Emir BardakçıRecently, X user Chun Bhai dropped a bombshell by claiming that Xiaomi is looking to kill off its bootloader unlocking program outside mainland China by 2025. In his post, he had said, “Unrelated news but I hear that Xiaomi is planning to shut down the unlock bootloader program for their global users next year following the closure in China last month.” This has sent the Xiaomi community into a frenzy.
Why is unlocking the bootloader so important?
One of the most important features many users resort to in Xiaomi is unlocking the bootloader. It gives a way of installing custom ROMs, exerting root operations, and affords owners administrative powers over their devices. The feature remains important to geeks and developers since they want to customize their smartphones by improving performance or adding new features. For quite a long while, one of the strong selling points of Xiaomi has been the freedom accorded to users.
However, the recent decision to shut down bootloader unlocking in the Chinese market has stoked fears among some that a similar move may be extended towards global users.
What does that mean for users around the world?
If it happens that Xiaomi drops bootloader unlocking completely, then this will have a great effect on users depending on the feature to alter the software. Many of its phones depend on custom ROMs for optimizing their devices or getting security updates quicker. Stopping the program altogether may keep one from being allowed to customize their devices in many ways. It will cause frustration among the community because, up to now, unlocking the bootloader had been one of the strong selling points of Xiaomi’s devices.
Is Xiaomi Changing Its Software Policy?
Xiaomi’s decision to end bootloader unlocking in China could hint at a broader pivot in its software policies. In China, new regulations may force technology firms to be more controlling regarding user data and device security. Should this policy reach a global scale, that may mean Xiaomi is serious about device security and user privacy at the cost of freedom to customize for users.
This has arrived as a wave of speculation and concern among the users of Xiaomi, since a large portion of them rely on the feature of bootloader unlock. Xiaomi still hasn’t confirmed or denied these reports, but the users are now closely monitoring the announcements from the company. In the meantime, tech enthusiasts and Xiaomi fans keep a close eye on the development, hoping the global program stays intact for bootloader unlocking.
if this is true, i won’t buy mi phone anymore.
honestly the main two things that i was buying Xiaomi phones that i love is because of price (which it isn’t their strongest point anymore due to competitors) and bootloader unlocking.
if killing bootloader unlock does happen, i WILL NOT BUY ANY OF THEIR PHONES ANYMORE.
Well another bullshixx Xiaomi phones are great for their prices and availability inwas buying them so I can test custom roms and now they are doing this 🤡
Xiaomi12 hyperos update pls unlock drive phone
balasticOS will beat your hyperOS
Yeah I’m switching back to Samsung if this is true, Their one ui is better and more original plus easier to unlock.
Lower Redmi phones are so bad that they needed to be tweak for me to access good Xiaomi features, Disabling the ability to unlock bootloader forever is a really bad decision.
Listen to your customers.
Lower Redmi phones softwares are so bad (Which is the most people can afford) that they needed to be tweak for me to access good Xiaomi features (They keep putting the Grey Control Center and basic Ui Animations even in their New Redmi Note series which is unnecessary), Disabling the ability to unlock bootloader forever is a really bad decision.
Listen to your customers.
If this is true, then its end of all Xiaomi products from me. Time to shift to some other community friendly brands.
It has already ended last month
That is why if you have the latest version of the community app
You don’t see it listed anymore
if it’s true that xiaomi really does it, to some extent users will rarely use products from xiaomi anymore, but there are good and bad, and I understand the decision of xiaomi
Please unlock my device I can’t get hyper os update my device is Redmi note 13 pro plus
The only reason i am using Xiaomi instead of iPhone is Root abilities. if unlock bootloader is shut down, me no longer use Xiaomi, many phone better than Xiaomi.
if they dont stop this behaviour a lot of users will just buy some other brand.
how can a locked bootloader be for “security” when the google apps are infested with tracking and spyware!
i want a phone with no stupid locks – a simple “fastboot oem unlock” should be enough,
anf offer a global rom based on AOSP not GSI with no google framework inside it!
if the chinese wont tolerate being spied on by google then why should the rest of the world?
i did notice the china variant roms are clean in that regard!
I recently bought a used Poco F3 because of its ability to run LineageOS. Turns out, the bootloader can’t be unlocked, even though I have the global version, not the Chinese one.
First, Xiaomi lets you jump through many hoops, you need a Xiaomi account, you need to install the Xiaomi community app, you need to wait for 30 days of having an account, and then, you get caught in an endless loop of trying to unlock every day, and always you get the error message “Application quota limit reached, please try again next day”.. already tried every day since a month and I think it’s permanently blocked. You find many other users stuck with the same problem in online forums.
What a waste of money buying Xiaomi 😡
goodluck to ur sales xiaomi hahahah.