Owners of the popular Redmi and POCO smartphones face an unpleasant notification of a lack of space, a MIUI or HyperOS system that starts to run slower, apps open longer, and new photos simply stop being saved, because over time, gigabytes of temporary files, app cache and system debris accumulate in the device’s memory that is not automatically deleted.
Freeing up space is not just removing a couple of unnecessary songs or apps, it is a comprehensive maintenance procedure for the Android operating system. Proper cleaning allows you to extend the life of the drive and significantly improve the performance of a mobile device. In this article, we will discuss all proven methods, from standard tools to advanced methods of working with the file system.
Before you start taking drastic measures, you need to understand what exactly is taking up space on your Xiaomi. Often users do not even suspect that “system files” or “other” can take up tens of gigabytes due to indexing errors or forgotten backups.
Memory Occupancy Analysis and Large File Search
The first step is always to analyze in detail what is eating away at your memory, and there's a powerful tool built into the MIUI shell that allows you to visualize the distribution of data, so you don't have to delete applications right away, you start by looking at the statistics of the storage.
Go to Settings → Memory. Here you will see a color diagram where each sector is responsible for a specific type of data: applications, images, video, audio or system files. Visualization helps you instantly identify heavyweights. For example, the Application sector can take up 40 GB, and if you look at it in detail, half of this volume is a cache of messengers or offline maps of the navigator.
Special attention should be paid to the Downloads folder and Documents section. Often users download APK installation files, presentations, or archives that they never open again. These files have been dead weight for years. Use the built-in file sorter by size to find objects larger than 100 MB and assess their need.
⚠️ Note: When analyzing memory, do not delete files with the.obb extension or folders with the names of installed games if you want to save progress and data inside games. Deleting these files will require you to reload resources on the next run.
Use of the built-in "Security" application
The easiest and safest way to clean up storage on Xiaomi Redmi is to use the regular Security app. It's not just an antivirus, but a full-fledged system maintenance combine designed specifically for the MIUI shell.
Launch the app and select Clean Up. The system will scan and suggest removing temporary files, deleted app residues and advertising debris. However, don't stop at quick cleaning. Click on the Deep Cleanup icon (or similar, depending on the HyperOS version) to access more detailed settings.
In deep cleaning mode, you'll find sections for large files, duplicate photos, and rarely used applications. The system algorithms will be deleted, but the final decision is always yours. This is the perfect moment to get rid of similar images taken in series or old screenshots.
☑️ Checklist for quick cleaning
It is important to understand the difference between cleaning the cache and cleaning the data. When the system suggests clearing the application data, it means completely resetting the program to the "as after installation". All logins, settings and saves will be lost. Use this feature only for applications that you are ready to reconfigure, or if the program is not working correctly.
Cleaning the cache of messengers and social networks
Memory consumption leaders are traditionally messaging apps like Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber, and these apps store every photo, video, and voice message you receive into your phone's memory, creating huge archives, and even if you delete chat chat, the file can stay in storage.
Telegram handles the situation in the most elegant way possible. Go to Settings → Data and memory → Memory usage. Here you will see a slider "Storage media". Set a value of "3 days" or "1 week". Also click "Clear cache" button. This action is safe: your photos and videos will not disappear from the chats, they will simply be deleted from the device and will be downloaded again only when viewed.
WhatsApp is more complicated because of the Android file system. Media files are often duplicated in the gallery. To effectively clean up the storage on Xiaomi from WhatsApp garbage, you better use the built-in storage management function inside the messenger itself: Settings → Data and Storage → Storage Management. There you can sort files by size and delete the heaviest videos.
⚠️ Note: Before clearing the data of messengers, be sure to back up the chats in Google Drive. Otherwise, you risk losing the entire history of correspondence without the possibility of restoring the data.
Removal of duplicate photos and videos
Modern Redmi cameras shoot in high resolution, and one minute video in 4K can weigh more than 300 MB. Often users take several identical shots "just in case", forget to delete unsuccessful shots or save images from the Internet that are already in the gallery.
You can use Google Photos or third-party apps to find duplicates, but MIUI has a great built-in tool. In the Gallery app, go to the Albums tab and scroll down to Recently Deleted or search for similar images. The system itself groups similar images, suggesting you choose the best and delete the rest.
It's also worth checking the Screenshot folder, which can accumulate hundreds of images of the interface that are no longer valuable in a year of use, and mass-selection and deletion of these files is the fastest way to free up a few gigabytes.
| File type | Average size | Where to find | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4K video (1 min) | 300-500MB | DCIM/Camera | Move it to the PC |
| Photo (RAW) | 25-40MB | DCIM/Camera | Leave only the best |
| Cash Telegram. | 1-10 GB | Inside the app | Clean once a week |
| Offline maps | 2-5GB | Navigators. | Remove unnecessary regions |
Transfer data to memory card and cloud
If internal memory is crowded and you can't delete anything else, the only way out is to expand storage. Most Redmi models support microSD cards, which is the perfect place to store photo archives, music and movies.
To transfer files, connect your smartphone to your computer or use the File Manager Explorer on the device itself. Move the folders. DCIM, MIUI/Gallery/cloud And you can download it to an external map, and after you transfer it to the camera settings, you can choose to save new images immediately to the external map. SD-map.
The alternative is cloud storage, services like Google Photos, Yandex.Disk or Mi Cloud allow you to upload your media library to the Internet. Google Photos has a "Free Place" feature that automatically removes from your device those images that have already been successfully uploaded to the cloud and are protected from loss.
Remember that the memory card can be slower than the internal memory. SD-map heavy apps or games, as this can lead to slowing the interface and long downloads.
Advanced cleaning through computer and ADB
For power users who want to squeeze out as much space as possible, there is a method of cleaning through a PC connection: Connect your smartphone with a cable in file transfer mode (MTP) and manually delete folders that the system does not allow to clean from the inside.
Often, folders from long-deleted applications remain at the root of memory. It is also worth checking the Android/data folder (access may be restricted in new versions of Android) and Android/obb. There may be game remnants. Be extremely careful: deleting system folders can lead to unstable work.
The most powerful tool is USB debugging and the ADB console, which can remove system dummy apps that can’t be removed in the usual way, by enabling Developer Mode (7 times clicking on the build number in About Phone) and activating Debugging over USB.
adb shell pm list packages
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 name.packetThis command allows you to remove the application for the current user, effectively freeing up space, although formally it remains in the system partition.Using ADB requires accuracy: removing critical system components (e.g. com.android.systemui) will make it impossible to boot the phone.