Reportedly Xiaomi China, in particular, is considering taking stricter measures to unlock the bootloader on their smartphones, causing concern among users. The leak suggests that Xiaomi may complicate the process of unlocking the bootloader, affecting customization, custom ROM installation, and advanced user operations.

Speculations about Xiaomi’s bootloader unlocking policy

Recent leaks from the Xiaomi Chinese Community have revealed a hidden ‘Beta Bootloader Unlock’ option, indicating the company’s intention to tighten its bootloader unlocking procedures. The reason for these changes remains unclear but may be due to security and software integrity issues.

These potential issues when unlocking the bootloader can negatively impact users, especially those interested in installing custom ROMs. If this is implemented, users may need to put more effort into understanding and navigating the new procedures.

During the last launch of the series Xiaomi14 In China, Xiaomi introduced HyperOS, which replaced MIUI. Xiaomi later confirmed that bootloader unlocking will be disabled by default on HyperOS smartphones, citing reasons such as security, data protection and user experience. Users will now need to request permission to unlock the bootloader via the Xiaomi community forum.

There are reports that additional restrictions for Chinese users include reaching “level five” status on community forums Xiaomi, time-limited unlock permissions, and a limit of three unlocked devices per year. These restrictions apply specifically to the Chinese version of HyperOS, and users around the world are waiting for new announcements.

In addition, Xiaomi Announced that users who unlock the bootloader will no longer receive the update HyperOSthis will affect both MIUI 14Just like HyperOS. However, users can regain access to updates by re-locking their devices.