Hand-cleaning Xiaomi Redmi 9A From garbage: a complete guide without programs

Your Xiaomi Redmi 9A Do you start to slow down and your memory is filled with obscure files? Don't rush to download questionable "cleaners" - most of them only mask the problem, or even aggravate it. In this article, you'll learn how to manually and completely free to clean your phone of digital garbage, free up space and return performance. We'll take a look at hidden folders, system cache, remnants of remote applications and even the nuances of working. MIUI on budget smartphones Xiaomi.

Feature of Redmi 9A — everything 2/32 GB of memory in the base version, where every megabyte counts. The manufacturer saved on hardware, so optimization of the software part is critical here. You will be surprised how much unnecessary data is accumulated in the background processes, duplicate media files and app cache. And most importantly, all this can be removed without root rights and special knowledge.

Why Redmi? 9A «It gets littered faster than other smartphones

It's not just about modest technical specifications. - Xiaomi Redmi 9A He is working with MediaTek Helio. G25 — It's an entry-level processor that's not designed to be multitasking in the first place:

• 📱 Aggressive policies MIUI: The system creates a cache to speed up work, but often does not clean it automatically, for example, a gallery duplicates thumbnails of photos, and the browser saves versions of pages even after they are closed.
• 🗑️ Remnants of Remote Applications: When uninstallation, many programs leave folders with settings in the /Android/data and /Android/obb.
• 🔄 Background activity: even in standby mode Redmi 9A It can spend up to 300-500 MB of memory on log files of system processes (for example, logcat or dropbox).
• 📁 Hidden folders: Update files (.zip at the root of memory), backups, and even temporary instant messenger data (such as Telegram or WhatsApp) take up gigabytes.

Another feature is the separation of memory into “internal” and “external” (if microSD is used). MIUI It often transfers app data to a memory card but does not optimize it, causing read/write speeds to drop significantly, especially when running heavy apps like Facebook or TikTok.

⚠️ Note: Do not confuse the cache of applications and application data. Cache can be deleted without consequences, and the data cleaning will lead to resetting (for example, in games or instant messengers).

Preparation for cleaning: what to do before you start

Before you start, follow a few mandatory steps that will save you from losing important data and simplify the process:

1. Back up your contacts, photos and documents. Use Mi Cloud (built into your computer). MIUI) Or Google Photos for media files. DCIM/Camera Better to copy to PC – cloud services sometimes compress images.
2. Check the free space in the Settings → The phone. → If it's less than 1 GB, you have to clean it, or it'll start to go down.
3. Turn off automatic app updates in Google Play.This will prevent the creation of new cache files during the cleanup.
4. Charge your phone at least 50%. Long-term operations (for example, optimization of the database) drain the battery.

If you use a microSD, remove it before cleaning. MIUI Sometimes it confuses the paths to the files, and you risk removing data from the card instead of internal memory. SD — It is better to transfer them back to the main memory through Settings. → Annexes → [Select an application] → Warehouse.

Cleaning the cache of applications and system data

Let's start with the safest and most effective method, which is cache removal. 9A This can be done for individual applications and globally for the entire system.

1.Cache of individual applications

Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management. Here:

• 🔍 Sort the list by size (click on the three dots in the upper right corner) → Sort by size).
• 🗑️ Choose an app with a large cache (usually YouTube, Chrome, Facebook or Facebook). MIUI Gallery).
• 📉 Click Clear Cache (not to be confused with Clear Data!).

Pay special attention to system applications:

• com.miui.gallery – stores thumbnails and temporary files.
• com.android.providers.downloads is a download manager where undeleted files accumulate.
• com.android.vending is a Google Play Store that can weigh up to 500MB in cache.

2. System cache (Dalvik-cache and others)

For deep cleaning:

1. Turn off the phone.
2. Press the Power button + Volume up to enter Recovery Mode.
3. Select Wipe & Reset → Wipe Cache (control – volume buttons, choice – power button).
4. Confirm the action and restart the phone.

This procedure removes Dalvik-cache, the temporary files that Android creates to speed up the launch of applications, and once cleaned, the first run of programs may be slower, but then the speed will return to normal.

⚠️ Warning: Don't confuse Wipe Cache and Wipe Data! second option will reset the phone to factory settings.

Delete gallery cache|Clear the cache of the Google Play Store|Check the Download folder|Remove the old ones APK-file|Clear the browser cache-->

Removing unnecessary files and folders manually

Now, we're going to go to heavy artillery, manual folder cleaning, which requires any file manager (like embedded Files or Solid Explorer) and enable the hidden files to be displayed in the manager settings.

1. folders that can be cleared without risk

2. Dangerous folders - what NOT to delete

Some directories are critical to the system, and cleaning them will cause failures.

• 🚫 /sdcard/Android/obb — contains game data (remove only remote game folders).
• 🚫 /sdcard/MIUI — System Firmware Files (except Backup).
• 🚫 /sdcard/Alarms, /sdcard/Ringtones — standard-melodies.
• 🚫 Any folders with.odex or.apk extension in the root of memory.

In a file. /sdcard/MIUI/extra Update files are stored MIUI. If you do not plan to roll back on the old version of the firmware, they can be removed - this will free up the 1–1.5 GB.

