5 ms·

On XiaoMi phones at least, this is a system app (see: bloatware). That means you can't clear its app data nor uninstall it, effectively bricking Chrome permanen

by junon 5y ago

On XiaoMi phones at least, this is a system app (see: bloatware). That means you can't clear its app data nor uninstall it, effectively bricking Chrome permanently. The only thing you can do is uninstall the updates, which force resets its persistence, losing all of your stored data/sessions. If you've already done that... tough luck, I guess? What an awful bug.

thaumasiotes 5y ago
> That means you can't clear its app data nor uninstall it, effectively bricking Chrome permanently. I foresee a "brickrolling" trend.
thevinter 5y ago
I have a Redmi Note 7 and it blocked chrome for a minute, but after closing and reopening it the issue resolved itself. Weird, seems very system dependant.
BelenusMordred 5y ago
> On XiaoMi phones at least, this is a system app You mean on Xaiomi OS's (I forget their name).
- ghuin 5y ago
  Miui
- junon 5y ago
  Yes, naturally.
uap 5y ago
I did this and was so furious the phone was bricked i threw my phone out a train window.... Was i too soon?
- ghuin 5y ago
  What are you typing this on?
  - Joker_vD 5y ago
    His wristwatch.
chmod775 5y ago
That's wrong. You can clear both cache and data of a system app on a typical Android device. You just can't uninstall it. The base .apk is stored on a read-only system partition, so you can't completely get rid of it, but typically you should be able to remove all data of that app, clear its cache, uninstall any updates it downloaded (since those are stored on another partition), and also disable it. I haven't used any OS by Xiaomi in a while, so I don't know if they changed anything about that. Though I used to run their MIUI OS on my Samsung Galaxy (S2 or S5, I don't remember) for a while. That one was the opposite of locked down and even shipped pre-rooted, but it's been a long time.
- junon 5y ago
  Nope. Chrome's storage lists "0b" for its storage, which causes XiaoMi's OS to grey out the memory panel for the app. You cannot, for whatever reason, clear the app cache in Chrome's case. However, sure enough, tab instances persist even across killing the app and then force stopping it.
  - zamadatix 5y ago
    What happens if you disable?
akdor1154 5y ago
Tangential... does that smell like built in spying tweaks to anyone else? Edit - quick googling says Xiaomi have their own browser as default / system, is that what you're referring to?
- sjamaan 5y ago
  The government of Lithuania actually did an investigation and found that Xiaomi phones spy on their users and contain a (disabled, probably intended for Chinese market) content filter system in their default browser. Edit: source (in Dutch): https://www.security.nl/posting/721810/Litouwse+overheid%3A+Xiaomi-telefoons+verzamelen+allerlei+data+over+gebruikers https://www.security.nl/posting/721810/Litouwse+overheid%3A+... Source in Lithuanian: https://kam.lt/lt/naujienos_874/aktualijos_875/ka_daro_ismanusis_telefonas_jums_nezinant_triju_kinijoje_pagamintu_5g_mobiliuju_irenginiu_tyrimas.html https://kam.lt/lt/naujienos_874/aktualijos_875/ka_daro_isman...
- junon 5y ago
  No. Chrome is also installed.
croes 5y ago
Have you tried closing the browser, reopen it and immediately hit the home button?

by junon 5y ago

thaumasiotes 5y ago

> That means you can't clear its app data nor uninstall it, effectively bricking Chrome permanently. I foresee a "brickrolling" trend.

thevinter 5y ago

I have a Redmi Note 7 and it blocked chrome for a minute, but after closing and reopening it the issue resolved itself. Weird, seems very system dependant.

BelenusMordred 5y ago

> On XiaoMi phones at least, this is a system app You mean on Xaiomi OS's (I forget their name).

ghuin 5y ago
Miui
junon 5y ago
Yes, naturally.

uap 5y ago

I did this and was so furious the phone was bricked i threw my phone out a train window.... Was i too soon?

ghuin 5y ago
What are you typing this on?
- Joker_vD 5y ago
  His wristwatch.

chmod775 5y ago

That's wrong. You can clear both cache and data of a system app on a typical Android device. You just can't uninstall it. The base .apk is stored on a read-only system partition, so you can't completely get rid of it, but typically you should be able to remove all data of that app, clear its cache, uninstall any updates it downloaded (since those are stored on another partition), and also disable it. I haven't used any OS by Xiaomi in a while, so I don't know if they changed anything about that. Though I used to run their MIUI OS on my Samsung Galaxy (S2 or S5, I don't remember) for a while. That one was the opposite of locked down and even shipped pre-rooted, but it's been a long time.

junon 5y ago
Nope. Chrome's storage lists "0b" for its storage, which causes XiaoMi's OS to grey out the memory panel for the app. You cannot, for whatever reason, clear the app cache in Chrome's case. However, sure enough, tab instances persist even across killing the app and then force stopping it.
- zamadatix 5y ago
  What happens if you disable?

akdor1154 5y ago

Tangential... does that smell like built in spying tweaks to anyone else? Edit - quick googling says Xiaomi have their own browser as default / system, is that what you're referring to?

sjamaan 5y ago
The government of Lithuania actually did an investigation and found that Xiaomi phones spy on their users and contain a (disabled, probably intended for Chinese market) content filter system in their default browser. Edit: source (in Dutch): https://www.security.nl/posting/721810/Litouwse+overheid%3A+Xiaomi-telefoons+verzamelen+allerlei+data+over+gebruikers https://www.security.nl/posting/721810/Litouwse+overheid%3A+... Source in Lithuanian: https://kam.lt/lt/naujienos_874/aktualijos_875/ka_daro_ismanusis_telefonas_jums_nezinant_triju_kinijoje_pagamintu_5g_mobiliuju_irenginiu_tyrimas.html https://kam.lt/lt/naujienos_874/aktualijos_875/ka_daro_isman...
junon 5y ago
No. Chrome is also installed.

croes 5y ago

Have you tried closing the browser, reopen it and immediately hit the home button?