Pure More is supposed to increase Android security

Sep 7, 2021 07:35 GMT  ·  By

Xiaomi is currently working on a new Android feature that could help increase the security of the operating system powering its phones by simply blocking the sideloading of apps.

In other words, Android app sideloading, which right now is one of the things power users love the most on Google’s operating system (and also blocked by Apple on the iPhone) could soon be restricted on Xiaomi phone for security reasons.

Indeed, sideloading apps on Android phones could lead to the device getting compromised if users don’t know exactly what they do and end up installing malicious apps.

Xiaomi itself has reportedly acknowledged that out of all APKs that its users sideload on phones, no less than 40 percent fail to pass the security checks and 10 percent are actually risky applications that shouldn’t be installed in the first place.

Currently in testing stage

And this is why the new so-called Pure Mode is such an important addition to the Xiaomi phone feature arsenal. When enabled, the Pure Mode completely restricts the sideloading of apps, therefore blocking the installation of apps from any other source than the trusted stores.

This way, Xiaomi believes, the number of devices that end up struggling with malicious applications could decline substantially.

The feature is currently in testing with a number of beta users, and there’s no ETA as to when it could go live for everybody. Clearly, Xiaomi is taking its time to make sure Pure Mode works exactly as expected, so expect more information to make the headlines rather sooner than later.

For the time being, the testing program is only happening in China, but most likely, Xiaomi wants to bring the Pure Mode to all users out there, regardless of the region they live in, as soon as they’re running the latest MIUI version on their devices.