Xiaomi smartphones that run on the MIUI shell or the new HyperOS are famous for their functionality, but over time accumulate a significant amount of unnecessary data. This is an inevitable process of using the Android operating system, which leads to a slowdown in the interface and a lack of space for new photos. Users often face a notification of overflow storage, even if you have not installed heavy games or applications.
Cleaning up your device from digital debris is not just about removing old images, it's about taking a holistic approach to system maintenance. Owners of Redmi and POCO devices need to understand that built-in cleaning tools work efficiently, but require proper use to remove really redundant files. In this article, we'll look at all the steps in freeing up space.
Use of the built-in Security application
The first and most reliable cleaning tool is the standard Security app, which is pre-installed on all devices of the brand, designed specifically with the MIUI file system in mind, and allows you to safely delete temporary files without risking damage to the system, launching this utility is a basic step in servicing any Xiaomi smartphone.
Once the application is launched, the system automatically scans the drive. The algorithms analyze the application cache, remnants of deleted programs and advertising files. It is important to wait until the process is completed, since interrupting the scan can lead to incorrect display of the amount of space vacated.
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Run scans in the Security app at least once a week to prevent large amounts of temporary files from accumulating.
The app's functionality is not limited to simple cleaning. Inside the Cleanup section, you can have deeper settings to select specific file types to delete. You can manually mark categories such as large files or long-unused applications to conduct a more thorough audit of the storage.
☑️ Basic Cleaning Through Security
Manual cleaning of app cache and messengers
Social networks and instant messengers such as Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber are often the main consumers of free space. These apps store every photo and video viewed into local memory, creating gigabytes of hidden garbage. Standard cleaning through Android settings allows you to delete the cache without losing correspondence.
To perform this procedure, you must go to the Settings menu. → Annexes → All applications. Select the app from the list and find Memory. There's a cache clearing button available that will delete the temporary data but save your logins and passwords.
⚠️ Note: Do not confuse the Clear Cache button with the Clear Everything or Reset button, as the second option will delete all your correspondence and authorization data without the possibility of recovery.
Special attention should be paid to multimedia files downloaded in chat rooms. Many users do not know that you can set up automatic deletion of media files over a certain period, this is done inside the messenger applications themselves in the data settings and storage section, which eliminates the need for manual cleaning in the future.
Storage analysis and removal of large files
Often, the space is not occupied by system files, but by forgotten downloads, duplicate photos or old video files. The built-in storage analyzer in MIUI allows you to visualize disk employment. Going to Settings → About Phone → Storage, you will see a color diagram of the data distribution.
The system will suggest removing large files that you may have downloaded a month ago and no longer need them, such as APK installation packages from older versions of programs or PDF documentation, which is the fastest way to free up a few gigabytes of space.
| Type of data | Where to find out. | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| Downloads (Downloads) | File Manager → Downloads | Remove old APKs and documents |
| Cash social media | Settings → Applications | Clean regularly |
| Gallery basket | Gallery → Albums → Deleted | Cleaning after removal of the photo |
| Offline maps | Navigator. → Settings | Remove unnecessary regions |
Don't ignore the Download folder in the file manager, which is where everything from the browser is saved by default, and checking this directory once a month helps keep things in order and remove random downloads that are no longer of interest to the smartphone owner.
Working with the “Other” folder and system files
Users are often intimidated by the Other category, which can take up a significant portion of memory, and this section includes files that the system cannot uniquely classify: application databases, error logs, remnants of remote games and temporary update files.
To analyze the contents of the Other folder, you should use the Explorer file manager built-in. Go to the internal memory and pay attention to the folders with the names of the installed applications. If you deleted the game, but the folder with its name (for example, com.game.name) is left and weighs a lot, you can safely delete it manually.
What is a file.android_secure?
It's also worth checking the folder. MIUI It's in the internal storage, and inside it are the gallery folders), sound_recorder (Recorder records) and backups (backups) If you don't use the recorder or have already saved backups elsewhere, these files can be deleted to free up space.
⚠️ Note: When manually cleaning folders in the directory Android/data Be careful.Removing active application folders will result in resetting their settings and losing progress in games or offline maps.
Sync with the Xiaomi Cloud
An effective way to combat memory shortages is to transfer media files to the Xiaomi Cloud cloud storage or alternative services such as Google Photos. The Clean Local Files feature allows you to remove original photos and videos from your device, leaving them available for viewing over the Internet in compressed quality.
To activate this feature, go to Settings → Mi Account → Xiaomi Cloud → Gallery. Here you can turn on sync and select the option to free up space. This is especially true for owners of models with a small amount of internal memory, for example, 64 or 128 GB.
Using cloud technology turns your smartphone into a terminal for accessing data, not just a storage facility, not only saving space, but also keeping important information safe in the event of a device being lost or broken, and checking sync status regularly ensures that all new images are saved.
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Automatic synchronization of photos with the subsequent removal of local copies is the best way to forget about the lack of space for the camera.
Removal of system debris and residual files
After upgrading the system or removing heavy applications, the memory may still have tails, such as configuration files and temporary logs, and you can use the Deep Cleaning feature in the Security app to find them by selecting Deep Cleaning.
The system will analyze the memory for files that have been left unused for more than 30 days, which can be thumbnails of deleted videos, cache cards that have grown to giant sizes, or debugging logs, and cleaning this data is safe and often allows you to return another 1-2 GB of free space.
If standard methods fail to free up space, you can consider a more radical but effective method, resetting the settings to the factory. Before you do this, make sure to create a full backup of the data, which returns the phone to a “store-like” state, guaranteed to remove all accumulated over the years of use of software debris.