Why Xiaomi Smartphone Deletes Music: Reasons and Ways to Recover

You downloaded your favorite tracks, added them to the playlist, but after a few days you found that the music had disappeared from your Xiaomi phone without you, and this problem is familiar to many owners of devices on Xiaomi's MIUI, the company's shell. The reasons may lie in both system settings and third-party applications. In this article, we'll go into detail about why this happens, how to return deleted files and prevent repeated losses.

It's important to understand that Xiaomi doesn't delete music "just like that." There's always a specific trigger behind it -- whether it's cache clearing, cloud sync failure, or memory optimizer action. We've analyzed user reports and MIUI technical documentation to highlight 7 key reasons, and you'll find here unique ways to recover files that are not described in most forums.

1. Automatic cleaning of cache and debris

The most common reason for music to disappear is the operation of the built-in Cleanup tool (formerly Security), which is a module in MIUI that aggressively deletes files the system considers "unnecessary," including:

• 🎵 Music downloaded via a browser or messengers (for example, Telegram), if it has not been played for a long time
• 📁 Files from Download or Music folders marked as “temporary»
• 🔄 Cash of music applications (Spotify, Yandex Music, VK Music) if it exceeds the limit

By default, MIUI clears the cache once a week, but some models (such as the Redmi Note 10 Pro or POCO X3 Pro) do so more often because of aggressive memory saving algorithms, the problem is exacerbated if you use Light mode, in which the system deletes files even without notification.

⚠️ Note: If you download music via Telegram or VKontakte, the files are automatically marked as “cache” and can be deleted at the first cleanup. To avoid this, immediately move the tracks to the Internal folder. Storage/Music.

How to turn off automatic cleaning:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Cleaning.
2. Select Auto Cleanup and deactivate the slider.
3. In the Exceptions section, add music folders (e.g. /storage/emulated/0/Music).

Failures in operation MIUI Music and other players

The proprietary MIUI Music app (or Music) is known for file management bugs. Users of Xiaomi Mi 11, Redmi 9 and other models often encounter the fact that the app:

• 🔄 Self-optimizes the library by removing tracks with broken tags (for example, without covers or tags)
• 📥 Moves files to the Mi Cloud without warning if sync is enabled
• 🚫 Blocks access to folders if they were created by third-party applications (e.g. Poweramp)

Bugs are especially common after updates. MIUI. For example, in the version MIUI 13, a bug was discovered that caused the Music app to delete.flac and.wav files, believing them to be "damaged." MIUI 14 Partially solved, but still complains of missing playlists.

How to check if the app is to blame:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management → Music.
2. Check the Warehouse section – if it says “0 B”, then the files were deleted by the player.
3. Try playing music through another player (like VLC or BlackPlayer).

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If you use MIUI Music, regularly export playlists to file.m3u. To do this, open the playlist. → ⋮ → Export. This will help restore the track list even if the files disappear.

3. Conflicts with cloud services (Mi Cloud, Google Drive)

If your Xiaomi is synced to Mi Cloud or Google Drive, the music may disappear due to:

• 🔄 Version conflict: cloud replaces local files with lightweight versions (with reduced bitrate)
• 📁 Automatic Duplicate Removal: If the same track is in the cloud and on your phone, the system can only leave a cloud copy.
• 🚫 Storage Restrictions: When you exceed the limit of the Mi Cloud (5 GB for a free account) deletes the oldest files

For example, users of Xiaomi 12T complained that after upgrading to MIUI 14, all tracks from the Music folder were replaced with links to Mi Cloud, although the sync itself was disabled, it turned out that a bug in the Mi Cloud Sync module that was activated when connecting to Wi-Fi was to blame.

How to check cloud synchronization:

1. Open your Settings → Accounts → Mi Cloud
2. Check if sync is enabled for the Music or Files section.
3. If so, turn it off and restart the phone.

4. File system errors and damage SD-map

If the music is stored on SD-The map, its disappearance may be related to:

• 🛑 Damage to the file system (for example, after retrieving the card without safely disabling)
• 📉 Failures in the adapter (on some Xiaomi models, microSD cards are turned off when overheating)
• 🔄 Automatic formatting: MIUI You can ask to format the card if you find errors on it.

