How to Free Xiaomi Cloud Storage: The Complete 2026 Guide

Xiaomi’s Mi Cloud cloud storage is a handy tool for backing up photos, contacts and documents, but it’s limited. Even 5GB of free space (or 100GB for premium users) can fill up quickly if you don’t keep track of the content. When memory runs out, the smartphone stops syncing new data, and notifications of space shortages are annoying daily.

In this article, you will find 7 working ways to free up Xiaomi’s cloud, including hidden settings that are rarely mentioned in standard instructions.We will discuss how to remove duplicate photos, clear the cart, disable automatic synchronization of unnecessary data, and even restore accidentally deleted files. All methods are tested on Xiaomi 13 Pro, Redmi Note 12 and POCO F5, but are suitable for any device with MIUI 12-14.

Special attention will be paid to hidden folders with the application cache and backups of messages that take up to 30% of the space, but do not appear in the main interface of Mi Cloud.

1. Analysis of occupied space: what exactly takes up space?

Before you clean the cloud, you need to understand which files are taking up the most space.

1. Open the Settings app on your smartphone.
2. Go to the Accounts → Mi Account → Mi Cloud.
3. Click on Storage Management (or Storage in older versions of MIUI).

Here you'll see a diagram of the data categorized as Photos, Videos, Documents, Contacts, Notes and Others, most often the problem is:

• 📸 Photo and video – automatic backups from the camera, including duplicates and screenshots.
• 📱 Application backups – saved game and instant messenger data (such as WhatsApp or Viber).
• 🗑️ Recycle Bin - deleted files are stored here for up to 30 days and take up space.
• 🔄 Sync cache – temporary files that don’t always appear in the interface.

If you have Unknown Data (usually in gray), it means that files from remote applications or old backups are stored in the cloud, and you can delete them without affecting the smartphone.

2. Removal of duplicate photos and videos

One of the biggest space eaters is duplicate media files, which appear when you:

• Automatic sync of photos from different devices (for example, if you have two Xiaomi smartphones on the same account).
• Backup through Google Photos and Mi Cloud at the same time.
• Edit photos in applications (original + edited version are saved separately).

To find and remove duplicates:

1. Open the gallery → albums → Mi Cloud
2. Click on the three dots in the top right corner and select Control.
3. Select Duplicates (or similar photos in new MIUI versions).
4. Review the list and remove unnecessary copies, leaving the best quality.

To speed up the process, use third-party applications such as Files by Google or Duplicate Files Fixer, which scan not only local storage, but also files in the Mi Cloud (assuming they are downloaded to the device).

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Before mass-deleting duplicates, sort photos by date or size. Often, the originals carry more weight than compressed copies created by editing apps.

3. Cleaning the basket and temporary files

Many users are unaware that Mi Cloud has its own shopping cart, where files are stored up to 30 days after deleting.If you regularly clean the gallery but the space is not vacated, check this folder:

1. Get in to Mi Cloud. → Storage management.
2. Select the Recycle Bin category (or Deleted Files).
3. Click Clear the Recycle Bin or select individual files for recovery/deletion.

In addition to the shopping cart, temporary sync files are stored in the cloud, which do not appear in the main menu, but take up to 1-2 GB.

1. Open on your smartphone Settings → Applications → Application management.
2. Find Mi Cloud in the list and click on it.
3. Select Warehouse. → Clear the cache.
4. Reset the device.

This procedure does not delete your personal data, but only service information that is used to speed up synchronization.

4. disable automatic synchronization of unnecessary data

By default, Mi Cloud syncs almost everything: contacts, messages, notes, call records, and even some app data, and some of this information is duplicated in other services (for example, contacts are already reserved in Google Account), so it can be turned off.

How to set up synchronization:

1. Go to Settings → Accounts → Mi Account → Mi Cloud
2. In the Synchronization list, disable unnecessary items: 📞 Calls – if you don’t keep a journal. 💬 Messages – if you use Google Messages or WhatsApp. 📝 Notes – if you sync them through Google Keep. 🎵 Music – if you store tracks in Spotify or Yandex Music.

Pay special attention to App Backup, which stores game and program data that can be restored when reinstalled, but if you don't plan to reset your smartphone, you can delete those copies:

1. In the same Mi Cloud menu, select Backup.
2. Click on Backup Management.
3. Remove old copies or turn off automatic backups for unnecessary applications.

Disable game backup|Delete old copies of notes|Only keep your contacts synchronized.|Check the volume of the basket once a month-->

5. Transfer files to another cloud or PC

If even after cleaning up, you don’t have enough space, consider moving some of your data to another storage, such as photos that can be moved to Google Photos (15GB free), and documents to Yandex Drive or OneDrive.

How to transfer files:

1. On PC: Go to i.mi.com and log in. Select files, click Download and save them to your hard drive. After checking, delete the downloaded data from Mi Cloud.
2. In another cloud: Install Google Photos or Yandex Drive. In settings, enable automatic photo uploads. Turn off photo sync in Mi Cloud (see previous section).

For convenience, use file management applications like Solid Explorer or FX File Explorer, which let you connect to Mi Cloud as a network drive and move files between services without downloading to your device.

6. Delete backups of devices and applications

Every time you reset or update MIUI, the system backs up data, and these copies can weigh 1 to 3 GB each, and they can accumulate for years to delete.

1. Open the Settings. → Accounts. → Mi Account → Mi Cloud.
2. Select Backup.
3. Click on Backup Management.
4. Remove old copies, leaving only the freshest (if you need one).

Also check backups of applications:

• 🎮 Games - saves from Genshin Impact, PUBG Mobile and other projects.
• 💬 Messengers – history of chats from WhatsApp, Telegram (if backup is enabled in Mi Cloud).
• 📅 Calendar and tasks – duplicated with Google Calendar.

For games and instant messengers, it is better to use their own cloud services, for example, on WhatsApp, backups can be saved to Google Drive, and in Genshin Impact, you can link an account to miHoYo.

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Backups of apps in Mi Cloud often duplicate data from other services (e.g. Google Drive or iCloud) and disable them if you use alternative ways to save them.

7. Resetting the cloud to factory settings (last resort)

If none of these methods worked, and the cloud is still full of unknown files, you can do a complete reset.

⚠️ Warning: Before reset, be sure to download all important files to a PC or other cloud.

How to reset Mi Cloud:

1. Go to account.xiaomi.com and log in.
2. Go to Account Management → Mi Cloud.
3. Choose Clear Storage or Reset Cloud (name depends on the site version).
4. Confirm the action via SMS or email.

After discharge:

• Synchronization will be turned off on all devices.
• When you reconnect, Mi Cloud will prompt you to create a new backup.
• All old files will be permanently deleted.

This method is only worth using if you are sure that all important data is stored elsewhere, and in most cases, regular cleaning is enough, as described in the previous sections.

FAQ: Frequent questions about Xiaomi's cloud