How to completely disable sync with Mi Cloud on Xiaomi: all ways

Xiaomi’s Mi Cloud cloud storage is a handy backup tool, but not everyone wants their photos, contacts or messages sent automatically to the company’s servers. The reasons range from a desire to save traffic to privacy concerns. Fortunately, the manufacturer has provided several ways to disable sync, both fully and selectively for individual data types.

In this article, we’ll look at all the available methods, from basic disconnection through smartphone settings to radical measures like deleting your Mi Account. We’ll focus on the nuances for different versions of MIUI (including MIUI 14 and HyperOS), and the consequences that can occur after deactivating cloud sync. If you’re looking for a way to free up space on your device or just want more control over your data, read on.

Why users turn off sync with Mi Cloud

At first glance, automatic synchronization seems like a useful feature: it protects data from loss when a device is reset or broken, but it also has a downside, and here are the most common reasons Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO owners decide to abandon the Mi Cloud:

• 🔒 Privacy: Many users do not trust the storage of personal data (photos, correspondence, geolocations) on third-party servers, especially if it is a Chinese company with access to information.
• 📶 Traffic savings: Synchronization in the background consumes mobile Internet, which is critical for tariffs with a limited data package.
• 📱 Lack of space on the device. Mi Cloud cache can take up hundreds of megabytes, and on budget models (for example, Redmi). 9A) gigabytes count.
• 🔄 Conflicts with other clouds. If you're using Google Drive or Yandex Disk, duplicating data in Mi Cloud creates confusion.
• 🚫 Synchronization errors: Sometimes the cloud will freeze and start consuming battery power or slowing down the system.

In addition, after upgrading to MIUI 14 or HyperOS, some users experience forced synchronization, which is difficult to disable by standard methods, in which case additional manipulations are required, which we will discuss below.

⚠️ Note: Disabling sync with Mi Cloud does not delete data already downloaded from Xiaomi servers.To completely erase information, you need to manually clean the cloud through a web interface or application.

Method 1: Disable synchronization through smartphone settings

The easiest method is to deactivate synchronization for individual data types or completely. The instructions are suitable for most devices on MIUI 12-14 and HyperOS (including Xiaomi 13 Pro, Redmi Note 12, POCO F5, etc.).

Steps:

1. Open Settings (the gear icon on the main screen).
2. Go to Accounts and Synchronization (in some firmware – Mi Account).
3. Tap your Xiaomi account (usually displayed as Mi Account with your email or phone number).
4. Choose Mi Cloud.
5. You will see a list of data categories (contacts, photos, notes, etc.) to turn off sync completely, move the main slider to the off position.
6. To selectively disable sliders, deactivate sliders opposite unnecessary categories (e.g., Gallery or Notes only).

After that, the device will stop sending new data to the cloud, but the files that have already been downloaded will remain on Xiaomi servers. To delete them, go to i.mi.com and manually clean the storage.

Synchronization is really off (slider gray)

No active downloads in the background (check in Settings → Applications → Mi Cloud)

Data is not duplicated in other clouds (Google, Yandex)

Synchronization error notifications no longer arrive

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Method 2: Delete your Mi Account (radical method)

If you want to get rid of the Mi Cloud, you can delete your Mi Account from your smartphone, which is suitable for users who do not use Xiaomi’s branded services (for example, Mi Fit, Mi Home) and are ready to lose access to purchases from the Mi Store.

Important: Deleting your account will result in:

• 🔴 Loss of access to Mi Cloud and all data stored there.
• 🔴 Unable to use features like Find Device (phone search).
• 🔴 Reset some settings (for example, theme design).

Instructions:

1. Open the Settings. → Mi Account.
2. Slip on your profile (icon with avatar).
3. Select Account Management (or Account Settings).
4. Scroll down and click Delete Account.
5. Confirm the action via SMS or email (if two-factor authentication is enabled).
6. Enter the password from the account and complete the deletion.

⚠️ Note: On some devices (especially with MIUI for the global market) after deleting the account can work factory lock (FRP). To unlock your phone, you need to enter your previous account details. If you are selling or transferring a device, you should do a full reset (Settings). → The phone. → Resetting settings) before deleting the account.

