Cleaning up RAM on Xiaomi: a complete guide for all models

Your Xiaomi has slowed down, apps spontaneously shut down, and games lag at even minimal settings? 90% of the time, overloaded RAM is to blame. Smartphone manufacturers — including Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO — optimize MIUI for multitasking, but over time, even 8-12 GB of RAM is clogged with background activity. In this article, we will examine 7 proven ways to clean up RAM, including hidden MIUI features that will not be disclosed in the official documentation.

Before you start: cleaning RAM is not a panacea.If your Xiaomi Mi 11 or Redmi Note 12 is slowing down due to a weak processor (Snapdragon) 6xx) If you overheat, you'll have a temporary effect on memory release, but in most cases, cleaning it properly will bring the interface back to smoothness and increase battery life by 15 to 20 percent. ADB-Teams for experienced users.

Why is RAM clogged on Xiaomi?

MIUI aggressively caches data to speed up app re-launching. This is normal Android behavior, but Xiaomi has nuances:

• 🔄 Background optimization MIUI: It keeps even closed applications in memory, waiting for you to come back to them. 9A with 2 GB of RAM) this leads to hanging.
• 📱 Bloatwar (preinstalled apps): Xiaomi installs up to 30 system services that cannot be removed without root.They take up to 500 MB of RAM in the background.
• 🔍 Google Services and MIUI: Google Play Services, Mi Push Service, and Security App are all in your memory, even if you don’t use them.
• 🎮 Game accelerators: Game Turbo's function reserves RAM for games, but memory isn't always freed up after the game closes.

Another reason is memory leaks in poorly optimized applications (especially social networks and instant messengers), such as Facebook or Telegram X can eat up to 1 GB of RAM if not restarted for several days, a problem compounded by devices with MIUI 13/14, where background activity is less controlled than in Android’s stock.

⚠️ Warning: If after cleaning the RAM the phone still brakes, check the Settings → Battery → Battery use. If there's a mediaserver or Android.system process hanging there. >30%, the problem is hardware acceleration media, not memory.

Method 1: Manual cleaning through the MIUI menu

The easiest method is to use the built-in MIUI tools, which are suitable for beginners and do not require third-party applications.

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Slip on the "Cleaning" icon (broom sign) in the upper right corner.
3. Select the "RAM" (or "Memory") tab.
4. Click Clean - the system will cover all background processes except critical ones.

This method frees up to 40% of RAM, but the effect is temporary: after 10-15 minutes, the background processes will start again. For a permanent result, use this method in combination with disabling the auto-run of applications (see Method 3).

On some models (POCO F4, Xiaomi 12T) the Cleanup menu has the option "Deep Clean" which removes not only background processes, but also the cache of system applications. Use it once a week, but not more often - this can slow down the first download of frequently used programs.

Method 2: Use of a Game Turbo (Game Turbo)

The Game Turbo feature in MIUI not only optimizes games, but also allows you to manually control the allocation of RAM. This method is especially useful for devices with 4-6 GB of RAM (Redmi Note 10 Pro, POCO X3 Pro):

1. Open Settings → Special features → Game Turbo
2. Select "Memory Settings" (or "Memory Optimization").
3. Activate the option "Memory Cleanup when screen locks".
4. Set a limit of background processes: for 4 GB of RAM, select "Standard", for 6 + GB - "Aggressive".

Game Turbo also allows you to add apps to a whitelist so they don’t close when you clean them up. For example, if you use Google Maps or Spotify a lot, add them to exceptions so you don’t lose data when you switch between tasks.

Method 3: Disabling Autostart and Background Activity

Many applications run automatically when you turn on your phone or connect to the Internet, and this is one of the main reasons for clogged RAM.

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Select an app (like Facebook or AliExpress).
3. Slip the Auto Start and turn off the slider.
4. Go back and select "Resolutions" → "Background Activity" → "Limit".

For mass shutdown, use the developer mode:

1. Activate Developer Mode: Settings → The phone. → 7 times tap on "Version" MIUI".
2. Back to Settings → Additionally. → For developers.
3. Find Do Not Save Actions and set a background process limit to Process Maximum 2 (for weak devices).

