[Poll results out] Xiaomi should release bug-free MIUI 12.5 update or ditch anti-rollback protection feature

New updates are being added to the bottom of the story…

Original story (from April 04, 2021) follows:

Xiaomi started rolling out the stable version of MIUI 12.5 update earlier this week, first arriving for the flagship Mi 10 Ultra and Mi 11 devices in China.

In the next few weeks, the firmware will begin finding its way to other models not just back at home, but also in other parts of the world where Xiaomi devices are sold.

History tells us that bugs in MIUI software is something to always expect. The outgoing MIUI 12 did bring plenty of new features, but it also tagged along uncountable bugs and issues.

In fact, we even keep an updated tracker of these MIUI 12 bugs and issues here, a huge chunk of which have never been addressed nearly a year down the line.

And in a recent development, a Mi community moderator admitted that Android 11-based MIUI 12 update is pretty buggy on all devices and that rolling back to Android 10 is a no-brainer.

In 2018, Xiaomi released a new MIUI 10 beta build that prevented users from rolling back to older MIUI 9 builds that they deemed more stable than the then new beta version.

Trying to go back to MIUI 9 resulted in bricked phones — the kind of bricking that couldn’t be fixed with a clean install, TWRP backup or a factory image using the MiFlash tool.

Instead, affected users had to use EDL mode to come out of this dilemma. But then again, EDL mode was limited to authorized accounts, which made the process even more cumbersome.

In case you didn’t know, the anti-rollback protection feature is a Google creation that first showed up in Android Oreo as part of Verified Boot and saw deeper implementation in Android Pie.

But unlike Google’s that gets disabled once the bootloader is unlocked, Xiaomi’s implementation doesn’t let users disable the feature after unlocking the bootloader.

Once a new MIUI build with the anti-rollback protection feature enabled is installed on a Xiaomi phone, there’s no room for rolling back to an older version, which is my bone of contention.

See, upgrading any Xiaomi phone to a new MIUI build risks users being exposed to unwanted bugs and issues that didn’t exist before the update.

Sure, no doubt Xiaomi does thorough testing of each new MIUI version before pushing it to the masses, but like any other piece of software, there are some bugs that go undetected and end up mudding the user experience.

We’ve seen countless occasions where MIUI updates negatively affect some Xiaomi phones with cases of poor battery life, laggy UI, botched cameras, broken Wi-Fi connectivity, and so on.

The company is always trying its best to address these issues through subsequent MIUI updates, but others can be unbearable and not just worth waiting for an official fix.

In such situations, especially where Xiaomi may take ages to solve the issue at hand, one can restore their phone to a previous bug-free version as they wait for a bug-fixing update from Xiaomi.

Unfortunately, Xiaomi says this isn’t recommended due to the MIUI anti-rollback protection feature that may cause devices to brick.

With MIUI 11 arguably the most stable version of MIUI on the market right now, disabling the anti-rollback feature would be a huge welcome for affected devices.

Of course, unless Xiaomi rolls out a bug-free MIUI 12.5 update (and future MIUI editions) that should negate the need for rolling back to a previous build. But history tells us otherwise.

We would like to know your thoughts on this in the comments section below. We also have a Twitter poll that you can cast your vote, with the results to be shared after one week.

IST 15:45 – The results for the poll are out. A significant majority (over 72%) agree that Xiaomi should scrap the anti-rollback protection feature in MIUI. While close to 12% disagreed, rest seemed to be unaware of this feature itself.

In case you missed the poll, you can share your opinion in the comment section at the bottom of this page.

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