How to Clean Xiaomi Phone Memory: From Simple Cache to Complete Reset

Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones sooner or later face unpleasant notification of an internal drive overflow: the MIUI system or the new HyperOS starts to work slower, applications fly out, and new photos simply have nowhere to save. The problem is not the lack of gigabytes initially, but in the competent allocation of space and regular maintenance of the device.

There are many ways to get your gadget back up, and most of them don’t require a computer connection or sophisticated technical knowledge. In this article, we’ll look at how to safely and efficiently make room by removing hidden digital debris that has been accumulating for months.

Don't go to the store for a high-storage model if your current device can be optimized. The right file management approach will extend your smartphone's life. We'll look at the built-in tools, cloud services, and manual cleaning techniques that will give you the best results.

Diagnostics: analysis of occupied space

Before we start taking any drastic measures, we need to understand what exactly takes up precious gigabytes. Xiaomi has a powerful analyzer built into its shells that visualizes data. Without this step, you risk removing important documents, thinking you're cleaning garbage files.

It automatically scans sections and sorts content into categories: apps, images, videos, documents, etc. It often turns out that the lion's share of space is occupied by messenger cache or long-forgotten series in offline streaming services, and point exposure to the largest categories will give the best result.

• 📱 Open the standard Safety app (green lightning icon).
• 📊 Click on “Clean” or “Storage Analysis” in the lower menu.
• 🗑️ Wait for the scan to be completed and examine the proposed file size sorting.

Notice the Other section, which often includes archive data, remnants of deleted programs, and temporary installer files, and the Android/data folder is often swelling to a huge size due to the cache of games and maps, and understanding the structure of files will help you make informed decisions about deletion.

Use of the built-in cleaning tool

The simplest and safest method for the average user is to use a regular optimizer, which was developed by the company's engineers specifically for the MIUI file system, and the algorithm scans the system for temporary files, advertising debris and residual data.

When you start the function, the system will prompt you to delete files that it considers safe to delete, such as thumbnails of photos, temporary browser files or error logs, but you should be careful: sometimes the files that you planned to save are included in the list.

After the initial cleaning, you should click on the "Clean All" button, but before that, you can manually go through the list of found garbage. This will take an extra minute, but will save you from accidentally losing important screenshots or documents. Regular use of this feature (once a week) will prevent critical memory filling.

It is important to note that Cleanup does not delete user data, such as contacts or messages, unless you have selected the relevant items yourself. It is an automated process that minimizes the risk of system damage. For deep cleaning, this may not be enough, but as a prevention is ideal.

Working with the cache of applications and messengers

The most voracious in terms of memory are traditionally social networks and instant messengers. Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber have the property of storing every image and video viewed into the device’s local memory, and over time these folders can take up tens of gigabytes, turning into a digital cemetery.

Cleaning can be done in two ways: through the settings of the app itself or through the Android system menu, the first is more flexible, since you can choose what to delete - for example, leave important documents, but erase all GIFs and videos from channels.

The system menu looks different, so you have to go to your phone's settings, find the Apps section, and select a specific messenger, and there's a clear cache button, and you'll notice that you don't confuse it with the Clear Everything or Delete Data button, or you'll crash out of your account and lose your correspondence if you don't make a backup.

⚠️ Note: When you clear your messenger data through system settings, you delete not only the cache, but also the authorization. Make sure you remember your account password and the associated phone number before performing this procedure.

Special attention should be paid to streaming services like YouTube, Netflix or Spotify, if you downloaded content to view offline, these files are stored in hidden folders, and it is better to delete downloads directly inside the interface of these applications, so as not to disrupt the structure of the files.

Removal of duplicates and similar photos

The smartphone gallery is often the heaviest storage, so we take a series of identical shots to pick the best one, or we save the same picture from the Internet several times, and MIUI has a built-in duplicate search feature that makes life much easier.

In the Gallery app, go to the Albums tab and scroll down to the Tools or Recommendations section, where the system will prompt you to find similar images and screenshots. The algorithm analyzes visual similarities, not just matching file names.

You can manually view groups of similar photos and leave only the best ones, removing blurred or unsuccessful footage, which makes space free without losing memory of the event, and it is also worth checking the folder "Recently deleted", as the photos are stored there for 30 days and continue to occupy space.

• 🖼️ Open the Gallery and go to the Albums section».
• 🔍 Find the category “Similar photos” or search for the word “duplicate».
• ✅ Select the extra copies and press the delete button.

In addition to duplicates, you should pay attention to screenshots. We often take screenshots for a single quote or price, and then forget about them. Cleaning up the Screenshots folder can suddenly give you several gigabytes of free space.

Cleaning up the Downloads folder and the manager files

The standard File Manager “Conductor” collects everything you downloaded from the browser or received via Bluetooth. APK-installer, PDF-documents, saved pages – all these are in the Download pack and are rarely reused.

It is recommended to open this section once a month and sort files by date. Old application installation files (.apk) are not exactly necessary if the program is already installed. Documents that you sent to colleagues a week ago can also be deleted or moved to the cloud.

Also check the messenger folders inside Downloads. Often they save files that you just opened but didn't plan to store. Using a file-type filter (such as APK only or ZIP only) will speed up the revision process.

And remember, the Bluetooth folder, if you've ever transferred files this way, and there may be old videos or music that you don't even remember, and a complete check of all the directories in the file manager is key to keeping the system clean.

Transferring data to the cloud and external media

If the phone's physical memory is exhausted, the best solution is to transfer archival data, and cloud services like Google Photos, Yandex.Disk or Mi Cloud allow you to store photos and videos remotely, freeing up space on the device.

You can set up the gallery settings to enable the "Free Space" feature, which automatically deletes photos and videos from your phone that have already been successfully uploaded to the cloud and backed up, and it's a safe way to ensure that you don't lose your memories.

For users who don’t trust the cloud or have weak Internet, external drives are relevant. Connecting a USB USB drive through USB Type-C allows you to quickly transfer heavy movies and archives. MIUI has built-in support for NTFS and exFAT file systems, which makes it easier to work with external drives.

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Use the “Clean” function in Google Photos after syncing is enabled, and the app will delete from the device those pictures that are already securely stored in the cloud.

Radical measures: resetting and formatting

When software cleaning doesn't work and the system keeps slowing down, the last thing you do is completely reset to factory settings, and this action completely erases all the data from the phone, and it goes back to the box state. Backup before that is critical.

Resets not only remove user files, but also accumulated system errors, application conflicts, and file system fragmentation, and after this procedure, the phone often works as fast as the first day after purchase.

⚠️ Note: Before resetting, be sure to remove SIM-card and memory card (if any), and make sure you know the password from your Mi Account and Google account.

You can reset via Settings menu → About Phone → Settings reset. Select “Erase all data.” The process will take a few minutes, after which the phone will reboot and require initial setup. This is the most efficient way to clear the memory of the Xiaomi phone dramatically.

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Complete reset is not a panacea, but a last resort, only use it when other cleaning methods have failed, and be sure to back up important data.