How to Clean Up Xiaomi Phone’s Internal Memory Completely: From Garbage to System Files

Why does Xiaomi’s memory get clogged on its own?

Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face a problem: the memory fills up “on its own” even though you haven’t installed new apps or downloaded files. It’s not just the cache that’s to blame, but the MIUI architecture, which actively uses internal storage for temporary files, system logs and duplicate media. For example, the Gallery app automatically creates thumbnails for each photo, and the Screen Records save drafts of the video even after removal.

Another reason is preloaded data. Many apps (including system ones) download content in advance: music covers, video previews to Mi Video, offline maps to Mi Maps. These files take up gigabytes but don't show up in the standard file manager. And if you've ever used the app clone (duplicating messengers), each clone creates a separate cache folder - and it doesn't clear when you delete the original application.

Method 1: Built-in MIUI cleaning – what it actually removes

The most obvious method is to use the built-in Cleanup utility, but few know that it only removes 30-40% of the garbage.

• 🗑️ Application cache (temporary files that can be restored on the next run)
• 📁 Empty folders and.thumb files (miniatures)
• 🔍 System logs (/data/log) lately 7 days
• 📥 Unfinished downloads from the browser and Mi Downloads

Here's what's NOT removed:

• 🚫 System application cache (e.g. Mi Security or Mi Account)
• 🚫 Photo and video duplicates created by Google Photos or Mi Cloud
• 🚫 Residual files after deleting applications (lib and odex folders)
• 🚫 Logs of kernel errors (/data/tombstones), weighable 1 GB

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After cleaning through the built-in utility, be sure to restart the phone - this will free up an additional 100-300 MB, which take up "ghost" processes.

To get to hidden files, you need to use the advanced mode:

1. Open Clean → press three dots in the upper right corner.
2. Select Deep Clean → tick all items, including System cache.
3. Confirm the action and wait for the analysis (can take up to 5 minutes).

Method 2: Manually Cleaning Folders – Where to Look for Hidden Garbage

MIUI hides from the user many service folders that can be manually cleaned, you will need a file manager with root permissions (for example, MiXplorer or Solid Explorer) or ADB-Here are the key directories:

To access these folders without root rights:

1. Connect your phone to your PC and enable USB Debugging in Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (click 7 times).
2. Open the command line on your PC and type in: adb shell su rm -rf /data/log/* rm -rf /data/tombstones/*
3. Reset the device.

⚠️ Note: Removing files from /data/app or /data/data If you don't know the structure, you'll crash applications, like deleting the com.android.vending folder would break the Google Play Market, and you'd have to manually reinstall it.

Method 3: Transfer applications to SD-Map - Why it doesn't always work

MIUI allows you to transfer applications to SD-map, but with reservations:

• ✅ It only works for applications that support adoptable storage (e.g. Spotify, VLC).
• ❌ It does not work for system applications and most games (e.g. Genshin Impact or GI). PUBG Mobile).
• ⚠️ After the transfer, the application may slow down if SD-grade-up UHS-I (U3).

How to transfer correctly:

1. Put it in. SD-Card (SanDisk Extreme or Samsung recommended) EVO Plus).
2. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
3. Select the application → Warehouse → Change. → SD-map.
4. Confirm the transfer (may take up to 10 minutes).

If the option to change is inactive, it means:

• 📱 The app does not support portability (check Google Play in the "Technical Data" section»).
• 🔒 SD-The card is formatted as a portable storage (you need to format it as internal memory, but this will delete all data!).
• 🛠️ The phone has disabled the option for developers Forced to allow the transfer to SD (included in the settings → Additionally. → For developers).

Method 4: Cleaning the Google Play Services cache and other “unkillable” processes

Google Play Services is Xiaomi’s main memory eater, a system process that caches data for Google Maps, YouTube, Gmail, and other services, but never automatically clears the cache, which can take up to 3-5 GB per year.

How to clean:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Press three points. → Showing System Processes.
3. Find Google Play Services → Storage → Clear the cache.
4. Repeat for Google Play Market, Services Framework and Download Manager.

After cleaning:

• 🔄 Reboot your phone – it will reset the background processes.
• 📶 Connect to Wi-Fi and wait for account sync (may take time) 10-15 minute).
• 🚫 Don’t Clean Up Data (Clean All Data) – This Will Break Google Play!

Turn off automatic app updates in Google Play|Check the operation of push notifications|Remove unnecessary accounts from Settings → Accounts.|Reboot the phone-->

⚠️ Note: If notifications from Gmail or YouTube stop coming after cleaning up Google Play Services, check your sync settings: → Accounts. → Google → Sync your account. Turn on all the switches and wait for the update.

Method 5: Remove duplicate photos and videos with hidden MIUI features

MIUI has a built-in tool to find duplicate media files, but it's hidden in the back of the menu. The algorithm looks not only for identical files, but also for similar ones (like photos with different resolutions or cropped versions).

How to find duplicates:

1. Open the Gallery → Press three points → Control.
2. Select Duplicate Search (if no item, update the Gallery via the Mi App Store).
3. Wait for analysis (it can take up to 30 minutes for 10,000+ files).
4. Mark unnecessary duplicates and click Delete.

What to do if the tool does not find duplicates:

• 🔍 Use third-party apps: Files by Google (has a Cleanup function) → Duplicates) or CCleaner.
• 📁 Check the folders: /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/.thumbnails /storage/emulated/0/Pictures/Screenshots/duplicates
• 🌐 Upload a photo to Google Photos and use the web version to search for duplicates (Utilities tool) → Search for duplicates).

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Duplicates take up to 20-30% of memory on Xiaomi, and a lot of them appear when using Google Photos in the “Original Quality” mode + the standard MIUI Gallery, which create individual copies for editing.

Method 6: Resetting to factory settings – when justified

If all previous methods fail, you will have to reset hard, which will delete all data, including:

• 📱 Applications and their settings
• 📂 Photos, videos, music (if not on the list) SD-map)
• 🔑 Accounts and passwords (except Mi Account data if the phone is tied)
• 📋 Call logs and SMS

When a discharge is justified:

• 🆘 The phone brakes even after cleaning (boot) CPU > 70% in Settings → The phone. → Status of the system).
• 📉 Free memory less than 10% of the total (for example, 2 GB out of 16 GB).
• 🔄 You're planning to sell your phone.

How to do the reset correctly:

1. Create a backup: Settings → Additional → Backup and Reset → Local Backup
2. Untie accounts: Settings → Accounts → Google → Delete Settings Account → Mi Account → Sign out
3. Reset: Settings → Additional → Backup and Reset → Resetting → Erase all data
4. After the reboot, do not restore data from the backup – first check if the memory problem has been resolved.

⚠️ Attention: On phones with MIUI 14+ Data Protection (on default) reset can take up to 1 hour.Do not interrupt the process, even if the screen is out - the charging indicator will flash red during the operation.

Method 7: Optimizing Memory for Games – How to Make Space Without Losing Progress

Games like Genshin Impact, Call of Duty Mobile or Honor of Kings take up to 10-15 GB, most of which are cache textures and updates. It's useless to manually remove them: the game just downloads everything again.

For Genshin Impact and similar games:

1. Start the game → Settings → Another → Storage optimization.
2. Select Remove Packet Cache (this will remove unnecessary update files).
3. Turn off Resource Preload in the graphics settings.

If the game supports cloud-based saves (e.g., Mi Cloud or Google Play Games), move the progress to the cloud, delete the game, and then reinstall it. 5-7 GB.

FAQ: Frequent questions about Xiaomi memory cleanup