How to Free Your Memory at Xiaomi: 7 Ways to Speed Up Your Smartphone

Xiaomi’s current smartphones have enormous potential, but over time, users inevitably face a shortage of internal storage. When the Memory is Full system notification appears on the screen, the device starts to run slower, apps fly out, and new photos simply have nowhere to save, this is because the MIUI operating system or the new HyperOS actively accumulate temporary files that are necessary for fast work, but eventually turn into digital garbage.

Freeing up space is not just about removing old images, it's a complex optimization process. App cache takes gigabytes, and forgotten downloads in the Download folder can weigh more than the system itself. In this article, we'll look at proven cleaning methods that will help return the gadget to its previous speed without losing important data.

Before we start taking drastic measures, it is worthwhile to understand what exactly takes up space. Often the culprits are messengers, who save every photo and video viewed in the memory of the device, and properly configuring autodeletion and regularly cleaning the cache allows you to maintain free space at 15-20% of the total volume, which is critical for stable operation of flash memory.

Storage analysis and search for hidden files

The first step to getting things in order is to do a detailed diagnostic. Android standard tools often show the big picture, but hide the details. You need to go to the settings and find the partition responsible for the storage. In MIUI, this is usually Settings → About Phone → Storage. Here you will see a color diagram where the different colors are the apps, images, videos and system files.

And you should pay special attention to the Other category, which is often where gigabytes of unused data are hidden, and it can be remnants of deleted programs, logs of errors, or temporary update files, if this partition is more than 10-15 GB, you need to clean it up in depth. Don't rush to delete everything, analyze the content through the file manager first.

⚠️ Attention: When cleaning the folder Android/data Be careful, deleting files from the subfolders of active applications can cause them to reset or lose progress in games.

For a deeper analysis, you can use the built-in Security app, which scans your device for large files you might have forgotten, and often users find forgotten movies or archives downloaded months ago, and removing these heavyweights instantly frees up a lot of space.

Cleaning the cache and temporary files of the system

Cache is a buffer memory where applications store data for fast loading, and over time it can reach tens of gigabytes, and you can clean it through the standard Cleanup app, but it's a surface-based method. For deep cleaning, you need to go to Settings → Apps → All applications.

Select the most "heavy" programs, such as YouTube, Telegram or Chrome. Inside the menu of each application, find the "Clear Cache" button. It is important not to confuse it with the "Clean Everything" button, which will reset the application to factory settings and require re-authentication. Regular cleaning of social networks' cache can free up to 2-3 GB of space.

• 🗑️ Telegram: Go to the settings of the application → Data and memory → Use of memory → Clear the cache. You can set up autodelete files in 3 days or a week.
• 🌐 Browsers: In Chrome or Yandex.Browser, clear cookies and cached images through the history menu.
• 📸 Camera: Apps like Snapchat or Instagram also store a lot of temporary data that is safely deleted through system settings.

There is also a hidden partition of the cleaning system, and if you click and hold the Security icon, sometimes you open an extended menu where you can remove the remnants of the remote applications (APK-These files are no longer needed by the system after installing the programs, but are often left dead weight.

Work with garbage in the DCIM and MIUI folders

The DCIM folder is the primary repository of your photos and videos. However, it often contains hidden thumbnail folders.thumbnails. The system creates them for a quick display of the gallery, but sometimes they grow to giant sizes, especially if you have thousands of snapshots. The file manager by default hides folders with a dot at the beginning of the title, so turn on the display of hidden files in the Explorer settings.

It's also worth checking the folder. MIUI → gallery → If you've been using a cloud album and sync, there may be local copies of photos that have been deleted from the cloud. MIUI → sound_recorder Often, dictaphone records are stored that the user has long forgotten, and checking these directories allows you to find hidden reserves of space.

The Tencent folder (if WeChat or WhatsApp versions are installed with such a structure) is worth special attention. MicroMsg stores all the media files received. Often there are videos that you have already sent to friends or saved to the gallery, but the originals remain in the messenger cache.

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Use the “Compression” feature in the Xiaomi Gallery, which allows you to reduce the weight of photos without any visible loss of quality, freeing up to 40% of the space in the album.

