How to Clean Memory on Xiaomi MIUI 12: Effective Techniques

Xiaomi smartphones today are packed with huge storage volumes, but MIUI 12 has a tendency to become overgrown with temporary files, which inevitably leads to a lack of free space. When storage becomes overcrowded, the device starts to run slower, new applications are not installed, and the camera may refuse to save pictures. Users are often confronted with a message that there is not enough space, even if they did not visually download anything heavy.

The solution lies in a comprehensive cleaning that affects not only the shopping cart, but also hidden system folders, application cache and duplicate files. Unlike older versions of the firmware, MIUI 12 offers advanced tools for memory management, but they do not always work automatically. You will need to manually check several settings sections to free up gigabytes of valuable space.

In this article, we will look at proven optimizations that will help return the phone to performance. We will look at both the built-in system tools and deeper cleaning methods that are safe for user data. Proper maintenance of the drive extends the life of the smartphone and ensures stable operation of all functions.

Use of the built-in Security application

The first and most obvious step for any Xiaomi owner is to use a regular optimization tool.Security is pre-installed on all devices and contains a Cleanup module that scans the system for temporary files, residual debris and advertising.

But standard cleaning often stops at the surface level. For a deeper analysis, click on the Clean button and then go to Deep Clean. Here, the system will suggest removing large files, rarely used apps and duplicate photos. The MIUI 12 algorithm in this section is quite aggressive, so it's worth looking carefully at the list before confirming the deletion.

Special attention should be paid to the App tab inside the cleanup menu, the system itself tells which programs occupy the most space, often social networks or messengers that store huge amounts of media files, and regular use of this tool, at least once a week, prevents critical memory filling.

⚠️ Attention: Deep Cleaning may mark important work documents or cache-stored maps of offline navigators as junk. Carefully check the list of files before final deletion so you don't lose the information you need.

Storage analysis and management of large files

There is a hidden problem with Android and MIUI 12: users often forget about downloaded files. To identify such objects, you need to go to the storage settings via the Settings → Memory path. Here are detailed statistics showing the distribution of space between applications, images, videos and other files.

The most effective method is manually sorting by size. By clicking on Files category or using a standard Explorer, sort content by size. You can find forgotten high-resolution videos, archives with installers or old backups. Deleting even a few of these objects can free up more space than clearing the cache of a dozen small programs.

It's also worth checking the Download folder. Browsers and instant messengers often save everything you've ever opened. In MIUI 12, the download folder can grow to unimaginable sizes if not manually cleaned, and removing the contents of this directory is safe for the system to work, but can erase the documents you need.

• 📂 Check the folder. DCIM/.thumbnails — It stores miniatures of the gallery, which can take up gigabytes.
• 🗑️ Use the Recycle Bin feature in the file manager to be able to recover the deleted one within 30 days.
• 📹 Pay attention to the folders of video editors, where the projects and exported videos remain.

Clearing the cache and data messengers

The most voracious apps on any smartphone are messengers: Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber. In MIUI 12 they have their own memory management settings, which are often more effective than system tools. For example, Telegram can set up automatic cache cleaning, which is the only way to effectively combat the growth of the database of media files of this application without losing correspondence.

For other apps like Instagram or TikTok, you'll have to use the system menu. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps, find the right program and select Memory. Here you'll see two buttons: Clear cache and Clear data. The first one deletes temporary files, the second one resets the application to a state immediately after installation, requiring re-authorization.

It's important to distinguish between the two. Cache cleaning is safe and recommended regularly. Data cleaning will remove your logins, settings and local saves if they're not synced to the cloud. In MIUI 12, the system can warn of consequences, but the responsibility for choosing lies with the user.

⚠️ Before clearing the messenger data, make sure you have an up-to-date backup of the dialogs in the cloud (Google Drive or iCloud), otherwise the correspondence history will be lost irretrievably.

Some users are faced with a situation where the size of the application in the settings seems disproportionately large, often due to error logs or stuck update processes, in which case a complete reinstallation of the application or a forced stop before cleaning the cache helps.

Work with Gallery and Cloud Services

Media files make up the lion's share of the memory of a modern smartphone. MIUI 12 can find similar pictures and screenshots, suggesting that you delete extra copies. However, a more advanced solution is the use of cloud services. Synchronizing with Google Photos or Xiaomi Cloud allows you to store originals on the Internet, leaving only compressed previews on the device.

Google Photos’ “Free Space” feature works flawlessly: it removes photos from your phone that have already been successfully uploaded to the cloud. This instantly frees up gigabytes of space. Mi Account holders should check the gallery sync settings, since MIUI 12 can store full backups in the Xiaomi cloud, taking up a quota, but freeing up the local drive.

Also worth paying attention to is the album "Recently Deleted," which doesn't disappear immediately, but is stored there for 30 days, continuing to take up space, and cleaning up this album is a quick way to get some space right now.

Removal of duplicates and system debris

While Xiaomi is actively using the disk, duplicate files are accumulated. These can be the same photos taken by different applications, or copies of documents saved from different sources. MIUI 12 does not always automatically find all of them, so it is useful to use specialized tools or file managers with the function of searching for duplicates.

System garbage is another category of files: This includes update logs, temporary APK installation files, remnants of deleted programs. Standard Security cleaner does a good job of doing this, but sometimes requires re-starting. After the first cleanup, run the scanner again — often there is another 100-200 MB of data that became available after removing the previous layer of garbage.

Special attention should be paid to the Android/obb and Android/data folder. It stores the caches of games and applications. If you deleted the game but the folder is still there, it needs to be manually deleted. In MIUI 12, access to these folders can be limited, so use the built-in Explorer or connect the phone to your PC for manual cleaning.

• 🔍 Look for files with.tmp and.log extensions – they are safe to delete.
• 📱 Delete. APK-Installation files after successful application installation.
• 🎮 Check remote game folders for residual files weighing several gigabytes.

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Use the “Duplicate Search” feature in the Files app to quickly find and remove the same images that occupy the space.

Radical measures: Resetting and formatting

If none of these methods worked, and the memory continues to fill up with unknown data, there may be a build-up of errors in the file system, in which case the solution is to reset the settings completely to factory settings, which will return MIUI 12 to its original state, as if you had just bought a phone.

Before performing this procedure, it is critical to make a full backup of all data. Reset will destroy all information on the internal drive, including contacts, photos and installed applications. Once reset, the system will work as quickly as possible and the file system will be cleared of logical errors.

To perform the reset, go to Settings → About Phone → Settings Reset → Erase all data. The process will take 5 to 15 minutes depending on the amount of memory. Once turned on, the phone will suggest configuring it again. It is recommended not to restore the entire backup of the applications, but to put them again so as not to return the accumulated garbage with them.

⚠️ Note: Formatting internal memory (if the phone offers this choice when connecting to a PC or in an engineering menu) completely destroys data. Make sure you choose Factory Reset instead of formatting the data partition without the need to.

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A complete factory reset is the most effective way to deal with memory storage program errors, but it requires a mandatory backup.

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