Root And Optimize MiBox 3S

I’ve bought a MiBox 3S to watch TV and video for a long time. These days I’ve done lots of things to security my digital life and privacy, like change my Email to Proton Mail, change the search engine to DuckDuckGo, use Authy to enable 2FA when possible, and so on. So I didn’t turn on the MiBox for a long time since I don’t feel security to let a XiaoMi device running all the time in my LAN. The business model of XiaoMi is to sell cheap device and push ads to you. So it definitely collects your data. But I do need a device to watch TV or video on a big screen, so I decide to root and clean it to make it more security. Here is how I do it:

1. Preparation

1.1 How to Recover the Device

You need to know how to recover the device if you failed to root it and messed the system up. Just turn off the device, press confirm and back button on the remote control at the same time, then turn on the device. You can find it will enter the recovery mode and has an option to recover to factory settings.

1.2 Some Apps and Scripts

Some apps and scripts are used to grant the root permission. You can follow this video to root the device (but don’t follow the video to install the Google Apps), then come back here from step 3.

If you don’t want to watch the video, just download the needed folder MDZ18AA_1.5.2 and follow this tutorial from step 1.

1.3 How to Install Apps

You need a USB drive to install the apps. Put the APKs in the USB drive and plug it into MiBox. It will prompt to open it. Then you can install the APK from it. KingRoot, SManager and SuperUser are already bundled in the directory MDZ18AA_1.5.2. You can download apk of other apps from websites liek APK Mirror or APK Pure.

The apps used are:

• KingRoot: Grant root permission.
• SManager: Copy files and run scripts.
• SuperUser: Manage root permission.
• HALauncher: The third-party launcher.
• Ice Box: Disable the built-in apps.
• Greenify: Disable the background running.
• AFWall+: Disable network access.
• Smart YouTube: The YouTube client for TV that doesn’t need Google service installed.

1.4 Prepare a Mouse

We must use a mouse to do some operations since many apps are not designed for TV.

2. Root the Device

Root the device is easy. Just install the app KingRoot and follow the instructors. One thing to notice is after root, KingRoot will ask you to optimize the system. Don’t do that!. Since KingRoot is found to have bad behaviours. We will clean it up and use Superuser to replace it.

3. Cleanup KingRoot and Install Superuser

1. Instal SManager.
2. In SManager, copy the downloaded folder MDZ18AA_1.5.2 from USB drive to /storage/sdcard0.
3. In SManager, open 1_ROOT/SuperSU.sh, check su option and run it.

4. Install A Third-Party Launcher

Many people use the original Android TV launcher from Google. I don’t want to do that. Since you must install a lot of Google apps in order to use it (which means is also bloated), and it’s not very convenience to use Google in China. So I decide to install a third-party one. At last I choose HALauncher. It is very simple and clean. After some simple configurations, the UI looks very beautiful. Here is a picture of it:

However, after install HALauncher, we cannot set it to default. In order to use it, we must disable the built-in launcher.

5. Disable Built-in Apps

Uninstall built-in apps will get a higher risk since the built-in apps are integrate with the device very deeply, if uninstall the wrong one may make the device unusable. So I uses the app Ice Box to just disable them. After disable the built-in launcher, the system will use the third-party launcher that you installed in the last step.

One thing that is not very convenience of Ice Box is the operations must be done with a mouse. On the phone, you can add the shortcuts to open the disabled apps, but I didn’t find that option on TV. So I also install Greenify to make the daily used app not running in the background.

After disabled the built-in apps, if you want to use the USB drive, you must open the original launcher from XiaoMi as well as the MiSystem app from Ice Box. After mount the USB drive, you can disable them again.

6. Disable Network by Default

Even we’ve disabled the built-in apps, we cannot ensure the security either. Since XiaoMi may modified the Android OS. So I disabled the network at all with AFWall+ and only let limited video apps have access to network. So whatever XiaoMi built in the OS cannot upload anything to its server, and it cannot download and upgrade the system, either. (In theory, XiaoMi can also upload things through modify the kernel but I don’t think it will do things like that deep.)

7. Install Some Video Apps

At this step, the system is clean. You can install your favorite video apps. If you want to watch YouTube, you cannot install the official one since it needs Google service. You can install Smart YouTube instead. I think it is much better than the Google one. After installed the video apps, don’t forget to give them network access in AFWall+ and disable the background behavior in Greenify.

Since I’m in China behind the GFW, I also installed ShadowSocks in order to watch YouTube. It is easy to use as on phone, but may need a mouse the config it.

So here are all the things, happy hacking the device!