Modern brand smartphones Xiaomi are famous for their excellent price-performance ratio, but even powerful devices can begin to slow down over time. The main reason for the slowdown of the interface and games often lies in overflow RAM. When the free RAM resource is exhausted, the system has to constantly unload background processes, which leads to delays when switching between applications and long loading of heavy apps.
Owners of devices with a shell MIUI or new HyperOS are faced with aggressive memory management, which, on the one hand, saves battery power, and on the other, can prematurely close the apps you need. Understanding how to properly manage this resource can significantly extend the life cycle of a gadget without the need to purchase a new model. In this material, we will examine not only standard cleaning methods, but also hidden settings available to experienced users.
You should not rely solely on automatic cleaning systems, as they do not always take into account individual usage scenarios. Manually setting priorities and understanding the working mechanisms application cache will give you complete control over the performance of your smartphone. Let's take a closer look at the tools that the company has provided Xiaomi to combat low memory.
Standard cleaning tools in the Security application
The first and most obvious step to free up resources is to use the built-in system application. Every smartphone Xiaomi has a pre-installed utility Securitythat combines the functions of an antivirus, a garbage cleaner and a task manager. Launching this app allows you to instantly assess the current state of the system and perform basic optimization.
To get started, open the application and select the section Cleaning. The system will scan the device for temporary files, remnants of deleted apps and cache, which takes up space in the storage, but indirectly affects the speed of the RAM. After scanning, click the clear button. Next, go to the Accelerationtab, where a list of active processes will be displayed.
Clicking on the large button in the center of the screen will end background processes consuming RAM. However, it is worth considering that the Android system is designed to fill the available RAM as much as possible for applications to run quickly. Therefore, constant forced cleaning "to zero" can have the opposite effect, forcing the processor to waste energy on reloading services.
⚠️ Attention: Excessive use of the "Acceleration" function can lead to the fact that important system services, such as synchronizing contacts or receiving notifications from instant messengers, will not work with a delay.
Use the acceleration function only when you feel a clear drop in performance or before starting a demanding game, and not in the background all the time.
In the application settings Security you can activate the option of automatic acceleration when a certain memory load threshold is reached. This is a compromise option that allows you to keep the system in good shape without constant manual intervention. However, deep optimization requires more advanced configuration methods.
Managing startup and background activity
One of the main reasons for overflow RAM is uncontrolled startup of applications. Many apps register themselves in startup so that they remain active even after you close them. In the shell MIUI i HyperOS there is a powerful tool for controlling this behavior, which is often ignored by users.
To limit the appetites of apps, go to Settings, then select the section Applications and find the item Permissions. Here you are interested in the subsection Auto-start. You will see a list of all installed apps with switches next to each. It is recommended to disable auto-start for all applications whose notifications are not critical.
- 🚫 Disable auto-start for social networks, if you do not want to receive notifications instantly.
- 🎮 Leave autostart enabled only for messengers and system services.
- 🛒 Prohibit automatic start for stores and delivery services running in the background.
In addition to autostart, there is a setting background activity. In the same permissions menu, find the item Other permissions and select Running in the background. This feature restriction prevents apps from running after you minimize their window. This is the most radical but effective way to free up gigabytes of RAM.
☑️ Setting background restrictions
It is worth noting that some applications may attempt to circumvent these restrictions by using special accessibility services. Regularly check the list of such services in the accessibility settings and disable suspicious items. This will help maintain a balance between the functionality and performance of your Xiaomi.
Memory Extension Function
A relatively new function in the ecosystem Xiaomi is the virtual expansion of RAM. This technology allows you to use part of the permanent memory (ROM) as additional RAM. The algorithm allocates a certain amount of storage and uses it as a paging file to temporarily store data that does not fit in physical memory.
Activation of this option is available on most modern models, starting with the series Redmi Note 10 and newer, as well as on the flagships of the series Mi and Xiaomi. To enable the function, go to Settings, select Additional settings and find the item Memory expansion. The system will prompt you to select the amount of memory to be added: usually from 2 to 7 GB is available, depending on the model.
⚠️ Attention: Using memory expansion increases the load on the drive, which theoretically can slightly reduce its service life under very intensive work, although for modern UFS chips this is not a critical problem.
It is important to understand the principle of operation of this technology. The operating speed of virtual memory is always lower than that of physical memory RAM. Therefore, this feature is useful for keeping more applications in the background, but you should not expect a miraculous performance boost from it in heavy games. In some scenarios, disabling the extension can even speed things up if you have enough physical memory (8 GB or more).
Technical details of how the extension works
The system creates a special container file in the data section, which the Android kernel treats as a swap partition. This allows you to avoid completely offloading processes to disk, but to keep them in a buffer that is faster than regular storage.
After changing the memory expansion settings, the device will require a reboot to apply the changes. Experimentally check which operating mode is best suited for your tasks: with or without the multitasking extension enabled for maximum responsiveness of the interface.
