How to Clean Xiaomi of Garbage: A Complete Guide to Accelerating

The modern Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones have impressive specs, but over time, even the most powerful devices start to work slower, and it’s an inevitable process of accumulating digital junk: temporary files, remnants of deleted applications, messenger cache and advertising IDs. If you notice that the MIUI or HyperOS interface has slowed down and free disk space disappears for no apparent reason, it’s time to do a general cleanup.

There are many myths that you have to root or refish your device to clean up properly. In fact, the built-in tools and the right approach to manually deleting files allow you to get your device back to the factory. It's important to understand that by "junk," we mean not only files, but also background processes that waste resources.

In this article, we will take a closer look at the safe algorithms that will help you free up gigabytes of space and increase system responsiveness. We will not use third-party cleaners, which are garbage in themselves, but use effective regular tools and proven methods of manual cleaning.

Use of the built-in "Security" application

The first thing that Xiaomi smartphone owners need to do is use a standard application that is already installed on the system, called Security, and has a green icon with a shield, which is designed specifically for the MIUI shell and can find hidden debris that is not visible when you normally browse the file system.

Launch the app and click on the Cleanup button, and the system will scan and show you the amount of data being deleted. However, don't be in a hurry to delete everything you've suggested. Click on the junk or files icon to view the list in detail. It often hides residual files from long-deleted games and programs that take up space but do not provide any benefit.

Pay special attention to the section “Big files”, often users forget about downloaded videos or archives that lie dead for months, and removing such objects is the fastest way to free up up to 10-15 GB of disk space in a couple of minutes without risking damage to the system.

• 📱 Launch the Security app from the main screen.
• 🗑️ Click the “Clean” button and wait for the analysis to be completed.
• 🔍 Manually check the "Applications" section for residual files.
• ✅ Confirm the removal of selected objects.

⚠️ Note: In the Cleanup section, the system may suggest removing the cache of WhatsApp or Telegram. Be careful: clearing the cache of these apps through Security may result in the removal of temporary images and voices that you have not yet saved. It is better to clean messengers through their internal settings.

Manual cleaning of folders in the Conductor

Automatic systems can’t always tell the difference between an important system file and an unnecessary log, so manually cleaning through the built-in Explorer (File Manager) gives you the best result.

First of all, look for folders with names of remote applications. If you've ever installed a game or photo editor and then deleted them, the folder with the program name often stays in place. Inside it can be configs, level cache or temporary data.

The Android folder is specially placed, and it contains data and obb subfolders, it stores the cache and data of the installed applications, it is strictly forbidden to delete the contents of these folders completely, this will lead to the reset of all applications, but if you see a folder with the name of a remote game (for example, com.roblox.client), it can and should be deleted manually.

Remember to check the Download folder. Browsers and instant messengers often save application installers (.apk files) and documents there. Once the program is installed, these files are no longer needed, but continue to occupy space. MIUI -> debug_log — There may be debugging logs that are useless to the ordinary user Internal. storage/Android/data/com.whatsapp — A path where gigabytes of WhatsApp media files often accumulate unless automatic deletion is configured.

• 📂 Open the Explorer and move into the internal memory.
• 🔎 Find folders with names of remote applications.
• 🗑️ Remove old.apk installers from Download folder.
• 📉 Check the size of Tencent folders and MIUI slackly.

⚠️ Warning: Never delete folders with the names of Google system services (com.google.android...) or Xiaomi system components (com.miui...) unless you know exactly what they are responsible for.

Cleaning the cache of social networks and messengers

Social media and instant messengers are the main memory eaters on any Android smartphone. Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber, TikTok and Instagram store every photo and video they view into cache to upload them faster when they are reopened. Over time, this cache can grow to tens of gigabytes.

The most effective way to clean Telegram is to use the built-in feature. Go to Settings -> Data and Memory -> Memory Use. Here you will see the "Storage Media" slider. Set a value like "3 days" or "1 week." After that, click "Clear Cache" button. This action is secure and will not delete your correspondence, the files will simply be re-uploaded from the cloud if necessary.

