How to Free Memory on Xiaomi Redmi Phone: The Complete Guide

Xiaomi and Redmi smartphone owners often face a situation where internal storage is overflowing, the system starts to run slower, apps freeze, and new photos simply have nowhere to save. This is a common problem for the MIUI and HyperOS shell, which requires a competent approach to file management.

Unlike many other manufacturers, Chinese brands actively use their own compression and caching algorithms, which leads to a rapid accumulation of temporary data. Simply removing applications here often does not help, since the bulk of the hidden system files and multimedia messenger caches.

In this article, we will explore proven cleaning methods that do not require root rights. You will learn to find hidden folders, safely remove system debris and prevent memory overflow in the future. Using built-in tools and third-party utilities will return the device to its previous speed.

Analysis of storage occupancy through standard means

The first step is always to diagnose. Before you delete anything, you need to understand what exactly takes gigabytes on your Redmi Note or Xiaomi Mi. The built-in storage analyzer provides a detailed map of the data distribution that many users ignore, relying only on the general experience.

To access this information, go to Settings → Memory, and it will show you a breakdown by category: apps, images, videos, documents, etc. Visualization helps you quickly identify the largest users of a place, and it often turns out that half of the volume is occupied by old high-resolution videos or social media cache.

Note the Other section, which often includes files that the system cannot uniquely classify, such as deleted program remnants, error logs, or temporary update files, and periodically checks this section to detect memory consumption anomalies.

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Use the Cleanup function in Memory only to quickly remove obvious debris. For in-depth analysis, always go to the detailed storage management menu.

Use of the Application Security and Cleaning

Every Xiaomi smartphone has a Security system app preinstalled, not just an antivirus, but a powerful harvester to service the device, and Cleanup scans the device for temporary files, residual debris, and large files that can be safely removed.

Run the scan and wait for it to be completed. The system will prompt you to delete the app cache, advertising files and APK installer packages. Be careful when selecting ticks: sometimes important files fall into the list of junk if they are in non-standard folders.

The Deep Clean section, which analyzes the contents of instant messenger folders to identify old voice messages and images viewed but saved, is the most effective way to combat the proliferation of WhatsApp or Viber databases.

⚠️ Note: When using the deep cleaning function of messengers, make sure that important documents and work files are not deleted.The system can count them as unnecessary cache if they are not marked as favorites.

Working with cache and application data

The most voracious elements in Android are social networks and instant messengers. Telegram, for example, downloads and stores all the media files viewed in the device’s memory by default, and without the right setup, this can lead to tens of gigabytes of content in a matter of months.

To make room, go to Settings → Apps → All apps. Select the app you want (like Instagram or TikTok) and click Memory. Here you will see the Clear Cache button. Cache is temporary data that speeds up the app, but deleting it won’t cause you to lose your personal data or account.

However, the Clean All button (or Reset) will delete all data, including logins and settings. Use this feature only if you want to completely reinstall the application or if it is not working correctly.

For instant messengers like WhatsApp, there's a separate mechanism for managing media files inside the app itself, go to the chat settings and turn off auto-save to the gallery, which will prevent duplicate files from being available in the chat room, but not taking up space in the system's image folder.

Cleaning up DCIM folder and gallery

Multimedia files traditionally take up the lion's share of memory. The DCIM folder contains all the photos and videos taken by the camera. Over time, it accumulates unfortunate footage, screenshots and long videos that you will never watch.

Use the Gallery's built-in app to sort. Screenshots often has a lot of extra stuff on it. It's also worth checking out Deleted, which has files stored for 30 days and still takes up space. Deleting them completely from this basket will instantly free up the amount of space they're using.

You can use built-in sorting tools or third-party apps to find duplicates and similar photos, but often you just have to manually go through video files. Videos at 4K resolution or 1080p 60fps weigh a lot. If you don't plan to mount them, you can reduce the quality of the recording in the camera settings for future shootings.

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Regularly transferring photos and videos to your computer or to cloud storage (Google Photos, Yandex.Disk) is the only way to permanently solve the problem of lack of space for multimedia.

Removing system debris and.thumbnails folder

There's a hidden folder on Android called.thumbnails, located on the DCIM/.thumbnails path, which stores thumbnails of all the images in your gallery, and with a lot of photos, this folder can grow to a few gigabytes, although technically it's just a cache preview.

To get to it, you'll need a file manager with access to hidden files (like the standard Explorer from Xiaomi or Total Commander), turn on the hidden files in the Explorer settings, find the folder and clean its contents, and the system will automatically recreate it, but in a smaller size.

It's also worth checking the Android/data folder, which stores game and application data, and often leaves its tails here after you delete the game, manually locate folders with the names of remote programs (e.g. com.roblox.client) and delete them if you're sure the app is no longer needed.

⚠️ Please be very careful in the folder. Android/data. Deleting folders of active applications (such as offline navigation maps or music services) will result in loss of downloaded data and the need to download them again.

Advanced Methods: ADB and Disabling System Applications

For advanced users who want to make the most of the device, there is an ADB (Android Debug Bridge) cleaning method that allows you to remove system debris and even remove built-in Xiaomi applications that cannot be removed in the usual way.

To do this, you need to turn on Developer Mode (clicking 7 times on the build number in Settings → About Phone) and activate USB Debugging. By connecting the phone to your computer, you can execute commands to clear the cache of all applications at once.

adb shell pm trim-caches 999999999

This command forcibly trims the cache of all installed applications to the lowest possible value.This is a secure operation that does not affect personal data, but can temporarily slow the launch of applications on the first start after cleaning until they create a new cache.

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ADB teams work only if you have ADB drivers installed on your computer. It is a versatile tool for any Android model, from the budget Redmi to the flagship Xiaomi.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)