How to effectively free up space on Xiaomi Redmi: the complete guide

The situation when Xiaomi Redmi suddenly starts to work slower, and notifications about the lack of internal memory appear with alarming regularity, familiar to every owner of smartphones of this brand. MIUI operating system, despite its functionality, tends to accumulate a huge number of temporary files and logs, which over time “eat” precious gigabytes. This is not just a disruption, it is a direct threat to the stability of the device, because the system does not have enough space for normal operation of background processes.

Many users make the mistake of only removing apps, but often forget about messengers, which become the main “eaters” of disk space. Telegram and WhatsApp by default save all the photos and videos viewed in the memory of the phone, turning download folders into a chaos of duplicates. Before deciding on radical measures like resetting to factory settings, it is worth trying a comprehensive cleanup that will return the device to its former frolic.

In this guide, we will look at proven methods to safely remove up to 10-15 GB of junk data without losing important information, including both the built-in HyperOS and MIUI tools and manual file system practices that are often ignored by standard cleaners.

Storage analysis and search for hidden giants

The first step should always be to diagnose what your memory is clogged with. Standard Explorer often only shows the big picture, hiding the real volume of folders with the app cache. Modern versions of the shell from Xiaomi have a powerful analyzer built in that visualizes data.

To run a deep scan, go to Settings → About Phone → Storage, where the system will count all files and categorize them into apps, images, videos, documents, etc. Pay special attention to the “Other” or “System Files” section, where remnants of remote programs or update logs are often hidden.

⚠️ Note: Do not delete.obb or.apk files from Android system folders manually unless you are 100% sure of their origin.

Sometimes it's useful to use third-party tools for more detailed analysis, like Files by Google or DiskUsage, to build a memory card where each rectangle is the size of a file, allowing you to instantly find the heavyweights hidden in the back of the directories.

• 🔍 Use the built-in analyzer in the "Storage" section for the initial evaluation.
• 📉 Pay attention to apps that occupy more than 1 GB of space.
• 🗑️ Check the Download folder for old installers.

Once you have identified the main sources of consumption of space, you can move to a targeted cleaning, and you should not ignore small files, as they can amount to several gigabytes.

Cleaning the cache and temporary files of the system

The easiest and safest way to recover a few hundred megabytes is to use the regular Security app, which is pre-installed on all Redmi smartphones, and can find remnants of deleted apps, temporary files and advertising junk.

Run the Security → Cleanup app. The system will perform a quick scan and suggest removing files that do not affect the phone's performance. However, for a deeper cleanup, click on the "Clean All" button or go to the "Deep Clean" section.

Special attention should be paid to the cache of social networks and browsers. Unlike these applications, the cache can be deleted without fear of losing logins and passwords. Go to Settings → Apps → All applications, select the desired service (for example, YouTube or Chrome) and click Clear → Clear the cache.

⚠️ Warning: Don't confuse "Cache Cleanup" with "Data Cleanup." The second operation will completely reset the application after installation, deleting your accounts and correspondence.

It's also worth checking the folders that create temporary storage applications. Often, at the root of internal memory, there are folders with names like tencent, baidu, or log. If you don't use these companies' services, you can delete their contents through the file manager.

Working with messengers: Telegram and WhatsApp

Messengers are the absolute leaders in filling memory on Xiaomi smartphones. the mechanism of Telegram and WhatsApp involves saving all media files in internal memory, even if you just glimpse the picture in the chat.

Telegram handles the situation most elegantly thanks to the cloud nature of the messenger. Go to Settings → Data and memory → Memory Use. Here you will see the amount of cache you have occupied. Press Clear cache. Don't worry, your photos and videos won't be lost, they will just be deleted from the device, but will remain on the server and download again when you view.

WhatsApp is more complicated because it stores your history locally. Open a chat, click on your contact name, then Media, links, and documents. Select all unnecessary files and delete them. It's also helpful to disable auto-save to the gallery: Settings → Chats → Media visibility.

It is also recommended to check the folders where these messengers put documents. Often users throw each other heavy video files, which then lie for years in the folder Android/media/com.whatsapp or Android/data/org.telegram.messenger.

• 📱 In Telegram, use the built-in cache cleaning function with a timer.
• 💬 On WhatsApp, manually remove heavy videos from shared chats.
• ⚙️ Turn off auto-save media in the phone gallery for all messengers.

Regularly checking these two apps can free up up to 5GB of space monthly, which is critical for models with little internal storage.

Removing duplicate photos and screenshots

The gallery is another place where chaos has been building up for years, with screenshots of interfaces, failed shots, series of identical photos and duplicates created when recovered from backup taking up a colossal space.

The MIUI gallery has a feature for finding similar images, but it doesn't always work perfectly, so you'd better use the Files app or third-party software like Remo Duplicate Photos Remover, which scans the hash sums of files and finds exactly identical copies.

The.thumbnails folder in DCIM directory is a hidden system folder that stores thumbnails of your photos for quick display in the gallery, which can grow to gigabytes over time, can be safely removed, but the system will recreate it, so it's worth doing it periodically.

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Tip: Before removing a large number of photos, back up to the cloud (Google Photos or Mi Cloud) to be able to recover accidentally deleted frames.

Also check the MIUI/Gallery/cloud/recycleBin folder. Often deleted photos do not disappear completely, but move to the cart, continuing to occupy space on the server or in the local sync cache.

Management of applications and game resources

Modern apps, especially games and navigators, weigh a lot. Google Maps can store gigabytes of offline maps, and games like PUBG or Genshin Impact require tens of gigabytes to install resources.

Go to Settings → Apps → All apps and sort the list by size. You will be surprised to find that somehow the sprawling app takes up 10 GB. If it is a game you haven't played in months, it's best to uninstall it.

For navigators and maps, check your card storage settings. Yandex Navigator or 2GIS can remove loaded regions if you don't plan to travel in the coming days, making room without removing the app itself.

⚠️ Note: When you delete games with additional cache (.obb files), make sure you delete them too. Sometimes, after deleting the game, the data folder remains hanging dead weight in the memory.

If you are using Lite versions