A recent study reveals that India has been the world’s fastest-growing app market over the past few years. And Chinese apps have established their dominance in India. Reports suggest that the top Chinese apps in India are being used by millions of Indians. However, there has been a major slowdown ever since the Indian government started banning the use of certain applications made in China owing to national security concerns. In June 2020, the government had banned 59 Chinese apps, according to the MeITY (Ministry of Electronics and Information technology) orders stating that the apps were engaging in activities that were said to be prejudicial to the sovereignty, defence and security of the country.
With a population of 1.38 billion, India is the fastest-growing mobile app market. One of the major reasons ore than 300 million Indians use smartphones. However, in September 2020 the Government of India again banned 118 top Chinese apps in India. This post outlines the list of Chinese apps that were used in India but were banned in later on.
Chinese Social Media Apps In India
Chinese File Transfer Apps In India
Chinese E-Commerce Apps In India
Other Popularly used Chinese Apps In India
Chinese Social Media Apps In India
TikTok
TikTok is a video-sharing social networking service owned by ByteDance. It is used to create short dance, lip-sync, talents, and comedy videos. India was the the largest market for TikTok with around 200 million monthly active users. According to sources, 39% of TikTok’s global users were from India. It has managed to outstrip the growth of Facebook in key markets and was moving towards global user domination. TikTok is one of the all Chinese apps that had become one of the most used Chinese apps of 2020 in India. The app was then banned in June of 2020 by the government of India.
Bigo Live
Bigo Live is a live streaming application that lets users create as well as consume content while going live. This app gives a platform to people for showcasing their talents and to explore global talent. India accounted for 32% of its 11 million new users. This app is also on the list top Chinese apps that was banned in June, 2020.
Helo
Helo is a social media platform where users can create, upload, and share a variety of content. It has over 50 million monthly active users and supports 14 Indian languages. Helo was tremendously successful because it allows the user to connect with his or her friends and family in native languages. Helo was banned in June 2020 along with the other apps.
Liveme
Liveme is a live streaming video app. Along with sharing video, Liveme also allows users to share their locations. One can search for people streaming close by. Liveme has over 13 million users in India. Not only does it help to grow “name and fame”, Liveme also allows its users to create connections with people around the world.
Likee
Likee was a top Chinese app in India which was owned by Chinese social media company Joyy Inc. Likee is a Singapore-based app gaining significant traction since its launch in 2017. The Likee app is a video maker and editor that supports various artistic effects. It is easy to use and is ideal for creating and sharing videos on social media platforms. Likee’s mobile monthly active users reached 80.7 million recently. Like was also one of the most well known Chinese app was banned in India.
UVideo
Uvideo is a video status app that has gained popularity amongst the Indian users. These videos can be used as WhatsApp status or even Facebook stories. The app is popular because it offers easy to use interface for creating or editing videos. However the app was taken down from Google Play store for violating some of their policies.
Vmate
The Vmate app is another short video sharing platform which is similar to TikTok. Even after it being dominated by Tiktok in India the Vmate’s status is high as it has a large user base and among the top Chinese app in India.
Sweta
Chinese Gaming Apps In India
PUBG
Player Unknown’s battleground, popularly known as PUBG, is an online multiplayer battle royal game made in South Korea. Tencent has licensed the game and was testing a mobile app version in China. Over the years, it has become the bestselling and the most played video game of all time. It is among the most Popular Chinese apps in India and has around 10-15 million daily active users. PUBG holds the second place in the most played video game category in India. The most appealing part about the game is that it is free for mobile users. Pubg was banned in September 2020 by the MeITY department.
Clash Of Clans
Clash of Clans is a freemium mobile strategy video game with approximately 10-15 million users in India. With India having more than 50% of its population below the age of 25, this kind of video games gain popularity quite popularity in the nation. Clash of clans is one of the apps that was not banned and is still one most the most downloaded mobile gaming apps of 2021.
Mafia City
Mafia City is a freemium city-building and crew management simulator game developed and published by the Chinese mobile game studio Yotta Games Limited. It is available for both Android and iOS platforms. Mafia city was banned in India in September, 2020.
Rise Of Kingdoms
Developed by Chengdu Legou and published by Lilith, it goes beyond doubt that Rise of Kingdoms (ROK) is the most noteworthy product amidst all Chinese-made SLG mobile games in 2019. Lilith’s ROK pulled in nearly $61 million from abroad in October, beating Tencent’s PUBG Mobile as the most profitable Chinese game overseas for the month with a 13% month-to-month increase rate. Rise of kingdoms was also banned on September 2020.
