Cleaning up Xiaomi Redmi Phone from Unnecessary Files: The Complete 2026 Guide

Your Xiaomi Redmi has started to slow down, applications are open for a long time, and memory is filled with incomprehensible files? The problem is familiar to most owners of smartphones of this brand. Even new models like the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ or POCO X6 Pro after 6-12 months of active use accumulate gigabytes of system debris, cache and residual data of remote programs. In this article, we will analyze 7 proven ways to clean the phone – from standard MIUI tools to hidden functions and third-party utilities.

The MIUI firmware feature (even in the latest versions 14-15) is aggressive caching to speed up work. The paradox is that the longer you use your phone, the more it gets clogged. For example, instant messengers like Telegram or WhatsApp can take up to 5-10 GB for multimedia files, and games like Genshin Impact or Call of Duty Mobile can take up to 15-20 GB per cache texture, while the system does not always correctly clean temporary files after uninstalling applications.

It's important to understand that cleaning up memory is not a one-time procedure. Xiaomi/Redmi Regular maintenance is required (once in a year) 1–2 And you can find in this article not only instructions, but also hidden tricks for cleaning. MIUI, which are not written in official guides – for example, how to delete system log files or disable unnecessary processes that eat up memory.

1. Built-in cleaning MIUI: can be removed without risk

Starting with the standard tool, Cleanup (or Global Firmware Security), which is available on all models, from Redmi 9A to Xiaomi 14 Ultra, and allows you to quickly free up 1-3 GB of memory, but many users make the mistake of clearing only the cache, ignoring other partitions.

How to open it:

• 📱 Go to Settings. → The phone. → Memory (or Settings) → Annexes → Cleaning in old versions MIUI).
• 🧹 Click the Clean button at the bottom of the screen.
• ⚙️ Slip on the gear icon (Cleaning Settings) for detailed settings.

What can be safely removed:

Attention, don't delete the section. APK-Files are the installers of system updates, and cleaning them can cause failures in the next update. MIUI. Also avoid Deep Clean – it often deletes active application data, leading to crashes.

2. Manual cleaning of the cache of applications: which programs “eat” memory

The built-in MIUI utility clears the cache of all applications at once, but some programs (especially social networks and games) accumulate gigabytes of data that the system does not always delete correctly. For example, TikTok can take up to 1.5 GB per video cache, and Facebook can take up to 800 MB per temporary files.

How to clean the cache manually:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Select an app (such as Instagram or YouTube).
3. Press Warehouse. → Clear the cache.
4. For complete cleaning, tap Clean the data (⚠️ This will reset the program settings!).

Top.-5 «Previous articleVoracious” applications on Xiaomi Redmi (according to analysis) 1000+ device):

• 🎮 Genshin Impact / Honkai: Star Rail – up to 20 GB per texture cache.
• 📷 Google Photos – up to 5GB for backups.
• 💬 Telegram – up to 10 GB per media files (unless autocleaning is configured).
• 🎵 Spotify / Yandex Music – up to 3 GB on offline tracks.
• 🌍 Google Maps – up to 2 GB per map for offline mode.

⚠️ Do not cache system applications like com.android.systemui or com.miui.home, which can cause interface failures. MIUI. If you are not sure what you are doing, use only the built-in cleaning utility.

Close all background applications|Check the vacant space (should be) ≥1GB)|Make a backup copy of important data|Do not clear the cache of banking applications-->

3. Removal of duplicates and unnecessary media files

One of the main “swamps” on Xiaomi Redmi is photos and videos, the system automatically creates duplicates when editing in the MIUI Gallery, and messengers save copies of the sent media, for example, the same photo can be stored in:

• 📁 pup DCIM/Camera (original).
• 📁 pup Pictures/Screenshots (if you took a screenshot of the photo).
• 📁 pup Telegram/Telegram Images (if sent to chat).
• 📁 pup MIUI/Extra (If edited in a standard editor).

How to find and remove duplicates:

1. Use the Files by Google app (free in the Play Market):

CCleaner

Analysis of photographs

Hidden trick of MIUI: the gallery has a built-in tool to find duplicates, but it's hidden.

Settings → Special features → Full access to the gallery → Enable “Show hidden functions”

After that, the Gallery will appear tab Duplicata (does not work on all models).

💡

Before mass deleting a photo, turn on the display of hidden files in Files by Google (Settings → Show hidden files). Often duplicates are hidden in folders with a dot at the beginning (for example,.thumbnails).

4. Cleaning system logs and dumps: Hidden gigabytes

One of Xiaomi’s least-known memory eaters is system logcats and error dumps, which are created automatically for diagnosis but rarely deleted, such as when an application crashes, the system can save a dump of 100-300MB, and dozens of such files accumulate in a month.

How to find and remove them:

1. Connect your phone to your PC and enable USB Debugging (Settings → About Phone → MIUI Version → 7 times tap on version → go back to Additional settings → For developers → Debugging over USB).
2. Use it. ADB-Teams (requires the installed Platform Tools utility):

⚠️ Attention! Deleting logs requires root rights or an unlocked bootloader. (Redmi Note) 12 Pro+, Xiaomi 13T) This can lead to the reset of Widevine. L1 on L3 (lack of HD into Netflix/Disney+). Before executing commands, make a backup copy!

5. Autocleaning Optimization: Configure MIUI to Automatically Removal Garbage

Instead of manual cleaning, you can set up MIUI to automatically delete unnecessary files, a feature that is found in all firmware since MIUI 12, but is disabled by default or inefficient.

How to turn on:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Cleaning → Cleaning settings.
2. Activate the options:

Exceptions

Hidden setting: MIUI 14+ has a Smart Cleanup feature that analyzes user behavior.

Settings → Special features → System settings → Enable “Adaptive cleaning”

Once activated, the system will delete the cache of applications that you rarely use and store data from frequently running programs.

💡

Autocleaning in MIUI only works when connected to Wi-Fi and battery charge ≥30%. If conditions are not met, cleaning is skipped.

6.Reset partition cache: Radical method to speed up phone

If the phone is slowing down a lot and standard methods don’t help, try resetting the partition cache (Wipe Cache Partition) – this won’t delete your data, but will clear the system cache, which can be damaged after updates or crashes.

Instructions:

1. Turn off the phone.
2. Press the Power button + Volume up until the Mi logo appears.
3. In the Recovery menu, select the language (if you have a choice).
4. Go to Wipe & Reset → Wipe Cache.
5. Confirm the action and wait for the completion (it will take 1-3 minutes).
6. Choose Reboot. → Reboot to System.