How to Remove Photos from Xiaomi Cloud Storage Completely: 5 Proven Ways

Xiaomi Cloud (or Mi Cloud) cloud storage automatically backs up your photos, freeing up space on your smartphone. But what if synchronized images take up extra gigabytes in the cloud and free 5 GB is running out? Deleting photos from the Xiaomi cloud has the nuance: files can stay in the cart, duplicate or recover the next backup.

In this article, you will find current ways to remove photos from the Mi Cloud from your phone, computer, and web interface — including forced cleaning of the cart and disabling autosynchronization. We will also discuss why photos sometimes “return” after deleting and how to avoid this. The instructions are suitable for all Xiaomi, Redmi and other devices. POCO on MIUI 12-14 and newer.

Why photos stay in the cloud after being deleted from your phone

Many users are faced with the situation: the pictures are removed from the gallery of the smartphone, but continue to occupy space in the Mi Cloud, the reason lies in the mechanism of cloud synchronization:

• 🔄 Offline backup: Even if you delete a photo from your phone, a copy of it stays in the cloud if you previously enabled Autoboot in Mi Cloud.
• 🗑️ Recycle Bin: Deleted files are moved to a special section and stored there for up to 30 days (free version) or 60 days (for premium users).
• 📱💻 Different devices: If you deleted a photo from one gadget, but it remained on another (for example, a tablet), synchronization will restore it to the cloud.

MIUI also saves thumbnails by default to speed up gallery loading, which also takes up space, although they don't appear in the main folder, and to clean up the cloud completely, you need to delete photos directly from the Mi Cloud, not just from the device.

⚠️ Note: If you use the Xiaomi Store Optimization feature, the original photos can only be stored in the cloud, and removing them from there will lead to permanent loss of images!

Method 1: Delete photos through the Gallery app on your phone

The easiest method is to use the built-in MIUI gallery, which is suitable if you want to delete individual pictures or folders without going to the web version of the cloud.

Instructions:

1. Open the Gallery app on your Xiaomi/Redmi/POCO smartphone.
2. Go to the Albums section. → Mi Cloud (or the Cloud in older versions) MIUI).
3. Select the photos or folders that you want to delete (long press to highlight multiple files).
4. Click on the basket icon (🗑️) In the lower menu and confirm the action.

After that, the files will be moved to the cloud basket, where they will be stored for 30 days, to make room immediately:

Select the Recycle Bin section in the gallery |Click Management in the upper right corner |Select all files or select the ones you want |Click Delete Forever and confirm

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⚠️ Note: If you delete photos from the cloud through the gallery, they will also disappear from all devices associated with this Mi Account. Check if these images are used in other services (for example, as avatars in Mi Community).

Method 2: Cleaning the cloud with the web version of Mi Cloud

The Mi Cloud web interface gives you more options for managing files: you can delete folders entirely, sort pictures by date and size, and clean the cart without waiting 30 days.

How to delete a photo through the browser:

1. Go to i.mi.com and log in to your Mi Account.
2. In the menu on the left, select the Gallery (or Photos) section.
3. Check out unnecessary photos or folders. Use filters by date (Last 7 days, Month, etc.) for convenience.
4. Click on the basket icon (🗑️) The files will move to the basket.
5. To remove them permanently, open the Recycle Bin section in the side menu and click Clean the Recycle Bin.

The advantage of this is that it can be mass-deleted, for example, you can sort the photos by size and delete the heaviest images, freeing up as much space as possible.

Once a month |Only when the place ends |Never cleaned |I don't use Mi Cloud-->

Method 3: Forced Deletion through Mi Account Settings

If photos are not deleted by standard methods (for example, due to a sync failure), you can use forced clearing through account settings, which is also useful if you want to disable photo backup completely.

Step-by-step:

1. Open the Settings. → Accounts. → Mi Account.
2. Go to the Mi Cloud section.
3. Choose a gallery (or photo).
4. Turn off the gallery sync slider (this will stop the automatic uploading of new photos).
5. Press Storage Management. → Clear the data.
6. Confirm that all photos are removed from the cloud.

This method removes all photos from the cloud irrevocably, so save important images to your device or other cloud service (e.g. Google Photos).

💡

Before you clean up, check if photos from Mi Cloud are used in other Xiaomi services, such as Mi Home (for smart devices) or Mi Fit (for trackers).

Method 4: Delete via PC (Windows/Mac)

If you don't have enough space or you don't want to work with a small screen, you can manage photos in the Mi Cloud through your computer, and you don't need to install any additional programs -- you just need a browser.

Algorithm of action:

1. Open your browser on your PC and go to i.mi.com.
2. Sign in under your Mi Account (if necessary, confirm the login via SMS or email).
3. On the left menu, select the Gallery.
4. Use key combinations for convenience: Ctrl + A to highlight all photos in the folder. Ctrl + click to highlight several files. Delete to delete selected photos.

Basket

On a PC, it's easier to work with large amounts of data, for example, you can sort a photo by size (By size → By diminution) and remove the heaviest images to make room quickly.

Method 5: Disabling Autosynchronization and Preventing Photos from Reappearing

A common problem is that users delete photos from the cloud, but they come back after the next backup, and that's because of the autosynchronization enabled, so to avoid duplicate files, you not only have to delete the images, you also have to set up your backup rules.

How to turn off automatic photo uploading in Mi Cloud:

1. Open the Settings. → Accounts. → Mi Account → Mi Cloud.
2. Choose the Gallery.
3. Turn off the autoload slider.
4. In the Synchronization Settings section, select: 📴 Wi-Fi only – so that photos are not uploaded via mobile Internet. 🔋 Only when charging – so that the synchronization does not consume the battery. 📂 Exclude folders – specify folders that do not need to be backed up (for example, Screenshots or Downloads).

If you want to completely abandon cloud backup, but still keep access to photos that have already been uploaded, follow the following steps:

1. Download all important photos from Mi Cloud to your device or other cloud service.
2. Turn off gallery sync in Mi Account settings.
3. Remove all photos from the cloud (via the web version or app).
4. Clear the basket.

If the photos are not deleted, try an alternative method:

1. Download all photos from the cloud to your computer (via i.mi.com).
2. Delete your Mi Account from your phone (Settings → Accounts → Mi Account → Delete your account).
3. Create a new account and link it to your device. The old photo cloud will remain available through old mail, but new files will not sync.

⚠️ Attention: Deleting your Mi Account from your phone will reset all your associated data, including: Mi Home settings (smart devices will shut down), Mi Fit data (activity history), Linked bank cards in Mi Pay. Use this method only as a last resort!

FAQ: Frequent questions about removing photos from Mi Cloud