Method 3: Disable autoload photos and videos in the gallery

One of the most voracious features of the Mi Cloud is that it automatically uploads photos and videos, and even if the overall sync is off, the gallery can continue to send media files in the background to stop it:

For MIUI 12-14:

1. Open the Gallery app.
2. Slip on the profile icon (or three horizontal lines) in the upper right corner.
3. Select Settings → Mi Cloud.
4. Turn off the autoboot option (or sync with Mi Cloud).
5. Additionally, you can choose to download only over Wi-Fi if you want to limit your use of mobile Internet.

For HyperOS:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Gallery → Permissions.
2. Make sure the app doesn’t have access to AutoRun and Work in the background.
3. Return to the Gallery → Settings → Cloud and deactivate synchronization.

If the gallery still consumes traffic after the autoboot is turned off, check the battery optimization settings: sometimes MIUI blocks the background activity of applications, which leads to synchronization failures.

In the Cloud (Mi Cloud, Google Photos)

Only on the phone.

On the memory card.

On a computer or external disk

I'll use a few options.

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Method 4: Limit Mi Cloud background activity through battery settings

Even after the sync is turned off, the Mi Cloud app can continue to run in the background, using up battery power and traffic to completely put it to sleep:

Instructions for MIUI:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find Mi Cloud (or Xiaomi Cloud) and tap it.
3. Pick Battery.
4. Set the mode to limit background activity.
5. Also turn off AutoRun (if the option is available).

For HyperOS:

1. Open Settings → Battery and Performance → Battery Management
2. Find Mi Cloud in the list of applications.
3. Choose to Limit Background Activity and Deep Optimization.

These actions will not delete the application, but will minimize its activity, and if you ever need to turn on sync again, just return the settings to their original state.

What to do if the synchronization is on its own

Some users are faced with the fact that Mi Cloud will activate sync itself after a device restart or firmware update, due to Xiaomi’s policy, which forcibly includes cloud services on new versions of MIUI.

How to deal with it:

• 🔄 If the problem occurs after the update, you can return the previous build via Fastboot (the instructions are on forums like 4PDA).
• 🛠️ Use it. ADB-You can use your computer to disable automatic launch of Mi Cloud: adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.cloudservice Attention: This may disrupt other system functions!
• 📱 Install custom firmware. Projects like LineageOS or Pixel Experience completely remove Xiaomi services, including Mi Cloud.
• 🔍 Check administrator permissions. Sometimes Mi Cloud gets device administrator permissions. To remove them, go to Settings. → Passwords and security → Administrator rights and uncheck the checkmark from Mi Cloud.

⚠️ Note: Disabling system applications through ADB or manually deleting their files can cause unstable phone operation, update errors, and even a "brick" (breaking the firmware!

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If you don’t want to give up Mi Cloud entirely but are concerned about privacy, enable two-factor authentication in your account settings.This will protect your data even if someone accesses your login and password.

How to delete data from Mi Cloud after disabling sync

Disabling sync does not erase files already uploaded to the cloud. To completely clean up Mi Cloud, you need to do this manually through a web interface or mobile application.

Steps to remove through the site:

1. Go to i.mi.com and log in.
2. In the menu on the left, select Gallery, Contacts, Notes or another data section.
3. Mark the files you want to delete (you can select Allocate).
4. Click on the basket icon or select Remove.
5. Confirm the action. The data will be moved to a basket, where it will be stored for another 30 days before final deletion.

To speed up the cleanup:

• Go to the basket and click Clean the basket.
• To delete your account completely (together with all data) go to Account Settings → Delete your account on the Mi Account website.

If you want to save some data (such as contacts), export it before deleting. For contacts: Settings → Export (.vcf format), for photos – download the archive through the Gallery → Allocate → Download.

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If you accidentally erase important files, you can only recover them within 30 days through the i.mi.com shopping cart.

FAQ: Frequent questions about syncing with Mi Cloud