Owning a Xiaomi smartphone involves using MIUI shells or the new HyperOS, which are radically different from pure Android in their approach to organizing space. Often users are faced with a situation where the device for unknown reasons runs out of space, or the battery is discharged faster than usual, although there are no visible “heavy” programs on the menu. This is because a significant part of the software, including Google system services, Mi analytics and advertising modules, is hidden by default from the eyes of the ordinary owner of the gadget.
Finding all installed apps isn’t just a way to clean up the menu, it’s a necessary measure to optimize performance and ensure the digital security of the device. Unlike standard launchers, Xiaomi’s system can hide entire folders of utilities that are accessed through special gestures or secret codes. Understanding where these files are hidden gives you complete control over the gadget and allows you to remove the really unnecessary software, which is often called bloatware.
In this article, we will take a look at all the known ways to detect any software installed on your Xiaomi, Redmi or Poco.We will look at both the standard system tools and more advanced methods available through the engineering menu and third-party utilities.You will learn to distinguish between critical system processes and advertising junk that can be safely deactivated.
Use of the built-in application manager
The easiest and safest way to see what is installed on your device is to use a full-time shell controller. However, many users limit themselves to viewing the home screen, overlooking that the full list is deeper. To access it, you need to go to Settings → Apps → All apps. This displays a list of all the software, from system components to user downloads.
The interface in this section allows you to sort programs by size, frequency of use, or installation date, and it's a very useful feature for identifying heavyweights that take up gigabytes of memory. Look at the Permissions tab, where you can see which programs have access to your camera, microphone, or geolocation. Permission control is the first step to improving data privacy.
However, the in-house manager doesn't show everything. Some system services, such as Mi Cloud, Analytics, or MDM (Mobile Device Management), can be hidden or displayed without icons. For a deeper analysis, you should use the search function inside the settings, entering the name of a particular package if you suspect it is present.
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Use search in your phone settings by entering system process names (such as "msa" or "daemon") to quickly find them to turn off without manually scrolling through long lists.
It is important to understand that removing or disabling some components through a standard interface may be blocked.The Remove button will be inactive for mission-critical services.In such cases, the system protects itself from accidental damage, but leaves the ability to disable the application if the manufacturer's security policy allows.
Find hidden apps through security settings
One of the unique features of the MIUI shell is the Hidden Applications feature, which allows you to hide the icons of selected programs from prying eyes. Often users forget which applications they have hidden, or the device has already installed programs with hidden status by default. To find them, open the standard Security application (green icon with lightning).
Scroll down to Hidden Apps. If the feature is activated, you'll see a list of programs that aren't displayed in the menu and search. Log in this section may require you to enter a special password or make a gesture (such as putting your fingers out on the side of your desktop) This creates an additional layer of privacy for your data.
- 🔍 Open the Security app on the home screen.
- 📉 Scroll down and find the item “Hidden Apps».
- 🔓 Enter a password or perform agesture if required.
- 👁️ Study the list and switch toggles to display icons.
If you find programs that are unfamiliar here, it's worth checking their purpose, sometimes it's system widgets or components of Google services that a user accidentally hid when trying to optimize the desktop, and returning them to visibility will allow them to manage their updates and resolutions through standard settings.
Viewing Google System Processes and Services
A significant portion of the space and energy consumed is Google services and Xiaomi system processes, which do not have a user interface, and you can find them by turning on the system processes display in the developer settings or using special menus. To do this, go to Settings → About Phone → MIUI version and quickly click 7-10 times on the build number to activate the developer mode.
When activated, the "Additional" menu will have a "Developers" option, and we're interested in "Process Statistics" or "Working Services" section, which shows all currently active processes, including those that don't have a graphical shell, and you can see the actual RAM consumption of each component of the system.
⚠️ Warning: Be extremely careful when stopping processes in this menu. UI, Phone or Google Play Services can cause phone to malfunction, reboot or loss of communication.
Also worth noting is the Battery Use section, which often hides processes with names like miui.daemon, msa (advertising service) or analytics. Their high energy consumption suggests that they are actively collecting data or displaying ads in the background, and understanding what each process is responsible for will help you decide to turn it off.
Use ADB commands for a complete list of packages
For advanced users looking to get a complete list of all the packages installed, including those that are invisible even in the engineering menus, the best tool is Android Debug Bridge (ADB). This method requires connecting the smartphone to the computer through USB-cable and the presence of the driver and tools platform installed on the PC. This is the only way to see the "true face" of your firmware.
After the connection and debugging USB, If you run adb shell pm list packages, it will list all packages in package format: packet name. If you want to see only custom applications, add a flag. -3, and for system, flag -s. To get a more readable list of ways to APK-Use the command adb shell pm list packages -f.
adb shell pm list packages -3This method allows you to identify hidden advertising modules, such as com.miui.misys or com.android.vending (if hidden). Knowing the exact name of the package, you can use ADB to remove or disable it by commanding adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 name packet. This gives you maximum control over the device without having to obtain root rights.
What if the phone is not visible to the computer?
Storage analysis and search for hidden folders
Often, hidden applications are not displayed in the menu but in the file manager, taking up space with their cache and data. The standard MIUI or Files Explorer lets you analyze the storage. Go to the Storage Analyzer or Folders section to see the amount of data each application occupies, and you can find hidden folders created by remote programs or system services.
Special attention should be paid to folders called Android/data and Android/obb. They store the cache files of games and applications. Sometimes you can find remnants of remote programs or data from system services that take up gigabytes. Cleaning these folders can make room, but you need to understand which file belongs to which application.
| Folder/process type | Location. | Can I remove it? | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash app. | Android/data | Yeah (makes room) | Low (the app will download again) |
| Game Data (OBB) | Android/obb | No (game won't start) | High (loss of progress/files) |
| System log | MIUI/debug_log | Yes. | Low. |
| Cash for advertising | MIUI/miui/gallery/cloud | Careful. | Medium (may come back) |
When working with a file system, remember that some folders may be hidden by the.name attribute. To see them, you need to enable the display of hidden files in the Explorer settings, which will help you find the remnants of deleted applications or hidden configuration files.
☑️ Checking the vault
Removing and disabling unnecessary software
Once you've found all the apps, the question is, what do you do with them? Standard uninstall is only available for user programs. System applications that can't be removed through settings, there's a method of disabling. When you shut down, the application stops running, updating and consuming resources, formally staying on the system. This is a safe way to fight bloatware.
To remove system applications without root rights, you can use special utilities that work through ADB, for example, Xiaomi ADB/Fastboot Tools or Universal Android Debloater: These programs have a graphical interface and allow you to safely remove known system components, marking them as safe to remove.
⚠️ Warning: Never delete or disable packets that you don't know what they're supposed to be, especially if they have the words framework, provider, or service in their name.
If you accidentally delete an important system component, you can only restore it by resetting it to factory settings or flashing the device, so the seven-measure rule works better here than anywhere else, and it's better to leave the extra application disabled than to risk the entire system working.
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The safest way to use the Disconnect method is to use the application settings: Complete removal of system components through ADB carries the risk of unstable system operation and requires technical knowledge to recover.