How to clean the memory of Xiaomi smartphone: expert guide

Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco are all known for their performance, but even the most powerful devices are slowing down over time, most often because of crowded internal storage. When disk space runs out, the MIUI or HyperOS operating system can’t effectively manage temporary files, leading to slowdowns and long downloads of applications.

Users often experience a phone that says 95-99% of the memory is occupied, even though nothing seems to be installed, due to the accumulation of messenger cache, residual files of remote programs and system logs. In this article, we will discuss professional cleaning methods that will help restore the device to its former sharpness without losing important data.

It’s important to understand that simply installing cleaners from the Play Market often doesn’t work, and sometimes even harms. We’ll look at the system’s built-in tools, hidden engineering menus, and manual garbage removal methods that really work in 2026.

Storage occupancy analysis and search for hidden files

Before you start deleting data, you need to determine exactly what is taking up space on your device. The standard MIUI storage analyzer provides detailed statistics, but often hides some system folders from the user's eyes. For deep analysis, use the built-in Explorer application or more advanced utilities.

Note the Android/data folder, which is more private in newer versions of Android but still contains gigabytes of cache of games and heavy apps, and the Tencent folder (if you use Chinese versions of apps or messengers like WeChat) and social media cache, which grows to tens of gigabytes, can also take up a significant amount of space.

The system partition “Other” is often questionable, as it can take up to 20-30 GB of space, hides offline maps, downloaded themes, voice packets and backups, and a careful analysis of this category allows you to free up space that seemed system-like and undeleteable.

⚠️ Attention: When cleaning the folder Android/data manually through the file manager, you can delete game saves or app settings. Always check the contents of the folder before deleting!

For ease of comparison of data types occupying space, consider the table of the main categories of files:

Using this knowledge, you can pinpoint the hardest parts of memory without removing the extra, and remember that once the cache is cleared, applications can load a little longer on the first run, as they will re-form temporary files.

Use of the built-in "Security" application

Each Xiaomi smartphone has a Security system application, which is the main tool for maintaining the device, which combines the functions of an antivirus, a garbage cleaner and a memory optimizer, and it should be run regularly, but with an understanding of the processes that are taking place.

When you click on the Cleanup button, the system scans the file system for temporary files, remnants of deleted applications and advertising debris. MIUI algorithms are smart enough not to touch important system files, however, sometimes they can miss large files in the download folder, so manual verification will not hurt.

The Deep Clean feature, which allows you to find duplicate photos, large video files and rarely used applications, is a powerful tool for quickly winning space, especially if you haven’t audited the library in a long time.

There's also an app management section inside the app, where you can see the list of apps that take up the most space, and it often turns out that instant messengers or streaming services take up more space than all the games installed combined.

Cleaning the cache of messengers and social networks

Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber and Instagram are the main memory eaters on a modern smartphone, and these apps store every photo, video and voice message viewed into the device’s local memory. 10-20 GB or more, which is critical for models with 64 or 128 GB of internal memory.

In Telegram, for example, you can set up automatic cache cleanup. Go to Settings → Data and memory → Memory use and set the Cached Files timer to 3 days or 1 week, which will allow the app to store only fresh media files, and the old ones will be deleted automatically when space is scarce.

WhatsApp has a slightly different procedure. In chat settings, look for the "Store Data" option, where the system itself will prompt you to delete large files or media from group chats, often with group chats clogging up memory with gigabytes of useless postcards and videos.

Remember to check the DCIM and Pictures folder, where social media often copies saved images. Even if you delete a photo inside the app, a copy of it can stay in the phone gallery, continuing to take up space.

Work with a memory expander (Virtual RAM)

Modern Xiaomi models with HyperOS shell and newer MIUI versions have added RAM expansion to internal storage, and while this helps with multitasking, it requires free disk space, and if the memory is packed, the system will not be able to allocate a virtual buffer, which will affect performance.

The feature is called "Memory Extension" and is located in the Settings → Advanced Settings → Expanding Memory. It requires 2 to 4 GB of free space to work. If you have a choice between a filled memory and an enabled extension, you better free up space, as this will improve the overall responsiveness of the system.

It’s worth noting that virtual RAM is slower than physical RAM, so it doesn’t work wonders, but when you don’t have enough physical memory (like 4-6 GB), this mechanism allows you to keep more applications open in the background without rebooting them.

If you’re actively using heavy games or video, having free space to work with this feature becomes critical, and the system will alert you if there’s not enough space to activate the mode.

Removal of system debris and debugging logs

Shell MIUI It tends to accumulate error logs and crash reports that the average user doesn't need, which can take anywhere from a few hundred megabytes to a couple of gigabytes, and you can find them at the root of the internal memory in the MiuiLog folder. MIUI/debug_log.

Also worth checking is the Thunder folder (if you use a built-in bootloader) and XiaomiEU (if you have custom firmware installed), which often leave APK installation packages after you update your applications or system, and deleting these files is safe and frees up valuable space.

To access hidden system folders, you may need to enable the display of hidden files in the Explorer settings. Click three dots in the corner and select the appropriate item. Be careful: delete only files that you understand the purpose of, or use specialized cleaning scripts.

⚠️ Note: Never delete files from folders Android/obb (If you don't want to reset game data, and system folders with names like com.android -- manually, if you're not sure what they're about, it can lead to system instability.

Regular log cleaning is especially important if you use firmware betas, where error reports can be much higher, and in stable versions, this partition grows more slowly.

Transferring data to the cloud and external storage

The most radical and effective way to free up space is to transfer media files to external storage. Google Photos or the Mi Cloud allows you to store photos and videos online, leaving only thumbnails on the device. When you turn on the "Free space" function, the application will automatically delete the originals from the phone.

For users who prefer local storage, the ideal solution is to use the USB-A flash drive with a Type-C connector. By connecting it, you can instantly re-slip the archives of photos and videos, freeing up gigabytes on the main drive. This is especially true for owners of models without a memory card slot.

Using cloud storage also backs up your data, and in the event of a smartphone loss or breakdown, you can quickly restore your photos and documents to a new device by simply logging in.

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Use the “Free Space” feature in Google Photos after checking that all images have been uploaded to the cloud, which will instantly delete local copies and can free up to 10 GB or more.

Remember to periodically check the shopping cart in the cloud services and the phone itself. Deleted files often lie there for another 30 days, continuing to take up space until they are finally deleted.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Regular prevention (once a month) takes less time than emergency cleaning when critically filling memory.