Poco Gives Clarification on Poco M2 Pro Security 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.”

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.

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