[Updated] Redmi Note 9 series: Android 11 & MIUI 12 update, Widevine L1, frequent WiFi disconnection, call recording & more

This story is being continuously updated…. New updates are being added at the bottom…..

Original story (published on June 19) follows:

The Redmi Note series is without a doubt Xiaomi’s most popular family of phones. The latest in town is the Redmi Note 9 series that comprises the standard Note 9, Note 9S, Note 9 Pro, and Note 9 Pro Max.

All devices in the Redmi Note 9 series have the same Android 10 OS pre-installed out of the box, which makes them eligible for Android 11. The older MIUI 11 skin runs on top, with the devices expected to receive the latest MIUI 12 update in late July 2020.

In an effort to clear things up regarding the availability of the Redmi Note 9 Android 11 and MIUI 12 updates, Xiaomi turned to its Mi forums with a series of responses to frequently asked questions.

While at it, the company also shed some light on other issues affecting the Note 9 series and we have a summary of the major highlights for you right below. Xiaomi has conveniently named this Volume 1, suggesting that more similar sessions will come in the future.

First things first. Yes, the entire Redmi Note 9 series will be upgraded to Android 11 as their only guaranteed OS upgrade. Anything after that will be a bonus. Unfortunately, Xiaomi is still unwilling to confirm this and here’s what the company says:

No info at hand, so we suggest you keep watching this space, there will be a thread when Android 11 surfaces.

As noted, we have heard before that the Redmi Note 9 series will bag the MIUI 12 update beginning July 2020. But as expected, no specific release date is available.

Yes, the phones are on the list (round 2) to receive MIUI 12. But we do NOT have a schedule for updates, so, stay tuned for the announcement in the community.

In case you just came from a cave, Xiaomi no longer serves MIUI beta updates to devices outside the China ROM. This includes the Redmi Note 9 family of phones, but there is the Mi Pilot that serves more of the same purpose, only that the firmware is more stable than beta.

The beta program for MIUI closed several months ago, the Mi Pilot program is what we have now. Users will be recruited to the pilot program based on ROM availability for each device. To know more about the pilot program for your device, keep track of announcements in the beta subforum.

We’ve on a couple of occasions documented HD streaming issues related to the Redmi Note 9S and Note 9 Pro, be it on Amazon Prime or Netflix.

For Note 9S users, Widevine L1 is present but the device won’t stream Amazon Prime Video content in HD (FHD). On the other hand, Redmi Note 9 Pro owners have often found their devices automatically degraded from Widevibe L1 to L3, meaning no HD streaming as well.

And according to Xiaomi, this is a known issue that is still waiting for a fix to be released God knows when.

It seems the device is not recognized as L1 certified by the Amazon app. A similar issue was found and fixed via a software update in the Indian variant. This issue is already reported and awaiting a fix.

Multiple Redmi Note 9 series devices have been reported to experience random WiFi disconnections when idle. Xiaomi is well aware of this issue and developers are already working on a solution.

It is a noted issue, and devs are working on that at the moment.

If your device is missing support for native call recording, it is because you don’t have Xiaomi’s Contacts and Dialer app installed on your phone out of the box. This app comes with support for native call recording. But instead, you have Google’s Dialer app on board.

The reason some Xiaomi devices ditched the Contacts and Dialer (and Messaging) is as follows:

The lacks of MIUI Messaging, Contacts and Dialer are mainly due to the privacy regulations, as has been explained before, the global Xiaomi phones now come with preinstalled Google Phone and Messages.

On the brighter side, Google has been updating its Dialer app to add native call recording support, so it’s likely that the Redmi Note 9 series and other Xiaomi devices sold in Europe will soon support this feature as well.

For those reporting that the Themes app is not working on their Note 9 handsets, it is because the app is region-based. Xiaomi doesn’t say which countries are getting it, but there is a workaround for those interested – simply change your region to India and that’s it!

The Themes app is available in selected regions, so, to get around that, set your region to something like India, sorted.

If interested, you may check out the full FAQ here.

The update to MIUI 12 for the Redmi Note 9 series will address the GPS, WiFi and other existing bugs. Head here for more coverage.

IST: 01:07 pm: In a recent development, we have learned that the native call recording feature has made its way to the global variants of the Redmi Note 8 Pro, Redmi Note 9S, and the Redmi Note 9 Pro and some other devices. See the full coverage here.

IST 05:36 pm: According to a moderator at the Mi Community, Xiaomi may not recruit users for testing MIUI 12 on the Redmi Note 9, but it may recruit users to test Android 11 on the devices. Detailed coverage here.

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