How to find out how much memory is occupied on the Xiaomi smartphone: all ways with explanations

Why it’s important to monitor memory on Xiaomi

Xiaomi smartphones are some of the most popular on the market due to their price-to-function ratio. But even the most productive models (Redmi Note 12 Pro+, POCO F5, Xiaomi 13 Ultra) eventually start to slow down due to lack of space. Busy memory is not only photos and videos, but also the cache of applications, temporary MIUI files, updates and debris that accumulates unnoticed.

If you notice that your phone is slowing down, apps are suddenly shutting down, and "Memory is almost full" is appearing more often, it's time to check what exactly takes up space. In this article, we'll take a look at all the available ways: from standard tools to the most common ones. MIUI You will also learn how occupies memory differs on models with eMMC and UFS-Why some devices “disappear” up to 10 GB after purchase.

Before you get to the instructions, remember that MIUI system files (including firmware and preinstalled applications) can take anywhere from 8 to 15 GB depending on the version and model. It's okay to delete them without root rights. Our job is to analyze user data and cache.

Method 1: Memory check using standard MIUI settings

The easiest and safest method is to use built-in MIUI tools. It is suitable for all models, including Redmi, POCO, Black Shark and Xiaomi flagship series. The interface may vary slightly depending on the firmware version (for example, MIUI 13 vs MIUI 14), but the overall algorithm remains unchanged.

To find out how much memory is occupied:

1. Open the Settings app (cog icon).
2. Go to About Phone (or About Device on some models).
3. Select the item Storage (or Memory).

The system will display a diagram with the distribution of memory by category:

• 📸 Photo and video - media files from the gallery.
• 🎵 Audio – music, podcasts, notification sounds.
• 📱 Applications – installed programs and their data.
• 🗑️ Garbage – cache, temporary files, unused APK.
• 📄 Other files – documents, downloads, archives.

💡

If the diagram doesn’t update, restart the phone – sometimes MIUI doesn’t immediately take into account changes in memory after deleting files.

Click on any category to see a detailed report, for example, in the Apps section, you can sort programs by size and see which ones take up the most space (often games like Genshin Impact or Call of Duty Mobile, as well as instant messengers like Telegram with multi-gigabyte chats).

⚠️ Note: On certain devices (e.g, POCO X3 Pro: The Warehouse menu may not have any category detail, in which case use method 3 (file manager) or method 4 (third party applications).

Method 2: Memory analysis via Cleanup (built-in MIUI tool)

The MIUI Cleanup feature not only removes debris, but also shows which files take up the most space, a method that is useful if you want to quickly find and delete unnecessary data without diving deep into the settings.

Instructions:

1. Open the Security app (shield icon).
2. Select the Cleanup tab (or Deep Cleanup in newer versions).
3. Wait for the scan to be completed (usually 10–30 seconds).
4. Click on the Memory Management (or Details) button.

Here you'll see:

• 🧹 Application cache – temporary files that can be safely deleted.
• 📂 Large files – video, archives, game installers (for example, files with the.obb or.apk extension).
• 🗑️ Unnecessary files – empty folders, duplicates, remnants of deleted programs.
• 📥 Downloads – files from the browser or messengers.

Pay special attention to the "Big Files" section, which often hides forgotten 4K videos, backups or undeleted firmware updates (files named update.zip) that can be deleted directly from this menu by clicking on the basket next to each item.

Method 3: Manual scanning through file manager

If the built-in MIUI tools don't give you the full picture, you can manually view the contents of the memory through the file manager, which takes longer, but allows you to find hidden files that aren't displayed in standard reports.

Step-by-step:

1. Open the File Manager application (or File Manager on POCO).
2. At the top of the screen, select the Device (or Internal Memory) tab.
3. Click on the three dots in the upper right corner and select Memory Analysis (on some models this item may be called Storage).
4. Wait for the scan to be completed (it may take 1-2 minutes).

