How to clean your Xiaomi phone from unnecessary files: 7 proven ways

Xiaomi smartphones are some of the most popular devices on the market due to their combination of price and functionality. But even the powerful Redmi Note 12, POCO X5 or Mi 13 models are slowly slowing down due to the accumulated digital debris. Duplication photos, remnants of remote applications, messenger cache and system logs take up gigabytes of memory, even though the user does not even know they exist.

According to a study by AVG Technologies, the average Android smartphone contains up to 3-5 GB of unnecessary files that can be safely deleted, while on Xiaomi devices with MIUI firmware, this volume often exceeds 7-10 GB due to the nature of the shell and preinstalled services. In this article, we will discuss how to find and remove garbage without risking losing important data, and what tools for this purpose the developers themselves provided.

Why is Xiaomi’s phone filling up with garbage?

MIUI is known for its heavy interface and its abundance of background processes, and even if you don't install new applications, the system continues to generate temporary files.

• 📱 App cache: instant messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp), social networks (TikTok, Instagram) and games save up to 500 MB-1 GB of data per application.
• 🗑️ Residual files: After deleting programs, folders with settings in the /Android/data or /Android/obb.
• 📸 Duplicate photo/video: MIUI Gallery automatically creates thumbnails and backups that are not visible in the main gallery.
• 🔄 Logs and dumps: System error reports (/data/log) can weigh up 2–3 GB.
• 🎮 Gaming Garbage: Genshin Impact or Call of Duty Mobile Cache Easily Up to 3–5GB.

The problem is particularly acute in budget models (Redmi 10A, POCO M5) with 64-128 GB of memory, where free space ends after a few months of active use, while MIUI does not always correctly display occupied volume in storage settings, hiding some files.

⚠️ Attention: Do not confuse the cache of applications with user data! decache (Settings) → Annexes → Warehouse → Clear cache) is safe, and data cleanup (Clear all data) will result in resetting settings and logging out of your account.

Method 1: Built-in utility "Cleaning" in MIUI

The easiest method is to use the standard Cleanup tool, which is on all Xiaomi phones (except models for the European market with MIUI Lite).

• 🗑️ Unnecessary files APK (leftovers after application installation).
• 📁 Temporary files and cache.
• 🔍 Duplicate photos and videos.
• 📂 Large files (>100 MB) that has not been opened for a long time.

How to start cleaning:

1. Open the Security app (shield icon).
2. Select the Cleanup tab (in some versions – Optimization).
3. Click Scan and wait for the check to be completed.
4. Check the category of files for deletion and confirm the action.

The average amount of freed memory after the first cleaning is 1-3 GB. However, the utility does not remove the cache of system applications (for example, Mi Video or Mi Browser), so additional steps will be required for deep cleaning.

Method 2: Manually cleansing the application cache

Cache speeds up programs, but over time grows to uncontrollable sizes, for example, Facebook can take up to 1 GB of cache, and Google Play Services can take up to 500 MB. Manual cleaning helps to free up 2-5 GB without deleting these accounts.

Instructions:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Sort the list by size (click on the three dots in the top right corner → Sort → by size).
3. Select an app with a large cache (e.g. YouTube, Chrome, TikTok).
4. Press Warehouse. → Clear the cache.

To speed up the process, packet cleaning can be used:

Settings → Storage → Cache data → Clear

⚠️ Warning: Do not clear the cache of system applications (Mi Account, Security, Settings) - this can cause firmware malfunctions. Also avoid cleaning the cache of Google Play Services if you do not want problems with updates.

💡

If after cleaning the cache, the application began to work slower, restart the phone - the system will restore the necessary temporary files.

Method 3: Removing duplicate photos and videos

MIUI automatically creates thumbnails (.thumb), backups and duplicates when editing photos, which take up to 20 to 30 percent of the total memory, but are not displayed on the main album.

How to find and remove duplicates:

1. Open the Gallery app.
2. Click on the three dots in the upper right corner → Photo management.
3. Choose Duplicates or Screenshots (if you need to clear old screenshots).
4. Mark unnecessary files and click Delete.

