Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphone owners often face an intrusive notification that cloud storage is overcrowded, which occurs when the 5GB limit provided free of charge by Mi Cloud is exhausted by photos and videos. The system automatically stops syncing new images, which creates the risk of losing important data when a device breaks down or accidentally deletes files.
It's not always a matter of buying extra space, and it's often due to duplicates, junk screenshots, or forgotten high-resolution videos that take up gigabytes of space. In this article, we'll look at how to properly analyze the contents of the cloud, delete the extra space, and set up automatic cleanups so that your memories are safe and your phone's memory is free.
Memory analysis in Mi Cloud
Before you start taking radical action, you need to know exactly what's taking up space. Mi Cloud stores not only photos, but also backups of contacts, messages and voice recordings. However, the lion's share of the volume is usually media files from the gallery. Go to your account settings through the Settings menu → Mi Account → Mi Cloud for detailed statistics.
Here you'll see the categorization of memory. Often users forget that deleted files first end up in a bin where they can be stored for up to 30 days, continuing to take up space. Also, check the Backup section, where old backups from previous phones can be located. Cleaning old backups is the fastest way to free up a few gigabytes without losing personal photos.
Note the size of video files. One minute video in 4K can weigh more than a thousand photos. If you have sync in the original quality, these files instantly eat up the limit. You can change the download settings in the gallery settings, but you have to manually review the content you have already uploaded.
⚠️ Before mass deleting files from the cloud, make sure that important photos are saved to a physical medium (PC or external hard drive). Sync works both ways: by deleting a photo in the cloud, you can delete it from your phone if you don’t configure local storage.
Cleaning the gallery through the web interface
Managing files directly from your smartphone screen is sometimes inconvenient, especially if you need to highlight hundreds of objects at once. The web version of the service at i.mi.com provides a more powerful toolkit for working with the file structure. Sign in to your account through a browser on your computer for maximum comfort.
The web gallery interface allows you to sort files by creation date or size, which is critical to finding heavy videos that you might have made a year ago and forget about. Select unnecessary videos and press the delete button. Changes will instantly affect all synchronized devices.
Use preview to quickly scroll through albums and find sequences of identical shots. Often we take 10 frames to pick the best one, and all ten fly to the cloud. Deleting serial shots is a great way to save space. Remember to check the folder "Recently deleted" after that.
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Use the Ctrl+A (or Command+A on Mac) key combination in the web interface to quickly highlight all files in the current folder if you plan to clean the partition completely.
Pay special attention to the album "Favorites": sometimes heavy files that you wanted to save forever, but they are no longer relevant, are accidentally dropped there, and checking this section often reveals forgotten screenshots of checks, tickets or correspondence that have long lost meaning.
Removal of duplicates and similar photos
Modern MIUI and HyperOS shells have built-in duplicate search algorithms, but they don't always work perfectly. For deep cleaning, it's better to use third-party, but proven applications from Google Play that specialize in finding visually similar images, which will help you find frames taken at a minimum interval.
The cleaning process should be systematic. First, sort the photos by size and delete the blurry images. Then go through the screenshots. Often users save images from messengers that are automatically duplicated in the gallery and synced to the cloud. Deleting junk screenshots can free up to 20% of the space.
Remember video files. Even a short 15-second high-bit video can weigh more than 500 photos. If you have long recordings of concerts or events that you never watch, you better transfer them to your computer and remove them from the cloud.
☑️ Checklist for quick cleaning
Synchronization and optimization
To prevent the cloud album problem from returning every month, you need to configure your sync settings correctly. From the gallery menu, go to the Mi Cloud settings, where you can turn off sync for certain albums, such as screenshots or uploaded images from WhatsApp.
Turn on Storage Optimization. When you activate optimization, the original photos are stored in the cloud, and the device has smaller copies of them. This allows you to free up space on the smartphone itself, but requires a stable Internet to view the photos in high quality. If space in the cloud is limited, this feature is better to disable and store the originals locally on the memory card.
It’s also worth checking the settings for automatic video downloads. Xiaomi can try to upload any video you take to the cloud by default, change the settings so that the video is synced only over Wi-Fi, or turn off downloading them altogether, leaving only photos in the cloud.
| Parameter | Recommended value | Impact on memory |
|---|---|---|
| Synchronization of photo | On (Wi-Fi only) | High (main consumer) |
| Synchronization of video | Off. | Critical (video takes up 80% of the space) |
| Synchronization of screenshots | Off. | Medium (frequently accumulates garbage) |
| Optimizing storage | If necessary, | Save space on your device, not in the cloud |
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Disabling video sync is the most effective way to extend the life of the free Mi Cloud fare, as videos take up the largest volume.
Alternative solutions and data transfer
If you’re short on 5GB and don’t want to pay for your Mi Cloud+ subscription, consider alternative cloud services. Google Photos offers 15GB of free space, three times more than Xiaomi. You can reconfigure the gallery sync to Google services by turning off Mi Cloud for photos.
Another reliable option is to use cloud storage from Yandex, Telegram (favorite or closed channel) or Dropbox. Many users create a bot in Telegram and send important photos there, getting unlimited (albeit compressed) storage.
Do not forget about the classic methods: Regularly resetting photos to a computer or externally. SSD-The gold standard for security is a drive, so once a month, plug your phone into your PC and copy the folder. DCIM. After that, you can safely clean the cloud and memory of the phone, knowing that the data is safe.
⚠️ Warning: When switching cloud services (e.g. from Mi Cloud to Google Photos), make sure that old photos are fully uploaded to the new storage before removing them from the old one.