How to completely remove the “Other” in the memory of the Xiaomi phone: from cache to system garbage

Why the Other takes up gigabytes of memory on Xiaomi and how to fix it

Have you ever looked into your Xiaomi, Redmi, or POCO memory settings and found in horror that the Other section ate 10, 20, or even 30GB of precious space? It's not a system glitch or a MIUI bug -- it's real files that have accumulated in hidden folders, app cache, and system logs. Unlike photos or videos that can be simply deleted, The Other is a collection dump of data that the phone doesn't categorize as a single category.

Complicating the problem, MIUI does not provide tools to clean this partition directly. Even after a cache is reset through standard settings, the volume of the Other may not decrease. In this article, we will discuss 5 working methods that will help regain control of memory, from safe (cleaning through embedded tools) to radical (manual removal of system files).

What’s Under the “Other” Category in Xiaomi

Before you start cleaning, you need to understand what exactly takes up space» MIUI drop off:

• 🗑️ Application cache and system cache are temporary files that should be automatically deleted, but often remain “hang” for years.
• 📁 Residual files of remote applications - folders /data/data/ and /sdcard/Android/obb/, which are not cleaned during the installation.
• 📜 Logs and dumps of the system – debugging files (.log,.dump), which are created when crashes or updates.
• 🔄 Copies of updates MIUI — The downloaded firmware packages that remain in /cache/ or /sdcard/Download/rom/.
• 🎭 Hidden messaging files – Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber store media in encrypted folders that are not visible in the gallery.

Fun fact: Xiaomi with MIUI 12+ can have up to 40% of the volume of “Other” photos that the built-in Gallery app creates when editing or optimizing images, stored in /MIUI/Gallery/cloud/optimized/ folder and rarely exceeds 1-2 MB each, but the number can be in the thousands.

⚠️ Note: If you use Google Photos with the “Free Place” function, check the folder /sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails/ — There may be a collection of miniatures of deleted photos weighing up to 500 MB.

Method 1: Cleaning cache and debris through built-in MIUI tools

Let’s start with the safest method, which does not require root rights and is suitable for all models – from the Redmi Note 8 to the Xiaomi 13 Ultra. MIUI has a hidden tool “Optimization”, which is able to find and delete unnecessary files better than the standard storage menu.

How to start:

1. Open “Settings” → “About the phone”.
2. Click 5-7 times on the MIUI version until the notification “You are a developer!” appears (this unlocks hidden options).
3. Return to Settings → “Advanced” → “Optimization”.
4. Select Cleanup → Deep Cleanup. The system will scan the memory and show how much can be freed up in the Other section.

Important: after cleaning, restart your phone, so that the system can recalculate the space occupied correctly, and if the volume of the Other hasn't decreased, move on to the next method.

Close all applications

Connect the phone to charging

Backup of important data

Disable VPN (may block scanning)

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Method 2: Manually Delete Residual Application Files

When you delete an application through Settings or Play Market, MIUI leaves behind it tails — folders with settings, cache, and temporary files — that can take anywhere from 10MB to 1GB per application to find.

Use a file manager with access to system folders (such as MiXplorer or Solid Explorer):

1. Go to /sdcard/Android/data/ – this is where the user application data is stored.
2. Delete folders with the names of remote programs (for example, com.whatsapp, if WhatsApp is already uninstalled).
3. Check /sdcard/Android/obb/ – heavy caches of games can lie here (up to 2-3 GB per game).

For system applications (which cannot be removed by standard means), the path will be different: /data/data/. But you can't get there without root. If you have root, use the command:

adb shell


su




rm -rf /data/data/com.example.app

⚠️ Note: Removing files from /data/data/ If you don't have root rights, you can crash your application.

Once a week.

Once a month

Only when the place ends.

Never cleaned.

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Method 3: Removing Logs and Dumps Through ADB

System logs (.log) and dumps (.dump) are your phone’s black boxes that record all the user’s errors, crashes and actions. On Xiaomi, they can take up to 5 GB, especially if the phone is often overheated or used for development, and can be deleted via ADB (Android Debug Bridge).

Instructions:

1. Install ADB Tools on your PC.
2. Turn on "Debugging by" USB» on the phone (Settings) → The phone. → Version. MIUI → 7 taps → «For developers» → «Debugging by USB»).
3. Connect your phone to your PC and execute commands: adb shell su rm -rf /data/log/* rm -rf /data/tombstones/* rm -rf /data/anr/* rm -rf /cache/*

These teams will clear:

• 📜 Logs of the kernel and system processes (/data/log/).
• ⚰️ Memory dumps at emergency termination (/data/tombstones/).
• ⏳ Application freeze logs (/data/anr/).
• 🗑️ Update cache and temporary files (/cache/).

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If the phone was running faster after the commands were executed, then the logs took up not only space, but also braked the system.

Method 4: Reset to factory settings (nuclear method)

If the previous methods didn't work, and the Other still takes 10+GB, the radical solution is a complete reset, and it will remove everything, including:

• 🧹 System debris and fragmented files.
• 🔄 Residual data from all applications ever installed.
• 📱 Settings MIUI, which may cause incorrect display of memory.

How to reset correctly:

1. Make a backup through Settings → System → Backup.
2. Go to Settings → About Phone → Resetting Settings.
3. Select “Erase all data”.
4. After the reboot, don’t restore data from the backup — first check how much the Other takes on a clean system.

⚠️ Attention: On phones with MIUI 14+ And then you can have up to 3GB of the Other, which is normal.

Method 5: Manually Delete Duplicates and Hidden Media Files

One of the most subtle memory eaters is duplicate photos and videos that are automatically created.

• 📸 gallery MIUI It saves copies of edited photos in /MIUI/Gallery/cloud/optimized/.
• 🎥 Google Photos Leaves Miniatures in the /DCIM/.thumbnails/.
• 📱 Messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp) cache media in the Internet /Android/media/.

To find and remove duplicates:

1. Use the Files by Google app (built-in Cleanup → File Duplicates).
2. For deep scanning, install SD Maid (requires root for full access).
3. Manually check folders: /sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails/ /sdcard/MIUI/Gallery/cloud/ /sdcard/Android/media/com.whatsapp/

FAQ: Frequent questions about Xiaomi's "Other" section

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If "Other" takes up more than 15 percent of total memory, that's critical. Start by cleaning the cache and logs, then move on to manual methods. Reset to factory settings is the last chance to take back control.