How to effectively remove 'Other' files on Xiaomi and free up memory

Xiaomi and Redmi smartphone owners often face a nasty situation: after installing an app or downloading a movie, memory fills up, and a mysterious section called “Another” appears in storage. This section can take up tens of gigabytes, slowly but surely turning your device’s performance into slow work. MIUI or HyperOS does not always correctly display the contents of folders where temporary data is stored, the remnants of remote applications and messenger cache.

Understanding what is behind this label is the first step to solving a problem, which is not usually system files that are critical to remove, but digital debris accumulated over the long term. In this article, we will explore safe and effective cleaning methods that will help you regain free space without the risk of losing important photos or contacts.

What is hidden in the “Other” section

Before we take any radical action, we need to understand the nature of this data. The Other section (sometimes referred to as System Data or Missionaneous) is a repository for files that the Android operating system cannot uniquely classify, including app cache, temporary update files, error logs, and remnants of remote programs.

Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber have a habit of saving all received media files in their own directories, which the system often perceives as “Other”. If you are in dozens of channels and chats, this section can grow to 20-30 gigabytes.

It's important to note that not all files in this section are garbage, some are necessary for installed programs to function properly, and blindly removing system libraries can cause MIUI to malfunction, so the approach must be selective and informed, based on content analysis.

⚠️ Warning: Before a large-scale cleanup is initiated, it is strongly recommended to back up important data in the Mi Cloud cloud storage or on your computer to avoid accidental loss of information.

Use of the built-in "Security" application

The easiest and safest way to start the fight for space is to use the regular funds that are already pre-installed on your Xiaomi. The Security app has a built-in Cleanup module that can find obvious garbage. Run it and wait for the scan to be completed.

After analysis, the system will suggest removing temporary files and cache. However, a standard analyzer often does not see the deep files in the "Other" section. For more detailed work, click on the "Clean" icon and scroll down to "Deep Clean", where algorithms work more carefully, checking large files and rarely used applications.

In deep cleaning mode, you'll see a list of files sorted by type. Pay attention to the Video, Images and Documents sections. Often, that's where forgotten downloads hide, and the system itself tells you which files can be deleted without harming your smartphone.

Don't just rely on automatic mode. Manually go through the list of large files. Sometimes users forget about downloaded high-resolution movies or archives with work that take up precious gigabytes. Deleting such objects is the fastest way to free up space.

Manual cleaning through the file manager

If the automatic tools can't handle the amount of garbage, you'll have to manually clean it, and you'll need a File Manager app built in, or a more advanced one like Total Commander, and your goal is to find folders with cache and temporal data.

First of all, look at the Android/data folder, which stores all the installed applications, and inside you'll find directories with package names, like com.whatsapp or com.tencent.mm, which often accumulate gigabytes of images and videos from chat rooms.

Also check the root folders of messengers. In Telegram, for example, the cache can be cleared through the settings of the application itself, but the files can remain in the folder Telegram/Telegram Images or Telegram/Telegram Video. Deletion of the contents of these folders is safe if you have already saved the desired in the “Favorites” or on the device.

Here is a list of the main directories that are worth checking out first:

• 📁 /MIUI/Gallery/cloud/cache — cloud-galleries.
• 📁 /Android/data/com.android.browser — browser cache (if not cleared).
• 📁 /Download — Download folder where forgotten garbage often lies.
• 📁 /Tencent/MicroMsg — WeChat heavy files (if used).

⚠️ Be very careful when deleting files inside the folder Android/data. Delete only the contents of folders of applications known to you (social networks, instant messengers), but do not touch system services or game files, the progress of which you want to save.

Analysis of storage by third-party utilities

Standard Android tools don't always provide visualization of what exactly takes up space. There are specialized analysis apps like DiskUsage or Storage Analyzer that build a graphics memory card where the square size is proportional to the file size.

Using these gates, you can instantly detect hidden memory eaters, and you can see that some forgotten photo editor takes up 5 gigabytes, or that the map cache folder has preserved offline maps of entire regions, which gives you an accurate idea of what to remove.

So, it's simple to run a scan, wait for a map to be built, and sort objects by size. The largest blocks are at the root of the diagram, and you click on them, and you go deeper into the folder structure until you find the specific culprit file.

Once you find extra files, you can delete them directly from the analyzer interface, which is much more effective than blindly cleaning everything, because you can see the real weight of each element of the system.

Cleaning the cache of applications and messengers

A large part of the Other section is the app cache, which is temporary data that speeds up programs but inflates over time to the unthinkable, especially social networks (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook) and instant messengers.

To clear the cache of a particular application, go to Settings → Apps → All apps. Select the program you want (like YouTube) and click Storage. There you will see two buttons: Clear cache and Clear all. The first is secure, the second will delete your logins and settings.

Telegram deserves special attention. This app is famous for its unlimited cloud storage, which locally takes up huge amounts. Go to Settings → Data and memory → Memory Use. Here you can set a cache size limit (for example, 1 GB) and click “Clear Cache” This will instantly remove gigabytes from the “Other” section.

WhatsApp has similar settings, although memory management is less implemented there, and it is recommended that you regularly check the Storage tab in chat settings and delete media from group dialogues that you have not even read.

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Install automatic cache cleanup in Telegram: Settings → Data and memory → Autodelete media. This will prevent the Other section from re-growing in the future.

Table: Types of files and methods of their deletion

To organize what you can delete and what you can leave, use the following table, which will help you navigate the variety of files that make up the Other section.

As you can see from the table, most user data is safe to delete, and the only problems that arise are when you try to tamper with system partitions that a normal user without a Root license will not get to, but even in the user area, you should exercise prudence.

Regularly checking these folders will help keep the phone clean, and just go through the list of heavy files once a month to prevent critical memory filling that slows down MIUI.

Radical methods: Resetting and flashing

If none of these methods helped reduce the size of the Other partition and it continues to take up an absurd amount (e.g., half the memory), there may have been an indexing error in the file system, in which case a full factory reset helps.

Before you do this, make sure all important data is saved. Go to Settings → About Phone → Settings Reset → Erase all data. This process will delete everything, including the Other section, and return the phone to the “out of the box” state.

In rare cases, when even a reset does not help (which happens when system partitions are damaged), you need to flash the device through your computer using the Mi Flash Tool utility. This is a complex procedure that requires an unlocked bootloader, and it is recommended only for advanced users.

After resetting or flashing, the Other section usually takes up a minimum amount (less than 1 GB). If the problem comes back immediately after installing a pair of applications, you should consider changing the firmware to clean (Global or Xiaomi.eu), since stock firmware sometimes contains bugs in the file system.

⚠️ Warning: Full Hard Reset permanently deletes all data from the internal drive. Make sure you have an up-to-date backup of contacts and photos before starting the process.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

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Regular prevention and use of built-in cleaning tools are more effective than rare radical phone resetting measures.