3. Search and removal of duplicates

At Redmi. 9A Duplicate content often appears because of:

• 📸 Automatic photo saving in Google Photos and local gallery.
• 🎵 Sync music through multiple apps (e.g. Mi Music and Spotify).
• 📄 Backup documents in Mi Cloud and Google Drive.

To find duplicates, use applications like Files by Google (inserted cleaning function) or Duplicate Files Fixer.

• /sdcard/DCIM/Camera — Photos are often duplicated after gallery updates.
• /sdcard/Download — The same files may be in different names (e.g. document(1).pdf document_copy.pdf).

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If the gallery still shows duplicate photos after removing the duplicates, clear the cache and data of the com.miui.gallery application in the settings, which will cause the system to re-index the media files.

Optimization of work MIUI: hidden settings

Xiaomi Redmi 9A on MIUI 12/13 It has hidden features that help reduce memory consumption. They're not advertised, but they're effective:

1. Limitation of background processes

Go to Settings. → The phone. → Version. MIUI and tap 7 times on the version number line to activate Developer Mode:

1. Back to Settings → Additionally. → For developers.
2. Find Process Limitation and select Process Maximum 2 in the background.
3. Activate Do Not Save Actions (this will turn off animations, speeding up work).

2. disabling unnecessary system applications

MIUI It defaults to installing a lot of services that most users don't need. They can't be removed, but you can turn them off:

• 📻 FM Radio - if you don't listen to the radio.
• 📰 Mi Browser – if you use Chrome or Firefox.
• 🎵 Mi Music and Mi Video – if you use alternatives.
• 📊 Analytics and MSA — Statistics collection services (you can turn off without consequences).

For disconnection: Settings → Annexes → Application management → [Select an application] → Shut down.

3. Autocleaning setup

MIUI It has a built-in security tool, but it doesn't work well to make it work better:

1. Open the Security app (shield icon).
2. Go to the Cleanup. → Settings (cogs at the top) → Auto-cleaning.
3. Enable the option and set a schedule (e.g., Every week).
4. In the section Deep cleaning, tick all points.

⚠️ Warning: Do not activate Acceleration in the Security app – it just forcibly closes the background applications, which on the contrary can increase battery consumption when they are restarted.

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Disabling unnecessary system applications and limiting background processes can increase Redmi’s running time 9A battery-powered 10-15%.

Cleaning up trash through ADB (for advanced users)

If you are willing to go further, you can use it. ADB (Android Debug Bridge for deep cleaning.This requires connecting the phone to the PC, but allows you to remove what is not available through standard settings.

1. Preparation

Download Platform Tools from your Android site and unpack it into any folder on your PC.

1. Enable USB Debugging in Settings → For Developers.
2. Get Redmi on board. 9A PC-only USB (Select the File Transfer Mode).
3. Open the command line (Win + R → cmd) and go to the folder with the platform-tools:

cd C:\path\pad\platform-tools

Cleaning commands

Perform the following commands in turn:

adb shell pm trim-caches -1 G # Cache cleanup of all applications


adb shell cmd package bg-dexopt-job # Optimization of Dalvik cache




adb shell rm -rf /data/local/tmp/* # Delete temporary files




adb shell rm -rf /data/log/* # Cleaning up log files (requires root, but Redmi 9A will work without it)

To remove the remnants of remote applications:

adb shell pm list packages -u | grep 'uninstalled' # Shows 'junk' packages


adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.example.app # Replace to the name of the unnecessary package

3. Clearing the folder. /data/app (experienced!)

If you are confident in your actions, you can manually remove the remnants of the applications:

adb shell


su # (if there is root)




cd /data/app




ls | grep -v 'com.miui' | grep -v 'com.android' # Shows third-party application folders




rm -rf com.example.oldapp # Delete folders of remote programs

⚠️ Attention: Misuse of the right ADB Do not delete folders called com.miui, com.android or com.google, which are critical components. MIUI.

Prevention: How to prevent re-clogging

Cleaning up is good, but it's even better to keep the garbage out. Here are some rules for Redmi. 9A:

• 📵 Limit background activity: in Settings → Battery → Select apps disable auto-start for unnecessary programs.
• 📥 Configure downloads: In Chrome or Mi Browser, install a folder to download to the memory card (if you have one).
• 🔄 Clean the cache regularly: once a week run the built-in Cleanup utility in the Security app.
• 📷 Turn off automatic download of media in instant messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram), this will save up to 500 MB per month.
• 📦 Use the “light” versions of applications: Facebook Lite, Messenger Lite, Twitter Lite take up 2-3 times less space.

If you install/delete games frequently, create a separate folder for the game. APK-You can also clean your files and clean them regularly. MIUI In Settings → The phone. → Updating the system → Settings (cogs) → Auto-update if you don’t want firmware files to take up space.

Advice for Redmi owners 9A 2 GB of RAM: Enable Memory Extension in Settings → Additionally. → Expanding memory: This will allow up to 2 GB of internal memory to be used as virtual RAM, which will reduce the number of reboots of background applications.

FAQ: Frequent questions about cleaning up Redmi 9A