Users of the Redmi Note 8 Pro and POCO F3 Often faced with the fact that after updating the system, the phone stops “seeing” music on the Internet. SD-The reason is a change in the permission to access folders, for example, after updating to the MIUI 12.5 Many files are “hidden” and not displayed in players.

How to check SD-map:

1. Connect the card to the computer through the card reader.
2. Run error check (in Windows: right-click on the drive → Properties → Service → Check).
3. If files are not displayed, try recovering them via Recuva or PhotoRec.

⚠️ Note: If your Xiaomi suddenly offered to format SD-You can first remove the card and check it on another device, and formatting will delete all the data without any recovery.

Use safe extraction before pulling out the card |

Check the card for viruses once a month |

Do not fill the card more than 90% |

Format the card to the exFAT file system (for files) >4GB)-->

5. Actions of optimizers and “accelerators”

Memory cleanup applications (such as Clean Master, DU Speed Booster, or the built-in MIUI Optimizer) often delete music as “unnecessary data,” and are particularly aggressive:

• 🧹 Clean Master: Deletes files from Download and Music folders if they haven’t opened for more than 3 days
• ⚡ DU Speed Booster: Can Mark Music Files as “Junk” if Downloaded via Browser
• 📱 Built-in Optimizer MIUI: Clears the cache of music apps if they haven’t been used for a long time

For example, after installing Clean Master on the Xiaomi Mi A3, users complained that the app had deleted more than 2 GB of music, leaving only playlists without files, while the cleanup report stated that “cache and temporary files” had been deleted.

How to protect music from SEOs:

1. Open the optimizer settings (e.g. Clean Master → Settings → Ignore the list).
2. Add music folders (/storage/emulated/0/Music) to the exceptions.
3. Turn off automatic cleaning in the application settings.

6. Viruses and malware

Viruses can remove music in several scenarios:

• 🦠 Ransomware Trojans: encrypt or delete files to blackmail the user (for example, Android.Filecoder virus)
• 📴 Adware: Deletes files to make room for advertising modules
• 🔄 Botnets: Use your phone for mining or DDoS attacks, clearing the memory for your needs

In 2022, a case was recorded when the virus Android.Trojan.DownLoader masqueraded as an update. MIUI And deleted all media files (music, photos, videos) on Xiaomi devices. 9A and POCO M3 The data was lost due to a virus that spread through fake APK-update-file.

How to check your phone for viruses:

1. Install antivirus (Malwarebytes, Dr.Web Light or built-in MIUI Security).
2. Scan the device for threats.
3. Check the list of installed apps for suspicious ones (for example, with names like System Update or MIUI Optimizer if you haven’t installed them).

⚠️ Note: If an antivirus detects a virus like Android.Riskware, do not remove it immediately! Some legitimate applications (such as Xiaomi Market or GetApps) may falsely trigger as risky. 4PDA or XDA Developers.

7. Mistakes in updating MIUI

MIUI updates sometimes result in music loss due to:

• 🔄 Resetting folder access rights (for example, after updating to the MIUI 14 Many users have lost access to /storage/emulated/0/Music)
• 📁 Transferring files to a new location (in the MIUI 13 folder structure changed and some players stopped seeing music)
• 🚫 Conflicts with custom firmware (e.g. Xiaomi.EU or Pixel Experience) may not work properly with media files)

A typical case is that after the Redmi Note 10 upgrade to MIUI 13.0.4, users found that the music had disappeared from the gallery and player, even though the files were physically left in place, the problem was resetting the index of media files, which caused the system to simply “not see them.”

How to Restore Music After Updating:

1. Restart your phone – sometimes it helps the system re-index files.
2. Open Settings → Apps → Show all apps → Music → Storage → Clear the cache.
3. Use a file manager (such as Solid Explorer) to manually search files by extension (.mp3,.flac,.m4a).

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If the music has disappeared after the MIUI update, don't rush to reset your phone to factory settings! First check the /storage/emulated/0/Android/media folder - often files are transferred there automatically.

FAQ: Frequent questions about missing music on Xiaomi