tldr:
While earlier Xiaomi allowed users to unlock up to three devices per year, the new policy brought that number down to a single device per year and applies to both China and the rest of the world.
this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2024
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Well, better than no bootloader unlocking which was the rumour going around.
But this trend is certainly saddening, and it feels like it's a matter of time before bootloader unlocking goes away altogether.
In response my in-house policy has changed to allow purchase of 0 Xiaomi devices per year.
I tried an unmodified xiaomi phone and couldn't believe how shit it was.
Ads everywhere. When you open the file manager you'd get a full page ad. That phone was a disease
No wonder they don't want people installing ad-free Lineageos on their machines
You should have seen the pihole logs during the days my redmi made me wait before it allowed me to unlock the bootloader. It was shocking. That stock OS singlehandedly doubled the percentage of blocked DNS requests at the pihole. I was amazed by how insanely invasive it was. Kept asking me to create sms or email verified accounts to do super basic crap.
Which region? I've been on Poco/Xiaomi for years and I've never noticed ads.
I'll add another datapoint. I've had to do some effort removing/disabling OEM bloatware and adware on my Xiaomi phone.
To be fair though, I bought it because it has good specs for its price, and I was already aware of all the bloat and adware that came with it. The first thing I did after unboxing the phone is to just excise all of that shit.
Global version from the Philippines, if you must know.
France
But it seems to be an issue elsewhere also
This is ridiculous
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euRcPJF0Yrw
It absolutely is the same strategy tv manufacturers adopted that allows them to sell for so cheap
The restriction can prevent any abuses of the unlock system in making mass customizations to sell.
That's a value-add, not abuse.
I don't have a phone from this brand. What system in place enforces this policy?
Neither do I, but you according to this you have to apply for and request an unlock code for the device, as well that the device must be online to authorize the unlock. Pretty stupid if you ask me.
online via a mobile data connection no less, presumably to allow them to reliably associate the imei to you.
They make you associate the device with a functional sim by forcing you to do the process over mobile data.
Presumably they take all the sims IDs, effectively making the limit 1 device per year per unique phone contract including data.
Going by my experiences with prepaid contracts (which got canceled due to low usage) I'd estimate that creates costs of 20β¬ per unlock in my region.
I have their phone and you need to use their windows app to unlock it.
Thanks.
What prevents someone from creating an additional account on a different computer to unlock two phones in a year?
Exactly what Iβm thinking.
I donβt know how this works, but my idea is: create a new Windows install in a VM, download this software and then use a burner email if it requires an email account.
Iβm not really sure how they could lock something like that down except the fact this is too much for some people or the fact that itβs something they need to think up.
Yeah... Android ROM developers are really tech savvy with coming up with solutions. I am really interested in what holds them back.
I can't find it on my PC anymore, but it's ringing to me that you needed to login with your Mi account.
edit: plus wait 72h(?)
Was a week when I did it some years ago.
The account is tied to your sim, you effectively confirm it by them forcing you to do the process over mobile data.
I'm on my 2nd Xiaomi flagship and I think had to request unlock and wait for a day or so. Or use some trick to skip this step. So in theory after (if) I get my next Xiaomi 15 or whatever it will be, one unlock per year should be fine.
Can I actually unlock it some other way?
I wish this is was China bad thing