How to Clean WhatsApp Memory on Xiaomi: The Complete Guide

Xiaomi smartphones are famous for their performance and rich functionality, but even the most powerful devices face a lack of free space, especially for users of WhatsApp messenger, which over time accumulates a huge number of media files, voice messages and documents. When internal storage is overflowing, the system begins to work slower, and new photos cease to be saved.

There are several proven methods to effectively free up gigabytes of space without losing important correspondence. Owners of MIUI or HyperOS devices have access to unique optimization tools that are not available on other Android smartphones. Proper cleaning will not only restore the performance of the phone, but also extend the life of its drive.

In this article, we’ll look at all the cleaning options available, from the built-in features of the messenger itself to deep cleaning by Xiaomi’s system tools. You’ll learn to find hidden files, delete duplicates, and configure automatic memory maintenance so that the problem doesn’t come back in the future. This is especially true for models with 64 or 128 GB of memory, which fill up the fastest.

Analysis of space through built-in WhatsApp tools

Before you manually delete files, you need to understand what exactly occupies space on your device. The messenger developers have implemented a convenient statistics tool that shows the amount of data occupied by each chat individually, which allows you to pinpoint the "heavy" dialogues without touching light text correspondence.

To access this feature, open the app and go to the settings menu. Depending on the version of the interface, the path may be slightly different, but the logic remains the same for all Android devices. You will need to find the section responsible for data management and storage.

• 📱 Open WhatsApp and click on the three dots in the top right corner of the screen.
• 📊 Select Settings, then go to Data and Storage.
• 🔍 Click on the Storage Management button to see detailed statistics.

In the list that opens, you'll see the total amount of space you're taking and the chat list sorted by volume, and it often turns out that the lion's share of memory is in groups where videos are being shared all the time, or in conversations with loved ones where there are lots of photos, and by clicking on a particular chat, you can selectively delete media files older than a certain date or files larger than 5 MB.

⚠️ Attention: Deleting files through the storage management menu removes them irrevocably from the device and from the cloud backup. Make sure that there are no really important moments among the photos and videos that are deleted.

Use of the "Security" app on Xiaomi

The MIUI shell and the new HyperOS have a powerful built-in tool called Security, which is a system application that can find garbage in messenger cache that is not always visible when you view files, and it is the safest method for beginners to use, because the system itself determines which files can be deleted without harming the application.

Run the standard Security app (the shield and lightning icon) on the home screen. Click on the "Clean up" or "Clean up garbage" button. The system will scan and suggest that temporary files be deleted. However, for a deeper cleaning, go to "Deep Cleanup" or "Storage Analysis."

In the deep cleaning section, look for the category "Apps" or "App Files." Here's a list of all the programs that are sitting on the site. Search the WhatsApp list and click on it. The system will show the breakdown: cache, app data and media files. The cache cleaning here is completely secure and will not affect your correspondence.

It is worth noting that cleaning through the Xiaomi system menu sometimes works more aggressively than the built-in tools of the messenger itself. This can be useful if WhatsApp is not working correctly or freezes. However, before conducting any manipulation of these applications, it is recommended to make sure that the backup is up to date.

Manual cleaning through the file manager

For advanced users who want to gain full control of the file system, manual cleaning through a standard Explorer is a good option. On Xiaomi smartphones, the Explorer app is preinstalled, which allows you to access the system folders of the messenger, This method is especially effective for removing “sincere” files that are left after deleting chats or contacts.

In modern versions of Android, folder structure has changed, and if data was at the root, it is now on the path of Android/media/com.whatsapp or Android/media/WhatsApp. When you open this directory, you will see the Media folder, which stores all the content of your dialogues.

• 📂 WhatsApp Images folder contains all photos, including those sent and received.
• 🎥 WhatsApp Video directory stores videos that most often eat memory.
• 🎙️ WhatsApp Voice Notes files take up surprisingly much space with prolonged use.

When manually deleting, be very careful. You can sort files by size and delete the most severe ones. It also makes sense to check the Sent folder, which often duplicates files that are already in your phone's gallery. Deleting them from there will free up space but leave copies in chat rooms.

⚠️ Warning: Never delete the msgstore.db.crypt file and other.crypt file manually through Explorer if you plan to recover your correspondence history.

Set up autodelete and exclude folders

To avoid manually cleaning memory every two weeks, it’s wise to set up automatic rules. WhatsApp allows you to set a self-destruct timer for messages, but more effectively manage the auto-save media files to the phone gallery.This will prevent duplication: the file will remain in the messenger, but will not take up space in the Xiaomi system gallery.

Go to the chat settings (click on the contact or group name at the top of the dialogue) and select Media Visibility (or "Save in the Gallery"). Turn off this option for noisy groups and channels. Now new photos and videos will not clog your main gallery, although they will remain available inside the correspondence.

Also worth considering is the Disappearing Messages feature, which can be enabled for individual contacts, and globally for all new chats, and choose a 24-hour, 7-day, or 90-day period, which will drastically reduce the amount of garbage that accumulates, as old messages will be deleted automatically.

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Use the Archiving Chat feature for rarely used dialogues, which won't make room directly, but will remove visual noise and allow you to quickly find active correspondence that you need to clean first.

Delete Google Drive backups and local archives

Often users forget that WhatsApp backs up not only in the cloud, but also locally on the device. Local copies are stored for the past 7 days and take up a significant amount of memory. If you have a stable Internet and have cloud backup set up, old local archives can be safely deleted.

Local backups are located on the Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Databases path. Inside, you'll see files with names like msgstore-2023-10-25.1.db.crypt14. A file called simply msgstore.db.crypt14 (without date) is a current copy, it can't be touched. All files with dates in the title can be deleted.

Also, check the backup settings in the app itself. Go to Settings → Chats → Chat Backup. Pay attention to the Google Drive Backup section. If you select Daily or Weekly, make sure you have free space in the Google Drive cloud. The overflowing Google Drive will stop accepting new backups, which can lead to data loss when you change phone.

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Disabling video downloads to cloud backup is the fastest way to reduce the size of your Google Drive archive by many times without losing your text history.

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