Brand smartphones Realme are famous for their performance and optimized shell Realme UI, but even they begin to work slower over time. The main reason for performance degradation is the accumulation of system “garbage”: residual files, application caches and temporary data that are no longer used by the system. Many users mistakenly believe that to solve this problem it is necessary to download third-party “accelerators,” but the built-in Android tools allow you to perform deep cleaning much more efficiently and safely.
In this article, we will look in detail at how to clean your Android phone of junk manually for free, using only the standard capabilities of your device. We will not rely on dubious algorithms of third-party utilities, but will teach you how to manage memory yourself. This will not only free up gigabytes of space, but also extend the life of the drive by eliminating unnecessary cycles of data overwriting by aggressive cleaning apps.
Memory analysis and search for the main space eaters
Before you start deleting files, you need to understand what exactly is taking up space in your storage. The Realme system provides transparent statistics that allow you to identify leading applications in terms of resource consumption. It often turns out that 80% of the space is occupied by only two or three apps, such as instant messengers or social networks, which have been accumulating media files for years.
To start diagnostics, go to the menu Settings → Memory. Here you will see a color chart that clearly shows the distribution of the data. Pay attention to the “Other” section - often forgotten downloads and backups are hidden there. By clicking on a specific category, you can see a detailed list of applications, sorted by size.
Particular attention should be paid to the “Cache” section. This is temporary data that applications create to speed up their work. For example, YouTube or Instagram save watched videos and pictures so that when opened again they are loaded instantly. However, over time, this cache can grow to unimaginable sizes, occupying tens of gigabytes, although these files no longer represent real value to the user.
⚠️ Attention: Do not confuse “Cache” and “Application Data”. Clearing cache is safe and will simply reset temporary files, while clearing data will delete your logins, settings and game progress, returning the app to its "as-installed" state.
Regular monitoring of the “Memory” section helps identify problems before the phone starts to slow down due to lack of free space.**
Usage built-in Realme cleaning manager
The shell Realme UI has a powerful system maintenance tool already preinstalled, which is often ignored by users in favor of third-party solutions. This manager can find duplicate photos, unused installer APKs, and large files that you might have forgotten to delete. Launching this tool does not require superuser rights and is completed in a couple of taps.
To use it, find the application icon Phone manager (or “Phone Manager”) on the desktop. Upon startup, the system will automatically scan. Click on the "Clean" button to remove obvious junk: advertising files, empty folders and leftovers from uninstalled apps. For deeper work, select “Deep cleaning.”
In deep cleaning mode, you can manually view file categories. The system will offer to delete old screenshots, downloaded documents from instant messengers, and image thumbnails. This is an ideal way to safely free up space without the risk of deleting important personal photos or contacts, since the Realme algorithm quite accurately filters system-important files.
- 🗑️ Cache clearing: Instantly delete temporary files of all applications without losing settings.
- 📂 Analysis of large files: Search for videos and archives larger than 100 MB that can be transferred to PC.
- 📱 Removing duplicates: Automatically finding identical photos taken in burst mode.
Periodically go to the “Recently Deleted” section in the gallery and file basket. Files are stored there for 30 days and continue to take up space until you completely empty the recycle bin.**
Manually clearing the cache of popular applications
Automatic tools are good, but manually clearing specific “heavyweights” gives the greatest effect. Messengers like Telegram i WhatsApp have their own built-in cache storage mechanisms, which are often more effective to clear through the settings of the application itself, rather than through the Android system menu. This allows you to choose what exactly to delete: only pictures, only videos or the entire media cache.
Consider an example of cleaning based on Telegram, which is known for its appetite for memory. Go to the messenger settings, select “Data and memory”, then “Memory usage”. Here you will see the “Clear cache” button. Important: clearing the cache in Telegram does not delete your correspondence, photos and videos are deleted only from the device, but remain available for re-downloading from the cloud if necessary.
For other applications, such as YouTube, TikTok or browser Chrome, the procedure performed through system settings. Go to Settings → Applications → Manage applications. Find the app you need in the list, click on it and select “Memory Usage”. Here you will see two buttons: “Clear cache” and “Reset data”. Use the first button regularly.
Why is the cache filling up quickly again?
Modern applications aggressively cache content to save traffic and speed up work. If you constantly watch videos in high quality, the cache will grow in proportion to the viewing time.**
Don't forget about browsers. They store browsing history, cookies and cached versions of sites. Over time, the browser's database can weigh hundreds of megabytes. In your browser settings, find the “Privacy” or “History” section and select to clear data for “All time”. This will also help solve problems with incorrect display of some web pages.
| Application | Data type | Wipe security | Recommended frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Telegram | Media cache | Completely safe | Once a week |
| Chrome | Cache and Cookies | Safe (will log out of accounts) | Once a month |
| YouTube | Video cache | Completely safe | Once every 2 weeks |
| Tape cache | Completely safe | Once a week |
Working with a folder Downloads and file system
Folder Download (Downloads) is a “black hole” in the memory of most smartphones. All files downloaded from the Internet, attached documents from mail and application installation files are automatically saved here. Users often forget about this directory, allowing it to grow over the years.