Optimization through the menu for developers
For advanced users who want to gain maximum control over the system, a special engineering menu is provided. Activating developer mode provides access to fine-grained animation settings, background process limits, and debugging RAM. Be careful when changing these parameters, as incorrect settings can lead to unstable operation of the system.
To get to the menu, go to Settings → About phone and quickly press the item MIUI version (or OS version) about 7 times until a notification about activating the mode appears. Then return to the main settings menu, go to Additional settings and select For developers.
In this section, find the category Applications. There are two key parameters you are interested in here. First - Background process limit. The default is "Standard limit", but you can set a limit, for example, "No more than 2 processes". This will severely limit the number of apps remaining in memory after exiting them.
| Setting parameter | Recommended value | Impact on system |
|---|---|---|
| Background process limit | No more than 2-4 processes | Frees up a lot of RAM, but applications restart when returning |
| Inactive applications | Limit | Reduces energy and memory consumption of old applications |
| Window animation | 0.5x or Disabled | Visually speeds up the interface, reduces GPU load |
The second important point is Inactive applications. Enabling this option forces the system to limit resources for applications that you have not used for a long time. This is especially useful for older games or utilities that may be hogging memory for no apparent reason.
Changing the background process limit in the developer menu is the most effective way to ensure you have free RAM, at the cost of restarting applications more frequently when switching.
Also in In this menu you can find an option Packet aggregation or settings related to the operation of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in the background. Disabling unnecessary communication functions when they are not in use also indirectly helps relieve system resources allocated to support network stacks.
Analyzing memory consumption of specific applications
Sometimes the problem is not the total number of apps running, but one specific application that is not managing memory correctly or has "leakage" of resources. In such cases, general cleaning does not help, since the problematic application again quickly takes up all the available space. It is necessary to identify the culprit and take targeted measures.
Go to Settings → Applications → All applications. Sort the list by size or just carefully review resource-intensive apps: social networks, browsers, games. Select the suspicious application and click Memory consumption (if available) or simply Stop.
If an application is consuming an abnormally large amount of resources, try clearing its data. Go to Memory inside the application card and click Clear → Clear all. This will reset the application to factory settings, deleting the cache and temporary files that may have caused the management failure RAM.
- 🔍 Browsers often accumulate gigabytes of cache - clear it their history and data regularly.
- 📱 Messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp) store media in a cache - use their built-in cleaning tools.
- 🎮 Games may not free up memory after exiting - use the "Close All" function in the recent tasks menu.
⚠️ Attention: Clearing application data will delete your correspondence (if there is no backup), logins and settings within a specific app. Perform this action only if you are confident in the safety of important information.
For browsers such as Chrome or built-in Mi Browserit is also recommended to limit the number of open tabs. Each open tab is a separate process that takes up space in RAM. The habit of closing unused tabs makes life much easier for the system.
Radical measures: resetting and flashing
If none of the software methods brings the desired result and the smartphone continues to slow down even after a reboot, perhaps the problem lies in deep system errors or accumulated software garbage from years of use. In this case, it is advisable to consider completely resetting the device to factory settings.
Before performing this procedure, be sure to back up all important data to the cloud Xiaomi Cloud or to your computer. The reset will remove absolutely all user data, applications and settings, returning the phone to its original state. This is guaranteed to clear RAM of any software errors and hidden conflicts.
To perform a reset, go to Settings → About phone → Reset settings → Delete all data. After rebooting you will have a clean system. It is recommended not to restore all applications at once from a backup, but to install them selectively, monitoring memory consumption.
In extreme cases, if even a reset does not help (which is rare and indicates a possible hardware malfunction of the memory chip), you may need to flash the device via a computer using the utility Mi Flash Tool. This is a complex procedure that requires unlocking the bootloader, and is recommended only for experienced users.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Why does the memory quickly fill up again after clearing the RAM?
This is normal behavior of the Android system. The principle of operation is that free RAM is considered wasted. The system pre-loads frequently used applications into RAM for instant launch. If the phone does not slow down when switching, then the memory management is working correctly.
Is it harmful to constantly use the "Acceleration" function in the Security application?
Frequent use of this function does not harm the hardware, but it may be counterproductive for convenience. The system will constantly unload applications from memory, and you will have to wait for them to load again every time you open it, which also drains battery power from the processor.
How much free RAM should a Xiaomi ideally have?
There is no ideal number. On devices with 4-6 GB of memory, having 1-1.5 GB of free memory at rest is a good sign. On devices with 8-12 GB, the system can take up almost all the memory, and this is normal, the main thing is the absence of lags in the interface.
Does installing third-party cleaners (Clean Master and analogues) help?
In most cases, no. Built-in tools MIUI and HyperOS work more efficiently because they have system access. Third-party applications themselves consume resources, show ads and often simply duplicate functions that are already in the system.