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The worst thing about Xiaomi is their invasive software. In order to use a Mi Fit band you have to create an account with them and grant their app every permis

The worst thing about Xiaomi is their invasive software. In order to use a Mi Fit band you have to create an account with them and grant their app every permission under the sun. I love their hardware, it's a frugal premium grade that's hard to come by. I just wish it were more open and their software wasn't so questionable.

ianai 10y ago
That's not all that's questionable about them.
- yompers888 10y ago
  Would you care to elaborate?
  - ianai 10y ago
    well, http://www.zdnet.com/article/former-pentagon-analyst-china-has-backdoors-to-80-of-telecoms/ http://www.zdnet.com/article/former-pentagon-analyst-china-h...
    - cptskippy 10y ago
      Xiaomi isn't explicitly mentioned in that article and I have no doubt they put backdoors in their products for the Chinese Government. I guess my question is, would you feel differently if they were a US company and it were the the US Government holding the keys to backdoor? There's a reason China has been investing in developing it's own CPUs and telecommunications hardware and it isn't so that it can more easily spy on others. It's because they themselves no longer wish to be spied on... and maybe so they can spy on everyone else a little too. I'm not saying it's right. I don't know what I'm saying actually. I'm just going to grab some tin foil...
al_chemist 10y ago
That's interesting, because when I've got my Xiaomi Mi3 I've compared it with my Samsung Galaxy Tab. Mi3 was rooted, had almost no crapware and allowed me to pick what permissions app gets. On the other hand Tab required Samsung Account and rooting it voided guarantee. Mi Band vibrates on incoming connection, sms and apps so maybe that's why it requires permissions to phone, sms and notifications.
- cptskippy 10y ago
  Take a look at the permissions required by the official "Mi Fit" app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xiaomi.hm.health&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xiaomi.hm....) vs the indie "Tools & Mi Band" app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cz.zdenekhorak.mibandtools&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cz.zdenekhorak...). The official app has more features admittedly, but nothing that justifies the level of permissions it asks for. At most it should need access to the camera/photos to allow you to set a profile photo, and full network access to create/sync your account data to the "cloud". Nothing that the official app does justifies the following permissions it asks for: Device & app history retrieve running apps read sensitive log data Identity find accounts on the device Location approximate location (network-based) precise location (GPS and network-based) SMS receive text messages (SMS) Phone directly call phone numbers Photos/Media/Files access USB storage filesystem Wi-Fi connection information view Wi-Fi connections Other view network connections connect and disconnect from Wi-Fi read Google service configuration draw over other apps control flashlight reorder running apps modify system settings
  - keverets 10y ago
    Even better is Gadgetbridge (available on F-droid): https://github.com/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge https://github.com/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge It's not as slick as the official app, but requires much less in the way of permissions and is more flexible.

ianai 10y ago

That's not all that's questionable about them.

yompers888 10y ago
Would you care to elaborate?
- ianai 10y ago
  well, http://www.zdnet.com/article/former-pentagon-analyst-china-has-backdoors-to-80-of-telecoms/ http://www.zdnet.com/article/former-pentagon-analyst-china-h...
  - cptskippy 10y ago
    Xiaomi isn't explicitly mentioned in that article and I have no doubt they put backdoors in their products for the Chinese Government. I guess my question is, would you feel differently if they were a US company and it were the the US Government holding the keys to backdoor? There's a reason China has been investing in developing it's own CPUs and telecommunications hardware and it isn't so that it can more easily spy on others. It's because they themselves no longer wish to be spied on... and maybe so they can spy on everyone else a little too. I'm not saying it's right. I don't know what I'm saying actually. I'm just going to grab some tin foil...

al_chemist 10y ago

That's interesting, because when I've got my Xiaomi Mi3 I've compared it with my Samsung Galaxy Tab. Mi3 was rooted, had almost no crapware and allowed me to pick what permissions app gets. On the other hand Tab required Samsung Account and rooting it voided guarantee. Mi Band vibrates on incoming connection, sms and apps so maybe that's why it requires permissions to phone, sms and notifications.

cptskippy 10y ago
Take a look at the permissions required by the official "Mi Fit" app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xiaomi.hm.health&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xiaomi.hm....) vs the indie "Tools & Mi Band" app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cz.zdenekhorak.mibandtools&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cz.zdenekhorak...). The official app has more features admittedly, but nothing that justifies the level of permissions it asks for. At most it should need access to the camera/photos to allow you to set a profile photo, and full network access to create/sync your account data to the "cloud". Nothing that the official app does justifies the following permissions it asks for: Device & app history retrieve running apps read sensitive log data Identity find accounts on the device Location approximate location (network-based) precise location (GPS and network-based) SMS receive text messages (SMS) Phone directly call phone numbers Photos/Media/Files access USB storage filesystem Wi-Fi connection information view Wi-Fi connections Other view network connections connect and disconnect from Wi-Fi read Google service configuration draw over other apps control flashlight reorder running apps modify system settings
- keverets 10y ago
  Even better is Gadgetbridge (available on F-droid): https://github.com/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge https://github.com/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge It's not as slick as the official app, but requires much less in the way of permissions and is more flexible.