Xiaomi MIUI 13 allegedly blocks installation of “unlawful” apps | Hacker News Reader

Xiaomi MIUI 13 allegedly blocks installation of “unlawful” apps

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26 pointsnomay16 comments

xiaomi is fucking bad. an employee bought xiaomi mi 10s last week https://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_mi_10s-10780.php

it is atrocious to use. there is "glace wallpaper" which cannot be disabled. yellow pages for sharing contacts to third parties ala truecaller, no way to disable stock apps or xiaomi apps. ads and "recomendations" in each and every system application, why the fuck should default file manager share data or have recomendations or share data. same for gallery that has xiaomi cloud.

do people really need "cloud" ? what is wrong with vcf file when switching phones? i use a small "backup all" app on android to export and import contacts, messages and call details in text files. why do you need to be plugged into a "cloud" all the times?

the level of dark patterns in the system ui is just disappointing

They have really good hardware and there is hoards of Indian and Pakistani Devs that within a few days port all possible aftermarket ROMs to the hardware (also Xiaomi does publish kernel sources without any delay). The only huge annoyance is that they check that you do not live in China by monitoring your movement for 3 weeks before they allow unlocking the bootloader. If they would allow relocking the bootloader with a custom signature (like pixels allow) it would be the perfect phone if you like it cheap and do not care about the ethical implications of the supply chain ( then again you could by them used: my redmi note 7 still runs really smoothly on lineage 18.1 with the latest security patches).

agreed but why do they have to make the stock ui so difficult? why is there no middle ground between the default and a custom rom setup?

i bought a motorola g30 and was pleasantly surprised with the stock feel. i could uninstall any app and i did. i am not forced to any dark patterns or forced to see ads or recommendations or asked to give consent to data sharing. not signed in to any google or any system account. the software "hides" between me and the work be it calls or apps or browsing. i want that, not being reminded to be stuck with a beacon.

i understand the whole hacker culture arond xiaomi and devs. i had an xiaomi mi pad 1. someone here on HN told me about a custom rom and in less than 3 hours i managed to brick the device. now i am unable to use it.

please help me understand one thing, what is with android custom os companies and locking down bootloader and making the process so finicky ? why isn't the system designed to be as easy as installing windows or linux or even how raspberry pi installs the os? why is android so fucked up bad in this regard?

Xiaomi's business model is to sell good hardware with very little margin, and hopefully make a lot money on services (i.e. cloud, ad).

How the custom ROM scene hasn't demanded devices and software that enable verified boot is beyond me.

You can unlock it even if you live in China. Just queue up like the rest of the world. No worries.

Really??? I was was just assuming this was the point of this all. So what is the point of this monitoring then (I think you have to lock in and share your location)? Is it only that certain individuals are denied unlocking? Do they just want to present mass unlocking like in a click farm? Other (non-chinese) vendors just offer immediate unlocking.

I think it was to increase friction of resellers installing shady 3rd party ROMs right away. If I remember right, waiting period was implemented after drama with resellers loading ROMs with spyware a few years ago. Maybe thinking is big sellers won't hoard stock for multiple weeks. My understanding is vendors that offer unlock actually opens the phone and starts the unlock countdown first and repackages after. I don't think there's any official endorsement/support for it.

Can't read the threads, so my questions: Is that only for mainland China or for any.user anywhere?

Also, what definition of "unlawful" are they using? If they are blocking installation of apps which are against the laws of the country it's being used in, I don't see the issue. On the other hand, using this as an avenue to extend reach outside the jurisdiction would be bad.

Only for mainland China.

Then where is the issue?

I'm with you on this one; there isn't really any issue here, other than the pre-existing censorship issues in China.

Should your car disable the accelerator once you get to the speed limit?

That could certainly avoid a few accidents.

But if there's a law that says cars have to do this, yes, of course. Or rather, we can get angry at the law or the legislator or the system or whatever, but it seems silly to get angry at the carmaker because they didn't arbitrarily break some laws that you personally don't agree with.

Which is also why I don't really understand the scare quotes around "unlawful" in the title.

If the carmaker built such a feature on their own without any obligation, or if the feature went beyond what the law mandates, that would be something else.

Goods vehicles and trucks almost always have speed limiters in Europe that do exactly this. This leads to fun on the highway when one truck who's limiter is a mile an hour or two faster than the truck in front decides to overtake.

In the USA, I've seen even worse: trucks with a message printed on the back that their speed is governed to some constant value (usually 55, 60, or 65mph), that are driving on a freeway where the speed limit is higher than that. So naturally, you get a bunch of road rage and shoulder passes with the 55.1mph truck passing the 55mph truck, taking up both lanes, in a 70mph zone.

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