How to Clean YouTube on Xiaomi Phone: Cache, History and Data

Why YouTube is Clogged on Xiaomi and How to Fix It

The YouTube app on Xiaomi smartphones (especially those running MIUI 14/15) gets slower over time, hanging over when scrolling or playing video, due to accumulated cache, browsing history, authorization data and temporary files. Unlike iOS, where cleaning is limited to YouTube’s own settings, on Android users of Redmi, POCO or Xiaomi have much more tools for “general cleaning”.

Compounding the problem, MIUI aggressively caches data to speed up app launches, but often doesn’t automatically optimize it. For example, after watching 50 1080p videos, the cache can swell to 1-2 GB, and the search and recommendation history can swell to several thousand records, not only taking up space on the internal drive, but also slowing down YouTube recommendation algorithms by showing outdated or irrelevant content.

In this guide, we will break down all the ways to clean YouTube on Xiaomi – from basic (delete history through the application itself) to “surgical” (data reset via Android Settings or the “Surgical” version of the app). MIUI We will pay special attention to the nuances for models with extended memory (for example, Redmi Note 12 Pro).+), where the cache can be stored on a virtual partition.

Method 1: Clear YouTube cache through Android settings

The fastest and safest method is to remove the cache through the Settings → Apps menu.It doesn’t affect your accounts, subscriptions or history, but frees up to 500 MB-1 GB of space.

Instructions for MIUI 14/15:

1. Open Settings (the gear icon on the main screen).
2. Go to the Appendix section → Application management.
3. In the search bar, type “YouTube” and select the app from the list.
4. Click on the Warehouse (or Memory on some firmware).
5. Tap Clear the cache, confirm the action if necessary.

⚠️ Note: On some Xiaomi models (e.g, POCO X5 Pro) After cleaning the cache, the browsing history in the Library section may temporarily disappear, and it will recover after synchronization with Google servers (usually within 5-10 minutes).

Reboot your phone (optional, but recommended)

Check the free space in the Settings section → Storage

Update YouTube to Google Play if a new version is available

Open the application and wait for the thumbnails to be reloaded (don’t interrupt the process)

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If the Clear Cache button is inactive, then the cache is already empty or the app is using a dynamic cache (specifically for YouTube Premium), in which case try the 3 or 4 method from this article.

Method 2: Delete your browsing and search history on YouTube

Cache is temporary files, and browsing and search history is your personal data that YouTube uses for recommendations, and can be deleted directly in the app without affecting system files.

How to clear up history:

• 📱 Open YouTube and tap on the profile avatar in the upper right corner.
• 🔍 Select History Management (or your history in English).
• 🗑️ Click Clear View History and Confirm Action.
• 🔄 To delete your search history, go to the Search tab and select Clear the entire search history.

💡 Useful tip: If you want to partially clear the history (for example, delete only the video from the last month), use the filter by date. To do this, in the History Management section, click on the three dots next to the video and select Delete.

Note: the history is only deleted for your current Google account, and if you use multiple YouTube profiles, repeat the procedure for each.

Method 3: Completely reset YouTube data (including accounts)

If YouTube is unstable (flying out, not loading video, shows error 400 or 503), you may need a complete reset of the application data.

• 🔑 All saved Google accounts (you will need to log in again).
• ⚙️ Reproduction settings (video quality, autoplay).
• 📥 Downloaded videos (if you saved them in the app).
• 📊 Local recommendations data (algorithm will start learning from scratch).

Instructions:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management → YouTube.
2. Click Warehouse → Clear Data (or Delete Data).
3. Confirm the action. The app will go back to factory settings.

💡

Before resetting your data, export your subscriptions! Open YouTube on your computer, go to Settings → Privacy → Subscription Management and click Export Subscriptions. Once reset, you can import them back.

⚠️ Note: On Xiaomi phones with Extended Memory (e.g. Redmi Note 12 Pro), the data reset can take up to 5 minutes. Do not interrupt the process, even if the screen is “hang” on the Cleanup message. MIUI.

Method 4: Cleaning with MIUI Security (for deep optimization)

The MIUI Security app (or Security on Russian firmware) offers deep cleaning tools that aren't available in standard Android settings.This is useful if YouTube is "lagging" even after a cache reset.

How to use MIUI Security:

1. Open the Security app (shield icon).
2. Go to the Optimization (or Acceleration) tab.
3. Press Deep Clean and wait for the scan.
4. In the list, search YouTube and tick.
5. Slip Clean and confirm the action.

🔍 It's important: MIUI Security can delete data not only from YouTube, but also from related Google services (e.g. Google Play Services.

Once a week.

Once a month

Only when the phone starts to brake

Never cleaned it up.

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Method 5: Delete unnecessary files through the file manager

If previous methods have failed, check YouTube folders manually, which may contain junk files that are not deleted by standard means.

Where to look:

• 📁 folder /Android/data/com.google.android.youtube/files — Here are the uploaded videos (if you have saved them).
• 📁 folder /Android/data/com.google.android.youtube/cache — thumbnail cache and preview.
• 📁 folder /Android/obb/com.google.android.youtube — Additional data (for example, for YouTube Music).

How to delete:

1. Open Files (standard file manager MIUI).
2. Enable the display of hidden files in the manager settings.
3. Go on the path of Internal Memory → Android → data → com.google.android.youtube.
4. Delete the contents of the cache and files folders (but not the folders themselves!).

⚠️ Note: Do not delete the entire com.google.android.youtube folder, it will cause the application to crash. Also, do not touch files with the.obb extension unless you are sure of their purpose.

💡

Manually cleaning YouTube folders is effective if standard methods don't work, but it takes care. Only delete the contents of the folders, not the folders themselves!

Method 6: Reinstall YouTube (last resort)

If YouTube is still not working properly after all the manipulations, you have to reinstall the app. On Xiaomi phones, YouTube is a system application, so you can’t just delete it, you need to turn it off first, and then install the latest version from Google Play.

Step-by-step:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management → YouTube.
2. Click Disable (or Remove Updates if the Disable button is inactive).
3. Confirm the action. The app will return to the factory version.
4. Open Google Play, find YouTube and install it again.

🔧 Technical nuance: On some Xiaomi models (for example, Mi 11 Ultra) after disabling YouTube, the app widget from the home screen may disappear. To return it, select Widgets with a long tap in the free space of the screen. → YouTube.

If YouTube is still slowing down after reinstalling, check:

• 📶 Internet connection quality (switch from Wi-Fi to mobile data or vice versa).
• 🔄 Google Play Services Version (update to Google Play if available).
• 🛠️ Availability of updates MIUI (Sometimes bugs are fixed in new versions of the firmware).

More tips for optimizing YouTube on Xiaomi

Cleaning is good, but it’s even better to prevent the accumulation of garbage. Here are some tips for Xiaomi users:

• 🔄 Turn off autoplay. Go to YouTube Settings. → Autoplay and select Never. This will reduce the number of cached videos.
• 📶 Limit your mobile data usage. In YouTube settings, set Play over Wi-Fi only to avoid downloading heavy cache through 4G/5G.
• 🗑️ Turn on automatic cache cleanup. MIUI Security activate Autoclean for YouTube (Optimize section) → Settings).
• 🔒 Use YouTube in your browser. If the app is too heavy, open m.youtube.com in Google Chrome or Mi Browser.

📊 Comparison of cleaning methods:

If you watch YouTube on Xiaomi often, consider using YouTube Premium.In the premium version, cache is managed more efficiently, and background play doesn't overload the system.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)