How to Clean Memory on Xiaomi Redmi 8: The Complete Guide

Owners of the popular budget smartphone Xiaomi Redmi 8 sooner or later face a shortage of internal storage. This device, released in 2019, originally had a modest amount of memory — 32 or 64 gigabytes, which in modern realities fills up very quickly. MIUI operating system occupies a significant part of the space, and installing heavy applications and accumulating multimedia only accelerate the overflow process.

When space runs out, the phone slows down, apps can crash or stop running, the system starts to issue annoying notifications about space shortages, blocking the ability to take new pictures or install updates, and at this point, the user is faced with the question of how to correctly and safely free precious gigabytes.

In this article, we will discuss in detail all available cleaning methods, from regular system tools to the use of third-party tools. You will learn what files can be deleted without risk to the operation of the device, how to find hidden debris and optimize the use of instant messengers. The right approach to file management will prolong the life of your gadget and return it to its previous speed.

Analysis of storage occupancy and search for large files

Before we start taking any drastic measures, we need to make a thorough diagnosis of the current state of memory, and understanding what exactly occupies space is a key step in optimizing it, and we have a user-friendly analyzer built into the MIUI shell that allows us to visually evaluate the distribution of files by category.

To get started, open the standard Explorer app or go to your phone's settings. You'll need to find the storage section, and it'll show you the amount of data you're using, and it'll tell you to sort files by size, and it often turns out that the lion's share of the space is occupied by video files, forgotten downloads, or social media cache.

⚠️ Note: Do not delete files from Android system folders, MIUI Or System, if you're not 100% sure what they're supposed to do, and that could cause the operating system to run in a mess or the application settings to lose.

The Download folder is worth a special attention, and many users forget that all the documents, APK installation files and images downloaded from the browser are saved there, and often there are dozens of unnecessary files in this directory that take up hundreds of megabytes.

• 📂 Open the “Conductor” and click on the folder icon in the upper corner.
• 📂 Select the category “Internal drive” for detailed analysis.
• 📂 Sort files by size to see the biggest “eaters” of the place right away.
• 📂 Check the folders of messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber), where often accumulate the videos viewed.

Using a built-in analyzer, you can quickly identify problem areas, for example, you might find that a video calling app has taken up 5 gigabytes, even though you don't use it, and this approach helps you make informed decisions about deleting data.

Use of the built-in "Security" application

Xiaomi has equipped its devices with a powerful built-in tool called Security, which acts as an antivirus, optimizer and cleaner at the same time. For owners of Redmi 8, this is the first tool to turn to when space is scarce.

Run the Security app and select Cleanup. The system automatically scans the device for temporary files, remnants of deleted applications and advertising debris. The process takes only a few seconds and shows how much space can be freed up right now.

Once you scan, you'll see a list of the objects you've found, and the system will prompt you to delete the cache, unused installation files, and other debris, and it's important to note that cleaning the cache doesn't delete your personal data, such as your logins, passwords, or correspondence, but only erases temporary files, speeding up the programs.

• 🚀 Click the “Clean” button to remove the garbage found.
• 🚀 Use the Deep Cleansing feature for more detailed analysis.
• 🚀 Check the “Big Files” section to find and remove unnecessary videos.
• 🚀 Run scans regularly to keep the system in order.

The Security app also has a "Accelerate" section that helps close the background processes consuming RAM. While this doesn't directly free up storage space, it improves the overall performance of the Redmi 8, making the interface more responsive.

Cleaning up cache and data heavy applications

The most voracious consumers of memory on any smartphone are social networks and instant messengers. Telegram, WhatsApp, Instagram and TikTok have the ability to grow to giant sizes, storing every image and video viewed in cache. On the Xiaomi Redmi 8 with its limited volume, this becomes critical.

To clean, go to Settings → Apps → All Apps. You can sort the list by space size. If you select a heavy app, you'll see two buttons: Clear and Delete. Clicking Clear will offer two options: clear the cache or clean all the data.

