Xiaomi to remove banned Clean Master app with soft update in India

The recent border clash between India and China has shaken the bilateral trade relations between the two Asian giants. This has had a domino effect on popular apps like Tik Tok and Clean Master who are among the 59 apps which have been banned in India. Cheetah Mobile’s Clean Master is no longer up on the App Store and Play Store in India because of this ban. But it is still present on the Xiaomi devices because the brand uses this app as the default system cleaner.

One user addressed this issue to Xiaomi in an email and the brand promptly cleared the scenario about its resolution. According to the email from the customer service – the app will be removed via a soft update for the devices running on MIUI OS skin for Android. It will be removed with a new version 4.1.2 update which will be pushed out through the system updater.

The email further explains that the Security app on the MIUI user interface uses the Clean Master as the default cleaner. Since the Clean Master app is a part of the default system app ecosystem it cannot be removed like other bloatware apps on the phone. In light of the nationwide ban, Xiaomi will remove Clean Master from the Security app and replace it with their own Cleaning definition.

As similar issues have been prevalent with the Xiaomi sub-brand Poco, the Clean Master app will be removed from those devices as well. Xiaomi has also been guilty of disabling their Community application and the Mi Community website in compliance with the government directives. We hope they fix those issues as well.