Chinese File Transfer Apps In India
SHAREit
SHAREit is a Chinese file sharing app that allows the sharing of photos, videos, music, contacts, and large files such as movies. It allows file sharing on Windows, Windows phones, Android, and iOS. Currently, it has 200 million users in India. SHAREit is wildly popular because it transfers large files within seconds. Share it was popular chines app but was also unfortunately banned in June of 2020.
Xender
Xender has become one of the world’s leading applications for file transfer and sharing. It allows the smooth transfer and sharing of files of different types and sizes over various mobile devices without internet dependency. Xender has crossed 170 million users in India. Is Xender any different from SHAREit? The answer is yes; Xender’s maximum speed of transferring file is about 40MB/s while SHAREit has a maximum speed of 20MB/s.
Chinese E-Commerce Apps In India
SHEIN
SHEIN is a famous Chinese app that is an international business-to-consumer e-commerce platform for all fashion related needs. SHEIN mainly focuses on women’s wear and accessories but also offers men’s apparel, kids wear, accessories, etc. SHEIN tripled its business in India within a year, serving approximately 1 million active users. It was quite popular for its low-priced product catalog.
ClubFactory
ClubFactory is a fashion, lifestyle, and beauty e-commerce store headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang (China). It sells a variety of products at cheap prices. ClubFactory surpassed 100 million monthly active users in India. Both Shein and ClubFactory were banned in June 2020.
Other Popularly used Chinese Apps In India
CamScanner
CamScanner is a mobile app that allows mobile devices to be used for scanning images. This app allows the user to scan, store, and sync content across smartphones, tablets, and mobile. CamScanner has around 100 million users and was widely used by Indians until it was banned.
BeautyPlus
BeautyPlus is a selfie camera and photo editing application for android users. The app is popular among photographers, makeup enthusiast, and selfie experts. It has various functions like airbrushing, slimming, and skin smoothening. According to sources, BeautyPlus has over 100 million users in India, and was also banned.
UC Browser
This made in China app is a web browser owned by a China-based mobile internet company. It is more popular than Google Chrome in some of Asia’s fastest-growing markets. UC Browser has over 130 million users in India today. The reason behind its popularity is its capability to render fully-functional revamped pages that are suitable for slow network connections, i.e., 2G. It saves up to 79% more data than Google Chrome but was again banned in India.
Brochill App
Brochill is a AI vernacular content platform which is used to share various things like images, videos, stickers, personalized video quizzes, songs, quotes, etc. The Brochill apps video downloads are also easily available.
Some Other Top Chinese Apps In India 2020
- Kwai
- UC Browser Mini
- Mobile legends
- Turbo VPN
- Game of Sultans
- Battle of Empires
- LivU
- Cheez
- NewsDog
- Rise of Civilization
- Flash Keyboard
- NonoLive
- Parallel Space
- UDictionary
Conclusion
Over the years, Chinese apps have been extremely successful in taking over the Indian market. With India having the world’s largest youth population, Chinese apps have found the ideal customer base in Indians. Now, Chinese apps have got banned by Government of India after The ministry of electronics and IT found security concerns with these apps.
FAQs
Is Helo A Chinese App?
Yes, Helo is a social networking app launched by China’s Bytedance in June, 2018. The application is the Chinese version of India’s Sharechat and covers showbiz, entertainment, politics, parenting, farming, and much more.
Is B612 A Chinese App?
No. The popular photo app, named after a planet from the novella Little Prince, is owned by Japan’s Line Corp.
Is Likee A Chinese App?
Owned by Chinese social media company Joyy Inc. Likee is a Singapore-based app heading towards its biggest global push since launching in 2017.
Which Country’s App is Zili?
Xiaomi (a Chinese electronics company) has launched a TikTok rival app called Zili. There is no need of a Xiaomi device running MIUI to test it, and anyone with an Android smartphone can try out Zili.
Is Viva Video A Chinese App?
Viva Video has been developed by QuVideo Inc., a Chinese company based in Hangzhou. QuVideo also created SlidePlus.
Is Photolab A Chinese App?
Yes, Photo Lab is an application from China.
Is Gallery Vault A Chinese App?
Yes, the GalleryVault app was developed by the China-based “GalleryVault Developer Team”.
What are the popular Chinese apps in India?
Some of the Chinese apps that were very popular in India are:
- TikTok
- Likee
- UC Browser
- Camscanner
- Pubg
- Club Factory
- Shein
- Liveme
- SHAREit
Uvideo and Xender apps are from which country?
Xender app and Uvideo apps are from China.
What is Chinese app detector?
Chinese app detector is an app that is also a tool to find chinese applications installed in your device.
