Brand smartphones Xiaomi are famous for their excellent price-performance ratio, but even devices with large storage capacity begin to suffer from a lack of free space over time. The main “eater” of gigabytes in modern phones is instant messengers, and WhatsApp occupies a leading position here. The application saves every photo, video, voice message and document received, creating gigantic archives of data that often remain on the device even after deleting the correspondence.
Owners Redmi i POCO often face a situation where the system warns that the memory is critically full, and standard cleaning tools cannot reach the deep folders of the messenger. Ignoring this problem leads to a slower interface, long application downloads, and the inability to install new updates. Regular storage optimization becomes not just a desirable, but a necessary procedure to maintain the stability of the smartphone.
In this guide, we will analyze in detail all the available methods for cleaning WhatsApp on the MIUI and HyperOS shell. You will learn how to safely remove terabytes of accumulated visual garbage without losing important documents and correspondence. We will look at both the built-in system tools and the specific settings of the application itself, which are hidden from the eyes of the average user.
Memory analysis through the built-in WhatsApp application
The safest and most logical way to start cleaning is to use your own storage management tool, which the WhatsApp developers have implemented directly into the application settings. This method allows you to see visual statistics: how much space media files take up, how much voice messages weigh, and which chats consume the most resources of your Xiaomi.
To access this section, you need to open the messenger, click on the three dots in the upper right corner and select Settings. Next, go to the section Data and storage and click on the button Storage management. Here you will see the total amount of used space and a list of chats sorted by volume. Typically, group chats are at the top, where participants constantly exchange pictures and videos.
By clicking on a specific chat from the list, you are taken to a detailed view of its contents. The system allows you to select files by type: documents, photos, video or audio. This makes it possible to specifically delete, for example, all videos from correspondence with friends, while leaving text messages and important documents untouched. This approach minimizes the risk of losing valuable information.
⚠️ Warning: Deleting media files through this interface permanently removes them from the chat for all participants in the conversation if you delete them yourself, but the files may remain in the phone gallery if not synced correctly. Always check your download folder after cleaning.
Particular attention should be paid to the “Frequently forwarded” section. WhatsApp automatically groups media that has been shared more than five times. Often these are viral cards, memes or fake news that provide no value but take up megabytes. Deleting them is the fastest way to free up space without compromising your personal correspondence.
Using the “Explorer” system application on Xiaomi
MIUI and HyperOS shells have a powerful built-in file manager that provides access to hidden system directories. Unlike standard cleaning through the app settings, working with the file system allows you to delete so-called “orphaned” files - media that was deleted from the chat, but physically remained in the phone’s memory. Open the application on your smartphone. You need to go to the root folder of the internal drive. The WhatsApp data path has changed in new versions of Android, so it is important to know the current directory structure. On modern versions of Android 11 and higher, the files are located along the path
Open the application Explorer (or File Manager) on your smartphone. You need to go to the root folder of the internal drive. The WhatsApp data path has changed in new versions of Android, so it is important to know the current directory structure. On modern versions of Android 11 and higher, the files are located along the path Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp, while on older versions it was just a folder WhatsApp in the root.
Inside this directory we are interested in the folder Media. This is where all received and sent files are stored. The structure inside can be confusing, but the main sections are easy to identify by their names: for photos, for videos and for voice messages. Deleting the contents of these folders frees up gigabytes of space instantly. WhatsApp Images for photographs, WhatsApp Video for videos and WhatsApp Audio for voice messages. Deleting the contents of these folders frees up gigabytes of space instantly.
Before mass deleting files through Explorer, copy important documents to cloud storage or to your computer. The system file manager does not have a “Trash” function for recoveries inside application folders.
It is worth noting the presence of a folder Private inside the media directory. Files that have been hidden by the user or protected by a password are stored there. If you forgot about the existence of such archives, they may be the reason for the lack of space. Be careful when cleaning this directory, as access to these files is only possible through special unlocking procedures inside the messenger.
| Folder name | Content type | Recommendation for action |
|---|---|---|
| WhatsApp Images | Photos and images | Delete duplicates and screenshots |
| WhatsApp Video | Videos | Clear completely or selectively |
| Sent | Sent files | Can be deleted, copies are in chats |
| Profile Photos | Contact profile photos | Safe to delete, the cache will be restored |
Clearing the application cache through Android settings
In addition to explicit files (photos, videos), the application accumulates a huge amount of temporary data necessary for fast operation. This cache is technical information, image thumbnails, temporary download files. Over time, the cache can grow to several gigabytes, slowing down the launch of apps on the processor. Find the section Snapdragon or MediaTek.
To clear this data, go to main Settings your smartphone Xiaomi. Find a section Applications and select item All applications. In the list that opens, find WhatsApp. By clicking on it, you will be taken to the application card, where you need to select Memory or Storage (the name depends on the MIUI version).
You will see two buttons: “Clear cache” and “Clear everything”. It is critical to click only on Clear cache. This operation is safe and will not affect your conversations, settings or media files. The system will simply delete temporary files, which the application will recreate as needed. This often solves problems with messenger freezing.
⚠️ Attention: Never click the “Clear All” (or “Reset”) button unless you have backed up your chats to Google Drive. This action will completely delete the application and all data inside it, including message history.