For WhatsApp, the situation is more complicated, because the app stores all media files in the file system. You have to go to the folder Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Media. This is where the folders WhatsApp Images, WhatsApp Video and others. Inside is often the folder Private, where you store hidden status images, and the folder Sent, where you copy all the files you sent.

Instagram and Facebook also require periodic cleaning through the app settings or through the app management menu on the system.In Android 13 and later, the path to these settings may differ, so it's easiest to find the app in the installed list and select Clear Cache.

• 💬 In Telegram, use the function of autodelete cache.
• 📸 On WhatsApp, manually delete the Sent folder in the media.
• 🎥 For TikTok and Instagram, use a system cache cleanup.
• 🔄 Regularly check the cache size in the application settings.

Removal of system debris and advertising identifiers

There is a specific kind of garbage in the MIUI shell, advertising identifiers and logs of system services. While it is difficult to completely disable ads in Xiaomi without dancing with a diamond, resetting an advertising ID helps to increase privacy and slightly “zero” the intrusiveness of offers.

To reset your advertising ID, go to Settings -> Passwords and Security -> Privacy -> Advertising Services. Here, click Reset Advertising ID. This action assigns your device a new random number, breaking the link to previously collected data about your preferences.

Also worth checking is Advanced Settings -> For Developers. If you've previously enabled logging or debugging, there might be files left there. Find Logkeeping (or, depending on the version of MIUI) and make sure it's disabled if you're not debugging applications. Active logging not only clogs memory, but also speeds up wear and tear on the device's flash memory.

Another hidden source of debris is the thermals folder at the root of the system (requires access to system folders, often seen in advanced file managers), which stores the temperature logs. If the phone does not overheat, these files can be deleted, but the system will create them again.

⚠️ Warning: Don’t use accelerator apps from the Play Market that promise to cool the processor or increase RAM. 99% of the time, they are themselves ad modules and only slow down Xiaomi.

Disk space analysis and search for duplicates

Often users can't figure out where the space is gone, and in this case, analysis tools come to the rescue, and newer versions of HyperOS and MIUI 14+ have a built-in storage analyzer that visualizes memory.

Go to Settings -> About -> Memory (or "Storage"). The system will show a diagram of photos, apps, documents, etc. By clicking on any sector, you will be taken to the corresponding folder, which allows you to quickly find heavyweights.

A separate problem is duplicate photos. When synced to the cloud or mistakenly imported, the same pictures can be saved several times. Use Google Photos or the built-in Xiaomi Gallery: search for “Dublicates” (if the feature is available in your area) or manually view the album “Recently deleted” and “Screenshots”.

Don’t forget about offline maps (Navitel, Yandex.Maps, Google Maps) If you downloaded maps of entire countries for navigation without the Internet, they can take 5-10 GB. Check the settings of navigation applications and delete maps of regions you have already visited or do not need.

• 📊 Use the built-in memory analyzer in the settings.
• 🗺️ Check the volume of offline maps in the navigators.
• 📷 Find and remove serial shooting and duplicate photos.
• 📥 Clean the folder “Recently deleted” in the gallery.

Resetting settings as a last resort

If none of the above methods have worked and the phone continues to work slowly, there may be critical errors or file system damage in the system, in which case the only effective solution is a complete reset to the factory settings (Hard Reset).

This procedure completely removes all data from the device, returning it to a “store-like” state.Be sure to create a full backup through the Mi Cloud or computer before you start, using the Mi PC Suite app or simply copying important files.

To perform the reset, go to Settings -> About Phone -> Reset -> Erase all data. The system will ask you to enter the unlock password and the password from the Mi Account. After confirmation, the process will begin, which will take 5-10 minutes.

Settings → About the phone → Reset settings → Erase all data

Once you reboot, you'll get a clean system. Don't rush to install all the apps at once. Install them one at a time and monitor the behavior of the phone, which will help you identify which app was causing problems and creating excessive garbage.

⚠️ Warning: Before resetting, make sure that the battery is at least 60% charged. Interrupting the reset process due to battery discharge can lead to the device "bricking", after which only the service center will help.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions