How to Remove Music from Xiaomi: The Complete Guide

Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face a situation where the built-in storage is overflowing and the system begins to demand free space. One of the most voluminous categories of files that users do not always notice is musical compositions. They can accumulate for years: these are downloaded tracks from the Internet, files from messengers, and even system ringtones that occupy precious megabytes. The question of how to remove music on Xiaomi becomes especially relevant when standard cleaning methods do not give visible results and the device’s memory is filled to failure.

The problem is compounded by the fact that the MIUI shell or its new version of HyperOS has its own multimedia features. The standard file manager can hide some system folders, and Xiaomi's Music app often caches album covers and song lyrics that take up more space than the audio files themselves. In addition, many users do not know how to get rid of preinstalled tunes that come with firmware and are not deleted in the usual way through a gallery or conductor.

In this article, we will look at all the existing ways to clean up the music space on your device, learn how to safely delete personal tracks, how to clean the cache of the system player and how to deal with undeleteable system files. Removing system ringtones requires superuser (Root) rights or use ADB-We're going to look at both simple methods for ordinary users and advanced techniques for those who want to make the most of their gadget.

Standard removal of tracks through the Music app

The most obvious and safe way to free up space is to use the Mi Music app, which is pre-installed on all smartphones of the brand. This method is suitable for removing user files downloaded from various sources. The application interface allows you to quickly find tracks by artist, album or folder, which makes it much easier to navigate through a large media library. However, it is worth remembering that deleting a file through a player actually erases it from the physical medium, so it will be impossible to recover data without a backup.

To start the process, you need to run the app and go to Local or Songs, and you can see the full list of all the audio files that the system recognizes as music, you can select one track with your finger on the name, or you can go to multiple selection mode to mark dozens of songs at once. Once you select the right elements, you will see a toolbar on the screen where you should click on the basket icon or the Delete button. The system will request confirmation of the operation, warning of irreversibility of actions.

Importantly, Mi Music has a "Recent" feature that can include tracks that have been streamed through online services or transmitted via Bluetooth. Cleaning up the list won't delete the files themselves, but will remove them from playback history. If your goal is to clean the device, make sure you check the local storage, not the cloud playlists.

• 🎵 Open the Music app and select the Songs tab to view the full list.
• 🗑️ Use a long press to go into multiple file selection mode at once.
• 📂 Check the Downloads folder, if the tracks were downloaded from the browser, they may be there.
• ✅ Confirm the deletion in the pop-up window so that files are permanently erased.

⚠️ Warning: Deleting music through a standard app doesn’t clear the cache of album covers, which can take hundreds of megabytes with a large media library.

Cleaning through File Manager and Hidden Folders

Sometimes, tracks are displayed in the Music app, but can't be found to be deleted, or the file is damaged and not deleted by standard means. In such cases, the built-in File Manager comes to the rescue, which gives direct access to the Android file system, allowing you to see the folder structure and delete any data, including those that were hidden from the media scanner.

To find music, open Explorer and go to Music category or manually follow the Inner Memory → Music path. Often users forget about messenger folders like Telegram or WhatsApp, where audio files and voice messages are automatically saved. These folders are often located in the path of Android → media → com.telegram.messenger → Telegram → Telegram Audio. Cleaning these directories can free up gigabytes of space that are not formally “music” but take up space in the audio section.

Special attention should be paid to the.thumbnails folder or hidden music app cache. If you use third-party players like PowerAmp or AIMP, they can create their own cache and cover folders. Deleting the contents of these folders is safe, but will lead to applications that will load album covers longer the next time you run. Also check the Download folder, since many browsers by default save all downloaded files there.

For advanced users, it will be useful to know that you can sort files by size. In the explorer, select the sorting "By size" to immediately see the heaviest audio files. Often, forgotten recordings of the recorder or long podcasts in MP3 or WAV format, which weigh significantly more than regular tracks, are left in memory.

Removal of MIUI system ringtones and melodies

One of the most annoying features of Xiaomi smartphones is the presence of a large number of pre-installed system melodies, ringtones and notification sounds, which occupy space in the “Other” or “System files” section and are not deleted by conventional methods, because they are protected by system access rights. To the average user, these files look like undeleteable garbage that cannot be removed without special knowledge.

The standard path to these files is to Internal Memory → MIUI → sound. Inside you'll find the alarm, notification, and ringtone folders. Trying to delete files from here through standard Explorer will most often result in a "No permissions" or "Superuser permission required." This is an Android security mechanism that prevents damage to system integrity.

There are several ways to get around this limitation: the safest is to use a computer and an ADB (Android Debug Bridge) program; by connecting your phone to your PC in USB debugging mode, you can access the system partition and delete unnecessary files with the command line; the second option is to get Root rights, which gives you full control of the file system, but can take away guarantees and can disrupt banking applications; the third, easier way is to simply ignore them, since they take up relatively little space compared to user content.

⚠️ Warning: Attempting to delete system files through third-party file managers with Root rights can result in a device “bootloop” (cyclic reboot.

Cleaning up cache and music application data

Even if you delete all the tracks, memory can remain busy, and the reason lies in the cache of applications. Music players such as Mi Music, Yandex.Music or VK Music, keep album covers in high resolution, song lyrics and temporary buffers of streaming audio. Over time, the cache can grow to several gigabytes, which significantly affects the speed of the smartphone.

To clear the cache, go to Settings → Apps → All Apps. Find your main music player (like Mi's Music) on the list. Click on it and select Memory. Here you'll see two buttons: Clear Cache and Clear Everything (or Reset) clicking on Clear Cache will safely delete temporary files without affecting your personal settings and playlists. This is a recommended procedure to speed up work.

If you choose Clear Everything or Reset, the app will return to its state immediately after installation. All your local playlists, equalizer settings, and listening history will be lost. However, if the application is not working properly, freezes or doesn't see files, a full reset is often the only working solution. After reset, rescan the device for music.

• 🚀 Go to the phone settings and open the "Apps" section».
• 🔍 Find the Music list or the name of your streaming service.
• 🧹 Click on Clear Cache to securely delete temporary data.
• ⚙️ Use “Clean Everything” only if the app is running with errors.

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Regularly cleaning the music app cache (once a month) helps prevent interface brakes and errors when scanning the media library.

Using Xiaomi's built-in cleaner

The MIUI and HyperOS shells have a powerful built-in tool called Clearer, which is often underrated, and it can find not only system debris, but also large files, including music, videos and archives, and it's a great way to quickly analyze the contents of memory without installing third-party software, which often contains ads.

Run the Security app (green shield icon) and select Clean up. After scanning, the system will prompt you to remove the garbage. But we're interested in deep scanning. Scroll down to Big Files or Storage Analysis. Here, files are sorted by type. Select Audio or Music category. The cleaner will show you the most voluminous tracks, allowing you to selectively remove what you don't need.

The advantage of this method is that it shows files in the context of their size. You can see a track that weighs 50MB (perhaps it's a lossless FLAC format) and decide if you need it on your phone, or if the cloud version is enough, and the cleaner can find duplicate files that are often formed when you sync with your computer.

⚠️ Warning: Built-in cleaner can label as "junk" files you saved for offline listening.Always check the list before mass deletion.

Remove music through connection to a computer

The most reliable and quick way to manage large amounts of music is to connect your smartphone to your computer via a computer. USB-This method allows you to use file managers PC (for example, Total Commander or standard Windows Explorer), which are faster and more convenient than mobile counterparts.

Connect your phone to your PC with a cable. You'll see a connection mode request on your smartphone screen -- select File Transfer (MTP). On your computer, open the device that appears. You can now navigate through folders, copy music to your computer for backup, and delete excess from your phone. USB 3.0 data transfer speeds are much faster than Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

It also allows you to identify broken files that are not being deleted from your phone, and if the file is not being deleted via your PC, it may be damaged or busy, and it might help to format the memory card (if the music is stored on it) or use utilities like DiskDigger to force it to be deleted, so remember to safely remove the device after you've finished.

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Connecting to a PC is the most efficient way to mass sort and remove music, allowing you to use the power of desktop file managers.