How to Free Your Memory in Xiaomi: 7 Effective Ways

Xiaomi's modern smartphones have impressive specs, but even they eventually start to "think" because of overcrowded storage. Android operating system in conjunction with the shell MIUI or HyperOS actively accumulate temporary files, app cache and system logs. When free space ends, the device not only slows down, but can stop properly updating or taking pictures.

The user often thinks they've deleted everything, but the memory indicator still turns red, because many files are hidden from the owner's eyes or scattered across different system folders, and memory cleaning is not just about deleting photos, but a complex system maintenance process.

In this article, we will explore not only the standard methods available to everyone, but also advanced ways to win several gigabytes, learn how to find hidden “eaters” of space and prevent them from accumulating in the future without losing important data.

Analysis of storage occupancy through standard means

The first step should always be diagnostics. Don't blindly delete files hoping for luck. The built-in Security tool (or Explorer in newer versions) provides a detailed memory card. Go to Security → Cleanup to see the basic information.

But the more in-depth analytics comes from the settings menu, where the system ranks applications by space, splitting them into the installation file itself, user data, and cache, and identifying resource consumption leaders.

⚠️ Note: Do not remove system applications (e.g., “Google Play Services” or"MIUI System"), even if they take up a lot of space, this can lead to unstable operation of the smartphone.

For manual analysis, go to Settings → About Phone → Storage. Here you will see a color diagram of the data distribution. By clicking on a specific color or category, you can examine the content in detail.

Users are often surprised to find that instant messengers take up tens of gigabytes, which is normal for active users, but requires regular cleaning.

Cleaning cache and temporary application files

The easiest way to get back up is to clear the cache, and the cache is the temporary data that apps save for quick downloads (like previews of pictures in a tape or maps in a navigator), and over time, this ballast grows to a huge size.

To clear the cache selectively, go to Settings → Apps → All apps. Select a “heavy” app (like YouTube or TikTok) and click Memory → Clear the cache. It is important not to confuse this button with “Clean it all”, which will delete your logins and settings.

• 🗑️ Application cache – safe to remove, takes the least time to clean.
• 📦 Application data – delete settings and accounts, use only when crashes.
• 🔄 Background processes – also generate temporary files that disappear after a reboot.

Newer versions of MIUI and HyperOS have added the Advanced Cleanup feature, which allows you to remove old APK installation packages, remnants of remote programs and advertising files.

Regularly cleaning social media cache can free up 1 to 5GB of storage, especially for models with a base storage capacity of 64 or 128GB.

Working with messengers: Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber

Messengers are the main memory eaters in 2026-2026, and they automatically store every photo, video, and voice message they see, and if you don't configure them correctly, they'll take up all the space available.

In Telegram, the situation is solved in the most elegant way. In the application settings, go to Data and Memory → Memory Use. Here you can set a cache limit (for example, 500 MB) and set autodelete media files.

WhatsApp and Viber are a little bit more complicated, and there's a Storage section inside of apps where you can delete large files, but it's often easier to use a file manager. Android/media/com.whatsapp or MIUI/gallery/cloud/secret_albums (if a hidden storage device was used).

Remember that instant messengers often accumulate files from channels and groups that you haven’t even opened, and disabling autoload media on mobile networks is a must-have for saving space.

💡

In Telegram, enable the “Delete Cache When Out” function in the privacy settings so that junk files are erased automatically each time you close the application.

Removing duplicates and unnecessary media files

Photos and videos make up the lion's share of user data. Often we make a series of 10 similar shots to choose the best one, forgetting to delete the rest, and the phone can also store screenshots from two years ago.

Xiaomi's built-in Gallery can find similar photos. Go to albums, scroll down to the "Similar Photos" section, or use smart search, and the system will suggest you pick the best shots and delete the rest.

And you can pay special attention to the Screenshots and Download folder, which often contains forgotten checks, tickets, memes and instructions that you don't need anymore, and removing them is the quickest way to make room.

• 📸 Serial shooting – delete failed shots immediately after the photo shoot.
• 🎬 Video 4K/60fps — They take up a huge amount of money, transfer them to the computer or the cloud.
• 🗑️ Recycle Bin - don't forget to clean the Recycle Bin in the Gallery, files are stored there for 30 days.

If you have a model that supports memory cards (rare for new flagships, but relevant for public sector), transfer archival photos to microSD. For the rest, cloud storage will be the best solution.

Hidden folders and system debris

The MIUI shell creates many hidden folders that you can't see in normal browsing, which are error logs, crash reports, and temporary update files, and you can access them through the Explorer app.

Turn on the hidden files in Explorer settings. Pay attention to the folder. MIUI/debug_log. If there are accumulated gigabytes of data, they can be safely deleted – these are reports for developers that the average user does not need.

⚠️ Attention: In the folder Android/data You can find game and application data. Deleting folders inside data can retard progress in games or program settings.

Also check the DCIM/.thumbnails folder, which stores thumbnails of your photos, and sometimes this file grows to a few gigabytes, and it can be deleted, but it will be recreated the next time you open the gallery, so it only makes sense to do it before you take an important picture.

Another source of trash is the Tencent folder (if WeChat or older versions of QQ are installed) and various advertising caches from free games, which are often hidden at the root of internal memory.

Use of cloud services and Google Photos

The most effective way to free up memory is to move data to the cloud. Google Photos is perfectly integrated into Android, allowing you to store photos in a compressed (but high-quality) format without limiting the amount of space (in "Saving Space" mode).

Turn on sync in Google Photos. Once all photos are uploaded to the cloud (the cloud icon appears), click on the profile avatar and select Free Space. The app will only remove photos from the device that are already securely stored in the cloud.

Xiaomi's Mi Cloud is available to users of the Xiaomi ecosystem, synchronizing contacts, notes, voice recorders and gallery, and when you turn on Storage Optimization, the original photos go to the cloud, and the phone leaves smaller copies of them.

This solves the problem of space scarcity dramatically: you can have 10,000 photos in a gallery, while taking up only 2-3 GB of space on the device itself.

💡

Using cloud sync with the Free Space function is the only way to access all photos without taking up the smartphone’s physical memory.

Radical Methods: Resetting and Formatting

If nothing helps and the memory fills up on its own even after cleaning, it may be that the file system is damaged or that the system has a software bug, in which case a complete reset helps.

Before doing this, make sure to back up all important data to your computer or the cloud. then go to Settings → About Phone → Reset → Erase all data.

This process will bring the phone back out of the box. All apps will be removed, settings reset, and memory is 100% cleaned. Once you set it up again, you'll be surprised at how much space has been taken up by system debris.

Sometimes the problem is solved not by a full reset, but by Wipe Cache Partition via Recovery Mode. This deletes temporary system files without affecting the user's personal data. To log into Recovery, you usually need to press the volume button up and the power button when the phone is turned off.

• 💾 Backup is a mandatory step before any radical intervention.
• 🔌 Battery charge – the phone must be charged at least 50% before resetting.
• 🔑 Account. Mi/Google — remember the password, otherwise after the reset, the phone will request confirmation of the owner (FRP lock).

After formatting, it is recommended not to restore all applications from backup at once, but to install them again, which will prevent the return of junk files along with the programs.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)