Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face a situation where the system notifies about cloud storage overflows, which is a critical point, since when you fill the 5 GB limit, new photos, contacts and notes automatically stop synchronizing, and the user risks losing important data in the event of a device failure or loss if you do not take action in time.
To make matters worse, modern cameras take high-resolution pictures and video recordings take up gigabytes of memory. The standard Mi Cloud tariff is quickly exhausted, especially if you shoot a lot of 4K videos or take a series of pictures. In this guide, we will discuss effective ways to free up space, set up automatic cleaning, and consider alternative storage options.
Don’t ignore the warnings, as this can lead to data being out of sync between your devices.We’ll look at both free optimization methods and paid extensions so you can choose the best option for your needs.
Analysis of vault occupancy
Before you delete files at random, you need to determine exactly what is taking up space in your account. Mi Cloud has a built-in analyzer that shows the distribution of memory by category, which allows you to see whether a large number of photos, application backups or old records of the recorder is a problem.
To access the statistics, go to the smartphone settings and go to the Mi Account section. Here you will see the occupancy scale and the list of categories. Most often, the lion's share of memory is occupied by the Gallery and backups of the system. Detailed browsing helps to identify the "heavyweights" that you may have forgotten about.
- 📸 Gallery: usually takes up to 80% of the space, including deleted albums.
- 📱 Backups: settings data, desktop layouts and application lists.
- 📝 Notes and Recorder: audio files and text documents can weigh unexpectedly a lot.
- 📧 Email: attachments and email cache synchronized with the cloud.
⚠️ Warning: Don't rush to delete the entire Backup folder unless you're sure you have an up-to-date backup on your computer. Losing system settings may require a long manual setup of the smartphone over again.
Analysis of data structure is the first and most important step, and without understanding what is eating your memory, you can delete important files while leaving unnecessary debris, and take a few minutes to study the statistics, which will save time in the future.
Removal of duplicates and unnecessary photos
The fastest way to free up space is to work with the media library. The cameras of modern Xiaomi smartphones create highly detailed images that take up a significant amount of space. Often users make a series of ten frames to choose the best one, forgetting to delete the other nine.
The Gallery app has Albums, which automatically sorts screenshots, selfies and videos. Go through the Screenshots folder, which often accumulates digital debris that is not valuable. It's also worth checking the Deleted folder, since deleted files are stored there for another 30 days and continue to take up space in the cloud.
☑️ Cleaning the Gallery
Video files should be given special attention. Even a short 4K video can weigh more than a thousand photos. If you have important but heavy videos, consider moving them to a computer or external hard drive and removing them from the cloud.
- 🗑️ Use the Cleanup tool in the Security app to find similar photos.
- 🎬 Convert long videos to a lighter format before downloading.
- 📂 Clean your cart regularly in cloud storage.
Managing system backups
Backup is an important feature of the Mi Cloud, but by default it can store redundant data. The system offers to save not only contacts and messages, but also desktop layout, call history and Wi-Fi settings. Over time, the size of these backups grows.
Go to the backup settings and see which apps are included in the list, often games or programs that don't have a major user progression or that have data stored on the developer's servers, and disabling those apps from the backup will significantly reduce the amount of time it takes.
What goes into a full backup system?
It's also worth checking the frequency of backups, and if you have a daily update, you can store older versions of backups in the cloud that can be safely removed, leaving only the latest one, especially if you rarely change your phone settings.
| Type of data | Average size | Recommendation | Importance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photos and videos | High (GB) | Clear out the takes, compress the video | Tall. |
| Backup of the system | Medium (MB) | Leave only the last one. | Medium |
| Notes and Recorder | Low (MB) | Delete old records | Depends on the user. |
| Wi-Fi settings | Minimum (CB) | You can't save it. | Low. |
Disabling synchronization for heavy applications
Not all data is vitally needed to be stored in the Xiaomi cloud.Some applications, such as video editors or navigators, can create cache or temporary files that are automatically sent to the cloud if filters are not configured.
In the sync menu, you can selectively turn off certain categories, for example, if you don't use the built-in voice recorder for important recordings, you can safely turn it off, which will prevent random noise files from entering your storage.
Also, check the security and scanner settings. Sometimes, logs of checks or virus reports can also be fed into cloud reports. Disabling these options won't affect security, but it will save precious megabytes.
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Use the "Storage Optimization" feature in the Gallery settings, which allows you to store the original photos on your device, and only upload compressed copies to the cloud, saving up to 70% of space.
It's important to understand the difference between synchronization and backup. Synchronization works in real time, and backup is created on schedule. By turning off synchronization for heavy files, you speed up your smartphone and save traffic.
Use of alternative cloud services
If you are not in a position to have 5GB of free space, it makes sense to consider alternatives.The Xiaomi ecosystem does not prohibit the use of third-party services such as Google Photos, Yandex.Disk or Disk-O.
The most popular solution is Mi Cloud for contacts and settings, and Google Photos for media. Google provides 15GB for free, which is three times more than Xiaomi. By setting up automatic uploading photos to Google, you can safely clean the gallery in Mi Cloud.
- 🌐 Google One: Deep integration with Android, easy to take photos.
- ☁️ Yandex.Disk: a popular solution in the CIS, often gives bonuses.
- 💾 TeraBox: Offers large volumes for free, but with advertising.
⚠️ Note: When using multiple cloud services, be sure to avoid confusion as to where the file version is relevant.
Moving data to another service is a strategic solution, allowing you to unload your main Mi Account and use it for its intended purpose: to search for a device and synchronize system parameters, rather than as a file storage.
Expansion of storage: paid tariffs
For users who are deeply integrated into Xiaomi’s ecosystem and don’t want to use third-party services, a paid extension is the most convenient, though not free, way to solve the problem.
Rates are updated regularly, but they typically offer 50GB, 200GB or 2TB of space, paid monthly or annually, and ideal for anyone who blogs on a phone or stores archives of documents in the cloud.
The advantage of extending the fare is that you don't have to delete or move anything, you just get more space, and the synchronization continues as normal, and it saves time and nerves.
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Buying extra space in the Mi Cloud is the quickest solution to the problem without having to delete files or change smartphone usage habits.