Don't forget the Download folder. Browsers and messengers by default save all downloaded documents, APK installation files and pictures, and putting order in this directory is the fastest way to get free space right now.

Removing Duplicates and Optimizing Media

Over the years, the gallery has accumulated hundreds of identical images, and we often take pictures of the same document or landscape several times, choosing the best shot, and forget to delete the rest. Manually search for duplicates takes a long time, but Xiaomi has built-in algorithms that help with this.

In the Gallery app, go to the Albums tab and scroll down to the Recent section or use smart grouping. The system itself suggests removing similar photos. There are also third-party utilities for finding duplicates, but the built-in MIUI tools are safer because they have access to the system indexes of media files.

Another effective method is video compression. If you shoot in 4K, but you only watch videos on a smartphone screen, it makes sense to convert them to 1080p. This will reduce the file size by 3-4 times without losing noticeable quality on a small display, you can use a built-in editor in the gallery or third-party converters.

Use of cloud services and external drives

Local storage is not rubber, so some of the data is more expedient to move to the cloud. Google Photos offers free compressed storage (in high quality) or space in Google One. Xiaomi smartphones are also actively promoted Xiaomi Cloud, which is able to synchronize the gallery, contacts and notes.

Auto-uploading allows you to delete photos from your device after they have successfully uploaded to the cloud. Google Photos has a Free Place feature that does just that: deletes local copies of those images that are already stored in the cloud.

• ☁️ Google Drive/OneDrive: Great for documents and work files that don’t need to be kept on hand.
• 💾 USB-flash drive: Connect the flash drive through the adapter OTG And you can put archived photos and videos there, and that's the most reliable way to store them, independent of the Internet.
• 💻 Every six months, connect your phone to your PC and copy the folder. DCIM It's the gold standard of the backup.

MicroSD cards are not used for all Xiaomi models, as many flagships do not have a slot. If your smartphone supports memory cards, be sure to use them to store music and movies. In the camera settings, you can specify saving photos immediately to the card, which will save internal memory.

Removal of unused applications and their residues

Often, we install apps for a one-time, and then we forget about them. Not only do they take up space, but they can also run in the background, using up battery. Go through the list of all installed programs. If you haven't opened an application for more than a month, uninstall it.

However, simple deletion through the desktop does not always clean all data. MIUI When you delete a program, it can be the folder at the root of the internal memory, for example, when you delete a game, you can leave the cache files in the folder. Android/obb Or a separate folder with the developer's name, manually check the root directory for such tails».

For system applications that cannot be removed (such as Google or Mi preinstalled services), the shutdown function is available. Go to Settings → Apps, select an unnecessary system application and click Disable. This will hide it and stop all processes, although disk space will be slightly freed up, but RAM will thank you.

⚠️ Warning: Do not remove or disable system components that are not sure of their intended purpose (especially with the words Framework, Service, Provider) and this can lead to unstable interface operation or a “boot loop” (cyclic reboot).

There is a safe way to remove system debris via ADB (Android Debug Bridge) from a computer, but it is a method for advanced users. It allows you to cut out even what is hidden from the average user, but requires a connection to a PC and input commands into the console.

Radical measures: Resetting to factory settings

If none of the previous methods gave the desired result, and the memory fills up on its own immediately after cleaning, it may be that the system has accumulated a critical logical error or virus, in which case a complete reset helps, which will return the smartphone to the state of “out of the box”.

Make sure to make a full backup before reset. Use the built-in Mi Backup app (in the Tools folder) to create a backup to your computer or the cloud. Save contacts, call history and text messages, as they will be lost after the reset.

The reset process is like this: Settings → Phone → Settings Reset → Erase all data. The system will alert you to the loss of information several times. Once you reboot, you will get a clean system. The first 15-20 minutes of the phone will be “heavy” as Android performs app optimization, but then it will run as fast as possible.

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Full reset is the only tool that is guaranteed to remove hidden system debris and file system errors that cannot be manually removed.

After reset, take your time to install all the applications at once. Install them gradually, watching the behavior of the system. Often, memory has eaten up one particular, long-established application with errors in the code.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)