Selling an old smartphone or handing it over to relatives always carries the risk of leaking personal information. Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco devices should be clear about the difference between simply deleting files and completely resetting the system.
Modern operating systems such as MIUI and HyperOS have built-in encryption mechanisms that make it much easier to securely clean up memory, but to be absolutely sure of the safety of your banking data, correspondence and passwords, you need to perform a series of sequential actions before starting the formatting procedure.
In this article, we will take a look at all the available methods, from standard reset via settings to using the Recovery engineering menu.You will learn how to properly prepare the gadget, what steps to take if the device does not turn on, and how to avoid blocking your Google or Mi Account after cleaning.
Before you start taking any drastic measures, you need to make sure you don't lose access to important services. The first step is always to sync and back up, and in the Xiaomi ecosystem, it uses the Mi Cloud cloud service or local storage on your computer.
Be sure to check for important files in hidden folders and instant messengers. Often users forget that the history of WhatsApp or Telegram chats is not always automatically saved when the system is reset, and it is also worth downloading the contact list if they are stored only in the phone’s memory, not in the SIM card or cloud.
⚠️ Warning: Make sure the battery is at least 50-60%. Interrupting the reset process due to battery discharge can damage system partitions and inability to further load.
The critical step is to untie your accounts, and if you just erase your data but don't log out of your Mi Account, the new device may have FRP (Factory Reset Protection) protection, which requires you to enter a password from your account that you may have forgotten.
To log out, go to the settings section and find the appropriate items. In MIUI, this often requires entering the unlock password to confirm the action. Don't miss this step, as it is a guarantee that the new owner will not be able to activate the phone without your participation.
Standard reset via MIUI and HyperOS settings
The safest and most recommended way to clear memory is to use the built-in functionality of the operating system, which is suitable for most situations where the phone turns on and responds to touch.
To start, open the Settings app. Scroll down to About. In some versions of the firmware, the section you want is called Advanced Settings or is in the Additionals menu. Find the "Reset" line.
The system will offer two options: “Erase all data” and “Erase all data (formatting)” The second option is deeper, since it forcibly formats memory partitions, making file recovery almost impossible even with computer programs.
What is the difference between regular reset and formatting?
A conventional reset simply removes pointers to files, marking the space as free to write. Formatting overwrites the structure of the file system, which greatly complicates the recovery of data. To sell the device, always choose the formatting option." Action Normal reset formatting Speed of execution (a few minutes) Longer (depending on the memory capacity) Data recovery Perhaps special. software Extremely difficult Effect on memory wear Minimum High load on cells After selecting the option, the system will request confirmation and, and perhaps a pattern lock or formatting the execution speed of execution (a few minutes) Longer (delay the process and do not try to reboot it for 15 minutes). If the smartphone is frozen, does not respond to touches or can not boot the operating system, the only option is to use Recovery mode. This is a special diagnostic mode built into the device's memory, regardless of the state of the main system, so to get into this menu, you need to completely turn off the phone, then press the volume button and the power button at the same time. Hold them until the Mi logo appears, then release the power button, keep the volume up. In a few seconds, a menu with a black background will appear. Navigation in Recovery is done with volume buttons (up/down), and the choice of item is made by the power button. In newer versions, this menu can be touch-sensitive. You need to find the Wipe Data item. ⚠️ Warning: Recovery mode does not allow you to back up. Make sure you choose this method consciously. After choosing Wipe Data, the system may request confirmation, often requiring you to enter the word yes or choose Confirm. Be careful, since this mode does not have a back button in the usual sense, and an erroneous action will lead to data loss. Once the cleaning process is complete, select Reboot or Reboot to System. The first start after this procedure can take longer than usual, since the system needs to recreate the file structure. Using the ADB command for deep cleaning For advanced users who need to ensure data deletion or preparation of the device for flashing, there is a method through debugging using the ADB driver on the device. To do this, go to Settings → About Phone and quickly click on the MIUI version seven times. In the Developer menu that appears, turn on USB Debugging. Connect your smartphone to your computer via a quality cable. Open the command line on your PC in the ADB tool folder and enter a command to check the connection: adb devices On the phone screen, you will see a request for debugging permission from this computer. Accept it. Next, to perform the reset, a command is used that initiates a reboot to the recovery mode with a clean flag: adb reboot recovery However, to directly erase data without logging into the menu, you can use the command: adb shell recovery --wipe_data 📊 What is the most common way to reset?Through menu settings Through Recovery (buttons)Through ADB And I'm going to give it to the service center, and this is especially useful when the touch screen is partially down, but the system is responding to commands from the computer, and it allows you to bypass the broken parts of the display and perform critical operations. When a device does not respond to buttons or goes into a cyclic bootloop, a special approach is required. If the phone doesn't show any signs of life, check the integrity of the charging cable and the power supply. If the phone turns on to the logo and freezes, force the reboot, holding the power button for a period of time. 10-15 In some cases, it helps you get out of the freeze and into the recovery menu. For devices with a completely broken touchscreen but a working display, you can plug in. USB-mouse-over OTG. This will allow the cursor to control the interface and perform a reset through settings or confirm actions in Recovery. ⚠️ Note: If the phone is locked with a forgotten pattern lock and you reset, the system will require you to enter a password from a Google account that was synced earlier. This is anti-theft protection. In case the device does not turn on at all (black screen, no vibration), the software methods are powerless. It requires hardware diagnostics: the power controller may have failed or the battery itself is deeply depleted. Data protection after the sale or transfer of the device After you have performed a reset, it is important to understand what happens to the data at the physical layer. Modern Xiaomi smartphones use encryption by default. When you reset, the encryption key is removed, making the remaining “bits” of information on the storage device unreadable. However, for maximum paranoia or when transferring the device to corporate customers, it is recommended that after the reset, fill the memory with unnecessary files (for example, record several hours of video in 4K), and then reset again. This reset removes the encryption key, making the old data from the memory from the old sector remotely. Go to cloud.mi.com or Google’s security settings from another device and make sure your old phone isn’t listed as trusted. 💡The most reliable way to protect yourself is to combine a complete reset with formatting and pre-exit from all accounts. SD, If it's still there, it's better to format it separately on a computer or on another device, because a phone reset often doesn't affect external drives. Frequently asked questions (FAQ) Whether data are deleted from SIM-No, standard reset via menu or Recovery does not affect contacts and messages stored directly on the SIM-However, modern smartphones by default store all data in the cloud or in the memory of the phone. For full cleaning. SIM-If you use the formatting function in your phone settings or you insert it into another device, can you recover data after you reset Xiaomi? If you used conventional deletion, then theoretically it is possible with expensive professional software. If you used formatting (Wipe All Data) on a device with encryption enabled (which is the standard for Android 6.0 and higher), then recovery becomes almost impossible for the average user. FRP lock and how to avoid it? FRP (Factory Reset Protection is Google's protection mechanism: If you reset your phone without logging out of your Google account, the next time you activate it, it will require a password from that account. To avoid blocking, always log out of your Google and Mi accounts before resetting under Accounts and Sync. How long does the formatting process take? Time depends on the amount of internal memory and the speed of its operation. For models with 64 GB, this can take 5-7 minutes, and for versions with 256 GB or more, up to 15-20 minutes.