Poco Gives Clarification on Poco M2 Pro Security Issues

Some reviewers on YouTube reported that the Poco M2 Pro comes preloaded with the Helo app that has been banned by the government.

By Jagmeet Singh | Updated: 9 July 2020 14:45 IST

Poco Gives Clarification on Poco M2 Pro Security Issues

Poco M2 Pro is set to go on first sale in India on Tuesday, July 14

Highlights

Poco faced an outrage by reviewers for security concerns
The brand has now provided some clarification
Poco assured users that a software update is incoming to fix issues

Poco on Thursday released a clarification on the security concerns being raised specifically for its newly launched Poco M2 Pro phone. Some YouTubers, who received the phone for review, highlighted security issues within the preloaded utility features and pre-installed apps of the new phone. The problems are, however, not exclusive to the Poco M2 Pro as most of the concerns are related to the elements that are a part of Xiaomi's MIUI, which is available across all Redmi, Poco, and Mi phones, except the Mi A-series. Nevertheless, it appears that since several users have started complaining about their existence, the brand has attempted to give some assurance.

Some reviewers on YouTube reported that the Poco M2 Pro comes preloaded with the Helo app that has been banned by the government. Additionally, the preloaded utility features that come from the default Security app are found to access calendar, call logs, contacts, location, and microphone, among others just after getting users' consent for once. There is also no option to revoke any permissions later.

Poco attempted to address some of the issues raised by the reviewers. “We came across some concerns raised from the reviewer community around certain utility features and pre-installed apps on review units,” the brand said in an open letter posted on Twitter. “We would hereby like to clarify that the software version and device production for these units started before the directive from the Government of India.”

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

The brand also assured users that “no personal information has been shared with any entity whose apps have been blocked by the government order.” Further, it promised to release a software update to fix the issue.

That said, the issues raised by the reviewers, some of which have been picked by many social media users, aren't exclusive to the Poco M2 Pro. You can find the same Security app with all that access on any Xiaomi device that runs MIUI. The Helo app, which has been blocked in the country, is also available on phones by some other Chinese companies — apart from Xiaomi.

It is unclear how Poco will solely address the issues that aren't limited to its devices only and given the fact that the brand uses Xiaomi's MIUI on its phones. Also, the brand hasn't confirmed any timeline for the update.

To recall, the Poco M2 Pro was launched in India earlier this week. It is going on first sale on Tuesday, July 14.

Is Redmi Note 9 Pro Max the best affordable camera phone in India? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

Poco M2 Pro

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Good build quality
Sharp display
Powerful processor
Solid battery life
Decent daylight camera performance

Bad
A little bulky
Weak low-light photo quality

Read detailed Poco M2 Pro review

Display 6.67-inch

Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G

Front Camera 16-megapixel

Rear Camera 48-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 5-megapixel + 2-megapixel

RAM 4GB

Storage 64GB

Battery Capacity 5020mAh

OS Android 10

Resolution 1080x2400 pixels

More Poco mobiles Poco mobiles price in India

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.