How to permanently delete photos from Xiaomi phone: from gallery to cloud

Did you delete a photo from Xiaomi, but it still shows up in the gallery a week later, or are you worried that personal photos can be recovered after selling the phone? The problem is that standard deletion through the Gallery or Files app doesn’t erase data forever — it stays in the device’s memory until it’s overwritten with new files. In this article, we’ll discuss 5 ways to completely delete photos from Xiaomi, Redmi and other phones. POCO, including cleaning up the Mi Cloud, cache, and even physical data destruction for paranoids.

The feature of Xiaomi smartphones is an integrated ecosystem where photos can be duplicated in several places: local memory, cloud, backups of Google Photos, messenger cache. Simply clicking “Delete” in the gallery often causes files to remain in hidden folders or recover after syncing. We tested all methods on models from Redmi Note 10 Pro to Xiaomi 14 Ultra – instructions are relevant to the new model. MIUI 12-14 and HyperOS.

Warning: some methods (e.g. encryption or factory reset) affect all data on the device. If you only need to delete specific photos, start with the first three methods. If you're preparing a phone for sale, use the comprehensive approach from the last sections.

1. Standard Gallery Deletion: Why It Doesn't Work

The most obvious way is to open the Gallery app, select a photo, and click Delete. But there are 3 pitfalls here:

• 📁 Recycle Bin: Deleted files go to /.trash and are stored there for 30 days (some firmware for 15 days.
• ☁️ Sync with Mi Cloud: If Auto Sync is enabled, photos can return after the next gallery update.
• 🔄 Cash thumbnails: Preview photos are saved in the folder /data/data/com.miui.gallery/cache and appear in the search even after the original is deleted.

To make the removal work at least partially:

1. Open the Gallery» → Choose a photo → press "Delete».
2. Go to the basket (the icon in the upper right corner) → select files → press "Clear».
3. Turn off sync: Settings → Accounts. → Mi Cloud → Synchronization of the gallery (switch to the "Off" position.»).

Important: Even after cleaning the recycle bin, files can be recovered using programs like DiskDigger or Recuva, unless they have been overwritten with new data.

2. Delete via Files: Where to look for hidden copies

The Files app (or Explorer) shows more folders than the Gallery. Often, photos are duplicated in:

• 📂 /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Camera — camera-folder.
• 📂 /storage/emulated/0/Pictures — screenshots and uploaded images.
• 📂 /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.xiaomi.gallery — gallery-cash.
• 📂 /storage/emulated/0/MIUI/Extra — backups of miniatures.

How to remove everything without a trace:

1. Open the Files» → Go to the internal memory.
2. Enable the display of hidden folders: click ⋮ (three-point) → Settings → Show hidden files.
3. Manually check the folders from the list above and delete unnecessary files.
4. Clean the basket: The basket → Clear it all up.

If the photos were sent in messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram), they could be saved in:

• 📱 /storage/emulated/0/WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Images
• 📱 /storage/emulated/0/Telegram/Telegram Images

⚠️ Note: Some system folders (for example, /data) You can't access them without root rights. Don't try to open them through a standard conductor, because that could cause a system failure.

3. Cleaning the cloud Mi Cloud: how to delete photos from Xiaomi servers

Even if you deleted the photos from your phone, they could be saved to Xiaomi's Mi Cloud, to erase them from there:

1. Open your Settings → Accounts → Mi Cloud
2. Select "Gallery» → press "Management».
3. Mark unnecessary photos and click “Delete”.
4. Go to the Mi Cloud Cart (available at the bottom of the screen) and clean it.

If you want to completely disable synchronization:

• 🔄 Turn off Autosynchronization Gallery in Mi Cloud settings.
• 🚫 Delete your Xiaomi account (if you don’t use other services): Settings → Accounts. → Mi Account → Delete the account.

Important: If you used Google Photos to back up, check this service too: open the app → Photo Photo → Basket → Clean it. In Google Photos, turn off Backup and Sync.

4.Use of third-party applications for safe removal

If you need to erase a photo without recovery, use specialized utilities that overwrite memory sectors with zeros or random data, making recovery impossible.

The best apps for Xiaomi:

• 🛡️ Secure Delete (no root required) – rewrites files 35 times according to the DoD standard 5220.22-M.
• 🔒 Shreddit (requires root) – supports Gutmann algorithms and NATO.
• 🗑️ File Shredder is a simple interface that works without superuser rights.

Instructions for Secure Delete:

1. Download the app from Google Play.
2. Open it and select “File” or “Folder”.
3. Please indicate the path to the photos (for example, /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Camera).
4. Select the method of overwriting (we recommend "DoD") 5220.22-M»).
5. Click “Delete” and wait until it is completed (can take up to 10 minutes for 1GB of data).

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Before using applications for safe removal, check if the battery is enough. interruption of the process can damage the file system.

If you have root rights, you can use them. ADB terminal:

su


shred -vzu -n 3 /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Camera/photo.jpg

This command will overwrite the photo.jpg file three times with random data and then delete it.

⚠️ Note: Applications for safe removal do not work with SD-In this case, the only way to format the card is to format the card completely.

5. Complete resetting of settings: when necessary

If you're selling or transferring a phone, factory resets are a must, but there's a nuance here.

• 🔄 Standard reset via Settings → The phone. → Resetting does not erase data completely – it can be restored by programs like Dr.Fone.
• 🔒 To delete everything irrevocably, you need to encrypt the phone before resetting.

Step-by-step instructions for complete safe discharge:

1. Encrypt the phone: Settings → Lockdown and protection → Encrypting the phone (password required).
2. Wait for the encryption to be completed (it can take 1-2 hours).
3. Perform reset: Settings → About Phone → Resetting → Erase all data.
4. After the reboot, the phone will be as new as new – all data (including photos) will be deleted without the possibility of recovery.

If you don’t want to encrypt your phone, the alternative is to manually fill in the memory:

1. Copy large files (such as movies) to your phone to overwrite sectors with deleted photos.
2. Perform a reset.

This will reduce the chances of data recovery, but does not guarantee 100% results.

6. Physical destruction of data: for paranoids

If you are working with sensitive data (such as document photos, personal correspondence), even resetting your settings may not give you complete confidence.

• 🔨 Disassemble the phone and destroy the memory chip (for eMMC or UFS).
• 🔥 Thermal impact (melting of fees – unenvironmental and dangerous!).
• 💾 Using a degausser (degausser device - works only with HDD, flash-free).

The first two methods are relevant for Xiaomi: To destroy the memory chip:

1. Take your phone apart (you will need a Torx screwdriver). T3/T4 mediator).
2. Find a memory chip (usually labeled as an eMMC or a memory chip). UFS, for example, Samsung KLUDG4U1ED-B0D1).
3. Drill it with a drill or damage it with a knife (sufficient scratches on the contacts).

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Physically destroying the memory chip is the only way to guarantee that you can erase the data without being able to recover it, but then the phone will become unusable.

If you are not ready to sacrifice your phone, the alternative is to use your phone before you fill up your memory.

• Take a video in 4K@60fps until the memory is filled up.
• Repeat the write/delete cycle 3-5 times, and this will overwrite the old data.

Frequent Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Many Xiaomi users make the same mistakes when deleting photos. TOP-5 Failures and How to Avoid Them:

Another common problem is that photos appear after the update. MIUI. This is because the system is recovering the cache of the gallery to avoid it:

• Before updating, clear the cache: Settings → Annexes → gallery → Warehouse → Clear the cache.
• Turn off automatic updates MIUI: Settings → The phone. → Updating the system → ⋮ → Settings → Auto-update (Off.).

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions