How to remove photos from the gallery on Xiaomi Redmi

Freeing up internal space on Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones is often a pressing need when the system reports a storage overflow. Photos and videos accumulated over the years of using the device take up the lion's share of memory, slowing down the interface and limiting the installation of new applications. The MIUI shell gallery is a powerful multimedia management tool, but not all users are aware of its hidden mass removal and cleaning functions.

In this guide, we’ll take a look at how to free up space, from the simple deletion of individual images to deep cleaning of system folders and cloud albums. You’ll learn to distinguish local copies from synchronized data so you don’t accidentally lose important memories while cleaning your device. Understanding the structure of the MIUI-based Android file system will allow you to manage content effectively.

Consider also specific scenarios, such as cleaning the cart, removing duplicates, and working on the album “Recently Deleted,” which are often overlooked, even though they are the ones that allow you to return gigabytes of free space.

Basic removal through a standard gallery

The most obvious and frequently used method is to work directly through the Gallery system application. MIUI allows you to allocate files in one or in groups, which greatly speeds up the cleaning process. Click on any picture to open it, then select the basket icon or use long-term press to go into select mode.

For mass removal, it's best to go to album viewing or grid viewing. At the top of the screen, you usually have a select button or a corresponding three-dot icon. The algorithm is very simple: you pick up unnecessary frames, confirm the action, and send them to temporary storage before final erasure.

Importantly, when a large number of files (more than 50-100 pieces) are deleted, the system can request confirmation of the operation or show a preview of the items being removed, a protective mechanism that prevents accidental data loss with trembling hands or mistaken touch.

• 📸 Press and hold your finger in the first photo to activate the selection mode.
• 📅 Use date or month sorting to quickly locate old archives.
• 🗑️ The delete button is usually located in the lower right corner or in the top menu.
• ☁️ Note the cloud icon: it indicates synchronization with Mi Cloud.

⚠️ Note: When you delete photos from albums synced with Mi Cloud, files can disappear from all connected devices, including a tablet or other Xiaomi phone.

The album "Recently Deleted"

Android OS, and in particular MIUI, has a security feature similar to the one in the computer basket, where deleted photos are not erased from the physical drive instantly, but are moved to a special hidden folder called "Recently deleted" that allows you to recover images within 30 days if the deletion occurred by mistake.

However, for a user who wants to free up space as much as possible, having this folder means that the memory has not actually been cleared, and the files in the basket continue to occupy space in the “Other” or “System Files” section, and to get rid of them, you need to complete the process of cleaning the shopping cart.

You can find this album by scrolling through the album list to the bottom of the Album tab, and there's a folder with the corresponding name, and inside you'll see all the files that have been deleted in the last month, counting down to their automatic erasure by the system.

There's a caveat: if you delete a photo and then clear the cart, it's not possible to restore the data with standard means. So before you clean it, make sure there's nothing important about the files you delete. Irreversible deletion is an action that requires caution.

Delete through File Manager and System Folders

Sometimes the standard gallery doesn't display all files, especially if they were downloaded from instant messengers or hidden in system directories. In such cases, the built-in Explorer app or third-party file managers come to the rescue. Access to the file system allows you to see the folder structure as it really is.

Camera photos are usually stored along the DCIM/Camera path. Screenshots are in the Pictures/Screenshots folder, and images from WhatsApp or Telegram can lie deep in Android directories or individual application folders. Directly deleting files from here is often more effective than working through the gallery interface.

When you're working with files through a Explorer, you can sort them by size. Often it turns out that the space is not so much the photos as the video files or high-resolution panoramic images. Deleting heavy files through Files gives you an instant visual result of memory release.

Cleaning gallery cache and junk files

Even after all the photos are deleted, the Gallery app can take up a significant amount of memory, and this is due to cache, which is temporary data that speeds up the application's launch and scroll through the tape, and over time, the cache grows and can take up hundreds of megabytes, which are essentially digital garbage.

To clear the cache, go to Settings → Apps → All Apps → Gallery. From the menu that opens, select Memory or Storage. There you will see two buttons: Clear the cache and Clear all data. The first one is secure and only deletes temporary files, the second one resets the settings of the gallery itself (for example, hidden albums), but does not delete your personal photos.

Also worth using is Xiaomi’s built-in Cleanup tool in its Security app, which finds residual files, advertising debris and app cache that can be safely removed, and using this feature regularly helps keep the system on track.

• 🚀 Cache Clearing Does Not Delete Your Personal Photos and Videos.
• 📉 Data reset application will return the gallery to the factory interface settings.
• 🧹 Security Tool Finds Hidden Garbage in Folder Android/data.

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If the gallery is slow or freezes after removing a large number of photos, perform a complete cleanup of the application data in the settings.

Sync with Mi Cloud and Google Photos

Modern Xiaomi smartphones are closely integrated with cloud services. Often users delete photos on their phones, thinking they are vacating space, but forget that the originals are stored in the cloud and occupy a quota there. Conversely, enabled synchronization can return deleted photos back to the device.

The Mi Cloud app has a function called Storage Optimization, which, if activated, stores the original photos in the cloud, and only compressed thumbnails remain on the phone, ideal for devices with little internal storage, but if you remove the photo from the cloud, it will disappear from the phone.

Similarly, Google Photos works. The app's settings include a "Free Space" feature that removes images from your device that have already been successfully uploaded to your Google cloud account, a secure way to clean up your data, ensuring that your data is not lost.

⚠️ Warning: Before you turn off sync, make sure that important photos are saved elsewhere. When you turn off your account, new photos will stop being copied to the cloud.

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Using cloud optimization, you can store thousands of photos on a 32GB device, taking up only a few gigabytes of physical space.

Removal of duplicates and hidden albums

During active use of the smartphone, especially when transferring data from another device or synchronization failures, duplicate photos can appear. MIUI does not always automatically recognize them, so sometimes you have to resort to manual cleaning or using specialized search algorithms.

Hidden albums are another category of files that users forget about: photos hidden through the Hidden Album feature do not appear in the shared feed, but continue to occupy space. To delete them, you need to unlock the hidden album (swipe up and enter a password / fingerprint) and clear its contents.

You can use third-party apps from Google Play to find duplicates, since there is no built-in mass duplicate analyzer in MIUI. Be careful with cleaners: choose only proven solutions with high ratings so as not to damage system files.

Recovery of deleted photos

If you accidentally delete an important frame during the cleaning process, don't panic. As mentioned earlier, you have 30 days for the file to be in the Recently Deleted Recycle Bin. Just go to this album, select the photo you want and click the Recover button. The file will return to its original album.

If the cart is already cleared, the only chance is if you have a backup. Check Mi Cloud, Google account, or sync history in the Google Photos app. Often, it turns out that the photo was uploaded to the cloud the day before it was deleted.

There are programs for deep data recovery from Android (like DiskDigger), but they require root rights to work efficiently. Without superuser rights, such programs can only find low-quality thumbnails, so regular backup remains the only reliable method of protection.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)