Xiaomi makes iMessage alternative opt-in after fuss

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is making its iMessage alternative Cloud Messaging opt-in after a fuss over a Xiaomi phone forwarding private data to a server in China. That data was necessary for the operation of the service, says the manufacturer.

Xiaomi switches on the service as soon as the user puts a SIM card in the device, writes Xiaomi CEO Hugo Barra on Google+. As a result, a Xiaomi device indeed sends data to China before a user has given explicit permission to do so, as F-Secure found. To prevent that, Xiaomi will send an over-the-air update on Sunday that should prevent that, says Barra. Then Cloud Messaging only works after users have given permission for it.

Barra, former CEO of Google, explains that Xiaomi has automatically enabled Cloud Messaging on its devices, a feature that allows Miui users to message each other via the SMS app at no additional cost. That is something that Apple has been offering for some time via iMessage.

The Chinese manufacturer has recently been under a magnifying glass, now it has emerged that it is the fifth largest supplier of smartphones in the world. For example, it was recently fined in Taiwan for exaggerating its stock of devices. Xiaomi delivered more smartphones in the spring than better-known competitors such as LG, Sony, HTC, Nokia and BlackBerry, but had to give way to Apple, Samsung, Huawei and Lenovo.