MIUI 12.5 beta update enhances privacy features, adds lighting effects for gaming devices equipped with triggers, & more

Plenty of rumors point to the ongoing development of MIUI 13 and the eventual phasing out of MIUI 12.5 from the beta channel.

We have had several leaks in the past including an app from MIUI 13 and a statement from a Xiaomi executive that hinted at the arrival of a new MIUI version in August.

But perhaps the most cryptic yet exciting development was Xiaomi resetting its version number from ’12’ to ‘0’ for a MIUI beta build for the Mi 11 Lite 5G, indicating the possibility of the commencement of MIUI 13 beta releases.

The build in question carries a version number of 21.7.6. However, opening its changelog through the MIUI updater reveals a dissatisfying list of changes and no sign of MIUI 13.

Still, Xiaomi is known for providing incomplete changelogs that quite often even miss out on major changes. And the MIUI 12.5 beta 21.7.6 update is no exception.

The update that has been rolled out for those that are part of the Chinese beta program adds some new privacy features, fancy lighting effects for gaming devices equipped with physical triggers, and an option that allows a user to set default apps for handling various document formats.

We have described each of these additions below.

Xiaomi has been focusing big on security and privacy with MIUI 12.5 and has added several unique features to the Android skin including clipboard access prompts, sandbox option to protect photos, and approximate location sharing.

But with MIUI 12.5 beta 21.7.6 update, you now get options to restrict applications from tracking your activity and a new Privacy Protection Laboratory that keeps the phone number safe when logging into apps.

All this has been added to MIUI Security and the app itself has also undergone some visual changes, as you can see in the above video.

Gaming devices like the recently released Redmi K40 Gaming Edition and perhaps the latest Black Shark model are soon to get lighting effects on MIUI 12.5 through the MIUI Game Turbo app.

These color animations will be displayed when the shoulder buttons are on whilst gaming. You can even set the color of the lights as per your liking.

Last but not the least, you can now individually set the app that will open Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF documents by default through a new ‘Documents’ menu under the ‘Default apps’ settings.

Stock Android does let you assign apps for individual formats too but that can only be set through a prompt that pops up upon opening any document.

But with MIUI 12.5 beta 21.7.6, a user has greater control as they’ll be able to set defaults through the Settings app itself.

That said, the download links to the build for all of the Xiaomi and Poco devices that are a part of the MIUI 12.5 beta program have not been made available yet, but they should be posted here soon.

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