How To Delete “Other Files” on Xiaomi All Type

By | October 4, 2021

Users are especially alarmed by the “Other” section, since it is not clear what materials are stored in it. In today’s article, we will talk about how to delete “other files” on Xiaomi phone using system functions and third-party applications.

New Xiaomi phones come with plenty of internal storage. Even budget models get at least 64GB of persistent storage. But memory may still not be enough, since applications, photos and videos are quite heavy. 

What other files are there?

“Other files” are materials that are not suitable for distribution in major sections such as system, applications, images, audio and video. The file does not fall under a specific designation, so it is automatically placed in the “Other” tab. The amount of undefined data can be overwhelming: “other files” take up a lot of space on the internal storage of a mobile device.

The “Other” section contains the following files:

  • Archives.
  • Downloads from the Internet.
  • Data from instant messengers (photo and video).
  • Application cache.

Until recently, documents and apk were placed in “other files” , but in MIUI 12 and 12.5 separate sections were created for them. But the “Cash” tab is no longer displayed in the system storage, so it was ranked as “Other”.

It is a mistake to believe that all undefined materials are useless and must be removed from the phone. You may need archives and downloads, so take your time to remove them. But media data downloaded from instant messengers and program caches in most cases are unnecessary and only take up free space.

How to find out the size of “other files” in MIUI (12.5)

First, we recommend that you find out how much space “other files” are taking up. Typically, their size ranges from 2-4 GB to 10 GB and more . The longer you use your smartphone, the correspondingly, there are more such files (if you do not clean them regularly).

Through system settings

A simple way, for the implementation of which you do not need to download an additional application.

  1. We go to “Settings” – “About phone”. We open the item “Storage” .
  2. Look at the diagram and find the “Other” section , which is indicated in light purple. It indicates how much space the files are taking up. In my case, it is 12.23 GB (128 GB phone version).

Unlike other tabs, you cannot view “Other”. Therefore, users cannot figure out which files to get rid of.

Using Activity Launcher

The Activity Launcher app also allows you to determine the amount of used storage. The data may differ from the system item. The main advantage of this method is that you can find out the size of the cache.

  1. Download the program from Google Play and install it.
  2. Open Activity Launcher, click on the magnifying glass image and enter “Storage” in the search bar . We select an item from the menu that appears.
  3. Detailed information about the internal storage appears. There are no diagrams here. According to the application, other files take up 4.90 GB for me, while in system settings it showed 12.23 GB. The cache is allocated 428 MB (before cleaning it was 3.68 GB).

We figured out what “other files” in the repository are and how to find out their size. Now let’s start deleting these materials.

Read also: 4 Ways How to Root LG Stylo 4 Without PC [100% WORK]

How To Delete “other files” on all Xiaomi phones

You can remove “other files” in Xiaomi using different methods. There is both manual removal , when the user selectively removes unnecessary materials, and automatic through special applications.

Application use

There are several working utilities that can clean the “other files” folder on Xiaomi.

Disk analyzer

A very useful application with advanced functionality. It is freely available on Google Play. Basic options are free.

  1. Install the application from the Market and launch it. We are waiting for a few seconds for the application to scan all the files stored on the smartphone.
  2. Scroll through the top panel and go to “File Categories”. We need the “Other” tab .
  1. Select the sub-item that takes up the most space and open it. We clamp any file so that an auxiliary menu appears. Click on the blue icon “Select All” – “Delete” . We look through the list and confirm the deletion of the selected files. Usually there is no important system data in the “Other” section, but still be careful not to delete files marked ” Android ” and ” System ” .
  1. We go back and repeat the above procedure with all the folders in the “Other” item.
  2. Now we check the result. We go into the storage and look at the weight of the “Other” section. I had 12.23 GB before the procedure. After manipulations in the Disk Analyzer, it became 12.09 GB . Quite a good result.

SD Maid

A popular utility that reveals all the possibilities provided that two conditions are met: the presence of root rights and the purchased Pro version. But even if your Superuser mode is not active and the free version is installed, you can still clean your smartphone.

  1. Download and install software from Google Play.
  2. We go to the “Trash” tab , provide access to the internal memory and issue all the requested permissions. We are waiting for the end of the scan. The program found only 6 MB of garbage in me. Click on the red basket in the lower left corner of the screen. Useless files will be deleted.

Activity Launcher

This software not only shows the storage load, but also allows you to clear the cache. In MIUI 11, it was possible to delete the cache through system settings, but in the twelfth shell, this function was gone.

To check, go to the repository through the system menu. We see that the size of the “Other” has dropped to 9.18 GB .

Manual removal of unnecessary content

You can clear “other files” in MIUI yourself. In this case, installation of additional applications is not required.

Archives

Archived data downloaded from the Internet or transferred to the phone from a computer take up a lot of space in the “Other” section. The problem is solved by deleting unnecessary archives. For this:

  1. Go to Explorer and look for the “Archives” tab on the main page .
  2. Check the boxes for files that are not useful. In the bottom menu that appears, click “Delete”. We confirm the action.

Downloads

A similar situation with downloads. In Explorer, open “Downloads” and select unnecessary files. At the bottom, click “Delete”.

We return to the main page of the file manager and click “More” . In the “Other” section , the name of the social networks and messengers that you use will be displayed. I have it “Telegram” and “Instagram”. In turn, open each tab and delete the downloaded files (photos, videos, documents, audio).

Basket

Photos and videos that are deleted from the Gallery do not disappear forever, but are placed in the Trash for 30 days. The basket is allocated to the “Other” section, so we also clean it.

  1. We open the Gallery.
  2. Go to the “Albums” tab.
  3. In the item “Other Albums” we find “Trash” .
  4. Click on the big blue “Delete” button .

You can also delete the contents of the Recycle Bin through the file manager:

  1. In Explorer, open an additional menu by clicking on three horizontal stripes. Go to “Settings” and activate the “Show hidden files” slider.
  2. Go to the internal shared drive and open the “MIUI” – “Gallery” folder.
  3. We find the “cloud” folder, which contains another folder called “. trashBin  . We completely empty this folder.

Messengers

Materials from messengers are listed in the “Drug”. They take up a lot of space. This is especially true for videos. To get rid of such files, you need:

  1. Go to the internal storage and open the folder with the name of the messenger, for example, WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram.
  2. Delete unnecessary folders. All information is divided into sub-items: “Audio”, “Documents”, “Images”, “Video”, “Voice Notes”, etc.

Cleaning Xiaomi with the system app

All Xiaomi and Redmi smartphones are preinstalled with the “Cleanup” application , which thoroughly scans the phone’s memory and detects useless data. We are looking for a shortcut to the program on the desktop. After opening the application, automatic scanning will start. After 15-20 seconds, the size of the garbage will be displayed. At the bottom, click on the red “Clear” button.

You can also get into the “Cleaning” application through the settings menu. To do this, open “About phone” – “Storage”, and at the bottom we find the light blue “Clear” button. And, of course, this item is in the “Security” application.

After carrying out all the above procedures, be sure to restart your smartphone! Then we go to the repository and see the final result. I managed to clear the Other section from 12.23 GB to 7.11 GB. It is impossible to completely get rid of “other files”, since they store the cache of system applications and other important data.