How to effectively clean the “Other” section in Xiaomi memory

Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face cryptic notification of a space shortage when the storage is overflowing. Standard analysis shows that the bulk of the mass is not the app cache or the gallery, but a mysterious section called “The Other” – a sector of memory that becomes a “black hole” where the system and programs put temporary files, logs, remnants of remote applications and messenger cache.

To make matters worse, standard cleaning through embedded tools is not always effective. System debris can take up tens of gigabytes, slowing down the device and causing interface lags. Understanding the nature of these files is the first step to freeing up valuable space on your device.

In this article, we will discuss proven methods that will help to safely free up space, learn how to manually delete excess, which folders can not be touched, and how to prevent the re-overflow of internal memory. The Other section often hides the cache of streaming services and messengers that is not removed by standard cleaning.

What’s Hidden in the “Other” Section on MIUI and HyperOS

The Other section (sometimes referred to as System or Other) is not a single file, but a collection of data that the Android operating system in the MIUI or HyperOS shell cannot classify as images, video or audio, including APK installation packages, temporary update files, navigation map cache, and streaming platform data.

Telegram and WhatsApp have a habit of saving all received media files in their internal directories, which the system perceives as system data of the application, not as a user gallery, which is why removing a photo from a chat does not always free up space in the “Other” section.

⚠️ Note: Do not attempt to delete files from system folders through root-right file managers without understanding their purpose.Deleting.so libraries or configuration files can lead to a cyclical smartphone reboot.

This section also often gets the tails of remote applications, if you install and delete many programs, their files can continue to take up space for years, and content analysis requires careful attention, because the line between useful cache and garbage is sometimes very thin.

Basic cleaning through the built-in “Safety” application

The easiest and safest way to start the fight for space is to use Xiaomi’s regular tools.Security is already preinstalled on all devices of the brand and has access to system areas closed to third-party programs.

To start a deep cleaning, you need to open the application and select the Cleanup option, the system will scan and suggest removing obvious debris: advertising files, remnants of deleted applications and temporary files, but to work with the Other section, you need to go to the Deep Cleanup section.

• 📱 Open the Security app on your desktop or in the Tools folder».
• 🧹 Click on the Cleanup button and wait for the initial analysis to be completed.
• 🔍 Select the Deep Clean option at the bottom of the screen for detailed scanning.
• ✅ Mark the categories “Large Files”, “App Files” and “Unused Applications».

It's important to understand that the built-in cleaner is often too conservative, because it's afraid to delete something important, so it skips a lot of the cache, for example, it can clear the browser's cache, but it won't touch the gigabytes of YouTube or TikTok cache that inflate the "Other" section.

💡

Use the “Accelerate” function in the notification curtain before starting the cleaner – this will close the background processes and allow the scanner to work faster and more efficiently.

After the procedure is completed, it is recommended to restart the device. Restart is necessary in order for the file system to recalculate the index of occupied blocks and correctly display the vacant space in the storage settings.

Manual cleaning of the cache of messengers and social networks

The main culprits of the Other section sprawl are messengers. Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber and social networks save huge amounts of data for fast download. This cache is not deleted automatically and requires manual intervention through the settings of the application itself.

Consider the example of Telegram, which is famous for its appetite for memory, which has a built-in memory management tool inside the app that allows you to flexibly adjust autodelete and clear the current cache, which is the safest way, since it does not affect your correspondence, but only deletes temporarily downloaded media.

Settings → Data and memory → Memory Use → Clear cache

For WhatsApp, the procedure is slightly different, as this messenger stores backups and media files in the file system. It is recommended to first clear the cache through the Android settings, and then check the Android/media/com.whatsapp folder.

• 💬 Go to the settings of a specific messenger.
• 🗑️ Find the Data and Memory or Storage section.
• 📉 Click the Clear Cache button (not to be confused with “Clear Data»!).
• ⚙️ Enable the auto-delete cache function (e.g., store media for 3 days).

⚠️ Note: The Clear Data button will completely remove the app along with all correspondence and logins to your account).

Social networks like Instagram and TikTok also accumulate gigabytes of temporary files, often without a cache clearing button, so they have to use the “Data Clearup” method through Android settings, which will require re-authorization, but will make room.

Analysis of storage using third-party snails

If standard methods don't help you pinpoint the source of the problem, specialized analytics apps come to the rescue, and they visualize the file system, showing which folders and files are taking up the most space, and one of the most effective tools is DiskUsage or Files by Google.

DiskUsage scans internal memory and builds an interactive map in rectangles, the size of the rectangle is proportional to the size of the file or folder, and it allows you to instantly find hidden folders with logs or forgotten downloads that inflate the "Other" section.

In modern versions of Android (11, 12, 13, 14), the system can restrict access to the Android/data folder, where the main cache of applications is stored, in which case the analyzer will show the general dimensions, but will not be able to detail the content without special permissions.

Using SD Maid (SE or Corp) is considered the “gold standard” for advanced users, a tool that can find remote applications’ bodies and system debris that other programs ignore, but one must work with it carefully, reading file descriptions carefully before deleting.

Using Developer Mode and ADB for Deep Cleaning

For users who aren’t afraid of technical terms, there’s a USB debugging and computer-based method of cleaning up, and connecting to ADB (Android Debug Bridge) allows you to access system commands and remove cache where conventional applications can’t get.

The first step is to activate the developer mode, and you need to quickly click 7 times on the build number in the About Phone section, and after the message "You became a developer" appears, a new item will appear in the settings menu.

adb shell pm clear com.android.chrome


adb shell pm clear com.google.android.youtube

This command completely cleans the data and cache of the specified application (in the example of Chrome and YouTube), this is a radical method that resets the application into a “what’s out of the box” state. All logins and settings within the application will be lost, but space will be freed up.

Also, through ADB, you can remove Xiaomi system applications that are not needed by the user, but take up space and generate logs. Removing system components requires extreme caution: removing a critical service can lead to the inoperability of the phone.

• 💻 Connect your phone to your PC with a cable in file transfer mode.
• 🔧 Turn on Debugging. USB developer menu.
• 🖥️ Run the command line on a computer with installed ADB.
• 🗑️ Enter the command adb shell pm clear name.packet for cleaning.

⚠️ Attention: Before use ADB Make sure to make a full backup of important data. A packet name error when removing system components may require the device to be flashed.

Overflow prevention and system setup

To keep the problem from returning, you need to change your smartphone usage habits, and regular prevention is more effective than dealing with the consequences, and you need to limit the auto-saving of media files in messengers.

In the Telegram and WhatsApp settings, disable auto-save in the gallery. This will not only keep the photo album clean, but also prevent duplicate files: the same video will not lie in the app cache and in the general gallery, occupying double the volume.

💡

Regularly restarting your smartphone (at least once a week) helps the system automatically reset temporary files and logs, preventing them from accumulating in the Other section.

It's also helpful to check Downloads periodically, and many users download documents, app installers, and pictures, forget about them, and they lie dead for years, slowly turning into system debris when they delete the apps themselves.

Using cloud storage (Google Photos, Yandex.Disk, Xiaomi Cloud) with the “Free Space” function allows you to store original photos in the cloud, leaving only compressed copies on the device or completely deleting them locally, which dramatically reduces the pressure on internal memory.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)