Dear Xiaomi users / Tech enthusiasts / Modders,

A few weeks ago, I unlocked my Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite's bootloader and installed custom ROMs. I had great time with it, but after trying one I wanted to try another. While flashing the ROM in download (fastboot) mode, the USB connection with my PC was lost, resulting my phone being an expensive brick. Black screen, only charging icons, no recovery menu, no fastboot mode. After weeks of research, I found out the only way to bring it back alive is to flash the fastboot ROM in Qualcomm EDL mode, so I took my phone apart to short the right pins.

As you may know, Xiaomi and some other companies have locked the Emergency Download Mode (EDL) which Qualcomm provides to be able to flash any firmware without fastboot. This move made unbricking phones at home impossible: only authorized accounts have permission to flash in EDL mode. (As I was not aware of this situation, my phone is still on my desk taken apart.)

EDL mode has two sides: a good one and a bad one. While being able to unbrick your phone yourself is a huge relief, with EDL cables (or shorting test-points on PCB) passcodes can be removed from the phone, and any ROM can be installed. That's the reason why Xiaomi (and other companies) created EDL authentication.

"It's a great thing then, why should they remove it?", you may think. The reason is that you cannot even flash the stock ROM without an EDL Authorized account. Xiaomi could come up with a way to let customers flash the stock ROM in EDL mode, but not any other. In this way OEM and bootloader unlocking would still be necessary to be able to remove passcodes, or flash any, not stock ROM.

So, what could be done? One of the many solutions I could find is the one described above. Xiaomi should remove EDL Authentication from its flash tools, but only if the user tries to flash the stock ROM with a full factory wipe. This way the EDL mode could not be played upon by hostile intentions, while being able to achieve DIY-unbricking at home.