The problem of crowded cloud storage is familiar to many Xiaomi and Redmi smartphone owners. Notification that the Mi Cloud space is over often comes at the most inopportune moment, blocking the ability to create new backups or sync fresh images.This is not just an annoyance, but also a real risk of losing important data if the device suddenly fails.
In this article, we will take a look at all the available ways to free up space, learn how to safely remove old backups, clear the gallery of duplicates and optimize the use of system applications. Proper cloud management will allow you to avoid paid subscriptions and maintain control over your personal data.
Don't ignore the system's space-scarce signals. Timely storage cleanup ensures that contacts, notes and voice recorders are synchronized, and let's figure out which files take up the most space and how to get rid of them without losing important information.
Analysis of the occupancy of the Mi Cloud storage
Before you start deleting files, you need to understand what consumes the bulk of the available space. Often users are surprised where the free 5 GB went, unaware that the lion's share is occupied by automatically downloaded videos or old system backups. To begin the diagnosis, open your smartphone settings and go to the Mi Account section.
Here, in the cloud management menu, you can see a graphic memory distribution diagram, and the system clearly divides the data into categories: Gallery, Recorder, Contacts, Notes and Backups, and it's this detail that allows you to pinpoint the source of the problem rather than delete files at random.
Note that the amount of data in the cloud may be different than what you see in the phone gallery, because sync may have been enabled earlier, and the cloud has images that you have already deleted from the device but have not cleared in the cloud service cart.
⚠️ Before mass deletion of files, make sure that important documents and photos are stored on a physical medium or on another account. Recovery from the Mi Cloud Recycle Bin is possible only within 30 days.
The analysis will also show which devices are tied to your account, and if you’ve used Redmi models or tablets, backups can take up gigabytes of space, even if you don’t already have the devices themselves.
Cleaning the gallery and managing photo synchronization
The most voluminous section that usually requires attention is the Gallery. High-resolution photos and video recordings quickly eat up the available limit. To begin, open the Gallery app and go to the Cloud tab or click on the cloud icon at the top of the screen.
Here you can see all the media files uploaded to Xiaomi servers, which is the easiest way to sort them by size or date. Often users forget about long videos from a year ago that automatically ended up in the cloud. Deleting these files instantly frees up hundreds of megabytes.
It's important to distinguish between deleting from your phone and deleting from the cloud. If sync is active, deleting a photo in the phone's gallery will remove it from the cloud, but if you want to leave a photo in the cloud but remove it from your phone, you need to turn off sync for a particular album before deleting it.
- 📸 Open the album “Recently Deleted” in the cloud and clean it up completely to get the place back.
- 🎥 Sort files by video type and remove the heaviest videos that don’t carry value.
- 🗑️ Use the “Clear Similar Photos” feature if it is available in your version MIUI or hyperos.
It’s also worth checking the download quality settings. If you have original downloads enabled, it takes up maximum space. Switching to compressed copies (if available in your region and tariff) can significantly reduce the amount of space you take without critically losing quality for viewing on the smartphone screen.
💡
Use the Free Space mode in the Gallery app, which automatically finds blurry images, screenshots and similar photos, prompting them to be deleted.
Removal of old system backups
Many users are unaware that Mi Cloud stores full copies of system settings, a list of installed apps, and even the placement of icons on the desktop.A new copy is created every time you change your phone or after a reset, and the old ones are often left hanging dead weight.
To get to that data, go to Settings → Mi Account → Cloud → Backups. Here you will see a list of all the devices that backups are built for. If you see models of phones you no longer use (like the Redmi Note 8 when you already have the Redmi Note 12), they can be easily deleted.
One full backup can be as large as several gigabytes, especially if it includes application data. Deleting an old device archive is the fastest way to gain significant space gain. The system will alert you to the irreversibility of action, since it will be impossible to restore the settings of the remote phone.
☑️ Verification of backup copies
Also, check the settings for automatic backups, which may be a daily saving, while a weekly saving would be enough, to prevent files from being updated too often in the cloud and save traffic.
Cleaning of the recorder, notes and contacts
Not only media files take up space. Xiaomi owners often use a built-in voice recorder to record lectures or meetings. One hour of high-quality recording can weigh tens of megabytes. Go to the Dictaphone app, click on the menu and select cloud sync to see the file list.
It's the same with Notes, and if you've been using them extensively and adding images or screenshots to your text, the notebook can grow to a very obscene size. Check the Recycle Bin section of the Notes app, which is often where deleted notes are stored for another 30 days, taking up space.
Contacts and SMS messages usually weigh a bit, but if you have thousands of contacts with high-resolution photos attached to cards, that too can play a role.SMS synchronization and call histories also create log text files that accumulate over time.
⚠️ Warning: Deleting voice recorders and notes from the cloud will cause them to disappear on all synchronized devices.
To clean up, go to Settings → Mi Account → Cloud and select a specific data type (such as Recorder) where you can manage files directly through your browser or built-in interface.
Using the Web Version for Mass Deletion
Managing files from a smartphone screen is sometimes inconvenient, especially if you need to highlight hundreds of photos at once. i.mi.com is the perfect web interface for this purpose.
The web version of the cloud provides more functionality for working with files, where you can use mouse highlighting, select files by date range, and move faster between folders, which is especially important for cleaning the Gallery.
The interface allows you to see the real folder structure, and you may find that some applications have created their own folders in the cloud for cache or saved files that you didn't even know existed.
| Section of the cloud | Type of data | Influence on the spot | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| gallery | Photos, Videos | Critical | Regular cleaning, video removal |
| Backup copies | System files | High. | Remove copies of old devices |
| Dictaphone | Audio recordings | Average. | Check out long records |
| Notes | Text, Images | Low/Mediocre | Clean the basket |
Browser work also allows you to download important archives to your computer's hard drive before you delete it, which is a best backup practice. Don't rely on the cloud as your only storage.
What to do if the web version does not open?
Optimization and alternative solutions
If regular cleaning doesn’t work and the place ends too quickly, it’s worth rethinking your storage strategy. Optimization may involve changing habits or using additional tools. For example, for photos and videos, it’s better to use specialized services like Google Photos, which offer compression without losing any visible quality.
Also consider buying an extended fare from the Mi Cloud if you are deeply integrated into the Xiaomi ecosystem.However, it is often cheaper and more reliable to buy a microSD card (if the Redmi Note model supports) or an external one. USB-storage OTG.
Keep in mind the Cleanup feature in the standard Security app, which works mostly with local files, but it can find duplicates that can then be removed from the cloud.
- 💾 Regularly transfer archived photos to your computer or external hard drive.
- 📉 Turn off autosynchronization for applications that don’t require a permanent backup.
- 🔄 Periodically check the list of connected devices in your account security settings.
Remember, cloud storage is a tool for synchronization and temporary storage, not a perpetual archive. Keeping order in the file system of a smartphone requires periodic attention, but the result in free space and speed is worth it.
💡
Regularly cleaning the cart and removing backups of older devices free up to 80% of the occupied space in the Mi Cloud without losing any relevant data.