“Enhanced Intelligent Services is set to off by default, users can choose to enable or disable,” mentions the update changelog. With the update, Realme has also changed the description of the service which now does not mention the collection of app usage statistics, calendar events and statistics about unread messages and missed calls.

While the feature has been disabled for Realme 11 Pro and Realme 11 Pro+ at present. It is yet to be seen whether and when other Realme phones will be updated.

As mentioned above, the issue came to light when a user tweeted “Realme’s smartphone has a feature (Enhanced Intelligent Services) that captures the user’s data (call logs, SMS, and location info) and it is “On” by default. 

You can only see this “on” by default feature when you go to Settings -> Additional Settings -> System Services -> Enhanced Intelligent Services. Indian users are kept in dark to share their data without their consent. This is basically forced consent, since it’s on by default. 

Is this data being sent to China?.”

The tweet immediately caught the eye of IT Minister, Rajeev Chandrasekh, who said that he will investigate the matter. “Will hv this tested and checked,” the monster replied to Bagree’s tweet.

Later Realme responded and issued an official statement stating “We place great emphasis on user privacy protection, the enhanced intelligent services feature can be manually turned on or off basis the needs of the consumers. The company complies with the local laws and regulations.”

Updated: 22 Jun 2023, 11:43 AM IST