the new images will be written directly to the external media.
For existing files, use the file manager. Select photos and videos in internal memory, select Move and specify the path to the file. SD-Do not use the copy function or the space will not vacate.
- ☁️ Google Photos: Set up sync with removing a copy from your phone.
- 💾 Yandex.Disk: function "Autoboot" with freeing up space.
- 📂 Cloud Mi: built-in solution from Xiaomi for backup.
⚠️ Note: When transferring data to a memory card, make sure it is working and has a high write speed (grade 10 or higher.
If you don't have a memory card, use cloud storage. Google Photos allows you to store unlimited photos in compressed quality for free. Once downloaded, you can use the "Free Space" feature, which will remove from your phone those photos that are already in the cloud.
Removing system debris and hidden files
Android and MIUI create many temporary files at the root of directories. MIUI, Android, Tencent (if there are games or QQ) folders can contain gigabytes of excess weight. Be careful: delete only the contents of the cache or temp folders.
The Android/data folder stores the caches of games and applications. If you delete the game but the folder is still there, erase it. Often, after reinstalling messengers, orphaned folders with the names of packages that are no longer used remain.
For advanced users, the developer mode is available. Enable it by clicking 7 times on the MIUI version in the About Phone menu. Then in the advanced settings, you can find the Journaling item and disable it. This will prevent the logs that also take up space from being written.
💡
Use Files by Google to find duplicate files, and it can find identical images and videos, even if they are called differently, which is a good idea for long-term Redmi 4X owners.
Remember the Download folder. Browsers default to downloading all downloaded files. Periodic sorting of this folder is a good habit. It often contains installation files for applications that have been installed for a long time.
Radical measures: Resetting to factory settings
If nothing helps and the memory fills up on its own, there may have been a critical file system failure, in which case a complete reset helps, which will return the phone to the "out of the box" state.
Before this procedure, make sure to back up all important data! Reset will delete absolutely everything: contacts, photos, apps and settings. Go to Settings → Advanced Settings → Recovery and Reset → Reset.
Once reset, the phone will work as fast as possible, install only the necessary applications and do not restore the backup completely to avoid returning old errors, it is better to set the phone as new.