Cleaning up your smartphone is not just a way to free up memory, but a necessary security measure before selling a device or transferring it to another user. Owners of Xiaomi and Redmi devices often face the need to quickly erase accumulated SMS and messages from instant messengers. Standard deletion methods allow you to quickly deal with individual dialogues, but a complete cleanup requires a deeper understanding of the storage structure in the MIUI or HyperOS shell.
In this article, we will take a look at all the available methods, from the banal removal through the interface to radical methods of resetting the system. You will learn how the deletion mechanisms on Android work, whether it is possible to restore deleted messages and what hidden features the system offers to manage multimedia files embedded in correspondence. It is important to understand that simply removing from the list of dialogs does not always mean physically erasing data from the drive.
We're going to focus on privacy issues, and many users don't know that junk files from apps can stay on the system even after cleaning up chat history, and we're going to look at how to find and remove those residues to make sure you're freeing up gigabytes of space, and we're going to look at the use of computer utilities to force a database of messages, which is especially true when the system is getting stuck.
Standard removal of dialogs through the Messages app
The most obvious and accessible way for each user is to use the built-in functionality of the Messages application. Depending on the version of the MIUI shell, the interface may differ slightly, but the logic of the operation remains similar. To delete one or more dialogs, you need to open the application, find the desired contact and click on it.
If your goal is to delete all the messages selectively, then the best way to do this is to use multiple choice mode, which is to hold your finger on one of the dialogs in the shared list, and then checkboxes for the others will appear, which allows you to massively mark the unnecessary chats and delete them with a single click, but if there are thousands of messages, this process can take a considerable time.
It's worth noting that in the standard Google Messages app, which is often pre-installed on global versions of Redmi, the algorithm of actions is similar. You can delete both individual messages within the dialogue and entire chains of correspondence.
⚠️ Note: Deleting dialogs through a standard interface doesn’t always instantly free up disk space, as the system marks the space as free to overwrite, but the data can remain in memory until it is overwritten by new files.
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Use the Archivation feature in your message settings before deleting if you want to save your correspondence history as a file in case you need to restore legal evidence or important data.
For those who prefer to see information structured, below is a table comparing actions across different versions of the interface:
| Action. | Standard MIUI Interface | Google Messages | Third interface (Samsung, etc.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highlighting dialogue | Long press. | Long press. | Long press. |
| Delete everyone at once | Through the menu "More" → "Choose All" | There's no straight "all" button. | Depends on the model. |
| Recovery | From the basket (30 days) | From the basket (30 days) | From the basket |
Use of the cleaning function in the Security application
A unique feature of Xiaomi smartphones is the availability of the system application Security, which not only scans for viruses, but also can effectively clean garbage, including cache messages and attachments. Run deep cleaning through this module allows you to delete temporary files that remain after deleting the dialogues manually.
To use this feature, go to Settings → About Phone → Storage or run the Security app directly. Select the Cleanup option. The system will analyze the device and suggest removing junk files. However, for a more subtle setup, go to the application management section inside this menu.
Here you can find the Message app and force it to clear, and this action will delete the entire SMS and MMS database, effectively returning the application to the post-installing state, which is the fastest way to delete all messages on shaomi redmi without having to single them out one at a time.
☑️ Check before cleaning the application data
When cleaning the application data, the system will issue a warning that all files and settings will be deleted, which is critical, since it will be impossible to recover data with standard means after such an operation without a pre-created backup.
Radical method: Reset to factory settings
If you are tasked with removing all messages from your Xiaomi Redmi in order to fully prepare your device for sale or transfer, the most reliable method is a full reset, which deletes all user data, including contacts, photos, apps and, of course, the entire history of correspondence.
To perform the reset, you need to go to the Settings menu → The phone. → Reset. The system will suggest selecting the option to erase all data.Be sure to know the password from your Mi Account before you do, as after the reset, the phone will require it to confirm ownership (protection against theft).
There is also Recovery mode, which is called by a keyboard combination when the phone is off (usually Volume Up + Power). From this menu, you can select Wipe Data/Factory Reset. This is a deeper cleaning level that is recommended to use if a standard reset via the settings menu is not possible due to system errors.
