MIUI (Can be Pronounced as : Me You I) is a modified Android ROM developed by electronics manufacturer Xiaomi for its smartphones. This is a fork of the Android OS. MIUI includes various features such as theme support. There are different versions for each Xiaomi phone, and each version has variants according to the regions in which the phone is sold, such as Chinese, Global, EEA, Pakistan, Russian, Indonesian, Indian, Taiwan and Turkish. Xiaomi has released some smartphones with Android One while others have MIUI, based on the current version of Android. Xiaomi devices usually get three Android version update, but get MIUI updates for four years.
Introduced in Market :
The first MIUI ROM was based on Android 2.2.x Froyo and was initially developed in the Chinese language by Chinese startup Xiaomi Tech. Xiaomi added a number of apps to the basic framework, including their Notes, Backup, Music, and Gallery apps.
An organization named Xiaomi Europe (xiaomi.eu), not a part of Xiaomi, was set up in 2010 as a community for English-language MIUI Android and Xiaomi products. xiaomi.eu works officially with Xiaomi on app translations and bug fixing. xiaomi.eu issues its own versions of Xiaomi MIUI ROMs, based on the stable and weekly beta versions of the Chinese ROM. Installing the xiaomi.eu ROM voids the warranty on Xiaomi phones; according to the xiaomi.eu leader, the official ROM must be flashed and the bootloader locked before returning a device for warranty repair.
MIUI and Google Play services :
Google has had disagreements with the Chinese government, and access to many Google services is blocked in China as well. MIUI does not ship with Google Play Services in mainland China due to disagreements. However, Xiaomi has expanded its operations outside China; MIUI releases for Android devices outside mainland China have Google Play Services and Google Apps such as Gmail, Google Maps, Google Play Store pre-installed and functioning as on any other Android device. MIUI global versions are certified by Google.
Issues :
MIUI's kernel was proprietary, and in breach of Linux kernel's GPL. Source code for certain components was released to GitHub on 25 October 2013. Kernel sources for a few devices, including the Mi3, Mi4, MiNote, and Redmi 1S, were released in March 2015. In order to raise funds for the company, MIUI has its own online services from Xiaomi, including cloud services, paid themes and games. Payments are transacted using the MiCredit digital currency.
After the government of India banned over 100 Chinese apps and services in 2020 due to national security and privacy concerns, including some made by Xiaomi, the company developed a MIUI version without them for India.
Many users also reported incorrect display in dark mode, higher battery consumption and unresponsive touch issue. MIUI 12 bugs have grown over the last few years on almost all the Redmi, Xiaomi and Poco devices, be it older or newer ones. The company is yet to officially release any statement.
Vulnerabilities :
In April 2019, security researcher Arif Khan reported that Xiaomi's browser apps Mi Browser and Mint Browser suffered from a vulnerability that allowed the URL address bar to be spoofed, which affected Indian as well as certain global versions of MIUI. Xiaomi gave Khan a bug bounty but opted not to fix this issue. In addition, a vulnerability in a wallpaper carousel app Glance on Indian versions of MIUI allowed a user to bypass the lock screen and access clipboard data. This vulnerability was eventually fixed by Xiaomi.
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