Xiaomi’s smartphones are famous for their availability and functionality, but even powerful models can slow down over time, often due not to wear and tear of iron, but to a lack of free RAM. When RAM is crowded with background processes, the system starts to work slower, applications open longer, and sometimes even fly out. Owners of devices with a shell MIUI or a new HyperOS often wonder how to effectively free this resource without losing important data.
In this article, we will go through all the available cleaning methods, from standard system tools to advanced methods for power users. RAM is a temporary storage where the data of running applications is stored. The more it is free, the smoother the interface works. However, you should not fanatically strive for 100% cleanup, since Android knows how to manage resources correctly, and complete emptiness sometimes even harms performance.
Why RAM is Filled and How It Affects Work
The main reason for filling up memory is multitasking: users are used to not closing applications, but simply folding them. The MIUI shell tries to keep them in memory for quick launch, but over time this leads to "inflating" the cache and accumulating residual processes. Background services of messengers, social networks and news aggregators consume resources constantly.
When free memory becomes critically scarce, the system is forced to constantly unload old tasks to run new ones, a phenomenon called swapping, or active virtual memory, which loads the drive and the processor. The critical threshold for the start of noticeable lags is to fill the RAM by more than 90% at rest. If you see constant twitching of the interface, then it's time to intervene.
In addition to user applications, memory is a system process, some of which are vital, others can be safely restricted, and understanding what is eating your memory is the first step to optimizing your memory.
Standard cleaning products in MIUI and HyperOS
The easiest and safest way to do this is to use the built-in Security app, which is pre-installed on all Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones, and it not only scans for viruses, but also efficiently unloads processes from RAM.
To perform the cleaning, open the Security app and click on the Clean or Clean button. The system will analyze the current state and suggest freeing up space. You can also press and hold the menu button (or swipe up and hold your finger, depending on the type of navigation) to trigger a floating clearing window.
☑️ The algorithm of regular cleaning
It's important to note that a regular cleaner often works gently, closing down visible applications, but it can keep some system services active, which is usually enough for everyday use, but in cases of serious freezes, deeper measures are required.
💡
Add the Memory Cleanup widget to your desktop for quick access to the RAM free function in one click.
Developer tools: Extended management
For those who want to have full control of the system, there's a developer menu, where you can force the number of background processes to be limited, which changes the behavior of the operating system, and to get there, you have to click on the build number in the About Phone section several times.
In the developer menu, find the background limit. The default is "Standard Limit." You can choose "No More than 2 Processes" or "No Background Processes" to force the system to aggressively unload applications from memory immediately after folding.
⚠️ Note: Setting a hard limit on background processes can cause notifications from messengers to arrive late or not at all until you reopen the application.
Also in this section is the Inactive Apps feature, which lets you see which programs consume the most resources and force them to stop, a powerful tool for diagnosing heavy applications.
Memory consumption analysis through ADB and PC
If standard methods don't give you the full picture, you can use USB debugging and a computer, and if you connect your smartphone to your PC, you can run a command that shows you detailed statistics on each process, which is especially useful for identifying hidden miners or poorly optimized applications.
To get data, use the adb shell dumpsys meminfo command, which will display a huge list of all the processes and memory they occupy, and to filter out the extra, you can use sorting parameters or just flip through the output in search of the most weighted applications.
adb shell dumpsys meminfo | grep -E "Total|Native|Dalvik"This method allows you to see the difference between Dalvik/ART heap and native memory. If an application consumes too much native memory, it may indicate a resource leak, and it is better to remove or reinstall it.