There’s a certain “people’s republic” where they introduced a new government signature on all android apps. For “safety”, as they “check” the apps for you 😉
For now it can be bypassed after three pages of scary warnings but in the future?
Maybe it could be a big reason of why they’re liking harmony os that much, you don’t need to manually approve android apps if android apps are completely unsupported
Global users can unlock Xiaomi phones, but have to jump through more hoops and deal with restrictions. For example, there now seems to be a daily limit on how many devices their server accepts to unlock. Took me three tries to be successful in the “first come, first serve” line.
Afaik, Chinese users are now dependent on paid services to unlock their phonew for them. How they get around the official restrictions? I don’t know.
I mean, there are sellers on Taobao and such that sell imported versions from HK and Japan, but I doubt that’s what the majority does. Most locals probably never get tempted to install some Western apps that won’t work without a VPN anyway, and if they have the knowledge and skills to install and use one, they know what to look for.