MIUI – firmware loved by millions of users around the world. Xiaomi managed to turn Android into a kind of semblance iOS, and fans of the brand liked it so much that now most of them are no longer ready to switch to anything something else. Nevertheless, it is still impossible to call MIUI ideal. Not only is the firmware replete with built-in advertisements that can appear everywhere – from settings to notification points – but it also suffers from surveillance by standard applications, which Xiaomi, at the request of the authorities, however, were forced to replace.
Apps Xiaomi caught spying on users
From this year, all smartphones Xiaomi destined for sale outside of China, India and Indonesia will come preinstalled with the 'Phone' and 'Messages' apps from Google. They will replace the company's proprietary software that always came with MIUI by default. The reason for this was problems with security and improper storage of data, the collection of which is carried out by software preinstalled on the devices Xiaomi out of the box.
What's wrong with apps Xiaomi
Xiaomi had to obey the requirement of the EU authorities and replace the standard software with analogues from Google
Xiaomi admits that the decision to replace standard applications with Google counterparts was made by them under pressure from the European Union. The authorities caught the company of non-compliance with user privacy laws and issued an order against it, obliging it to stop using software that poses a threat to the privacy of its customers. In case of disobedience, the very fact of the sale of smartphones Xiaomi in the EU could be questioned.
It is rather strange that the Europeans woke up only now, although Xiaomi has been pre-installing branded applications on their smartphones for many years and, obviously, has been secretly collecting user data all this time. However, it is not specified what information the company had access to. But since we are talking about the 'Phone' and 'Messages' applications, it is logical to assume that the Chinese could view users' contacts, record their calls, and also read messages, which is rather unpleasant.
Xiaomi has problems
In general, recently Xiaomi is clearly experiencing problems with the security of user data. After all, if the company, even at home, was accused of spying on users through proprietary software, it was difficult to expect that Europeans, who are more responsible in this area, would let the problem go down. Therefore, the story about the development Xiaomi of Plan 'B' is very appropriate here in case she is accused of something inappropriate and sanctions are imposed. But, if you remember, this is exactly where the problems started for Huawei.
How likely it is that Xiaomi will be imposed with sanctions is not yet clear. Still, the company did not spy on government officials, which means that there is no reason to hang all the dogs on it. Moreover, Xiaomi is clearly not as valuable for China as Huawei. This further reduces any value from being sanctioned. Well, since she also quickly jumped in advance, replacing the controversial software with guaranteed good quality, there can be no complaints about Xiaomi. For now, anyway.