How to clean up Xiaomi Redmi phone from garbage completely: expert guide

As time goes on, any smartphone, even the most powerful flagship, starts to run slower and memory space disappears for no apparent reason. Owners of Xiaomi and Redmi devices are faced with this especially often because of the features of the MIUI shell, which tends to accumulate a huge number of temporary files and residual code of remote applications. Understanding how to properly and safely remove this digital junk is key to extending the life of your gadget.

Many users mistakenly believe that standard cleaning through the settings menu is enough, but system debris often hides deeper, taking up gigabytes in hidden folders. In this article, we will examine not only basic methods, but also advanced techniques that allow you to make space where it seemed impossible, you will learn which files can be deleted painlessly and which cannot be touched categorically so as not to disrupt the system.

The Android operating system is designed to create a cache to speed up content loading, but rarely delete it on its own. Over time, this cache inflates to unthinkable sizes, turning into a ballast that slows the processor and fills up flash memory. Proper cleaning is not just removing photos, it is a comprehensive approach to maintaining the software part of a smartphone.

Memory Occupancy Analysis and Hidden Files Search

Before we take active action to remove data, we need to make a thorough diagnosis of storage. Xiaomi standard tools give only a superficial idea of what takes up space, so it is important to look deeper. Often it turns out that the lion’s share of the volume is not the applications, but their data, the cache of messengers or forgotten downloads.

Use the built-in memory analyzer to get a primary picture of the file distribution. However, for a more detailed study, it is recommended to use third-party visualization utilities that show the structure of the folders as a map, this will allow you to see the "heavyweights" that are hiding in the system directories and not displayed in the usual list of applications.

• 📊 Data visualization helps to instantly identify folders larger than 1 GB, which are often the cache of streaming services.
• 📂 Hidden folders with prefix. (dot) often contain error logs and temporary update files that can be safely deleted.
• 🗑️ folder Android/obb It can contain remote game data that takes up several gigabytes of free space.

Particular attention should be paid to the Download folder and the directories of messengers such as Telegram or WhatsApp, which accumulates videos and images that are automatically saved to the device, without manual or automatic cleaning, freeing up space will be ineffective.

Basic cleaning through the standard Security application

Each Xiaomi smartphone has a Security system app, which is the first tool in the fight for space. Despite criticism from advanced users, this tool effectively copes with the removal of the base cache and temporary files of the system.

To get started, open the app and select Cleanup. The system will analyze the device and suggest removing files it considers safe to delete. These are usually leftover APK installation packages, image thumbnails and browser cache. The process takes no more than a minute, but can free up 500 MB to 2 GB of space.

Inside the app, Deep Cleaning is also available, which analyzes the contents of memory in more detail, and you can find duplicate photos, large files, and rarely used applications, and be careful when using this feature, as the algorithm can mistakenly label important documents as garbage.

⚠️ Note: Deep Clean may suggest that you delete files that are necessary for some games or offline maps to work. Always check the file list before confirming deletion, especially if you see familiar app names.

You should not rely solely on automatic mode, especially if the goal is to free up space as much as possible. Manually checking the categories proposed by the system avoids accidental loss of important data. For example, the system can consider the cache of the navigator cards as garbage, although it is necessary for offline mode to work.

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Run a standard cleanup through the Security app at least once a week to prevent a critical mass of temporary files from accumulating, slowing down the system.

Manual deletion of cache and residual application files

Automatic cleaners often don’t have access to full application data for Android security reasons. To do a complete cleanup, you need to manually manage the storage of each app installed, especially for social networks and instant messengers, which accumulate gigabytes of media files for years.

Go to Settings → Apps → All Apps. Select a resource-intensive app (like Instagram or TikTok) and click on Storage. Here you will see a clear separation between the size of the app itself, its data and cache. Clearing the cache is secure and does not require re-authorization, while clearing the data will reset the application to the state of initial installation.

Xiaomi system applications such as Mi Videos or Themes also tend to inflate cache, and checking these components regularly keeps the system on top. If you don't use standard applications, their cache can be easily deleted, but it's better to disable or remove unnecessary system services through ADB if you can.

