How to remove downloaded themes on Xiaomi: 5 working ways

Downloaded themes on Xiaomi, Redmi or POCO take up precious space in the memory of the device, even if you have not used them for a long time. MIUI system does not always offer an obvious way to remove them completely - especially if it is a question of pre-installed themes or files left after resetting. In this article, we will analyze all possible cleaning methods, including hidden folders, cache of the Theme application and manual deletion through the file manager.

Many users find that after installing a new theme, the old one continues to hang in the memory and the standard settings prevent it from being erased. The reason is because the MIUI architecture stores backups of the themes for quick recovery. If you notice that the phone's memory is full of no one knows what -- with a 90% probability it's the themes -- then you'll learn how to permanently remove unnecessary themes without having to reset the phone to factory settings.

Before you start cleaning, check how much space the themes occupy on your device. Go to Settings → About Phone → Memory → Apps and find the Theme app. If it exceeds 500 MB, it’s time to act.

1. Removing themes through the standard MIUI menu

The easiest way is to use the built-in tools of the system, which is suitable for those you downloaded manually from the official Xiaomi Themes store.

Open the Themes app (brush and palette icon) and go to My Themes or Management (depending on MIUI version) and display all the themes you have installed, including system and downloaded themes.

Find an unnecessary theme and click on it. The window that opens should show a basket icon or a Remove button, and if it doesn't, the theme is systemic and requires other removal methods.

• 📱 For MIUI 14: a long press on the topic → Remove from the top menu.
• 🔄 For MIUI 12/13: swipe left-handed → button Remove.
• ⚠️ If no deletion button is available, the theme is protected by the system (see Section 3).

Method limitation: This way you can’t delete pre-installed themes (e.g. Ocean or Black) or files left over from incorrect deletion, and you will need to manually clean them.

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If the topic is not removed through the menu, try applying a different theme first and then try again. Sometimes the system blocks the removal of the active theme.

2. Cleaning the cache and data of the “Themes” application

The Themes app accumulates gigabytes of unnecessary data: thumbnails, temporary files, backups, even after deleting themes, these files can remain in memory.

Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management. Find Themes (or com.android.themes in the list of all apps). Open the app menu and select:

1. Clear the cache – Delete temporary files (safely).
2. Clear the data – reset all the settings of the themes to the factory (all downloaded themes will disappear, but the system ones will remain).

Important: After cleaning the data, the Themes app can run slower on the first run – this is normal, as it re-indexes the remaining files.

⚠️ Note: if you use custom themes (e.g. from third-party sources), clearing the data will delete them without recovery. First, export your favorite themes manually (see Section 5).

3. Manually remove themes through file manager

If standard methods don’t work, you’ll need to manually remove themes, and you’ll need any file manager with access to system folders (like Mi File Explorer with Show Hidden Files enabled or Solid Explorer).

The themes are stored in two main folders:

1. /storage/emulated/0/MIUI/theme/ – This is where the user-generated themes are located.
2. /data/system/theme/ – System theme files (root rights required to access)

Enable the display of hidden files in the file manager

Backup theme folder (in case of an error)

Close the application Topics in Multitasking

Connect your phone to charge (in case of a long operation)-->

Remove unnecessary folders from those /MIUI/theme/. Folder names usually correspond to the theme names (e.g. DarkModePro or OceanBlue). Don't delete the.miui folder, which contains system data!

⚠️ Attention: if you delete the active theme folder, the system will automatically switch to the standard one, which can cause a short-term interface hanging.

To access /data/system/theme/ You need root rights. Without root, you'll see a message that you're not accessing. If you have root, be very careful that you delete system files and you can lose functionality. MIUI.

4. Removal of topics via ADB (for power users)

If manual removal didn’t work and root rights didn’t, you can use ADB (Android Debug Bridge), a method that is suitable for removing system themes that aren’t erased in standard ways.

First, enable USB Debugging in the developer settings (Settings → About Phone → MIUI version – press 7 times, then return to Additional Settings → For Developers). Connect your phone to your PC and follow the commands:

adb shell


pm list packages | grep theme

This command will show all packages related to themes, such as com.android.themes or com.miui.tsmclient, to remove the cache of a particular package:

adb shell pm clear com.android.themes

For complete packet removal (not recommended without understanding the consequences!):

adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.android.themes

⚠️ Attention: removal of system packages may lead to inoperability of the store in some or malfunctions MIUI. Before experimenting, back up through adb backup.

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ADB-It's the most powerful, but it's also the riskiest, and only use it if other methods have failed, and you understand the consequences.

5 How to save your favorite topics before deleting

If you want to make room, but you want to keep a few of your favorite themes, you can export them manually.

Open the file manager and go to /storage/emulated/0/MIUI/theme/. Find the folder with the right theme (like MyFavoriteTheme) and copy it to your PC or cloud. To restore the theme later, just return the folder back to /MIUI/theme/ and restart the phone.

Some themes consist of several files with extensions:

• 📁.Mtz – Theme Archive (can be opened on PC).
• 🎨.png/.jpg — preview.
• 📄 desc.xml — Description of the topic (can be edited).

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If the theme is.mtz, it can be imported back through the Topic app: click + → Import → Select a file.

To back up all the themes, archive the entire /MIUI/theme/ folder in ZIP and save it to the cloud, eliminating the need to download themes again after you reset your phone.

6 What to do if the topics are not deleted?

If none of the methods worked, the problem may lie in the following:

• 🔒 Protection MIUI: Some topics (e.g., "Global" or "China") are protected from removal.
• 🛠️ Damaged files: If the theme was installed with an error, its files can be “locked up".
• 📱 Firmware limitations: on some versions MIUI for the Redmi Note 8 Pro or POCO X3 topic removal blocked.

In such cases, there are two options:

1. Settings Reset → Settings → Additional → Restore and Reset → Reset. This will delete all user data, but all topics too.
2. Flashing: installing a clean version of MIUI via Fastboot or Recovery is an extreme technique that requires technical skills.

If you're not ready for radical measures, try rolling back the Themes app update.

1. Go to Settings. → Annexes → Topics → ⋮ → Remove updates.
2. Reboot the phone.
3. Repeat the attempt to delete themes through the standard menu.

FAQ: Frequent questions about removing themes on Xiaomi