Many users of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones face an unpleasant situation when the free space of 5 GB provided by Xiaomi Cloud runs out. The system stops syncing new images, and the old ones take up precious space. There is a natural desire to clean up cloud storage to unlock services, but then there is a fear: what if the gallery in the phone is cleaned along with the cloud?
This problem is caused by the way synchronization works, which by default creates a mirror copy of data. However, there are proven methods to break this connection. In this article, we will discuss in detail the algorithms of actions that will allow you to remove photos from the cloud, saving them locally on the device, and explain the technical nuances of the data protocol.
Principles of synchronization of the gallery
To safely manage media files, you need to understand the architecture of interaction between local memory and remote server. Synchronization is the process where changes made at one point (such as deleting a file) are automatically applied to all associated devices and cloud copies.
The key element here is the status of Xiaomi Account. As long as the account is active and sync is enabled, the phone views the cloud as a priority source of truth. The algorithm is set up so that the data is identical everywhere. If you delete a photo in the cloud through a web interface, the phone will be commanded to delete the same file the next time it connects to the Internet.
There is an important difference between Originals and Optimized Copies. Synchronization settings often tick "Optimize Storage." In this mode, the phone stores thumbnails and the full versions are only in the cloud. Deleting the original from the cloud with optimisation enabled is guaranteed to result in a complete loss of the photo, as only the preview is stored locally. So the first step is always to check the download settings.
⚠️ Note: Before any manipulations, we strongly advise you to create a full backup of important photos on your computer or external hard drive. This is the only insurance against accidental data loss during experiments with settings.
Preparation of the device and checking the settings
Before you start taking drastic action to clean up the cloud, you need to prepare your smartphone, and the main challenge at this point is to make sure that all your photos are physically present in internal memory or on a microSD card, not just as links to the cloud.
Go DCIM → Camera. You should have all your pictures in there. If you see files that don't open or are small (several kilobytes), you have storage optimization enabled, so you first have to download the full versions, and you can do this by temporarily connecting to Wi-Fi and opening each photo in the gallery, or by turning off optimization in the cloud settings.
- 📱 Open Settings and go to the Xiaomi Cloud section.
- ☁️ Select Synchronization and find the Gallery.
- 🔍 Make sure the “Optimize Storage” switch is turned off so that the originals download to the phone.
Once you do this, the amount of memory you have on your phone can temporarily increase as the full versions of the files load, which is normal and necessary behavior, and it's only when you make sure the originals are on the device that you can move on to the next step.
Method of disabling synchronization before removal
The most reliable way to break the connection between the phone and the cloud is to force the sync of the gallery to be disabled, and many users make the mistake of deleting files while the sync slider is still active, in which case the deletion command is instantly sent to the server and sent to all devices.
To implement this method, go to your Mi Account settings. The path usually looks like this: Settings → Xiaomi Account → Xiaomi Cloud → Sync. Find the Gallery in the list and turn off the switch. The system can warn you that new photos will not be saved to the cloud — we agree. It is also important to choose the option “Delete cloud copies” if it appears, but only after you have made sure that the files on the phone are available.
However, simply turning off the switch doesn't always stop background processes instantly. It's recommended that you switch off the sync and go to Airplane Mode, which will break the Internet connection and guarantee that you won't send commands to the server during your next steps.
☑️ Checklist before removal
Removal via i.mi.com web interface
The safest way to clean the cloud is to use a computer and a web browser, which eliminates the accidental deletion of files through the phone interface, where there is a high risk of mistaken clicking. Open your browser on your PC and go to the official i.mi.com website. Sign in using the same Mi Account as on your phone.
In the cloud interface, select Gallery or Photos, and you'll see all the images that are stored on the server. You can select one by one, group by group, or select all. Note the dates: often the cloud stores images for several years, and deleting the entire array at once can be risky if you haven't done a full file reconciliation.
After highlighting the unnecessary photos, click the delete button (usually the basket icon) and the files will be moved to the cloud storage bin, where they will stay for 30 days before the final erasure, which gives you a time window to recover if it turns out that the sync was not disabled correctly and the photos disappeared from the phone.
| Action. | Risk to the phone | Conditions required |
|---|---|---|
| Deletion in the annex Gallery | High (remove everywhere) | Active synchronization |
| Deletion via i.mi.com | Medium (depending on settings) | Disconnected synchronization |
| Cleaning the application data | Low (if there's a backup) | Availability of a copy on PC |
| Exit from account | Low. | Password knowledge |
What happens to the photo after 30 days in the cart?
Alternative ways to break the link
If standard methods are in doubt, you can take a more radical but effective approach: logging out of your account on your device. When you delete your Xiaomi account from the system (Settings → Mi Account → Sign out), the phone loses communication with the cloud. All local files remain in place, and the cloud no longer visible to the device.
Once you log out, you can safely log into i.mi.com from your computer and delete everything that is superfluous. The phone, being offline from Xiaomi's gallery services, does not react to changes in the cloud. Once cleared, you can log in again, but when you turn on sync, be careful: if the cloud is empty and the phone is full of photos, the phone can start loading the void or, conversely, uploading photos, depending on priorities.
Another option is to use third-party cloud storage, such as Google Photos or Yandex.Disk. You can set them to automatically download and then manually clean Xiaomi Cloud. This will create an independent copy of your data. However, double synchronization (when two services try to manage the same folder at the same time) can lead to conflicts and duplicate files.
⚠️ Note: When you log out of your Mi Cloud account, your device search and lock functions will stop working in case of theft. Make sure you have alternative protections, or be ready to activate the service again after cleaning.
💡
Use Google Files to analyze the occupied space, which will help you find duplicate photos that may have formed during the synchronization experiments and safely delete them.
Solving problems and mistakes
Users often face technical difficulties in cleaning, and one of the most common problems is that the sync process gets stuck, you delete the photo in the cloud and it reappears in the phone a minute later, which means that Gallery Sync's background process has not received a stop command or the app's cache has not updated.
To solve this problem, you need to clear the cache and data of the system application Gallery and Services Xiaomi Cloud. Path: Settings → Apps → All apps → Gallery → Memory → Clear. Fear not, the photos themselves will not be deleted, only reset the display settings and the thumbnail cache. After that, you need to recheck the sync status.
You can also have a photo that's gone off the phone but is left in the cloud, or vice versa, which is a sign of desynchronization of the access tokens, and then you can have a complete re-assignment of the device, logging out, rebooting your smartphone, and logging in again, and if nothing works, you can just reset your phone completely, but that's an extreme measure that requires a full backup of data.
- 🔄 Check the stability of the Internet connection; communication interruptions can interrupt the removal commands.
- 🗑️ Clean your cart in the cloud only after you have confidence in the safety of local copies.
- 📲 Make sure your phone has enough free memory to store full versions of your photo.
Remember that software failures in the MIUI or HyperOS shell can make adjustments. If you notice strange system behavior, it is better to pause the process and search for information about specific bugs in your version of the firmware on the forums.
💡
The key to security is to always work with the cloud through your browser on your PC, either with your phone in flight mode or with the sync turned off, which physically breaks the deletion command channel.