Xiaomi MIUI 12 Announced With Enhanced Privacy: What’s Different?

| Published: Wednesday, May 20, 2020, 12:12 [IST]

Xiaomi has launched its latest MIUI 12 custom skin for its smartphones. The update has been expected for a while now, especially after the company released it in China initially. Xiaomi has now rolled out MIUI 12 globally and brings in a couple of new features, stressing on privacy, a neat, minimalist UI, and new system animations.

"Building on Android's rigorous permission control over location, MIUI 12 takes things a step further to manage apps that request sensitive permissions," the Mi Blog notes, stressing on privacy features.

MIUI 12: What’s New?

The key highlight of MIUI 12 is privacy enhancements. The Mi Blog notes that the new MIUI 12 allows users to quickly see the permissions each app is using in real-time, making it one of the stark upgrades from MIUI 11. The app permissions section also has "While using the app" and "Notify" options.

As part of the privacy upgrade, Xiaomi has brought in strict location control through MIUI 12. Also, the company can now remove location information and metadata while sharing photos with users, which means that users can see a permission-access indicator whenever an app is using any permission.

Plus, permissions like camera, contacts, calendar, storage, call history, and others have also been restricted by notifying users regularly. This is where "While using the app" permission comes to play for all Xiaomi smartphones, unlike stock Android.

MIUI 12 Features

Apart from privacy and security upgrades, MIUI 12 also brings to the table a revamped UI experience with Mi Render Engine and Mi Physics Engine for a smoother experience. Xiaomi has introduced refreshed animations that are said to make the interaction more natural. Xiaomi has also brought in Super Wallpaper that combines Always-On Display with the home and lock screens.

There's more. There are many improvements in the overall software like multi-tasking features, full-screen gestures, floating windows, and more. Screencasting is also enhanced, which is now prevents sensitive elements from being viewed on the external display. This could be anything like incoming calls or notifications.

As previously noted, Xiaomi has also brought in Dark Mode, a new App Drawer (from POCO Launcher), and an ultra battery saver feature. The blog post also notes that the first rollout will begin from June 2020 starting with Mi 9, Mi 9T, Mi 9T Pro, Redmi K20, Redmi K20 Pro devices.