Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face the unpleasant situation when internal memory is crowded with the mysterious “Other” section, which can take up tens of gigabytes, slowing down the MIUI or HyperOS operating system. The problem is not just annoying, it blocks the installation of new applications and updates of existing ones.
The system analyzer doesn’t always correctly display the contents of the misc folder, where this invisible data usually is stored, often containing messenger caches, remnants of remote games or temporary update files that the system has been afraid to delete automatically, and understanding the nature of these files is the first step to successfully clean the device.
In this article, we will discuss safe and advanced ways to free up space. You don’t need to be an expert in Android to do the steps described, but the main thing is to follow the sequence and carefully read the warnings so as not to remove important system components instead of debris.
The Nature of the Other in Android
The “Other” (or Miscellaneous) section of Xiaomi’s shell is a collection of different types of data, which includes files that the system cannot uniquely classify as photos, videos, music or documents, most often temporary files, application logs and residues after crashes.
One of the main reasons for this section is the work of messengers. Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber store media files in their internal folders, which the standard conductor considers “other” files, and also data from streaming services that caches videos for smooth playback.
- 📁 Cache of Google System Applications and Services.
- 📁 Temporary files after firmware update OTA.
- 📁 Residual files of remote games and programs.
- 📁 Error logs and system failure reports.
It is important to understand that not all files in this section are garbage, some of them are necessary for the fast operation of frequently used applications. However, if the partition volume exceeds 10-15 GB, this is a clear signal for manual cleaning. Ignoring the problem can lead to a complete stoppage of the smartphone.
⚠️ Note: Before any manipulation of the file system, we strongly advise you to back up important data in the Xiaomi Cloud or on your computer. Mistakeful deletion of system files can lead to unstable operation of the device.
Basic cleaning through standard MIUI facilities
The battle for space starts with the built-in tools that you already have in your smartphone, the MIUI shell and the new HyperOS have a powerful built-in optimizer that can safely delete some temporary files without risk to the system.
To start the procedure, go to the Safety app and select Cleanup. The system will scan and suggest removing the garbage. Don't expect a miracle: a standard scanner is often powerless in front of a deep cache, but it will perform basic hygiene perfectly.
You can do a deeper analysis through your storage settings. Go to Settings → About Phone → Storage. Here you will see a detailed breakdown by file type. Click on "Other" and you can see the list of apps that occupy the most space in this section.
- 🔍 Click on the application with a large amount of data.
- 🗑️ Select the option “Clear Cache” (not to be confused with “Clean Everything»).
- 🔄 Repeat the procedure for 3-5 the most "heavy" applications.
This method is good for security, you can't physically delete important system files through the standard settings menu, but if the Other partition volume hasn't decreased or decreased slightly after cleaning the cache, more drastic measures will be needed.
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Regularly restarting your smartphone (at least once a week) helps the system to clean some temporary files from the RAM and internal memory.
Using the “Conductor” application for manual removal
Xiaomi's standard file manager, Explorer, hides many of the default system folders. To see the real picture, you need to activate the hidden file display, which will allow you to manually find and delete the junk folders.
Open the Explorer app, click on the menu (three bars) and select Settings. Turn on the Slider to Show Hidden Files. Now, when you go to the Internal Storage root directory, you'll see folders starting from a dot and system directories.
Pay special attention to the Android folder, which contains the data and obb subfolders, and this is where game data and app cache are stored, and you need to be careful about removing the contents of these folders, and deleting the folder of a particular game will lead to loss of progress if it is not stored in the cloud.
☑️ Check before deleting folders
It's also worth checking the folder. MIUI → debug_log. This can store debugging logs that take up gigabytes of space, and if you're not a developer and you're not debugging, you can clean that folder, and the files inside it have a.log extension, and you don't need the average user.
Clearing the cache of messengers Telegram and WhatsApp
The leaders in filling the “Other” section are traditionally messengers. Telegram, for example, by default stores all the photos and videos viewed in the memory of the phone. This provides instant access to the history of correspondence, but catastrophically quickly eats up the free space.
In Telegram settings, go to Data and Memory → Memory Use. Here you will see the size of the local cache. By clicking Clear Cache, you will free up gigabytes of space. Don't worry: your photos and correspondence will remain in the Telegram cloud and will be re-uploaded when viewed.
For WhatsApp, the procedure is a little different. Go to Settings → Data and Storage → Storage Management. The app will show which chats take up the most space. You can selectively delete media files from specific dialogues without touching text correspondence.
| messenger | The path to cleanup | Safe? | Impact on data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Telegram | Settings → Data and memory | Yes. | Files are deleted from the phone, and remain in the cloud. |
| Settings → Storage | Yes. | Deletion of selected media files | |
| Viber | More. → Settings → Memory. | Yes. | Cache and media cleanup |
| Phone settings → Applications | Yes. | Clearing the cache (not data) |
It is also recommended to disable auto-save media in the gallery, which will prevent duplicate files: they will lie only inside the messenger, and not be copied to the DCIM system folder, which is also included in the total volumes.
⚠️ Note: When clearing the messenger cache, make sure you have access to the Internet. After cleaning, the files will be downloaded from the network again when you open the chat, which can consume mobile traffic.
Advanced Methods: Developer Mode and ADB
If standard methods don't work, we can use developer tools, which is a more complex but effective way to see hidden processes and clear the cache of system services that are not normally available.
To activate the developer mode, go to Settings → About Phone and press 7 times on the MIUI Version (or OS Version). After that, a new section Advanced Settings → For Developers will appear in the settings menu.
Inside the developer menu, look for Download Services or something similar. You can see what processes are consuming resources. However, real cleaning of "other files" often requires a computer connection and the use of USB debugging (ADB).
adb shell pm trim-caches 999999999This command, which is typed into the command line of a computer with a smartphone connected, makes the Android system try to remove all possible cache, and it's a powerful tool that can free up a significant amount of space, but it's only worth using if you understand what you're doing.
What is ADB and how to connect it?
Radical solution: Reset to factory settings
When the volume of the Other partition reaches critical values (for example, 40-50 GB per 64 GB of memory) and no methods help, the last argument remains: a full reset to the factory settings (Hard Reset) is guaranteed to remove all the excess, returning the phone to the state of “from the store”.
Before this procedure, you need to save all important contacts, photos and documents to an external medium or to the cloud, during the reset, the internal memory will be completely formatted, all applications, accounts and settings will be deleted.
You can reset via Settings → About Phone → Settings Reset → Erase all data. Once you reboot, the phone will be clean. The Other section will disappear, giving way to free space. This is the only way to get rid of the file system errors that caused the partition to inflate.
- 💾 Make a complete backup of the data.
- 🔋 Charge your phone to at least 60%.
- 🔌 Connect the device to the charger at the time of reset.
After you've set up the first setup, don't rush to restore all the applications right away from the backup. Install only the essentials and see if the memory starts to fill up again with garbage. Sometimes the problem lies in the particular application you installed earlier.
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A full reset is a 100% guarantee of removing the Other section, but takes time to reset the phone and install apps.
Preventing the Filling of Memory in the Future
To keep the problem from returning in a month, you need to change your smartphone usage habits, monitor your storage regularly to detect bloated apps early, and don't let the empty space run out entirely.
Use cloud services to store photos and videos. Set up automatic uploads to Google Photos or Xiaomi Cloud and then delete local copies will free up gigabytes of space. To do this, select the “Free space” option in the gallery settings.
Also, you should limit the background activity of heavy applications, because in the battery settings, you can prevent some programs from running in the background, which will reduce the amount of temporary debris they create, and control over application permissions is also important: do not give access to files to programs that do not need it.