How to Clean Up Your Xiaomi Phone Story Completely: 5 Ways to Use MIUI

Why it’s important to clean up your history on Xiaomi regularly

Xiaomi’s MIUI-based smartphones collect a huge amount of data about your activity, from web pages visited to geolocation to call history, which not only takes up precious space in the device’s memory (up to 500 MB in six months of active use), but also poses privacy risks, such as when transferring your phone to third parties or selling it through Avito/Yula.

MIUI also automatically syncs some of the story to the Mi Cloud if you are logged in with a Xiaomi account, which means that even after local cleaning, data can be restored the next time you sign in, and in this article, we’ll look at how to delete the story permanently, both from the device and from the cloud, and covert settings that aren’t written in the official instructions.

Important: the procedure differs depending on the version of MIUI (12, 13 or 14) and the phone model (Redmi Note 12, POCO X5, Mi 11, etc.).We will present universal methods that work on 95% of the brand’s devices released after 2019.

1. Clearing the history of the browser (Mi Browser, Chrome, Firefox)

Browsers are the main source of digital junk. Xiaomi has Mi Browser installed by default, but many users use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Let's look at all the options.

For Mi Browser (built-in browser Xiaomi):

1. Open your browser and tap on the icon ⋮ (three points) in lower right corner.
2. Choose a History. → Delete the data.
3. Check the boxes: 📌 Browsing history (deletes list of sites) 🍪 Cookies and site data (clears authorization) 🗑️ Cash (accelerates the browser operation)

OK.

For Google Chrome:

• 🔍 Open the menu (⋮) → History → Clear the data.
• 🕒 Select period: All the time for complete cleaning.
• 📋 Mark all data types and click Delete data.

💡

If you’re using Chrome sync with your Google account, clearing your phone history will remove it on other devices (PC, tablet).

For Firefox:

1. Tap on. ⋮ → Settings → Delete personal data.
2. Choose Visit History, Cookie and Cash.
3. Confirm removal.

2. Delete call and message history

Call log and SMS/MMS are stored in separate parts of the system, and cleaning them does not require root rights, but has nuances.

Clearing the call history:

• 📞 Open the phone application (pipe icon).
• 📋 Tap on. ⋮ → Call magazine.
• 🗑️ Press Delete. → Select All or Specific Numbers.
• ✅ Confirm the action.

Removal of SMS and MMS:

• 💬 Open the Messages app.
• 🔍 Tap on. ⋮ → Settings → Clearing of messages.
• 📅 Select period: All messages or date range.
• 🗑️ Press Delete.

⚠️ Note: If you use Google Messages (app for the RCS-The story can be synced to Google's servers, and to delete it completely, go to the Messages web version and clear the data there.

3.Resetting Google Location History and Activity

Xiaomi is integrated with Google services that track your location even if you’re not using Google Maps.This data is stored in Google’s Chronology and can take up to 1GB of space in the cloud.

To clear the location history:

1. Open Settings → Google → Manage your Google account.
2. Go to the Data and Privacy tab.
3. Find the Location Chronology section and tap on it.
4. Select Remove → Specify the period (All the time for complete cleaning).
5. Confirm removal.

To disable data collection in the future:

• 📍 Return to the Location Chronology.
• 🔄 Put it on the gear icon (⚙️) → Automatic removal.
• 🗓️ Select a storage period (for example, 3 months).

4. Cleaning the cache and application data

Each app installed accumulates cache and temporary files. For example, Instagram can take up to 500 MB of cache, and TikTok can take up to 1 GB. Cleanup not only frees up space, but can also eliminate errors in the operation of programs.

How to clear the cache for a separate application:

• ⚙️ Go to Settings. → Annexes → Application management.
• 🔍 Find the right app (like WhatsApp) and tap on it.
• 🗃️ Select Warehouse. → Clear the cache.
• 🚫 For a full reset, click Clear Data (will remove settings and authorization!).

Mass cleaning of the cache of all applications:

• ⚙️ Settings → Memory. → Cleanup.
• 🔄 Wait for the system analysis (may take up to 2 minutes).
• 🗑️ Tap Clean (remove cache, temporary files and debris).

Backup of important data

Close all working applications

Connect your phone to charge (the process can take 5-10 minutes)

Check the space (requires at least 10% of the memory capacity)-->

⚠️ Attention: Clearing the app data (not the cache!) will result in logging out of your account and deleting local settings, for example, in Telegram this will delete all downloaded media files, and in games it will progress if it is not tied to the cloud.

5.Reset history in Mi Cloud and synchronized services

Xiaomi automatically reserves some data to the Mi Cloud if you are logged in with a Mi Account.

• 📞 Call log.
• 💬 Communications (SMS/MMS)
• 📁 Notes (Mi Notes)
• 📅 calendar
• 📷 Photo and video (if synchronization is enabled in the Gallery)

To remove data from Mi Cloud:

1. Open the Settings. → Mi Account.
2. Put it on Mi Cloud.
3. Select a category (e.g., Call Log).
4. Click Delete Data from the Cloud.
5. Confirm the action via SMS or password.

To completely disable synchronization:

• 🔄 Back in Mi Cloud.
• 🔕 Turn off switches near unnecessary categories.
• 🔒 For reliability, log out of your Mi Account in Settings → Accounts.

💡

Even after clearing the history on the phone, data can remain in the Mi Cloud for up to 30 days.To completely delete requires manual cleaning through the web version of the cloud: i.mi.com.

6. Hidden methods: Cleaning through Recovery and ADB

If standard methods do not help (e.g., call history is returned after deletion), advanced methods can be used, they require technical skills and can lead to data loss if used incorrectly.

Method 1: Resetting with Recovery Mode

This removes all history, including apps and settings (an analogue of hard reset) and is suitable for selling a phone.

• 🔋 Turn off the phone.
• 🔘 Press the power button. + Loudness up before the appearance of the Mi logo.
• 📱 In the Recovery menu, select Wipe Data (use volume buttons for navigation).
• ✅ Confirm the action (Yes).
• 🔄 After reset, select Reboot.

Method 2: Cleaning through ADB (for advanced)

Use this method if you want to delete history selectively without affecting other data.Requires a PC and installed Xiaomi drivers.

adb shell pm clear com.android.providers.contacts # Clears call history


adb shell pm clear com.android.providers.telephony # Removes SMS/MMS




adb shell pm clear com.miui.browser.global # Resets Mi Browser

⚠️ Attention: Teams ADB You can delete data without recovery. Don't use it for system applications (e.g. com.android.settings), it can cause your phone to fail.

7 How to Check That History Is Really Deleted

After cleaning, it is recommended to make sure that the data is deleted completely.

For browser history:

• 🔍 Open your browser and check the History section – it should be empty.
• 🛡️ Install CCleaner or Files by Google to scan residual files.

For calls and SMS:

• 📞 Open the call log - there should be no records.
• 💬 In the Messages app, check the Archive folder (sometimes). SMS move in).

For cloud data:

• 🌐 Go to i.mi.com (for Mi Cloud) or myactivity.google.com (for Google).
• 🔍 Check the Call Log, Messages and Locations sections.

/data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases

/data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases

If the files contacts2.db or mmssms.db blank – history deleted.-->

FAQ: Frequent questions about cleaning up history on Xiaomi