Open a standard file manager Files or any other explorer. Go to the "Downloads" section. Review the list carefully. Remove old application installers with the extension .apk —you no longer need them, since the application is already installed. Also check the folders with documents: often there are price lists, instructions or tickets that are no longer relevant.
Pay attention to the folder Android/obb i Android/data. Game and application files are stored here. Do not delete the contents of these folders manuallyif you are not 100% sure what this data is. Deleting the folder with the active game data will result in the need to download gigabytes of resources again the next time you launch it. Clean these partitions only through the app removal settings.
☑️ Checklist for manually cleaning downloads
⚠️ Attention: The file manager interface may vary slightly depending on the version of Realme UI (2.0, 3.0, 4.0 or 5.0). If you cannot find the standard application, use the search in the settings by entering the word “Files.”
Removing duplicates and optimizing media files
Photos and videos take up the lion's share of memory. Over the years of using a smartphone, duplicates inevitably accumulate in the gallery: unsuccessful shots, series of shots of the same object, or screenshots that are no longer needed. Manually sorting through thousands of photos is a tedious task, but Realme's modern algorithms can help automate this process.
In the Gallery app, go to the Albums tab and scroll down to the Utilities or Tools section. The “Clear duplicates” function is often found there. The system will offer you groups of similar photos. You can select the best one from the series and delete the rest with one button. This allows you to quickly free up space without the risk of losing important memories.
Also check the folder Screenshots (Screenshots). Many users take screenshots of correspondence, maps or recipes, use them once and forget to delete them. These files can take up hundreds of megabytes. Sort screenshots by date and ruthlessly delete everything older than a month.
- 🖼️ Burst shooting: Delete intermediate frames, leaving only the best shot.
- 🎥 Long videos: Review long videos; perhaps they should be cropped or transferred to the cloud.
- 📸 Blurred photos: Many galleries can automatically select blurry pictures for deletion.
Use cloud services (Google Photos, Yandex.Disk) with the "Free up space" function. They upload the originals to the cloud and delete them from the phone's memory, leaving only thumbnails.**
Resetting network settings and removing system garbage
Sometimes “garbage” can be considered not only files, but also erroneous system settings that accumulate during updates or network failures. Resetting network settings will not delete your personal data, photos or applications, but it will return Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and mobile settings to factory defaults by deleting the network services cache.
To perform this operation, go to Settings → Advanced settings → Backup and reset. Select “Reset phone settings”, but be careful: you need the “Reset network settings” or “Reset Wi-Fi, mobile data and Bluetooth settings” subsection. Do not confuse this with a full factory reset!
This procedure is useful if the phone is slow on the Internet or constantly loses connection. It clears modem error logs and resets accumulated errors in the communication protocol stack. After rebooting, you will notice that the phone has become a little more responsive, and searching for networks is faster.
Path to reset the network: Settings -> Additional settings -> Reset phone -> Reset network settingsIt is also worth checking the list of running applications. Go to Settings → Applications → Running services. If you see apps there that you do not currently use (for example, stores or news aggregators), force stop them. This will free up RAM, which will directly affect the speed of the interface.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Is it safe to use third-party applications like Clean Master?
The use of such apps is not recommended. They often contain ads, run in the background, consuming resources, and their cleaning algorithms are less efficient than Android's built-in tools. In some cases, they can even delete necessary files or slow down the system with their activity.
Why does the space quickly run out again after cleaning?
Most likely, you have activated automatic media downloading in instant messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp). Check the settings of these applications and disable autosaving of photos and videos to the gallery. Also, the reason could be the cache of video services if you often watch content in high definition.
Do you need to do a full reset to factory settings to clean it?
Hard Reset is a radical measure that deletes absolutely all data from the phone. You should resort to it only in extreme cases, when the system is unstable or you plan to sell the device. For regular garbage cleaning, the methods described in this article are sufficient.
Does memory fullness affect the charging speed?
Directly - no. However, if the memory is full to capacity (less than 500 MB remaining), the system begins to actively use the swap file on the drive, which increases the load on the processor and can cause the device to heat up, which indirectly affects charging efficiency.
Can I delete the .thumbnails folder?
Folder .thumbnails stores thumbnails of images for quick display in the gallery. You can delete it, space will be freed up, but the next time you open the gallery, the system will be forced to regenerate all the thumbnails, which will cause short-term heating and slowdowns. It’s better not to touch it manually.