How to Clean the “Other” Section on Xiaomi Redmi 7A: A Step-by-Step Guide

Why Xiaomi Redmi 7A is clogged with the “Other” section and how to fix it

Owners of Xiaomi Redmi 7A often face a problem: the phone memory is full, but in the Storage section, most of the space is occupied by the mysterious category “Other”: this is not photos, videos or apps – but what then? In fact, under the Other, temporary files, cache of system processes, remnants of remote programs and even data messengers that do not fall into the standard categories are hidden.

On Redmi 7A with its modest 16/32 GB of memory, this problem is especially relevant: after a few months of use, the “Other” can take up to 5-8 GB, although there is no more than 1-2 GB of really useful information. In this article, we will discuss how to safely clean this partition without deleting important data, and why standard methods (such as cleaning through “Settings”) often do not work.

Spoiler: Some files from Other can be manually deleted, but some require superuser rights or special utilities. We'll look at both, from simple to advanced, with newbies' explanations.

What exactly is hidden in the “Other” section on Redmi 7A

Before you clean, you need to understand what exactly occupies the space. MIUI fall in:

• 📁 System App Cache – Temporary Files from Google Play Services, MIUI System and other services that are not automatically cleaned.
• 🗑️ Remnants of remote programs – folders and files that remain after uninstallation of applications (this is especially common with games).
• 📄 Logs and dumps of the system - error report files (/data/anr, /data/tombstones), clutter-producing.
• 🔄 Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber store media files that did not get into the gallery.
• 🖥️ Update files – downloaded but not installed packages MIUI or Google Play.

Fun fact: on Redmi 7A with MIUI 10-12, some of these files can be duplicated, for example, the cache com.android.vending (Google Play) sometimes saves to the Apps section and to the Other, a firmware bug that Xiaomi never fixed.

Method 1: Cleaning the cache of system applications (without root)

The safest way to do this is to remove the cache of embedded services, which doesn't require super-user rights, and it doesn't damage the data.

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Click on the three dots in the upper right corner and select “Show System Processes”.
3. Find it on the list: 🔍 Google Play Services 📱 MIUI System (or System) UI) 🛒 Google Play Store 📊 Android System WebView

"Storage" → "Clean the cache"

On Redmi 7A, the cache of these applications can take up to 1-2 GB. After cleaning, the phone can slow down a little for the first 5-10 minutes - this is normal, since the system recovers the necessary data.

⚠️ Warning: Don't click "Clear Data" for system applications! this can cause malfunctions MIUI Google Services: Cache is deleted securely, but data is not.

Method 2: Delete unnecessary files through the file manager

Some files in the Other section can be found and manually deleted, such as a standard Explorer from Xiaomi or a third-party manager (such as FX File Explorer) that are worth checking out:

Pay special attention to the Android/data folder, which often leaves behind tails from games (e.g., com.tencent.ig from PUBG Mobile or Minecraft's com.mojang.minecraftpe), which can be deleted if the game has already been uninstalled.

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Before you delete folders in Android/data, check their size: sometimes there are gigabytes of unnecessary data from old games.

Method 3: Use of SD Maid (for advanced users)

If standard methods don't work, try SD Maid (available on Google Play) which can find and delete:

• 🧹 Orphan files – data that was left without a “master” (remote application).
• 🗃️ Duplicate – copies of photos, videos or documents.
• 📂 Empty folders – unnecessary directories taking up space.
• 🔍 System garbage – cache and logs that are not visible in a standard manager.

Instructions:

1. Install SD Maid and give access to memory.
2. Run the scan in the "CorpseFinder" section (for orphan files).
3. Check the results and delete the unnecessary. Don't touch files marked "System"!
4. Go to SystemCleaner and clear the cache.

⚠️ Attention: SD Maid with root rights can delete critical files. If you're not sure, use only basic functions without deep cleaning.

Method 4: Reset to factory settings (extreme case)

If the Other takes up more than 5GB and no methods are working, then the radical solution is hard reset, which will completely clean up the phone, including all system files that can't be manually deleted.

Resetting instructions:

1. Go to Settings → About the phone → Reset settings.
2. Select “Delete all data”.
3. Confirm the action and wait for the reboot (it will take 5-10 minutes).

Once reset, the Other will shrink to 200 to 500 MB, which is normal for a clean system, and the downside is that you have to reconfigure the phone and restore the data from the backup.

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Factory reset is the only way to completely clear the Other section without root rights, but only use it if other methods have failed.

Method 5: Cleaning through ADB (for power users)

If you are familiar with ADB (Android Debug Bridge), you can manually delete unnecessary files without getting root.

1. Install ADB Tools on your PC.
2. Turn on the phone “Debugging by USB” (Settings → About Phone → MIUI Version → 7 times click on the version, then return to Additional → For Developers).
3. Connect Redmi 7A to your PC and execute commands: adb shell pm clear com.android.providers.media # Clean up media cache rm -rf /data/local/tmp/* # Delete temporary files rm -rf /data/log/* # Clear logs (requires root)

Without root, you can only clean some files, but even that can free up 500MB-1GB. Full access requires superuser rights, but getting them on Redmi 7A can lead to a loss of warranty.

How to Prevent “Other” from Filling in the Future

To prevent the problem from returning, follow simple rules:

• 🔄 Clean the cache regularly in Settings → Warehouse → Clean (do this once every 1-2 weeks).
• 🚫 Don't install it. APK Unknown sources – they often leave behind garbage.
• 📱 Use the “Lite” versions of apps (e.g. Facebook Lite, Messenger Lite) that take up less space.
• 🔍 Check the Download folder – unnecessary files accumulate there (APK, archives, documents).
• 📊 Turn off automatic download of media in messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram).

It is also worth turning off auto-update apps in Google Play or limiting it to Wi-Fi only, which will reduce the number of temporary files that are created during updates.

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MIUI has a hidden memory optimization feature. To enable it, go to Settings → Special Options → System Optimization and activate the Deep Clean option. It automatically deletes unnecessary files once a day.

FAQ: Frequent questions about cleaning up 'Other' on Redmi 7A