How to clean Vatsap from garbage and free up space on Xiaomi phone

Xiaomi’s mobile devices, which run on the shell of MIUI or the new HyperOS, are known for their functionality, but even they are not immune to a lack of free space. One of the main reasons for filling internal memory is WhatsApp, which accumulates gigabytes of photos, videos and voice messages for years. When RAM is full, the smartphone starts to work slower, and applications can close on their own.

Effective garbage cleaning requires a comprehensive approach, as standard methods of deleting correspondence do not always remove hidden files.

In this article, we will break down all the available methods, from built-in tools to advanced methods through the file manager, to return your device to performance.

Analysis of occupied space through application settings

The first step to freeing up memory is diagnostics, and the messaging tools built in allow you to pinpoint which chats are taking up the most space, which helps you avoid blindly deleting important data and focus on really heavy content.

To start, you need to open the application and go to Settings, selecting Data and Storage, and here you will see general memory usage statistics, broken down into categories: media files, messages and database.

Click on the Storage Management button to see a detailed list of all dialogs, sorted by space, and System analysis will show which groups or contacts are eating up gigabytes of your memory.

• 📱 Media files: photos and videos obtained in personal and group chats.
• 🗣️ Voice Messages: Often take up more space than text messages.
• 📄 Documents: files PDF, APK Archives that are often forgotten to be deleted.

⚠️ Before mass deletion of files, make sure that important documents are stored in the cloud or transferred to the computer, as recovery after cleaning inside the application is impossible.

Once you select a specific chat, the system will suggest selecting files to delete, and you can sort them by size or date, making it much easier to find old "heavy" content.

Using the built-in Xiaomi cleaner

Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones are equipped with a powerful system tool called Security, which is pre-installed and can find specific garbage files left by messengers that are not visible when you view a gallery.

Run the Safety app on the home screen and select the Cleanup tool. The system will scan and suggest that you delete temporary files. However, for deep cleaning, you need to click on the WhatsApp Garbage icon or go to the Deep Cleanup section.

In deep cleaning mode, you will see categories like Cache, Ad Files and Unused Packages. Auto-cleaning is safe for the app to work, as it will not affect your personal correspondence.

• 🧹 App cache: Temporary data that speeds up loading but grows over time.
• 📉 Residual files: data from previously deleted chats or updates.
• 📸 Sketches: miniatures of images that duplicate the originals in the folders of the system.

Sometimes the system may suggest that you delete files you plan to save, carefully check the content before confirming the action so as not to lose important screenshots or working documents.

Manual cleaning through the file manager

The most efficient way to free up space is to manually control the file system. On modern Android versions, the path to messenger data has changed, and now it's in a secure system folder. You'll need access to the root directory of internal memory.

Open the standard Explorer or Files app and follow the Android → media → com.whatsapp → WhatsApp → Media path. This is where all the files you receive and send are stored.

Inside the Media folder, you'll find a lot of subdirectories, the heaviest of which are WhatsApp Images and WhatsApp Video. Inside the image folder, often there's a Sent folder, where you store copies of all the photos you send, which creates duplicates.

Pay special attention to the Statuses folder, which automatically saves all the contact statuses you viewed, and this folder rarely clears automatically, taking up hundreds of megabytes.

⚠️ Note: Do not delete the entire Databases folder unless you want to lose your correspondence history. Deleting this folder will result in a reset of the message archive when you reinstall the application.

Setup of Automatic Deletion of Media Files

To prevent the problem of overcrowded memory from recurring, it is advisable to set up automatic deletion of temporary files. In recent versions of WhatsApp, a feature has been introduced to limit the shelf life of media files.

Go to Messenger Settings, select Chats, and find Media Visibility or Auto Delete Settings, and you can set a time limit for files to disappear from your phone’s memory.

It is also useful to disable auto-save to the gallery.If this feature is active, each image received is saved to the Xiaomi system gallery, creating a double copy of the file.

• 🚫 Disable Download: Stop Automatic Downloading of Videos and Photos on Mobile Network.
• 📅 Timer: Set Message Deletion in 24 hours or 7 days for Work Chats.
• 📂 Gallery: Turn off the WhatsApp folder sync with the main gallery MIUI.

Regularly checking these settings will help keep the storage clean without the need for monthly manual cleaning.

Cleaning cache and data through Android settings

If the messenger is not working properly or takes up an abnormally large amount of space in the "Applications" section, you may need to clean up at the operating system level.

Go to Settings, select Apps → All apps and search in the WhatsApp list. Click on Warehouse.

Here you will see two buttons: Clear cache and Clear everything (or Reset) Clearing cache deletes temporary files and does not affect your personal data, chats and media.

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If the cache isn't cleared, try backing up Google Drive, uninstalling the app completely, and reinstalling it again. This often removes hidden file system errors.

The Clean All or Reset button completely removes the application with all the data, effectively returning it to state after installation, and only use this method if you want to delete your account completely from your device.

⚠️ Attention: On Xiaomi devices with shell MIUI Cleaning data can also reset the permissions to access the microphone and camera, they will have to be issued again on the first run.

Transferring media files to the cloud and PC

A radical solution to the problem of space shortage is to move the archives to an external medium, owners of Xiaomi smartphones can use built-in tools to work with cloud services or connect the device to a computer.

Using Google Photos or Google Drive allows you to back up all media files and securely delete them from your device. Google Photos Store settings have a Free Space feature that removes photos from your phone that have already been uploaded to the cloud.

To transfer to the PC, connect the phone through USB-cable, select file transfer mode (MTP) Copy WhatsApp Images and Video folders to your computer’s hard drive.

• ☁️ Cloud: Easy to access from any device, but requires the Internet.
• 💻 Computer: Reliably Stores Large Data Volumes Without Quality Compression.
• 💾 USB-flash drive: use OTG-plug-in.

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Regularly transferring archives to your computer once a month is the best prevention of overflowing memory of a smartphone.

After successfully copying and checking files on another device, safely delete the originals from your phone, freeing up gigabytes of space for new images and apps.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)