⚠️ Warning: Disabling autoruns for system applications (e.g. com.miui.securitycenter) may disrupt the operation MIUI. Do this only if you know exactly what the process is for. For a list of safe applications to disable, see the spoiler below.

Method 4: Cleaning through ADB (for advanced users)

If standard methods don't work, you can manually kill things through ADB (Android Debug Bridge), which requires you to connect your phone to your PC, but gives you full control of your memory.

1. Install ADB Tools on your computer.
2. Enable USB debugging on your phone: Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (7 taps) → For developers → USB debugging.
3. Connect Xiaomi to your PC and type in the command line: Adb devices (your device should appear)
4. Check out the list of running processes: adb shell ps -A | grep -E 'u0_a[0-9]+' (These are user applications)
5. Kill the unnecessary process (e.g. Facebook): adb shell am force-stop com.facebook.katana

To automatically clean all background processes (except system) use the command:

adb shell "for i in \$(adb shell ps -A | awk '{print \$2}' | grep -E 'u0_a[0-9]+'); do adb shell kill \$i; done"

This method frees up to 70% of RAM, but it requires caution: Don't kill processes called system, zygote or surfaceflinger, which will lead to system failure.

@echo off


adb kill-server




adb start-server




adb shell "for i in $(adb shell ps -A | awk '{print $2}' | grep -E 'u0_a[0-9]+'); do adb shell kill $i; done"




pause

Save the file with the.bat extension and run on behalf of the administrator.-->

Method 5: Use of third-party optimizers (with caution!)

Google Play has hundreds of RAM cleaning apps, but most of them are dummy or even malware. We tested 15 popular utilities and selected 3 that actually work:

• 🛡️ Greenify (requires root for full functionality): Freezes applications from running in the background, saves up to 30% RAM and 15% battery life.
• 🧹 SD Maid (paid version): Clears not only RAM, but also the system cache that MIUI There's an AppControl feature for auto-run control.
• 🔧 Simple System Monitor: Shows detailed real-time RAM usage statistics and allows you to kill processes manually.

⚠️ Warning: Do not use "optimizers" like Clean Master or DU Speed Booster:

• False notifications of a “critical state” of memory are shown.
• They consume up to 200 MB of RAM in the background.
• They may contain advertising software or spyware.

If you decide to use a third-party optimizer, monitor its activity in Settings → Battery → Battery Use. If the application consumes > 5% of the charge per day, delete it.

Method 6: Reset partition cache (without data loss)

Cash section (/cache) It stores temporary system and application files, and its cleanup won't delete your data, but it can release it to the public. 1 GB of RAM if the cache is clogged due to frequent updates or crashes:

1. Turn off the phone.
2. Press the power button + volume up until the Mi logo appears.
3. From the recovery menu, select "Wipe & Reset" → "Wipe Cache".
4. Confirm the action and restart the phone.

This method is useful if:

• The phone started to slow down after the MIUI update.
• Applications are closed spontaneously with the error "Application stopped".
• In Settings → Memory you can see that "Cash" takes > 1 GB.

⚠️ Warning: Do not confuse "Wipe Cache" with "Wipe Data"; the second option will delete all your data, including photos and contacts!

Method 7: Radical Methods (for power users)

If all of these things don't work, there are radical measures that require root rights or unlocked bootloaders, but they get the most out of it.

1. Delete system applications (debloat)

With ADB or Magisk, you can remove the pre-installed bloatvar. the list of safe packets for MIUI 14:

pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.analytics


pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.bugreport




pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.cloudservice




pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.cloudbackup




pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.compass




pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.fm




pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.hybrid




pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.miservice

Changes in Low Memory Memory (LMK)

Android kills processes when memory is scarce, and you can set the trigger thresholds by editing /sys/module/lowmemorykiller/parameters/minfree.

1. Get root rights (via Magisk).
2. Install Root Explorer or Mixplorer.
3. Open /sys/module/lowmemorykiller/parameters/minfree file.
4. Replace the values with "8192,12288,16384,24576,32768,40960" (for 6-8 GB of RAM).

This will force the system to clean up memory more aggressively, but may lead to frequent restarts of applications.

💡

Radical methods give a 30-50% increase in free RAM, but require technical skills. Wrong actions can lead to a bootloop (cyclic reboot) or loss of warranty.

Frequent Questions (FAQ)