How to remove photos from your phone Xiaomi: the full guide

Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco are famous for their excellent cameras, which often leads to a rapid filling of internal memory. When the storage becomes overflowing, the system starts to work slower, and new images cease to be stored, at which point the user is faced with the question of how to effectively and safely clean the gallery of excess visual debris.

The process of removing images on the MIUI shell or HyperOS can be different from standard Android, which sometimes causes confusion. There are various methods, from simple finger selection to using advanced file management tools. In this article, we will break down all the nuances so that you can free up gigabytes of space in a few minutes.

It's not just about washing everything, it's about knowing where your images are stored. System folders, messenger cache, and cloud synchronization all affect the end result, and the right approach will help you avoid accidentally losing memories and optimize your device.

Basic removal through the Gallery app

The most obvious and common way is to use the regular Gallery app, which is intuitive, but hides a few useful features for mass editing, so to delete one or more photos, you just open the desired album and go to select mode.

If you press the thumbnail for a long time, you activate the highlight mode. At the top of the screen, you'll see a counter of selected objects and a toolbar. Here you can select all the photos at once or mark specific frames that are to be destroyed. After selecting, click on the basket icon at the bottom of the screen.

• 🗑️ Standard Deletion Moves Files to Recycle Bin where they are stored for 30 days.
• ⚡ Mass allocation allows you to mark hundreds of photos with the movement of your finger on the screen.
• 🔄 Cancellation is available immediately after deletion via pop-up notification.

It's worth noting that just tapping the cart doesn't release memory instantly. Files move to a buffer zone where they can be recovered in case of an error. It's a security mechanism that prevents permanent loss of data when accidentally touched. However, to instantly free up space, you will need to perform additional actions, which will be discussed below.

Working with folder Recent and Recycle Bin

Many users forget that deleted photos continue to take up space on the disk, being in a special folder "Recent" or "Basket". In the shell of MIUI, this album is often hidden in the depth of the menu or accessible through the tab "Albums".

Finding this folder can vary depending on the firmware version. It's usually Albums → Recent. Inside, you'll see all the files that have been deleted in the last 30 days. It's available here, Clear All, which will permanently delete the selected media files. Be careful: after this procedure, it will be impossible to restore data using standard methods.

⚠️ Attention: Clearing the recent folder will cause files to disappear completely from your device. Make sure that there are no important documents or personal pictures you plan to keep.

If you sync with Google Photos or Xiaomi Cloud, deleting on your phone can affect copies in the cloud. In the gallery app settings, you can turn off sync before mass cleaning to secure your archives, especially if you use multiple devices with one account.

Removal through Explorer and System Folders

For deeper cleaning and removal of system debris, the built-in Explorer is the best tool to see the real structure of files and folders hidden from the average user in the gallery, often where screenshots from messengers and social media cache hide.

To find photos, open Explorer and go to the root directory or select Images. The main array of photos from the camera usually lies in the path of DCIM → Camera. Screenshots are stored in the Pictures → Screenshots folder, and images from instant messengers are stored in DCIM or individual application folders. Deletion from here is instantaneous, bypassing the gallery basket.

Using a file manager gives you the advantage of sorting by size. You can sort folders and see which one takes up the most megabytes. It's often found that older WhatsApp or Telegram videos weigh more than your entire photographic film. Deleting those heavyweights is the fastest way to get free space.

Cleaning duplicates and similar photos

Modern Xiaomi smartphones have built-in algorithms to help find similar images, a feature that is extremely useful for those who like to take serial shots in the hope of getting the perfect shot. The gallery often shows a notice about the presence of duplicates, but you can find this tool manually.

The Security app or the Gallery itself (Recommendations or Tools) has a Cleanup function, and the system will analyze the library and suggest that similar photos be deleted, leaving only the best in quality, which allows you to quickly eliminate the memory of dozens of almost identical images taken in serial mode.

Regularly checking for duplicates helps keep order effortlessly, and don't ignore the system's suggestions, because manually combing through thousands of photos can take hours, and automating this process is key to clean memory.

Synchronization settings and cloud services

Photo management on Xiaomi is inextricably linked to cloud services. If you have sync enabled with Xiaomi Cloud or Google Photos, deleting a local copy can result in the file being deleted from the cloud and on other devices.

In the Mi Account settings, you can select the “Free Space” option, which automatically removes photos from your phone that have already been successfully uploaded to the cloud and backed up, which is the perfect scenario for users who want to store an archive on the Internet but keep their phone offload.

However, if the Internet connection is unstable, the sync may not work properly, in which case it is better to manually check the download status of each album, the cloud icon next to the folder will indicate whether the data is fully downloaded, and only after the confirmed status appears, you can safely delete the originals from the device.

⚠️ Warning: Before you turn on the "Free Space" function, make sure that your photos are actually visible in the cloud through the browser on your computer. Sometimes synchronization "hangs", and deleting local files will lead to data loss.

Using third-party cleaning applications

Staff funds are often not enough, especially if the phone is infected with advertising debris or hidden files. There are many utilities on the Google Play store that specialize in finding and removing junk files. Popular options include Files by Google, CCleaner or Clean Master.

These programs scan the device deeper than the standard Explorer, they find residual files of deleted applications, browser cache and forgotten downloads. When using third-party software, it is important to carefully read what exactly the program suggests to remove. Sometimes aggressive cleaners can touch the system files or cache of the desired applications, which will lead to their resetting.

Special attention should be paid to access rights. A cleaner application does not need to be given full administrator rights, it is enough to access the storage. The most secure method is to manually check the files found before final deletion, even if you trust the developer of the utility.

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Use the Files by Google app to find large video files that are rarely viewed. They often take up up to 40% of the memory space.

Recovery of Accidentally Deleted Photos

If the deletion was a mistake, it's too early to panic. As mentioned earlier, for 30 days, the files are in the Gallery's shopping cart, and you just go in there, pick the right pictures, and click "Restore." They'll go back to their original albums.

If the cart is already cleaned, the odds are lower, but they are. You can try using Google Photos if the sync has been enabled at least partially, and there are special programs for PCs, such as Dr.Fone or DiskDigger, that can try to read data directly from memory, but success depends on whether these memory cells have been overwritten with new data.

To increase the chances of recovery immediately after accidental deletion, it is recommended to put the phone in aeronautical mode, which will prevent synchronization and writing of new data, which increases the likelihood of successful file rescue with professional software.

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The best protection against photo loss is regular backup to an external hard drive or to a reliable cloud storage with two-factor authentication.