Xiaomi smartphone owners often face a nasty situation: 30GB of free memory flaunts on the screen in the morning, and by the evening the device desperately signals a lack of space. It is not magic or a failure in the matrix, but the result of the specific work of the MIUI shell and the features of modern applications. Understanding how the operating system manages files is the first step to solving the problem.
Analysis shows that the lion's share of disk space is often occupied not by your photos or downloaded movies, but by hidden cache, logs and residual files of remote programs. Android has the property of accumulating digital fat, which eventually begins to slow down the gadget. Let's figure out where these gigabytes are hiding.
In this article, we will conduct a detailed investigation to find the culprits of memory loss. We will look at both standard cleaning tools and advanced methods available through the engineering menu and file managers. The system partition “Other” in Xiaomi storage can take up to 40% of the volume, and this is not a display error, but a real accumulation of temporary files.
Storage analysis: where to look for lost gigabytes
The first thing that the user needs to do is to do an audit. The standard storage analyzer in Xiaomi settings often shows only the tip of the iceberg. It groups files by type, but it doesn't always correctly map the cache size of messengers and streaming services, and these are the main applications that eat free space.
For a deeper analysis, you might want to use a built-in Cleanup utility or a third-party solution like DiskUsage, which visualizes the distribution of data, allowing you to see giant folders that are hidden from the ordinary view. Android/data grew to incredible sizes due to the cache of games or offline maps of the navigator.
⚠️ Warning: When manually deleting files from system folders, be extremely careful. Deleting critical libraries can lead to malfunctioning applications or cyclical device restart.
Special attention should be paid to the MIUI/Gallery/cloud folder, where deleted photos can be stored in the shopping cart, and the Download folder, where browsers and messengers save all attachments by default. Regularly checking these directories helps to free up several gigabytes in just a couple of minutes.
System garbage and app cache: how to clean safely
The main source of “lost” memory is app cache. These are temporary files that speed up content loading, but over time become obsolete. At Xiaomi, the built-in tool is responsible for cleaning up, but it often acts too softly, leaving megabytes of garbage.
For deep cleaning, go to the settings of each heavy application separately. Social networks and instant messengers store gigabytes of photos and videos viewed. Clearing the cache in the application settings (Settings → Applications → All Applications → [Select App] → Clear → Cache) is safe and does not delete your personal correspondence.
- 🗑️ Browser cache: Visit history and temporary web page files can take up to 1 GB.
- 📸 Camera cache: miniatures and processed HDR-Files are often duplicated in system folders.
- 🛒 Cash marketplaces: pictures of goods and catalogs of online stores are maintained aggressively.
There is also a hidden system cache that accumulates after MIUI updates, which can be deleted via Recovery mode by selecting "Wipe Cache Partition" which does not affect user data, but effectively cleans system debris.
☑️ Checklist for safe cleaning
The phenomenon of the folder “Other”: what is inside and how to clean
The most mysterious category in Xiaomi’s storage is “Other,” which users often see 10, 20, or even 50 GB of data that the system cannot classify, and hides the remnants of deleted applications, error logs, update cache, and files that don’t have an extension inside this section.
To understand content, you often need to connect to a PC or use root file managers, although you can find a lot without them. Often in the “Other” are backups of Google Drive or local system backups that are automatically created and forgotten.
| File type | Where to look (way) | Can be removed |
|---|---|---|
| Debugging logs (Logs) | /data/log or /storage/emulated/0/MIUI/debug_log | Yes, it's safe. |
| Cash card (Maps) | /Android/data/com.google.android.apps.maps | Yeah, unless you need to offline. |
| Backups of WhatsApp | /MIUI/backup/AllBackup or /Android/media | Yes, if there's a fresh copy. |
| Temporary files (.tmp) | Scattered at the root of memory | Yes. |
Cleaning this category should be done methodically, and we should not use questionable software that promises to “accelerate the phone in one click”; they often delete the desired configuration files, resetting the application settings to the factory.
Why does the “Other” folder grow after the update?
Messaging eaters: Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber
The absolute leaders in memory consumption are messengers. Telegram, for example, by default caches all media files viewed so that they load instantly when reopened. If you are in dozens of channels with video and GIFs, the cache of the application can easily exceed 10 GB.
Telegram has a built-in memory management tool (Settings → Data & Memory → Memory Use) that not only clears the cache, but also configures automatic cleaning. It is recommended to set a timer "Autodelete" for 3 days or a week, which will significantly reduce the load on the disk.
WhatsApp works differently: it saves all the media it receives to a shared gallery of the phone, creating duplicates. To avoid this, you need to turn off Media Visibility in chat settings or disable auto-save to the gallery, which will not delete files from WhatsApp itself, but remove them from the shared photo space.
⚠️ Note: Clearing messenger data (not to be confused with cache) will completely delete all correspondence and media files without the possibility of recovery, if a backup to the cloud was not made.
Viber is characterized by the accumulation of stickers and contact avatars. Regularly cleaning the cache of this application through the standard Android menu helps keep its size within reasonable limits, and it is worth checking the Viber folder at the root of internal memory for old backups.
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Turn on the “Auto-Delete Media” feature for group chats on Telegram, which will automatically free up space from old videos and photos that you are unlikely to watch.
Hidden MIUI folders and Remnants of Remote Programs
The MIUI shell creates many service folders that don't delete themselves. Even after a game is deleted, its residual files (data cache, logs) can remain in memory for months, especially for heavy games like PUBG or Genshin Impact.
To find these tails, use a file manager with access to hidden files. Look for folders with names of remote applications in the Android/obb and Android/data directories. If you are sure that the application is removed, its folder can be safely erased.
It's also worth checking the MIUI/Gallery/cloud folder. If you've used the Xiaomi cloud, it can store the original deleted photos for 30 days. Similar to the situation with the shopping cart in the gallery, files are there for a month, taking up space.
- 📂.thumbnail folder: hidden folder in DCIM, It can weigh gigabytes. Delete the contents, but not the folder itself.
- 📂 Tencent folder: Remnants from Chinese versions of apps or games often contain garbage.
- 📂 Backup folder: Local backups that are often forgotten to be deleted after moving to a new phone.
- 📂 Log folder: system logs that inflate when applications fail.
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Regular audit of Android/data and Android/obb folders after deleting games allows you to free up to 5-10 GB of space that the system considers occupied.
Radical methods: resetting and flashing
If nothing works and the space disappears at an alarming rate even after cleaning, it could be a file system problem or a software failure, and in such cases, a full reset to the factory settings (Wipe Data/Factory Reset) helps, guaranteed to remove all the debris, but it will take time to set up the phone again.
Before resetting, make sure to back up important data to your PC or cloud. The reset process can be started via the Recovery menu (press the power and volume button when the phone is off) or through settings (Advanced Settings → Reset).
Sometimes the problem is a bug in a particular version of MIUI, which helps to wait for an update or, conversely, roll back on a stable version of the firmware. Check the developer forum or official support branch for known memory leakage problems in your version of the software.
In extreme cases, when even a reset doesn’t help (the space fills itself in hours), it may be necessary to flash the device through the computer using the Mi Flash Tool utility.This will completely replace the system partition and eliminate any software errors of the file system.