How to Free Up Space in Xiaomi Cloud: Step-by-step Instruction 2026

Xiaomi Cloud (or Mi Cloud) is an indispensable tool for owners of smartphones Redmi, POCO and Xiaomi, which automatically syncs photos, contacts, notes and backups. However, the standard 5 GB of free space ends up faster than it seems: one video in 4K or a thousand photos from a vacation — and you already see the notification “Not enough space in Xiaomi Cloud.” In this article, we will discuss legal ways to free up space without buying a subscription, and also tell you which files can be safely deleted and which should not be touched.

Compounding the problem, many users are unaware of what data is taking up the lion’s share of space. For example, app backups (including WhatsApp or Telegram cache) can weigh several gigabytes, and duplicate photos from Google Photos and Xiaomi Gallery can quietly eat away at precious megabytes. We tested all methods on current MIUI 14/15 firmware and highlighted those that work steadily.

1. Checking the occupied space: what exactly "eats" the place?

Before you delete something, you need to know which files are taking up the most space.

1. Open the Settings app on your smartphone.
2. Go to Xiaomi Cloud (or Mi Account → Cloud on older versions of MIUI).
3. Slip on the line "Storage management" (or "Storage").

Here you'll see a diagram of the data distribution by category: Photos/Video, Backups, Notes, Contacts, and more. Pay attention to sections that are over 1 GB, and cleaning them will have the maximum effect.

If the list includes an item called “Unknown Data” or “Other Files” (usually in gray), these can be:

• 📁 App cache (e.g. from TikTok or Instagram) that synced to the cloud.
• 🔄 Duplicate backups (if you have reinstalled multiple times) MIUI).
• 📄 System Logs (generated when crashes or debugging occurs).

2. Delete unnecessary backup copies

Backups are the main space eater in Xiaomi Cloud, and many users don’t even know that their smartphone automatically creates backups once a week, including:

• 📱 System settings (wallpaper, sounds, network parameters).
• 💬 Messages and calls (from the standard Messages app).
• 🎮 Game data (progress in Genshin Impact, PUBG Mobile and others.).
• 📂 Application cache (can weigh up to 2-3 GB!).

To clean up the old backups:

1. In Xiaomi Cloud → Storage Management, select the “Backups” section.
2. Check out the list of devices (if you’ve had multiple Xiaomi smartphones, they’ll all be here).
3. Slip on the unnecessary copy and click "Delete".

Old backups from previous devices (if not already in use)

App cache (it will recover at the next launch)

Games you haven’t played in a long time

Duplicate copies (for example, if the backup was created several times in a row)-->

Attention! Do not delete the last backup of your current device if you plan to reset your smartphone to factory settings. It will be impossible to recover data without it.

⚠️ Note: If you use Xiaomi Cloud to sync WhatsApp, deleting backups will result in loss of chat history. Before clearing, export important correspondence manually through the messenger settings.

3. Optimization of photo and video storage

Photos and videos typically occupy 50-70% of the total space in the cloud, and can be optimized in a number of ways:

Method 1: Removal of duplicates

Xiaomi and Google Photos often create duplicates of the same images to find and delete them:

1. Open Gallery → Albums → Duplicates (on MIUI 14/15).
2. Select unnecessary copies and click “Delete”.

Method 2: Compress the photo before downloading

In the settings of Xiaomi Cloud, you can enable the option of image compression:

1. Go to Settings → Xiaomi Cloud → Photos.
2. Activate the “Optimize Download” switch (or “Compress Photos”).
3. Choose quality: “Mediocre” (saving up to 60% of space) or “Low” (up to 80%).

Important: Compression only applies to new photos. The images you have already uploaded will have to be deleted and re-uploaded.

Method 3: Transfer of old photos to the archive

If you need all the photos but they take up too much space, transfer them to Google Photos (there are 15 GB free) or to a physical medium:

• 📁 Download photos on PC via the web version of Xiaomi Cloud.
• 🔄 Upload them to another service (e.g. Yandex Drive or Mega).
• 🗑️ Remove the originals from Xiaomi Cloud.

💡

If you are taking pictures in RAW format (for example, on Xiaomi 13 Ultra), one shot can weigh 50–100 MB. Turn off RAW saving to the cloud in the camera settings: Camera settings → Format → Save only JPEG

4. Clearing cache and temporary files

Many applications (especially messengers and social networks) save cache and temporary files to the cloud, which over time take up gigabytes.

• 📥 Telegram can synchronize media files from chats.
• 🎵 Spotify or Yandex Music - cached songs.
• 🎮 Genshin Impact – Progress backups (weigh up to 1-2 GB!).

To clear the cache:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Select an app (such as Telegram) and tap “Clear Cache.”
3. If there is an option to “Clear Data”, use it carefully – this will remove all the settings of the application.

To clean the cache in the Xiaomi Cloud:

1. Open Xiaomi Cloud → Storage Management → Applications
2. Select unnecessary data (such as WhatsApp cache) and click “Delete”.

⚠️ Attention: Deleting the Google Play Services or Mi Account cache may cause sync failures.Do not touch these apps unless absolutely necessary.

5. disable automatic synchronization of unnecessary data

By default, Xiaomi Cloud syncs all possible data, including the ones you don’t need.

• 📞 Call log (if you don't run a business, it's useless).
• 📝 Notes (if you use Google Keep or Evernote).
• 📍 Location data (histories of movements).
• 🎵 Sound recordings (if you don’t use them).

To turn off synchronization:

1. Go to Settings. → Xiaomi Cloud.
2. Slip on the section you want to disable (such as Notes).
3. Transfer the slider to the "Off" position.
4. Confirm the action and wait for the synchronization to be completed (may take a few minutes).

Once you disable unnecessary options, new data will no longer be uploaded to the cloud, and old data can be manually deleted.

💡

Disabling contact and message sync can cause data to be lost when you reset your phone, and export it to a.vcf or.xml file before you do.

6.Use of alternative cloud services

If even after cleaning up space in Xiaomi Cloud is not enough, consider migrating some of the data to other services.

To automatically sync with Google Photos:

1. Install the Google Photos app from the Play Market.
2. Log in to your Google account.
3. In the settings, turn on “Backup and Synchronization”.
4. Choose the quality “High” (free, compression) or “Original” (through quota).

Advantage: Google Photos can automatically remove photos from the gallery that are already uploaded to the cloud (the “Free Space” option).

7. Purchase of additional space (if nothing helped)

If all optimization methods are exhausted and space is still scarce, then you have to expand the storage for money. Xiaomi offers the following rates (for 2026):

To buy a place:

1. Open Xiaomi Cloud → Storage Management → Buy a Place
2. Select the appropriate rate and click “Pay”.
3. Pay for your purchase via Mi Pay, bank card or Google Pay.

Important: When paying for a year, Xiaomi gives a bonus spot (see table). Also keep an eye on the stock - sometimes discounts reach 50%.

FAQ: Frequent questions about Xiaomi Cloud