A special case is the updates to the system components of Google Play Services and MIUI System, which can sometimes take up disproportionately much space due to errors in the upgrade process, in which cases, resetting updates to the factory version through the application management menu helps, which often returns several hundred megabytes.

Working with DCIM, MIUI and system garbage folders

The Android file system has a specific structure where the main user data is stored at the root of the internal drive. The DCIM folder contains your photos and videos, but inside it often hides deleted items in the basket that continue to occupy space. It is also worth checking the.thumbnails folder, which stores thumbnails and can grow to giant sizes.

Directory MIUI It's the data warehouse for all the services in the Xiaomi ecosystem, and it's got cloud, gallery folders inside it, sound_recorder. If you are not using Xiaomi cloud services, you can clear the cloud folder.However, be careful: delete files from the folder gallery/cloud It can cause synchronized photos to be lost if synchronization is enabled.

System debris often accumulates in the Android/data folder, which stores game and application cache files, and removing the contents of this folder for active applications will cause them to be reset or have to re-download resources, so you need to selectively clean this partition, removing only folders of already deleted games.

Using Developer Mode and ADB for Advanced

For users willing to go beyond standard settings, there is a developer mode and an ADB (Android Debug Bridge) tool, which allows you to remove system debris and even built-in Xiaomi applications that can not be removed in the usual way, which is the most radical, but also the most effective method of cleaning.

To activate the developer mode, go to Settings → About phone and 7 times click on the MIUI build number. After that, a new option will appear in the settings menu Advanced Settings → For developers. Here you can enable debugging over USB, which will connect the phone to the computer and control the file system through the command line.

With ADB commands, you can cache all applications at once, which is not available through the phone interface. Adb shell pm trim-caches 999999999, which causes the system to remove all available application cache. It's a powerful tool that frees up space, but requires a PC and installed drivers.

adb shell pm trim-caches 999999999

⚠️ Attention: Use of teams ADB Introducing incorrect commands, especially those related to removing system packets (pm uninstall), can result in a cyclic phone restart (bootloop) or loss of important features such as camera or sound.

Also, ADB can remove the "bloat" system, known as bloatware. Removing unnecessary Xiaomi and Google services not only frees up space, but also reduces the load on RAM, which indirectly helps the phone run faster and less warm.

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Use of the ADB-Trim-caches commands are the only way to clear the cache of all applications immediately without losing user data, but require a connection to a PC.

Optimization of the work of messengers and social networks

Special attention should be paid to messengers, as they are the main memory eaters on modern smartphones. Telegram, for example, by default saves all the media files viewed in the memory of the device. If you do not configure this setting, the application can take up 10, 20 and even 50 GB of space, storing copies of all the channels viewed.

In Telegram settings, go to Data and Memory → Memory Use. You need to limit the cache size (for example, to 512 MB or 1 GB) and set up auto-delete media files. Similar settings are available on WhatsApp (in the Storage section) and Viber. Ignoring these settings negates all efforts to clean the phone.

• 📱 In Telegram, enable the “Auto-Delete Media” function so that files are deleted 3 days, a week or a month after viewing.
• 💬 On WhatsApp, turn off auto-save to the gallery so duplicate images don't fill up memory twice.
• 🎞️ On TikTok and Instagram, clean the cache regularly through the app’s settings, as they don’t have built-in cache size limits.

Also, check your cloud storage settings. If you have photos synced in Google Photos or Xiaomi Cloud enabled, make sure that the originals are removed from the device after downloading (the "Free Space" function), which allows you to store the photo in the cloud without taking up the phone's physical memory.

Radical measures: Resetting to factory settings

If none of the above methods have worked and the phone continues to slow down, the final argument is a full reset to the factory settings (Hard Reset), which is guaranteed to remove all debris, viruses, erroneous settings and software conflicts, returning the phone to the “out of the box” state.

Before doing this, make sure to back up all your important data, as the process will delete everything: contacts, photos, apps and files. Reset can be done via the settings menu (Advanced Settings → Recovery and Reset) or through Recovery Mode if the phone is not booting.

After a reset, take your time to restore all applications from backup at once. Install only the necessary and observe the system in its pure form. Often, it is the accumulated over the years of use of "digital fat" that causes problems, and clean installation solves them more effectively than any cleaning.