⚠️ Note: After a complete reset, data recovery becomes extremely difficult and sometimes impossible for the average user.
Importantly, resets do not guarantee 100% recovery by specialists using expensive hardware unless encryption is done. However, for a household level of data protection, this method is quite enough. Modern versions of Android encrypt data by default, making recovery after a reset almost meaningless.
Delete messages via computer and ADB
For advanced users who want to securely delete all messages and free up space, but do not want to do a full reset, there is a method of using debugging by USB console-based utility ADB (Android Debug Bridge: This way you can interact directly with your messaging database.
First, activate Developer Mode. Go to Settings → About Phone and 7 times click on the build number. Then, in the Advanced Settings menu that appears → For developers, turn on Debugging over USB. Connect your phone to your PC and start the command line.
To delete messages, you can use a command that cleans the SMS table in the Android database, which requires entering the following command in the terminal:
adb shell content delete --uri content://sms/This command forcibly removes all records from the SMS database. You can do the same thing with MMS by changing the URI. It's an instant method that works even if the phone interface is frozen. However, it requires the presence of ADB drivers installed on the computer and minimal command line skills.
What if ADB can’t see the phone?
Using ADB gives you complete control of the device, you can not only delete, but also analyze the size of the message database. If the file has grown to hundreds of megabytes, which is often the case with long-term use, cleaning it through ADB is the most effective solution.
Cleaning up messaging messaging: WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber
When it comes to posts on Xiaomi Redmi, you can’t ignore popular messengers that take up the lion’s share of memory. Unlike standard SMS, history deletion has its own peculiarities. On WhatsApp and Telegram, media files can be saved to the gallery even after deleting the chat, unless automatic deletion is configured.
Each messenger has a Data and Storage section in its settings, and you can find the "Storage Management" option, which will show you which chats take up the most space, you can selectively delete all messages and media from specific dialogs without affecting the rest, and it's a more flexible tool than standard deletion.
Telegram is cloud-based, and deleting emails on your phone will delete them on all other devices, unless you tick "Delete from me only." WhatsApp is different, with messages stored locally and in the cloud (Google Drive). When you reinstall the app, the story will be restored from the backup if it is not deleted separately.
- 🗑️ WhatsApp: Settings → Data and storage → Storage management → Select a chat room → Clean up.
- ✈️ Telegram: Settings → Data and memory → Use of memory → Clear the cache (this will remove media, but not text).
- 💜 Viber: More → Settings → Memory. → Clear memory (deletes cache and temporary files).
It is important to distinguish between cleaning the cache and cleaning the application data.Cache cleaning is safe and only deletes temporary files (pictures that have already been displayed), whereas data cleaning will reset the application to factory settings, removing all correspondence.
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Regularly cleaning the messenger cache through the settings of the application itself is more effective than deleting through the Android file manager.
Recovery of deleted messages: myths and reality
Often users wonder if deleted messages can be returned after they have been erased by all the ways described. The answer depends on the method of deleting. If you just delete the dialogue, it ends up in a basket where it is stored for 30 days. Once this period expires or the basket is cleaned, recovery becomes difficult.
There are many apps in the Play Market that promise data recovery, but on modern versions of Android with encryption enabled, their efficiency tends to zero. The system mixes data at the physical layer, and without the encryption key (which is often lost when reset), it is impossible to recover information.
The only real way is to have a backup. On Xiaomi, it can be a local copy in Mi Cloud or sync with Google Account. Check the website messages.google.com — if you had sync enabled, your SMS can be stored there. MIUI/gallery/cloud/secret_album, If you are hiding messages or media.
⚠️ Warning: Beware of paid PC software that promises “deep recovery” of phone data. 99% of the time, this is a scam, as software methods can’t get around the hardware encryption of modern Redmi smartphones.
If the messages were deleted via ADB or reset, the chances of recovery are minimal, and there are hardware packages in the corporate environment or for investigative agencies, but they are inaccessible to the average user and cost a lot of money.