Xiaomi smartphone owners often face a situation where cloud storage is overflowing, which blocks synchronization of new photos and important documents. This is not just a temporary inconvenience, but a serious limitation of the functionality of the device, requiring immediate user intervention. In most cases, the problem is solved by competent cleaning of data through the built-in tools of the system or the web interface.
Free space in cloud storage is critical to backing up contacts, notes, and voice recordings. If you ignore space warnings, you risk losing up-to-date data when a gadget breaks or loses, and understanding folder structure and file types will help you manage the volume available efficiently.
In this article, we’ll look at proven space-free methods that are suitable for both beginners and power users: you’ll learn which files take up the most resources and how to safely delete them without losing important information.
Analysis of cloud occupancy
The first step to clean up your account is to make a detailed diagnosis of your current account status, and MIUI provides a convenient tool for visualizing data, but often users don't look into those sections until critical errors occur, and you need to be clear about what consumes your limit.
Go to your phone settings and select Mi Account to see the general usage statistics, and this shows a diagram divided into categories: Gallery, Recorder, Contacts, and other services. Click on a specific section and you can see the file size detail.
Note the Gallery section, because photos and videos typically occupy up to 90 percent of the total volume. The high resolution of modern cameras can weigh hundreds of megabytes in one minute, and regular monitoring of this section will avoid sudden synchronization stops.
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Turn on folder size display in the Gallery menu to visually assess the weight of the albums before cleaning them.
The analysis will also show files that were not synced due to network or format errors, sometimes queuing up corrupted videos that are in quota space but not displayed on the album, and removing such "broken" objects is the first step to optimizing.
Delete photos and videos through the Gallery
The most obvious way to free up space is to manually clean media files directly on the device. Open the Gallery app and go to the Album tab, where all the shots are stored, and sort content by date, making it easier to find old and unnecessary frames.
For mass removal, use the highlight mode: press your finger in one photo, then swipe across the screen or select "Select All" from the menu. After that, click the delete button and the files will move to the basket.
- 📸 Open the Screenshots album and remove old interface images that are no longer needed.
- 🎥 Sort the video by size and remove the long videos shot in the 4K or 8K permit.
- 🗑️ Remember to clear the Deleted folder as files are stored there for 30 days.
Special attention should be paid to Portrait mode and serial shooting, which create many duplicates. Often users leave the best shots, forgetting to delete dozens of defective options.
☑️ Cleaning Gallery
If you have Google Photos enabled, make sure that the deletion is from the Xiaomi cloud, so as not to wipe backups in other services. Double checking of storage sources will prevent accidental loss of memorable moments.
Cleaning through the web interface i.mi.com
File management via a browser on a computer is often more convenient and quick than through a mobile application. i.mi.com provides full access to all parts of the cloud from a large screen, which is especially useful for working with documents and notes.
Log in using your Mi Account, and go to Gallery or Files. The interface allows you to select groups of files using Shift or Ctrl, which speeds up the process by many times, and you can immediately see the preview of files without opening each of them.
| Section | Type of data | Recommended action |
|---|---|---|
| gallery | Photos and videos | Delete duplicates and screenshots |
| Dictaphone | Audio recordings | Erase old lectures |
| Notes | Text and lists | Remove drafts |
| Contacts | Phone book | Check out take. |
The web interface also allows you to download large archives before deleting if you want to save data locally on your PC. This is the best way to create an additional backup before a radical cleanup.
⚠️ Note: When you delete files through the web interface, the changes are instantly applied to all devices associated with your account.
Managing the recorder and notes
Many users forget that audio recordings and text notes also take up space in the Xiaomi Cloud.The recorder can store hours of lectures, interviews or personal recordings that become irrelevant over time.
Open the Recorder app and view the list of records. Long files that last more than an hour can weigh hundreds of megabytes each, highlight the unnecessary recordings and delete them, pre-saving important fragments elsewhere.
- 🎙️ Check the folder with interviews or lectures recorded a few years ago.
- 📝 Go through text notes and delete shopping lists or temporary reminders.
- 📎 Pay attention to the attachments in the notes – images and voice messages also have weight.
In the Notes app, you should check the folder “Recently deleted”, because deleted text is also stored in the cloud for a certain time. Cleaning this section will finally free up the occupied volume. Regular revision of text files helps maintain order in the account.
Hidden large files in notes
Automatic synchronization setting
To keep the overflow problem from returning, you need to configure the automatic synchronization settings correctly. From the Settings menu → Mi Account → Xiaomi Cloud, you can choose which applications will upload data to the cloud. Disconnecting synchronization for heavy applications is an effective strategy.
It is recommended to leave sync only for contacts, messages and notes, as they take up a minimum of space. Photos and videos are better synchronized manually or through alternative services such as Google Photos or Yandex.Disk.
Also, you should pay attention to the synchronization condition: select “Only through Wi-Fi” to avoid wasting mobile traffic. This will not free up space directly, but will prevent download errors and process freeze in the background. A stable connection ensures that the file status is correct.
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Selective synchronization of only light data (contacts, SMS) is the best way to forget about the lack of space in the cloud.
Use of third-party cleaning tools
For advanced users, there are special client utilities that allow you to manage the Xiaomi cloud from a computer, programs like Mi Cloud Manager or Python scripts give you access to the cloud file system as a local disk, which allows you to use complex filters to find and delete files.
However, using third-party software carries certain security risks: By transferring your username and password from Mi Account to unverified programs, you risk the integrity of your data. Always use only official methods or time-tested open-source solutions with a reputation.
If you choose to use third-party software, be sure to enable two-factor authentication, which will add a level of protection even in the case of compromised password.
⚠️ Note: Official support Xiaomi is not responsible for the operation of third-party programs. the use of such tools may lead to a temporary blocking of the account due to suspicious activity.
What to do if the seat is not vacated
Sometimes users are faced with a situation where files are deleted, but the occupancy counter does not change, this can be due to a delay in syncing servers or caching data on the device, in which case a forced update of the account status is required.
Try to log out of Mi Account on all devices and log in again. This action initiates a complete recheck of the data by the server and update the information about the occupied place, and you can also try to clear the cache of the Mi Services application in the phone settings.
If the problem persists for more than 24 hours, the file may be in a synchronization error state, in which case only contacting technical support via a form on the site or in the application will help, employees can forcefully reset quotas or remove “hang” objects.