Android Stock Experience on Xiaomi devices without Root and Roms

How to get a similar Android Stock Experience on Xiaomi devices without Root and Roms. The Xiaomi Mi A1 has gone in the market last year and started something big, the Android Stock Experience on Xiaomi devices. The best of two worlds: quality phones at cheap prices and Android One, the cleanest Android system, in one place. Users liked it, a lot. And what if you get also the simplicity of Android Stock without losing the completeness of the MIUI user interface?

Android Stock vs MIUI. Why don’t get the best of both worlds?

The MIUI (MI User Interface), which is Xiaomi’s own OS, is based on Google’s Android system. Most Android phones in the market today come with one or more customization on top of the core of the Android system. Different brands do it in different ways, who does it a bit, who does it a lot.

Xiaomi Android Stock - The final result
Xiaomi Android Stock – The final result

Personally, I’m a long time Nexus user, I enjoyed a lot the Nexus 5 and a bit less the Nexus 5X. I also don’t like to put more than 300 EUR/USD on a phone and I can’t live without the Google Feed associated with the swipe to the left. So, when my beloved Nexus 5X died on a boot loop issue I took a big decision.

Why do the Android phone manufacturers continue to fill the stock system with unnecessary crap?

Finally, after using an amazing Sony Xperia XA1 for a time and found that the fingerprint sensor is essential for me, I decided to take an offer on a Xiaomi Redmi 5. This is a decent phone, really complete but cheap, with only a big fault: a shitty cam, especially in low light condition. I’m not a smartphone photographer, so this phone perfectly fits my needs.

Xiaomi Android Stock. Many different ways to get it

As stated above, the Xiaomi MIUI interface is nice but full of customization on top of the core of the Android system. The beauty of the MIUI graphical environment does not fill the lack of the simplicity of Android Stock. Obviously, we are talking about personal tastes and surely some of you will think exactly the opposite.

The Xiaomi ugly icons on Google Launcher
The Xiaomi ugly icons on Google Launcher

After some days of use of the standard Xiaomi Redmi 5, I want back my Google Launcher and my Google Feed. Easy, it’s on Play Store, so download it and set it as default. Ohhh.. my gosh! What are these ugly icons?

No, please no. No way to change icons if you use the official Google Launcher, so you should do it in a different way. Using alternative launchers like NOVA or Smart Launcher gives me a good experience but no feed and it’s not really the same.

What about using a custom ROM based on the original Android Stock ROM? Yes, it’s a nice solution, especially with top quality ROMS like LineageOS or some of the XDA ROMS. Only, one big issue: to unlock a Xiaomi device you need to wait weeks, months, maybe more. So, no way to do that because I need my phone clean quickly.

Xiaomi Android Stock. The simple, easy, opensource way

At the end of the story, I found a solution that I like a lot for the aesthetic results and for the fact that it really fits all my needs. How did I achieve that? Let’s see the how-to and steps.

First, you need a Xiaomi device with MIUI onboard and you can get one cheap here.

Then, start with the customization.

Lawnchair Launcher

Lawnchair, bringing Pixel Features and Google Now integration to the masses. An open-source project developed by volunteers, Lawnchair has quickly become the de-facto choice for Android enthusiasts everywhere. New features are being added regularly… with the promise that Lawnchair will always be FREE and opensource. Based on Launcher3 from AOSP, Lawnchair has all the features of the Pixel Launcher (including the Google Feed), plus customizability. Best of all? No root required.

Lawnchair website: https://lawnchair.app/

Lawnchair Lawnfeed add-on: https://lawnchair.app/getlawnfeed.html

Lawnchair on PlayStore: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.deletescape.lawnchair.plah

Pixip Icon Pack

Pixip is a free icon pack inspired by the Pixel style.

4.150+ Icons in full HD 196×196, Stock system icons, Pixel cloud wallpapers (with Muzei support), dynamic calendar support (and other coming soon), search icon and amazing icon request tool. The FREE version is the perfect companion for Lawnchair Launcher and fits all the basic icons

Lawnchair Launcher isn’t on the list inside the app, so you must apply it manually. Go in the launcher settings then apply the pack.

Pixip Icon Pack on PlayStore: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.allshape.Pixip

Google Apps

Knowing what’s up is easier than ever with Google. The last step is to install the necessary Google Apps on your Xiaomi device. At least, you need Google and Google Now, but for a better stock experience, you should also install Messages.

Unfortunately, the Google Phone dialer app (also the beta version) is incompatible with Xiaomi devices endowed of MIUI interface. If you want you can use an unofficial APK from secure sites like APKmirror, but it doesn’t show (and save) call history on your device, so it’s partly unuseful.

The Google app on PlayStore: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox

The Google Now Launcher app on PlayStore: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.launcher

The Google Messages app on PlayStore: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.messaging