How to completely remove a smart album on Xiaomi Redmi: all the ways of 2026

Smart albums in the Xiaomi Redmi Gallery are automatically created folders that sort your photos by face, location, events or content types. On the one hand, it is a convenient feature for quick search of pictures, but on the other hand, it often takes up extra space in memory, duplicates files and creates chaos in the folder structure. Many users face the problem when smart albums can not be deleted using standard methods - the Delete button is simply absent or inactive.

In this article, we will discuss all the working ways to delete smart albums on Redmi Note 12/13, Redmi 10/11, POCO X5 and other models with the MIUI 14/15 shell. You will learn how to turn off automatic sorting, hide unwanted albums, clear cache gallery and even delete system folders through the engineering menu.

What are smart albums and why they can’t be deleted in the usual way

Smart Albums is a MIUI shell feature that analyzes your photos and videos by grouping them into:

• 👤 Persons (recognition through AI)
• 📍 Places (geotecas of metadata)
• 🎭 Events (dates, holidays, trips)
• 📁 Content types (screenshots, documents, GIF)
• 🎨 Styles (portraits, landscapes, macros)

The problem is that these albums are not physical folders, they are virtual collections created based on metadata. So when you try to delete the system simply does not find the "real" file to delete. Moreover, some smart albums (for example, Screenshots or Downloads) are protected by the system and do not have the option of deletion in the gallery interface.

⚠️ Note: Delete smart albums through a file manager (e.g, DCIM/.smartalbums) This folder is automatically restored when you scan the next media file.

In MIUI 14/15, the smart album algorithm has become more aggressive, with the system now analyzing even archival photos and creating duplicate collections, especially on low-memory (32/64GB) models, where every megabyte counts. Next, we’ll look at ways to combat this feature.

Method 1: Disabling smart albums in gallery settings

The safest method is to deactivate automatic sorting so that new albums are not created, which will not remove existing collections, but will stop new ones from appearing.

Instructions:

1. Open the Gallery app.
2. Tap it on three points (⋮) top-right → Settings.
3. Go to the Smart Functions section (or AI-functions in new versions).
4. Turn off the sliders: 🔍 Automatic sorting 👥 Grouping by person 📍 Geotags and locations

OK.

After that, the system will stop creating new smart albums, but the old ones will stay.

Hold your finger on any album → Select "Hide"

In the gallery settings, turn on "Hide empty albums"

Reboot your smartphone to apply changes

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⚠️ Attention: On some firmware (MIUI Global for Redmi Note 10 and older) the option to disable smart albums may not be available.

Method 2: Delete via File Manager (for power users)

If the shutdown didn’t work, you can try to manually delete smart album files, and you’ll need a file manager with access to system folders (such as Mi File Explorer or Solid Explorer).

Step-by-step:

1. Open the file manager and enable the display of hidden files (Settings → Show hidden files).
2. Go to /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/.smartalbums/ or (for some models) /storage/emulated/0/Pictures/.smartalbums/
3. Delete all files and folders inside (they have.album or.data extensions).
4. Clear the cache of the gallery: Settings → Applications → Gallery → Memory → Clear the cache.
5. Reset the device.

It's important to understand that this method doesn't delete the photos themselves, it only removes the metadata of smart albums (DCIM/Camera or Pictures).

Method 3: Reset gallery settings to factory

If smart albums keep popping up, you can reset the Gallery app to factory settings, which will delete all user albums and return the standard configuration.

How to reset:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find the gallery and tap it.
3. Select Warehouse. → Clear the data.
4. Confirm the action (this will delete all settings, but not the photos themselves).
5. Reboot your smartphone.

💡

Before resetting, export important albums: open the album → Press "More" (⋮) →"Exports" → Save it to a separate folder.

Method 4: Disconnect via ADB (for advanced users)

If previous methods have failed, you can disable the system service of smart albums via Android Debug Bridge (ADB).This requires connecting the smartphone to the PC, but you do not need root rights.

Instructions:

1. Enable Developer Mode: Go to Settings → About Phone. Tap 7 times on MIUI Version. Go back to Settings → Additional → Developer. Activate USB Debugging.

Command line.

Terminal

adb devices

(Your device should appear)

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.miui.gallery.smartalbum

Reset the device.

Once these commands are executed, the smart album service will be disabled and existing collections will be removed from the gallery.

adb shell pm enable com.miui.gallery.smartalbum

Turned off in the gallery settings

Deleted through the file manager

Resetting the gallery settings

Used ADB.

Nothing helps, I'm looking for another way.

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Method 5: Delete system files (root only)

If you have root rights, you can completely delete the files responsible for the smart albums, which will permanently disable the function, but you need to be careful - wrong actions can lead to a system failure.

Instructions for Root Explorer or Magisk:

1. Open the Root Explorer and go to /system/priv-app/Gallery2/.
2. Find files: SmartAlbumProvider.apk SmartAlbumProvider.odex (if any)

.bak

SmartAlbumProvider.apk.bak

Reset the device.

Alternative method via Termux (if installed):

su


mount -o rw,remount /system




cd /system/priv-app/Gallery2/




mv SmartAlbumProvider.apk SmartAlbumProvider.apk.bak




reboot

⚠️ Attention: Removal of system APK-files can cause errors in the work of the gallery or other applications using media files (for example, Google Photos). TWRP Or Orange Backup.

💡

Deleting the system files of smart albums is the most radical method, and it is only suitable for users with root rights and experience with the system partitions of Android.

What to do if smart albums return after deletion

If after all the manipulations of smart albums continue to appear, the problem may be:

• 🔄 Automatic Recovery (the system recreates folders when scanning media).
• ☁️ Sync with Mi Cloud (albums downloaded from the cloud).
• 📱 Updates MIUI (New versions of the firmware can return the function).

Decisions:

1. Turn off gallery sync with Mi Cloud: Settings → Accounts → Mi Account → Sync → Gallery (off).
2. Freeze the gallery service: Use App Freezer (from Magisk) to disable com.miui.gallery.
3. Install a third-party gallery: Apps like Simple Gallery or Google Photos don’t create smart albums.

If the problem persists, check to see if the device has pirated software or modified firmware. Some custom MIUI builds have media scanner bugs that cause the albums to be recreated.

FAQ: Frequent questions about smart albums on Xiaomi Redmi