We recently got hold of the Chinese version of the Xiaomi 4K Y1 Camera. Initially the Chinese menus proved to be a bit of a challenge until we got hold of the video below that walks you through the English and Chinese menu systems side by side.

And even then we were missing our native English menus so we went digging further find out how to anglicize our Xiaomi experience.

Installing English Firmware

Here are the steps:

1. Go to: https://www.yitechnology.com/support/firmware_action/id/5.html
2. Look at the serial number at the bottom of your camera, right below the little QR code image. See if it starts with Z16V12L or Z16V13L.
3. Change the “SN” field to the number you see in the image above the right prefix of your serial number.
4. Select EN-US in the “Language” field.
5. Select the latest version in the “Version” field. (Older versions will display a message “Illegal version” each time you access the menu – this was fixed from version 1.3.3 onwards)
6. Click on Download.
7. Rename the downloaded file to “firmware_force.bin”, and copy it to the root of a clean SD Card.
8. Insert the SD card into your Xiaomi camera while it is off.
9. Ensure your battery has 50% charge, and for safety sake, connect the camera onto its power cable.
10. Turn on the camera, a firmware update will start.
11. When done, remove the card, firmware should be flashed and the menus on the camera will be in English.

Wifi Setup

I had some problems setting up Wifi, but after about 5 minutes of rebooting both phone and camera I came right.

Here are the steps:

1. Turn on the camera.
2. Tap on the setup icon at the bottom right of the back screen.
3. Tap on the 2nd Settings icon, middle left.
4. Turn Wifi on, and set Wifi to 2.4G (select 5G if your phone can handle it).
5. Exit back to the video screen. Slide your finger down on the back screen, click on the Wifi icon to activate.

6. Wifi icon should turn green. Dismiss the screen with the Wifi on by swiping up.

7. The camera is now broadcasting a Wifi hotspot. To make pairing easier through the app I opened the Wifi settings on my phone and connected to the camera’s hotspot name: YDXJ_XXXXXXX where XXXXXXX represents the last 7 digits of your camera serial (found at the bottom of your camera).

8. To connect the phone app to the camera: Download the “Y1 Action” app.

9. Click the green button center bottom.10. Click on on the picture of the 4K camera. You should hear a beep from the camera, then a connection progress indicator will show in the smartphone, and just after that a connection should be established.

Now you’ve got full English control over your Y1 4K.

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