For deeper cleaning, use third-party utilities, for example:

• 📌 Files by Google (Scans for duplicates and large files).
• 📌 CCleaner (shows hidden folders with garbage).
• 📌 SD Maid (can clean residual files after uninstalling applications).

Notice the folders:

/storage/emulated/0/Pictures/.thumbnails


/storage/emulated/0/DCIM/.thumbnails




/storage/emulated/0/MIUI/Gallery/cloud/backup

⚠️ Note: Before mass deleting duplicates, check if they are backups from Mi Cloud. If sync is enabled, the originals can be restored via Settings → Xiaomi account → Mi Cloud → gallery.

Method 4: Clean Download folder and instant messenger downloads

Download folder is the main memory sink.

• 📄 PDF-file-and-document.
• 🎵 Audio files from Telegram and WhatsApp.
• 📦 Archives (.zip,.rar) after unpacking.
• 🖼️ Images and GIFs from social networks.

How to clean:

1. Open the Files app (folder icon).
2. Go to Categories → Downloads.
3. Sort files by date or size (click on three dots → Sort).
4. Select unnecessary files and click Delete.

Pay special attention to the messenger folders:

/storage/emulated/0/Telegram/Telegram Images


/storage/emulated/0/WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Images




/storage/emulated/0/Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Video

In Telegram, you can configure automatic deletion of media files:

1. Open Telegram → Settings → Data and memory.
2. Choose Clear the cache and set a storage limit.
3. Enable Auto Cleanup for files older than 3-7 days.

💡

Regular cleaning of the Download folder and messenger cache frees up to 3-7 GB of memory without the risk of losing important data.

Method 5: Removing System Garbage Through ADB (For Advanced)

If standard methods don’t work and the phone still shows “memory is full,” ADB (Android Debug Bridge) is a tool that allows you to delete hidden system files that are not available through the MIUI interface.

What can be removed through ADB:

• 🗑️ Logs of the system (/data/log, /cache).
• 📦 Residual files after updates (/data/app-lib).
• 🔄 Google Play Services cache (if it swells to 1GB)+).

Instructions:

1. Install ADB Tools on your PC.
2. Turn on USB Debugging on your phone: Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (click 7 times to activate Developer Mode), then Settings → Additional → Developers → Debugging over USB.
3. Connect your phone to your PC and execute commands: adb shell pm clear com.google.android.gms # Clean up Google Play Services adb shell rm -rf /data/log/* # Delete adb shell logs rm -rf /cache/* # Clear the system cache

⚠️ Note: Do not delete files in /system or /vendor — This will cause the device to fail. Also avoid rm commands. -rf /data/* — This will erase all user data!

Method 6: Reset to factory settings (last resort)

If none of the methods worked and there is less than 1-2 GB of free memory, you will have to do a hard reset. This method deletes all data, including applications, photos and settings, so first:

• 🔄 Make a backup copy through Settings → Xiaomi account → Mi Cloud → Backup.
• 📁 Copy photos and videos on a PC or external drive.
• 📝 Save the list of installed apps (you can use Google Play) → Library).

How to reset your settings:

1. Go to Settings → About the phone → Reset settings.
2. Choose to erase all data.
3. Confirm the action and wait for the reboot (it will take 5-10 minutes).

Once reset, the phone will be like a new one, with 20 to 30 GB of storage available (depending on the model), but you will have to reconfigure accounts, install apps, and recover data from the backup.

Method 7: Optimize memory to prevent clogging

To prevent the garbage from accumulating again, follow simple rules:

• 📵 Remove unused apps once a month (use Settings) → Annexes → Unused).
• 🔄 Clear the cache of messengers and browsers once every 2 weeks.
• 📁 Transfer photos and videos to Mi Cloud, Google Photos or an external memory card.
• 🚫 Turn off autoloading media files in WhatsApp/Telegram (Settings → Data and memory → Autoboot media).
• 🔧 Use the “light” versions of applications (Facebook Lite, Messenger Lite).

It is also useful to activate the built-in MIUI optimization:

1. Go to Settings → Special features → Memory optimization.
2. Enable Auto Clean (remove cache when charge or memory is low).

For models with 128 GB+ memory, you can divide it into sections:

Settings → Storage → Configure as internal memory (for microSD cards)

FAQ: Frequent questions about Xiaomi cleanup