The situation where a smartphone suddenly reports a shortage of space, and in the analysis of storage the lion's share is given to the mysterious "Other" section, is familiar to many owners of the Miui and HyperOS ecosystem. Users often fall into a stupor when they find that this sector can take 20, 30 and even 50 gigabytes, although photos and applications take up quite a bit, a systemic cumulative effect that requires competent intervention, not panic.
The Android operating system that runs Xiaomi phones doesn’t have a single standard for classifying all temporary files, so it just dumps everything it couldn’t uniquely identify as media, documents, or application installers into one basket, and understanding the nature of that data is the first step to successfully clean a device without losing important information.
Next, we will go into detail about the mechanisms of this “garbage”, consider safe methods of freeing up space and answer frequent questions, learn to distinguish critical system files from mindlessly accumulated cache that can be deleted without conscience, the main thing is to act consistently and not delete system folders manually without understanding their purpose.
The Nature of the Other in Android
The Other section (sometimes referred to as System Data) is not a virus or counting error, it is a collection of app cache, residual files after deleted programs, system time logs, and data that the operating system failed to recognize, and when you actively use messengers, browsers, or streaming services, they create thousands of small files to speed up work.
Over time, these files are no longer useful but are not automatically deleted, such as Telegram or WhatsApp can store copies of the photos and videos sent in their internal cache, which the standard analyzer sees as “Other”, and update files that the system did not delete after installing the new version of MIUI.
⚠️ Warning: Do not attempt to delete files from the Android root folder through the file manager manually unless you know the exact purpose of each object.This can lead to unstable smartphone operation or cyclical reboot.
It's important to understand that this partition is dynamic, and it can grow in a single day of navigating or watching high-resolution video, and Xiaomi's system is trying to optimize this process, but without periodic manual cleaning, it's inevitable that memory will blow up.
Storage Analysis: Finding Hidden Consumers
Before you start cleaning, you need to do a diagnostic. Standard MIUI tools provide the basic tool, but it often hides the details. For deep analysis, you better use the built-in Security app or download a specialized disk space analyzer that visualizes the structure of folders.
And you can look at social media and messenger apps, and they're often the main culprits, and in the settings of a particular application, in the data usage or storage section, you can see the actual cache size, and if the standard menu shows 500MB and the reality in the Other is 10GB, then the application stores the data in hidden directories.
The next step is to check the Android/data folder, which stores game and heavy app data, and removing the contents of this folder can slow down progress in games or setting up programs, so be careful, but files with the.tmp extension or folders with the names of remote applications can be deleted safely.
- 📱 Messengers: Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber accumulate gigabytes of media files.
- 🌐 Browsers: Chrome and Yandex.Browser store cache pages and auto-saved passwords.
- 🎵 Streaming: Spotify, YouTube and Netflix cache cover art and video snippets.
- 🎮 Cache of texture and resources often lies separate from the main file of the game.
Safe cleaning through standard tools
The safest way to free up space is to use the built-in functionality. On Xiaomi smartphones, the Security app (a zipper or shield icon) is responsible for this, and it has access to system partitions and knows which files can be deleted without affecting the stability of the operating system.
Run the app and select Cleanup. The system will scan the device and suggest removing the garbage. Don't stop there: go to Deep Cleanup. Here you'll find large files, duplicate photos and, most importantly, application data. The tool will show how much space the cache of each software installed takes up.
☑️ Standard cleaning algorithm
You should also use the "Accelerate" feature, which closes the background processes. Although this does not delete files permanently, it clears the RAM and can help the system recalculate occupied space more correctly. After the procedure, restart the device so that the changes take effect.
⚠️ Attention: Cache Clearing is secure in the app settings. Clear all data will delete your login, password and correspondence within this app!
If the standard tool didn't help to free up enough space, move on to more detailed methods. Sometimes the system requires several cleanup and reboot cycles to update the indexing of files and correctly display the freed space.
