The situation when Xiaomi Cloud is crowded is familiar to many owners of Redmi and POCO smartphones. The device begins to insist on freeing up space, blocking the creation of new backups and synchronizing photos. This is not just a system notification, but a real barrier to the full use of the Mi Account ecosystem.
The problem often comes up suddenly: yesterday everything worked normally, and today you see a message that the storage is 100% full, and the main reason is usually automatic synchronization of a gallery that has been accumulating images and videos in the cloud for years, and you can't ignore this, because new media files may stop saving or downloading to the server.
In this article, we’ll break down safe cleaning methods that won’t accidentally remove valuable footage from the phone itself, learn how to distinguish between local copies and cloud data, and learn how to optimize the use of 5GB of free space provided by the manufacturer.
Analysis of cloud storage occupancy
Before we start radical action to delete files, we need to know exactly what is taking up space. Often users mistakenly believe that the space is full of system files, while 90% of the volume is eaten by heavy video files from albums. For detailed analysis, you need to go to account settings.
Open the Settings menu → Mi Account → Xiaomi Cloud. This is a general employment chart. Click on the Storage Management section, and you'll see the details by category: Gallery, Recorder, Notes, Contacts and App Data. This screen gives you an idea of what you're going to work with.
Consider that data in the cloud can be duplicated, for example, the same video can be saved in the Camera album and in the Video album, taking up double the volume if the synchronization is not configured correctly, careful analysis will avoid deleting the necessary documents or working notes.
⚠️ Note: Do not rush to delete files through the web interface without first checking the local copy on the smartphone, as when synchronization is enabled, deleting in the cloud will delete the file on the device.
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Use the i.mi.com web version to view and sort files by date and size more easily, which is harder to do from a small phone screen.
Cleaning the gallery and removing duplicates
The most efficient way to free up space is to work with the media library. Photos and video are the main consumers of disk space. MIUI and HyperOS provide sorting tools, but often require manual intervention to find really redundant content.
Start with the "Deleted" section. Often users delete files but forget to clear the bin where they are stored for another 30 days, continuing to occupy space. Go to Gallery → Albums → Deleted and select "Clean All." This will instantly return a few gigabytes.
Next, check the Screenshots and Save Items section, where images from messengers that are not valuable for long-term storage often accumulate, and sort files by size: video files weighing more than 100 MB should be transferred to a computer or external drive, and deleted from the cloud.
- 📸 Check out Portrait and Selfie albums – they often store bad takes.
- 🎥 Sort the video by duration and remove long but unnecessary videos.
- 📂 Pay attention to WhatsApp and Telegram folders that sync automatically.
Managing backups of applications and settings
In addition to media files, a significant amount of backups are used for system settings and installed applications. Xiaomi Cloud by default saves program lists, desktop icons and Wi-Fi network settings. If you change your smartphones often, this is convenient, but you can turn off the extra one to save space.
In the cloud management section, look for "Backup." Here you can choose which data to save. For example, the backup of call settings and SMS takes a little, but the browser history or cache of some games can grow to gigabytes. Turn off sync for heavy and unimportant applications.
Also, check the "Device Settings" section, if you're switching to a new phone of the same model, a full copy of the system will be useful. However, if you change the model or version of Android, such data can cause conflicts. Deleting old backups of devices that you no longer use is a great way to quickly get free space.
⚠️ Note: Before removing the backup of your settings, make sure you remember passwords from important accounts, as it will be impossible to restore them through a cloud backup.
☑️ Verification of backup copies
Comparison of tariffs and paid expansion
If the file cleanup doesn't work, and you don't want to delete anything, you have to expand the limit, and the manufacturer offers paid subscriptions that increase the amount of space available, and this is true for those who use the phone as the main camera and need a reliable backup.
The basic 5GB rate, which is free, is filled up very quickly in today’s world. Paid options offer between 50GB and 2TB. It’s important to understand the difference between a Mi Cloud+ subscription and simply buying space: often this includes additional privileges like priority support or advanced search features.
Below is a table showing the approximate ratio of volume to cost (prices can vary by region and currency):
| Storage volume | Type of subscription | Frequency of payment | Who's right for? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5GB | Basic | Free of charge. | For contacts and notes |
| 50GB | Standard | Monthly | Active users of photos |
| 200GB | Plus | Monthly | Family access and video |
| 2 TB | Premium | Every year. | Professionals and archives |
Payment is made through a tied card in Mi Account, which is more convenient than constantly cleaning your memory if you value your time and peace of mind for data security, but before buying it, it is worth weighing: it may be cheaper to buy a physical flash card or an external hard drive for archiving.
Alternative methods of synchronization
There are many alternative cloud services that can take over some of the load, such as Google Photos, which provides 15GB of free (along with Gmail and Drive), which is three times the base rate of Mi Cloud.
Set up automatic uploading of photos to Google Photos or Yandex.Disk, and in the settings of Xiaomi Cloud, turn off the synchronization of the gallery. This way you save data backup, but distribute the load. Contacts and notes can be left in Mi Account, and heavy media files can be sent to another storage.
Another option is the use of FTP-It's a server on your phone that can transfer files directly to your computer over Wi-Fi, bypassing the clouds. It requires a PC on the same network, but it allows you to quickly drop gigabytes of video without data limits and Internet speeds.