After clearing the cache, it is recommended to restart your device. When you first start up after this procedure, WhatsApp may run a little slower than usual, as it will need to regenerate the thumbnails for the chat gallery. This is a normal phenomenon that will pass after a few minutes of active use.
☑️ Safe cache clearing checklist
Managing automatic media downloads
One of the main reasons why the memory on Xiaomi quickly fills up is the automatic media download function. By default, the messenger downloads every received photo and video as soon as an Internet connection appears. Disabling this feature allows you to manually decide what to save on your device and what to view only once without saving.
Go to Settings inside WhatsApp, then select section Data and storage. Here you will see the Autoload Media block. It is divided into three categories: "When using a mobile network", "When connected to Wi-Fi" and "When roaming". To maximize space savings, it is recommended to uncheck all file types (Photo, Audio, Video) in all three categories.
After this setting, when you receive a video in chat, you will see a blurry preview with a download button. The file will be saved in the phone's memory only if you click on it yourself. This dramatically reduces the volume of incoming garbage, especially in active group chats, where hundreds of images can be received per day.
Also in this section there is a “Quality of uploaded photos” setting. Changing the setting from “Excellent” to "Standard" allows you to significantly reduce the size of each photo you send and receive without noticeable loss of visual quality for viewing on a smartphone screen. This saves space and speeds up data transfer.
Deleting duplicates and unnecessary statuses
Viewing statuses (stories) in WhatsApp also leaves a trace in the phone's memory. Although they disappear after 24 hours from the interface, their files often remain in hidden system folders, taking up space as dead weight. On smartphones Xiaomi this data can accumulate for months if you do not regularly check it.
To find these files, use Exploreragain. Follow the path Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Media/.Statuses. Pay attention to the dot at the beginning of the folder name - it means that the folder is hidden. In the Explorer settings, you may need to enable the display of hidden files to see this directory.
Inside the folder .Statuses all the photos and videos that you have viewed in the status feed recently are stored. You can safely select the entire contents of this folder and delete it. This will not affect the operation of the application, since statuses are updated from the server daily, and you no longer need old copies.
How to enable the display of hidden files?
In the Explorer application, click on the three dots or the menu icon. In the drop-down list, find the “Settings” or “Display” item. Activate the "Show hidden files" switch. Now folders starting with a dot will become visible.
Another source of duplicates is the folder Sent (Sent). When you forward the same photo to multiple people or in different chats, WhatsApp can save a copy of it in the sent folder for each occasion. Checking this directory and deleting old copies allows you to regain several hundred megabytes of free space.
Setting up a backup in Google Drive
Before embarking on radical cleaning methods, such as reinstalling the application or formatting folders, you need to ensure the safety of your correspondence history. On Android, this function is implemented through integration with Google Drive. Correctly setting up a backup will ensure that you do not lose important conversations when clearing data.
In the WhatsApp settings, select the section Chats, and then Backup of chats. Here you can see the date of the last save and its size. It is recommended to set up automatic creation of copies on a schedule (for example, every day at 2 am) and select the frequency of video downloads. If space in the cloud is limited, it is better to select the “No videos” option, since they take up 90% of the backup volume.
Make sure that in the Google account linked to yours Xiaomi, enough free space. Google provides 15 GB for free, but this may not be enough if you actively use mail and photos. If you run out of space, the backup will fail and your data will be at risk when you reset.
⚠️ Note: Google Drive backup does not store your media in original quality forever. When restoring chats, old media files may not be loaded if they were deleted from the cloud or their storage period has expired. Always back up important photos to your computer.
Regular backup to the cloud is the only way to safely experiment with clearing phone memory without fear of losing years of correspondence history.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Will correspondence be deleted if I clear the cache WhatsApp?
No, clearing the cache through Android settings only deletes temporary files necessary for the application to run quickly (thumbnails, temporary downloads). Your message history, contacts and media files will remain completely safe. This is a safe procedure that can be performed regularly.
Why, after deleting photos in a chat, do they remain in the Xiaomi Gallery?
This is due to desynchronization between the messenger database and the file system. WhatsApp deletes the entry about the file from the chat, but the file itself may be in the WhatsApp Imagesfolder. To remove them from the Gallery permanently, you need to go to Explorer and manually delete files from the corresponding folders or use the “Free up space” function inside the application itself.
Is it possible to recover deleted messages without a backup?
Unfortunately, no. If you didn't make a backup to Google Drive or locally to your device before deleting, it's impossible to restore the conversation. Files deleted using the “Delete from me” command are erased permanently. Third-party apps for data recovery on Android are often ineffective due to encryption of the WhatsApp database.
How to disable saving statuses to the phone's memory?
It is impossible to completely disable caching of viewed statuses using standard means, since this is a technical necessity for reproduction. However, you can regularly clean out the folder .Statuses through Explorer. The ban on automatic downloading of media also helps, although this applies to a lesser extent to viewing statuses.
Is it safe to use third-party cleaning applications, such as Clean Master?
Using third-party “cleaners” on modern Xiaomi is not recommended. The built-in MIUI system already has a memory optimizer. Third-party applications often contain advertising, collect unnecessary data and may mistakenly delete important system files or cache necessary for the operation of other apps, which will lead to system instability.