Manual cleaning of garbage through the file manager
For advanced users, manual cleaning is available through the standard Explorer. Open it and go to the folder category. Look for directories with names of previously deleted applications — they often remain dead weight. Also check the Download folder where.apk installation files and documents accumulate.
Pay special attention to messenger folders. In the Android/media directory or at the root of memory, you can find folders com.whatsapp, com.telegram. They often have subfolders video, image, document. You can manually delete old unnecessary files, leaving only the current ones.
Should I delete the folder.thumbnails?
Don't forget the folder. MIUI/debug_log. It can store debugging logs that take up a significant amount if debugging was once included. USB. Files can be deleted completely, these are diagnostic data that are not necessary for the ordinary user.
- 🗑️ Log folder: Contains system error logs, is safe to clean.
- 📦 Backup folder: Check for old backups if you don't need them.
- 📄 Temp folder: Temporary files that are created and forgotten by apps.
Specifics of cleaning messengers and social networks
Messengers are the main memory eaters in the Other section. They save every photo and video you see, even if you haven't saved it to a gallery. On Telegram, for example, the cache can swell to incredible sizes. Go to the app settings: Data and memory → Memory Use, where you can set up automatic cache cleanup (for example, in 3 days) or manually clean it right now.
WhatsApp is similar, but there's a nuance to the database: If you back up chats and then uninstall the app and re-install it, the database can shrink to get rid of fragmented data, but make sure to back up Google Drive before you do that.
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In Telegram settings, enable Auto Delete for cache. Set a limit of, for example, 1 GB or 500 MB, and the app will delete old files, freeing up space in the Other section.
Social networks like VK or Instagram also cache feeds. These apps often don’t have a “Clear Cache” button in their settings, so the only way to do this is to reinstall the app or clear the data through Android system settings (Apps → App Name → Storage → Clear Cache).
Radical methods: Resetting and flashing
If the Other partition is critical (over 40-50 GB) and doesn’t shrink after all the cleanings, there may be bugs or broken clusters in the file system, in which case a full factory reset helps, guaranteed to bring the phone back to the out-of-the-box state.
Before the Hard Reset procedure, be sure to save all important data to your computer or the cloud. After the reset, do not restore the backup of the applications "wholesale", since you can return all the accumulated garbage.
| Cleaning method | Efficiency | Risk of data loss | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard cleaning | Low. | No. | Low. |
| Cleaning up the app cache | Medium | No (only temporary files) | Medium |
| Manual deletion of folders | Tall. | Medium (can be removed extra) | Tall. |
| Reset to factory settings | Maximum | Tall (requires backup) | Medium |
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Wipe Data is the only solution if the file system is logically corrupted and standard methods do not help reduce the Other partition.
In extreme cases, when even a reset doesn’t work (which is extremely rare), the problem may be the physical degradation of flash memory or the bug of a particular firmware version, then consider flashing the device through your computer using the Mi Flash Tool utility, selecting the “Clean all” mode.
Prevention of memory overflow
To prevent the problem of the “bloated” partition from returning in a month, introduce useful habits. Regularly, at least once a week, check the storage. Do not allow the memory to be filled “to the end” – for the correct operation of Android and trimming mechanisms (optimization) you need to leave at least 10-15% of the total free.
Use cloud services. Set up an automatic upload of photos and videos to Google Photos or Xiaomi cloud with the “Free Space” function, which will remove the originals from the device, leaving them available in the cloud, which will significantly reduce the load on the internal drive.
⚠️ Note: Do not install applications from unknown sources (not from Play Market or GetApps). Such programs often do not have a digital signature and can create hidden processes that generate garbage in the Other section».
Also keep an eye out for system updates. Xiaomi engineers are constantly releasing patches that optimize the file system. If you notice a sharp rise in the Other after the update, it may be a temporary indexing bug that will fix in a couple of days or after a reboot.