Google has removed a popular Indian-developed app from its Play Store that promised to find and remove Chinese apps from smartphones. The search giant confirmed to Gadgets 360 that the app, which was called “Remove Chinese Apps,” was removed for violating its Deceptive Behavior Policy, which prohibits software from encouraging or misleading users into “removing or disabling third-party apps.”
OneTouch AppLabs’ viral app had a hit-or-miss reputation with detecting Chinese apps on devices, but it soon received over 5 million downloads on the Play Store in India, making it among the top trending apps in the country.
The surge in popularity soon caught the attention of Google, which has now taken it down from the marketplace. The company confirmed to Gadgets 360 that it suspended the app for its violation of the Play Store’s Deceptive Behaviour Policy, which prohibits apps that encourage, mislead or incentivize users into removing or disabling third-party apps.
The app’s developer claimed it made the software “for educational purposes only to identify the country of origin of a certain application(s),” and that it does not “promote or force people to uninstall any of the application(s),” though Google’s standing on the matter is now clear.
The anti-Chinese sentiment has recently grown in India due to cross-border tensions in the Himalayas, leading some local celebrities to call for removing apps affiliated with China. The latter has also threatened to respond with “tit-for-tat punishment from Beijing” if India continues to strain bilateral relations with its “irrational anti-China sentiment.”
Reuters reports that it had amassed over five million downloads since late May, and was the top trending free app in the country. The app worked by scanning phones for Chinese apps like ByteDance’s TikTok and Alibaba’s UC Browser, before giving the option to keep or remove. If no Chinese-made apps were found on a phone, a pop-up message read “You are awesome, no China app found.”
The developer of Remove Chinese Apps, OneTouch AppLabs, confirmed the removal on its website, but claimed that the app is meant only for educational purposes, and does not “promote or force people to uninstall any of the application(s).”
