What apps can be removed from Xiaomi: Safe cleaning

Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphones often encounter intrusive system software that takes up valuable space and consumes battery power. After the first activation of the device, many people notice that there are already many programs in memory that they will never use. The question is: what apps can be removed from Xiaomi without the risk of disrupting the operating system? MIUI or hyperos?

Freeing up internal memory is not just a way to get more space for photos, but also a way to improve the overall performance of a gadget. System debris can slow down the start of the interface and background processes. In this article, we will detail the list of safe components to remove, explain how to get rid of them with standard means, and consider advanced cleaning methods.

It is important to understand that the approach to removal must be balanced, that removing critical services can lead to unstable device operation or even cyclical restart, so before any manipulations, it is important to clearly distinguish between user content and system dependencies.

Analysis of pre-installed software: what takes up memory

Xiaomi’s modern shells are famous for their functionality, but with it, the user receives an excessive amount of built-in services, some of which are the company’s own development, such as GetApps or Mi Video, which duplicate the functionality of popular analogues from Google Play.

When analyzing the space occupied, it is often found that the largest amount of memory is occupied by cached data and updates to Google services, as well as by default multimedia applications. Duplication of functions is a major problem of stock firmware. For example, a phone can have three different browsers, two video players and several app stores.

The user should pay attention to applications that are hanging in the background and consuming CPU resources, often analytics services, cloud storage that you don't use, or regional services that are irrelevant to your location, and removing such elements safely returns performance.

It is important to distinguish between system processes, whose names may not be clear (e.g. com.android.providers), and regular programs. If you are not sure about the purpose of the process, it is better to study it before applying radical measures.

Safe removal with standard Android tools

The easiest and safest way to clean a smartphone is to use the built-in functionality of the Android operating system, which does not require a super-user (Root) or a connection to a computer, which minimizes the risk of firmware damage, but does not remove all applications, only those that the developer considered secondary.

To start, you need to go to the device settings menu, find the Apps section or All Apps, where you have a complete list of installed software, and you can see how much space each program takes up and when it was last used.

Select an unneeded application from the list (e.g. Mi Pay if you don't use this service, or WPS Office if you prefer another office suite). Click Remove. If the button is active and not gray, then deletion is safe for the system.

In some cases, instead of completely deleting, the option is Disable, which hides the application from the menu and prevents it from running, effectively equating it with the deleted one, but the files remain in the system partition, which is a good compromise for questionable cases.

List of Xiaomi apps that can be removed

There is a wide range of MIUI shell components that can be disposed of without affecting the basic functionality of the smartphone, most notably those services related to the Xiaomi ecosystem that are easily replaced by peers or simply not needed in your area.

Safe to remove include multimedia players and browsers, if you're used to using VLC, MX Player or Chrome, stock analogs can be eliminated, and often remove books, calculators and voice recorders if they seem uncomfortable.

Advertising and analytics services deserve special attention, and although they are often hidden deep in the system, some of them are visible in the list of applications, removing or disabling them has a positive effect on the autonomy of work and reduces the number of pop-up notifications.

Below is a table with the most common packets that users delete first:

When deleting, be careful with the com.miui.cloudservice package. If you are not using the Xiaomi cloud, it can be removed, but this will turn off synchronization of contacts and photos through the branded service. For most users using Google Photos, this is not a problem.

Advanced cleaning through ADB without Root rights

To remove system applications that do not respond to the standard method through settings, the ADB tool (Android Debug Bridge) is used, which allows you to control the device from the computer via the command line, giving access to hidden parts of the system without the need to obtain superuser rights.

Before you start, you need to activate the developer mode on your smartphone. To do this, go to Settings → About Phone and quickly press 7 times on the MIUI Version (or OS Version). After that, a new section Additional or Advanced Settings will appear in the settings menu, where you need to enable Debugging over USB.

Connect your smartphone to your computer with a cable and install ADB drivers on your PC. Enter the command adb devices to check the connection. The phone screen will have a request for debugging permission that needs to be confirmed. Now you're ready to delete.

To remove a specific packet, a command is used:

adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 name packet

For example, to remove a standard email client, type in an adb shell pm uninstall-k --user 0 com.google.android.email. This command does not physically erase files from the system partition, but disables them for the current user, which is a safe method of modifying the system.

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Before removing system components via ADB, make sure to write down or take a picture of the exact name of the package, which will make it easy to restore the application in case of an error.

Critical System Components: What Not to Touch

In the pursuit of free memory, users sometimes go too far, removing components without which Android cannot function. There are a number of processes that are guaranteed to be removed, resulting in a bootloop or loss of communication.

You can't remove the System Launcher, which is the one that displays the desktop, icons and widgets, and if you delete it without installing an alternative with the system application rights, the phone will turn into a black screen after the restart.

⚠️ Note: Removing packages associated with telephony (com.android.phone, com.android.incallui) will result in inability to make calls and send messages. SMS. Recovering the work without reflashing will be extremely difficult.

Also, avoid removing Google Play Services (com.google.android.gms) – a component that is the foundation for most third-party applications, including cards, bank clients and instant messengers – and its absence will make the smartphone virtually useless.

Don't touch the task manager and memory manager. Even if you think it's consuming resources, it's the one that distributes the processes between the cores of the processor, and interference with the task scheduler can cause chaotic behavior and severe lags.

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The rule of system modification is that if you don't know exactly what a package with a name like Framework or Provider is responsible for, you better leave it alone. The 50MB savings are not worth the risk of getting a brick.

Recovery of Remote System Applications

If you accidentally delete an important component during the cleaning process or the system starts to work incorrectly, do not panic. Since deletion through ADB only occurs for the current user (user 0), the APK files themselves remain in the hidden system partition and wait for a return.

To restore a remote application, use the reinstall command, which returns the packet to the "set" state for your user profile.

adb shell cmd package install-existing name packet

Older versions of Android or using standard tools may require a complete reinstallation. APK-file if it has been completely erased (which is rare with standard cleaning methods), in which case resetting to factory settings will help.

Resetting all settings (Settings → About Phone → Settings Reset) will return the phone to its original state by restoring all remote system applications. However, this will result in loss of user data, so make sure to back up important information before resetting.

Regular smartphone maintenance, including cleaning the cache and removing really unnecessary software, prolongs the life of the device. However, remember that modern operating systems require a certain amount of free memory for efficient operation of optimization algorithms.