Xiaomi has shut down the testing of its new phone features by users before launch

• Too many users and not enough feedback has led to Xiaomi shutting down the MIUI beta program starting July 1.
• MIUI is the Xiaomi’s customised user interface for its Android phones.
• Xiaomi states that its interface as matured, which is why it is putting a stop beta program that allowed users to test Xiaomi’s features before they officially launched.

Testers aren’t really useful if they’re not giving you feedback, which is why Xiaomi is shutting down its MIUI beta program starting July 1.

In a Mi Community forum post, Xiaomi stated they don’t want to expose their users to unstable versions of the MIUI — Xiaomi’s Android user interface — experience.

It also means that users won’t be able to test the MIUI adoption of Android Q that is expected to roll out by the end of the year. 11 Xiaomi devices are scheduled to receive the customised version of Google’s updated Android including the flagship, Xiaomi Mi 9, and the Redmi Note 7 Pro.

No more user guinea pigs

Beta programs allow users to test upcoming features and updates before they officially launch. For companies, the upside is that they get a market to test their product and work out all the bugs and users who sign up for testing get to use software ahead of everyone else.

In Xiaomi’s case, the MIUI beta program lets users test the company’s Android interface before any updates officially roll out. The aim of this is to allow Xiaomi to launch bug free software for the rest of its smartphone users.

But, since in the kinks and bugs still have to be worked out before the official launch, Xiaomi users enrolled in the beta program have to use unstable versions of the software on a day-to-day basis.

Still ‘listening’ to feedback

At this time there are too many testers of the interface and relatively less feedback actually coming back to the company through the beta program even though users were opting for the beta program on their primary devices.

Xiaomi promises that it will still be listening to feedback from smartphone users across the various platforms like Twitter, the Community forum and other avenues of social media where fans can talk to the company.

The other side of the story

However, testers have a different take on the issue. On the Mi Community forum post, most of the feedback isn’t too happy about the new development claiming that the beta versions of MIUI performed better than the ‘stable’ versions.

One Mi8 user, jorgenriqeruiz, claims that bugs in their Mi8’s global stable MIUI vanished once they installed the beta MIUI. Even the Mi9’s fingerprint sensor software was attacked by a user for being dysfunctional in the stable global MIUI but worked fine with the March beta patch.

Another user, Imanol Vitar, states that bugs get fixed much quicker in the beta version of MIUI instead of the stable version.

While some users speculated that this was a cost cutting move by the company, others are hoping that his means Xiaomi will apply greater focus to the stable MIUI so deliver quicker and better updates.

The end of Xiaomi’s MIUI beta program only impacts users who use Xiaomi phone with MIUI — not Android One and Android Go devices like the Mi A2.

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