While addressing the recent ban on Xiaomi apps in India, the Chinese smartphone maker said it is developing a new MIUI version that will not include blocked apps.
The improved MIUI update will be rolled out to users on a phased basis over the next few weeks, Xiaomi said in a tweet. In other words, MIUI 11 and MIUI 12 users can expect a slight OTA (Over-the-air) update in the near future.
It comes just days after India banned Mi Browser Pro, the default browser app for Xiaomi devices. Since the border clash between India and China, strong anti-Chinese sentiment has grown across the country. Previously, the Indian government banned a list of 59 Chinese apps including TikTok, UC Browser, and a handful of Xiaomi apps namely Mi Community and Mi Video.
Also Read: Why You Should Stop Using Xiaomi's Mi Browser And Mint Browser?
India believed that Chinese apps were stealing user data and forwarding it to servers outside India, posing a threat to the country's security.
In today's article, Xiaomi ensured that it complies with all "privacy and data security requirements under Indian law". Responding to the government's reasoning behind the ban, Xiaomi said that its Indian users' data had not left the country since 2018 and that "100% of it is stored on servers located in India"
Apart from that, Xiaomi India also claimed that its MIUI cleaner has no connection with Cheetah Mobile's Clean Master, a popular phone cleaner listed in the Chinese app ban. Last month we observed that Xiaomi uses the definition "Clean Master" in its default cleaning app and therefore offers a way to remove the app since Xiaomi does not allow users to remove installed apps.
In the post, Xiaomi said that "Clean Master" is a common name and the MIUI Cleaner app only uses "industry definitions that are vital for the app to work". Either way, Xiaomi has decided to remove the definitions to clear up the confusion.
The Mi browser, as well as the Mint browser, have already been found tracking and saving the private data of millions of Xiaomi users, so we certainly won't miss it in the new version of MIUI. However, it would have been better if Xiaomi took this opportunity to allow the removal of all preinstalled apps. There is still an unofficial way to do this, but we would have liked an easy way to remove bloatware.