⚠️ Warning: Selecting the Clear All Data option will completely reset the app to the post-installing state.You will lose your correspondence history (if there is no backup), logins and settings. Use only cache clearing if you want to save your data.

Telegram, unlike other apps, stores media files in its internal storage, and by going to the settings of the messenger itself (Settings → Data and Memory → Memory Use), you can clear the cache safely, and you can set up automatic deletion of the cache, for example, 3 days or a week after viewing.

For other applications, such as browsers or maps, cache clearing is also effective. Browsers accumulate gigabytes of temporary site files, which slows down their work, and regular cleaning of this data is a habit that should become the norm for owners of budget devices.

Working with multimedia: photos, videos and cloud storage

The gallery is another place where free space ends the fastest. The Redmi 8 camera takes good quality pictures, but modern photos and videos weigh a lot, and screenshots, saved stickers and uploaded images from the Internet are often duplicated.

An effective way to fight for space is to use cloud services. Google Photos, Yandex.Disk or Cloud Mail.ru allows you to upload all media files to the server and delete them from your phone. Google Photos has a convenient feature "Free space", which automatically removes from the device those pictures that have already been successfully saved in the cloud.

It's also worth checking the gallery's "Recently Deleted" folder, and the deleted photos don't disappear immediately, but they're stored there for 30 days, and they keep taking up space, and once you clear this basket, you can get a few gigabytes of free space instantly.

• ☁️ Set up automatic synchronization of photos with the cloud.
• ☁️ Enable the Smart Cleanup feature in the gallery to search for similar shots.
• ☁️ Check the Screenshots folder regularly and delete the extra.
• ☁️ Consider storing video on an external memory card.

If you’re shooting a lot of high-resolution video, it makes sense to change the camera settings. Going to the camera menu and reducing the recording quality from 4K or 1080p to 720p will significantly reduce the size of the final files, which is critical for Redmi 8.

Removal of duplicates and system debris

In the process of active use of a smartphone on Android, duplicate files inevitably appear, which can be copies of documents sent through different messengers, or the same photos taken in serial shooting mode, and finding and deleting such files is a task for specialized utilities.

While MIUI has basic tools, third-party applications like Files by Google or Clean Master (with caution) can find what the system missed, scanning the storage for the same content, even if the files have different names or are in different folders.

System debris also includes error logs, crash reports, and temporary update files, which are safe to delete but require care. Often after a major system update, the MIUI folder is inflated by old firmware files that can be deleted through an engineering menu or root-rights file manager, but the average user is better off limiting himself to regular funds.

Transferring data to a memory card and resetting settings

Xiaomi Redmi 8 is equipped with a separate slot for memory cards microSD format. This is a salvation for owners of the version with 32 GB of memory. By transferring photos, videos, music and documents to an external card, you will unload the internal storage where the system and applications are installed.

Use the file manager to transfer files. Select the folders in the internal memory and select the "Move" or "Copy" function, indicating the path to the file. SD-Some applications allow you to immediately assign a memory card to the default save location in your settings.

⚠️ Warning: Before removing the memory card, always use the software shutdown in the Settings menu → Memory. → SD-map → Physically extracting a working card can damage files or the card itself.

If no methods help and the phone continues to signal a lack of space, the last measure remains a complete factory reset, which will return the device to the “out of the box” state by removing all user data, applications and debris.

Before resetting, make sure to back up your important data. Go to Settings → About Phone → Settings Reset → Erase all data. This process will take time, but is guaranteed to free up maximum memory and speed up the system.

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Use the Advanced Memory feature in newer versions of MIUI, if available for your model, which allows you to use part of the internal memory as virtual RAM, which can indirectly help with resource management, although it does not increase the physical storage volume.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Regular prevention and use of cloud storage is the key to long and fast operation of your Xiaomi Redmi 8 without the need to buy a new device.