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Another Indian tool to detect Chinese apps gets removed from Google Play

  • Chinese App Detector racked up more than 500,000 Android installs before Google takedown
  • Google previously banned another app designed to remove Chinese apps from smartphones

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Activists in India hold placards urging citizens to remove Chinese apps and stop using Chinese products during a demonstration against the Chinese newspaper Global Times in New Delhi on June 30, 2020. Photo: AFP
Karen Chiu
India banned 59 Chinese apps last week, but there are still plenty of other apps from China available in the country. Over the past few days, many have been downloading an Android tool that promises to help them hunt for Chinese apps in their phones and take “action accordingly.” Now that tool is no longer available.

Chinese App Detector racked up over 500,000 installs before it was taken down on Friday afternoon, according to Google Play. The app still works for users who already have it on their phones.

The app description and the app itself are both laden with grammatical errors, but there is no ambiguity in what the it’s designed to do. There’s only one button to tap when you open the app. Pressing it reveals a list of Chinese apps found on your phone.

We tested the app with a Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite. As promised, it was able to dig out big names such as WeChat, Weibo and Baidu Maps. Xiaomi’s Zili video and Meitu’s BeautyPlus – neither of which are currently banned by the Indian government – were scooped up as well. But it also missed a number of obvious Chinese apps such as Alipay, Bilibili, iQiyi and NetEase’s hit game Identity V.

(Alipay is owned by Ant Financial, an affiliate of South China Morning Post owner Alibaba.)

Indian app Chinese App Detector claims to help people find Chinese apps in their smartphones. Photo: Handout
Indian app Chinese App Detector claims to help people find Chinese apps in their smartphones. Photo: Handout
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