Xiaomi’s Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro are the company’s newest flagship phones released as part of the coronavirus pandemic.
Érika García / CNET
Xiaomi announced that it released software updates for its three browser apps on Monday after being accused of collecting private information from people using its phones and web browser apps.
In one blog entryAccording to Xiaomi, users of the three browser apps Mi Brower, Mi Browser Pro and Mint Browser can deactivate the aggregated data collection after installing the update in incognito mode. The software update was introduced on Google Play.
“We believe that this functionality, combined with our approach to managing aggregated data in an unidentifiable form, goes beyond all legal requirements and demonstrates our company’s commitment to user privacy,” the company said in its post.
The software update is released after concerns were raised in a Forbes report released last Thursday that the Chinese phone maker is collecting private data on user-visited websites and detailed information about apps used and files opened on devices.
Data from market analyst Canalys shows that Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 8 (see figure above) was the best-selling Android at the end of 2019.
Óscar Gutierrez / CNET
The report cited several security researchers, including one who said that the standard Xiaomi browser was on his Redmi Note 8, “recorded all the websites he visited, including search engine queries” and “all the articles that appeared in a newsfeed feature of the Xiaomi software” when he used them. The researcher Gabi Cirlig told Forbes that this tracking also seemed to happen when surfing in incognito mode or in private mode. The report detailed that the data was packed and sent to remote servers in Russia and Singapore. The Redmi Note 8 is one of the best-selling phones from Xiaomi and was the world’s best-selling Android phone at the end of last year.
In response to the report, Xiaomi defended his practices last week it was said to “fully comply with the laws and regulations protecting the privacy of users in the countries and regions in which we operate”.