Gave your phone a spin in the washing machine? Xiaomi comes up with a rescue plan

A few months ago, I weaned my bestie off his iPhone. I gifted him a shiny, new Xiaomi Mi 4i for my birthday. That was his first Android device. In India, most apps are Android-first, so a value-for-money Xiaomi phone made perfect sense, I thought. But the joy was short-lived.

The phone was in his trousers that went for a thorough hour-long spin in the washing machine. And then for a few days, he wasn’t my bestie.

Today, Xiaomi announced some good news for the absent-minded. The Chinese gadget maker launched Mi Protect in India, an insurance cover for accidental and liquid (yay!) damage for one year after activation. Mi Protect is priced at INR 275 (US$4) for the Redmi 2 and Redmi 2 Prime, INR 499 (US$7.5) for the Mi 4i (16GB / 32GB), Mi 4 (16GB), and Mi Pad.

It comes with:

• Free home pickup and drop-off
• A free second servicing within one year of activation.
• 24X7 call center support to report damages
• One call to block your SIM from anywhere in the world
• SIM misuse insurance cover of up to INR 3,000 (US$45)
• Docusafe of up to 1GB to store and access documents from anywhere

The catch is – if you can call it so – Mi Protect can be bought with devices on Xiaomi’s homepage only. It is based on a similar service offered by Mi China called Mi Safe.

Bad news for my bestie is that Mi Protect will not work in retrospect.

See: A big step for Xiaomi and a giant leap for India: smartphones made in Andhra

Will insurance for your phone be a destresser? Share your phone woes below.