The file manager will show you a folder tree with a size, and it's especially useful to look at the following directories:

• 📁 /DCIM — Photos and video from the camera (including hidden folders like.thumbnails with thumbnails).
• 📁 /Download — downloads from the browser and messengers.
• 📁 /Android/data — Application data (multi-Gigabyte game files can be stored here).
• 📁 /MIUI — System Firmware Files (Nothing can be deleted!).
• 📁 /Pictures/Screenshots — Screenshots (sometimes hundreds of them accumulate).

Important: The /Android/obb folder often contains 1-4GB game files each, which can be deleted if the game has not been used for a long time, but then you have to download it again.

Remove duplicate photos in /DCIM

Clear /Download folder from old files

Check the size of /Android/data folder for games

Remove unnecessary APKs from /Download or /MIUI/backup

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Method 4: Using third-party applications to analyze memory

If standard MIUI tools don't seem informative enough, you can install specialized applications that offer more detailed analysis, visualization of occupied space, and cleaning tools.

Top.-3 apps:

Let’s look at the example of Files by Google:

1. Install the application and open it.
2. Go to the Cleanup tab.
3. Click Free space and wait for the scan.
4. The app will show file categories (like MIUI), but with a more detailed breakdown, such as:

• 🎬 Unviewed videos – videos you downloaded but didn’t open.
• 📷 Blurred or repetitive photos – duplicates and failed shots.
• 📄 Old files – documents and archives that have not been accessed for more than 30 days.

Files by Google has the advantage of being able to delete files directly from the app without going to the file manager, and it offers backup of important data to Google Drive before cleaning.

⚠️ Attention: Apps like SD Maid requires root rights to work properly, and without them, they will only show a fraction of the data. On Xiaomi, it is difficult to get root (you need to unlock the bootloader), so Files by Google will be enough for most users.

Method 5: Memory check via ADB (for power users)

If you’re familiar with Android Debug Bridge (ADB), you can get detailed memory information straight from your computer, a method that’s good for diagnosing system partitions and finding hidden files that aren’t displayed in standard tools.

What you need:

• 💻 Computer with installed ADB-driver.
• 📱 Xiaomi smartphone with enabled debugging USB.
• 🔌 USB-Type C Cable (preferably original).

Instructions:

1. Turn on Developer Mode on your smartphone: Go to Settings → About Phone. Press 7 times on MIUI Version. Go back to Settings → Additional → Developer. Activate USB Debugging.

Connect your phone to your computer and confirm your trust in the device.

Open the command line (Windows) or terminal (macOS/Linux) and type:

adb shell df -h

This command will display a table with information about all memory parts, including:

• /data – User data and applications.
• /system – System files (cannot be changed!)
• /cache – update cache and temporary files.

For more detailed analysis, use:

adb shell du -sh /sdcard/*

This command will show the size of each folder in the root directory of internal memory.

ADB-This approach is useful if you suspect that memory is taking up something that is not obvious (for example, system log files or hidden updates.

Why Xiaomi is “disappearing” memory: hidden reasons

Many Xiaomi users face a situation where after buying a phone, less memory is available than stated. For example, on a model with 128 GB, only ~110 GB is free.

1. MIUI system files

• MIUI firmware takes from 6 to 12 GB depending on the version.
• Pre-installed apps (Mi Browser, Mi Video, GetApps) – another 1-3 GB.
• Reserve space for updates (section /cache) - up to 1 GB.

2. Difference between Binary and Decimal Gigabytes

• Manufacturers specify the amount of memory in decimal gigabytes (1 GB = 1,000,000 bytes).
• The operating system counts in binary gigabytes (1 GiB = 1,073,741,824 bytes).
• Because of this, the 128GB box will turn into the ~119 GiB in the phone.

3. Partitions for recovery and encryption

• On some models (such as the Xiaomi 12T Pro), some memory is reserved for data encryption.
• Dynamic memory devices (e.g., POCO F4 GT) can use a portion of the drive as a virtual RAM.

Critical information: on devices with eMMC memory (for example, Redmi 9A), the write speed decreases over time if the memory is more than 80% full. On UFS-drives (flagships Xiaomi 12/13) this effect is not, but it is still recommended to leave at least 10-15% of the space free.

FAQ: Frequent questions about memory on Xiaomi