How to Open the “Other Files” folder on Xiaomi: Hidden Data, Cleanup and Management

The Other Files folder** on Xiaomi, Redmi or POCO smartphones is often a source of questions about why it takes up gigabytes of memory, what it stores and how to open it. Unlike standard folders (Downloads, Images, Videos), this partition does not appear in the default explorer, but can weigh 10–30 GB — especially on devices with MIUI 12–14. In this article, we will discuss how to access hidden files, what data is stored there, and how to securely delete them without disrupting the system.

Compounding the problem, Xiaomi’s MIUI is actively cacheing application data, temporary update files, and even duplicate media files — all of which fall into the “Others” category. Users often face a situation where the phone’s memory is full, but it’s not clear what exactly, and we’ll analyze all the ways to access this folder, from embedded tools to third-party file managers, and we’ll also tell you which files can be deleted without risk to the OS, and which ones can not be touched categorically.

What is the Xiaomi “Other Files” folder and why does it take up so much space?

The Other Files folder** is a collection section where MIUI lists everything that doesn’t fall into the standard categories: Documents, Music, Images, etc.

• 📁 App cache – temporary files that create messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp), social networks (TikTok, Instagram) and games.
• 🔄 Residual data after deleting programs (e.g. settings or databases).
• 📥 Update files – firmware packages that are downloaded in the background.
• 🖼️ Hidden media files – thumbnails, duplicate photos from cloud services (Google Photos, Mi Cloud).
• 📂 System Logs – Error logs and device performance reports.

For example, after upgrading MIUI 13 to MIUI 14, the folder may remain an archive with the previous version weighing 1-2 GB. Or Telegram messenger caches all the videos viewed - and after a month it is already 5-10 GB of "invisible" data. The main difficulty is that MIUI does not show the contents of this folder in a standard Explorer (Files) so that users do not accidentally delete critical files.

According to the analysis of user reports, on Xiaomi devices with 128 GB of memory, the “Other Files” folder** on average takes 15-25 GB, and on models with 256 GB – up to 40 GB. At the same time, up to 60% of this volume can be safely cleaned if you know what to delete.

Method 1: Viewing through built-in MIUI memory analysis

The easiest way to estimate the size of the Other Files folder is to use the built-in MIUI tool to analyze memory, which won’t show specific files, but will help you understand how much space each type of data takes up.

Instructions:

1. Open Settings → About the phone → Memory (or Storage).
2. Click on Other Files – the system will show the distribution by category (for example, “Cache”, “Downloads”, “System Data”).
3. Slip on the category (e.g., “Cash”) → Clear.

Limitations of the method:

• ❌ It does not show specific files, only the total volume.
• ❌ Not all categories can be cleared (e.g. system data will only be deleted after a reset).
• ❌ After cleaning the cache, some applications may run slower on the first run.

💡

If the “Other Files” section has more than 10 GB of “System Data” category, this may be due to a failed MIUI update. In this case, the resetting of the cache through Recovery (see Section 5) will help.

Method 2: Access via file manager (with or without root rights)

To see specific files in the Others folder, you'll need a third-party file manager, and let's look at two options: no root rights and no root rights.

No root rights (limited access)

Applications like FX File Explorer or Solid Explorer can show some hidden files:

1. Install Solid Explorer from Google Play.
2. Open the menu → Settings → turn on Show hidden files.
3. Go to the root folder (/storage/emulated/0/) and find the directories: Android/data/ – app cache; MIUI/ – system firmware data; Download/ – downloads that are not displayed in the gallery.

What can be removed:

• 🗑️ Folders of the kind com.example.app/cache — cache of specific applications.
• 📁 Files with.tmp,.log,.bak extensions – temporary data.

Root rights (full access)

If you have root on your Xiaomi, use Root Explorer or Mixplorer:

1. Open the manager with root access.
2. Go to /data/data/ – this is where all the application data is stored.
3. Remove the folders of the applications that have already been removed (for example, residues from Facebook after uninstallation).

Cache folders (cache)|Files with.log and.tmp extensions|Duplicate photos in MIUI/Gallery/|Archives of updates in MIUI/Update/|Residual data of remote applications in /data/data/ (rooted)-->

Method 3: Cleaning through ADB (for advanced users)

If the file manager doesn't work, you can connect to your phone via ADB (Android Debug Bridge) and manually delete unnecessary data, a method that requires a PC and minimal command line knowledge.

Instructions:

1. Turn on USB Debugging on your phone: Settings → About Phone → MIUI Version (click 7 times to become a developer) → go back to Additional Settings → For Developers → Debugging over USB.
2. Connect your phone to your PC and install ADB Tools (download from the official website).
3. Open the command prompt (cmd) and type: adb shell pm list packages -f | grep 'cache' This will show applications with a large cache.
4. To clear the cache of a particular application (e.g. Telegram): adb shell pm clear org.telegram.messenger

Advantages of the method:

• ✅ Spot cleaning without risk to the system.
• ✅ You can delete the cache of system applications (for example, Mi Video or Mi Browser).

Disadvantages:

• ❌ Requires PC and skills to work with ADB.
• ❌ Not all files can be deleted without root rights.

💡

ADB is the safest way to clean the cache, as it does not affect system files, but root rights will be required to remove deeply hidden data (such as duplicate media).

Method 4: Using Deep Cleaning Applications

If manual methods seem complicated, you can use specialized utilities. The best ones for Xiaomi:

Recommendations for use:

• 🔍 SD Maid is best at finding residual files after deleting apps.
• 🧹 Files by Google is easy to find large files (for example, forgotten videos).
• ⚠️ CCleaner sometimes removes too aggressively – check what it suggests to clean up.

⚠️ Note: Applications like Clean Master or 360 Security often show false “problems” and can delete the data you want.

Method 5: Resetting cache via Recovery (last resort)

If the Other Files folder* takes up more than 20GB and is not cleared in standard ways, you can reset the cache via Recovery Mode.This will not delete your personal data, but will clear all temporary system files.

Instructions:

1. Turn off the phone.
2. Press the Power button + Volume up until the MI logo appears.
3. Choose a language (if you have a choice) → Wipe & Reset → Wipe Cache
4. Confirm the action and restart the phone.

What's it gonna do?

• ✅ Delete all applications cache and system temporary files.
• ✅ Free up 3-10 GB of space (depending on the model).
• ✅ It will not affect photos, videos or documents.

⚠️ Warning: If the cache is reset, the phone is slow, it's normal to restore the cache of the apps when it first starts, and the performance will return to normal in 10-15 minutes.

How to prevent the growth of the folder “Other files” in the future

To prevent the “Other Files” folder from taking up gigabytes of memory, follow these tips:

• 📵 Limit the cache for messengers: in Telegram go to Settings → Data and memory → Cache size and set a limit (e.g. 500MB).
• 🔄 Clean the cache regularly in Settings → Annexes → Application management → Clear the cache.
• ☁️ Turn off automatic media downloads in WhatsApp, Viber and other instant messengers.
• 📂 Use cloud services (Google Photos, Mi Cloud) to store photos/video instead of local memory.
• 🔍 Check your memory once a month through Settings → Memory.

It’s also helpful to disable auto-update apps in Google Play if you have little memory: this will prevent large updates from downloading in the background.

💡

The most common reason for the growth of the folder “Other files” is the cache of messengers and social networks, limiting cache in Telegram and Instagram can save up to 5-15 GB per year.

FAQ: Frequent questions about the folder “Other files” on Xiaomi