Indian app that deleted Chinese apps from Androids deleted from Play Store
- Reference: 1591172889
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/06/03/indian_app_that_removed_chinese_apps_removed/
- Source link:
The app, published by Indian developer [1]OneTouch AppLabs , advised Android users of the nation of origin for all apps installed on their smartphone and offered to delete them. The company says the app was downloaded a million times in ten days, a fact supported by its [2]cached Google Play page . But OneTouch AppLabs said Google took issue with the app and it's no longer available.
After removing Chinese apps, the program delivered this cheery notification.
I have removed all Chinese apps from my system. Have you? [3]#BoycottChineseProducts [4]#AatmanirbharBharat l [5]#ChinaIndiaFaceoff [6]pic.twitter.com/cdUtiIrH8C — Giridhar Mamidi (@GiridharMamidi) [7]May 30, 2020
Let's break down those hashtags.
#AatmanirbharBharat refers to India's new policy named "Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan" – which translates as "self-reliant India mission". OneTouch AppLabs [8]explicitly states that the app aims to support the self-reliance policy "by identifying the origin country of the applications installed in their mobile phones".
#ChinaIndiaFaceoff refers to recent border skirmishes between India and China in the Kashmir region. Those clashes have hardened Indian sentiment against China, which explains the #BoycottChineseProducts hashtag.
So what we have here is an app that, in the days after armed conflict, facilitated a consumer boycott seemingly as an expression of a self-reliance policy.
Yet while the app encouraged Indians to boycott Chinese apps, the nation yesterday announced ambitions to become a global electronics supplier. At the launch of that policy, India's IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad [9]said Chinese investors would be considered for new incentive schemes on offer.
What a time to be alive. ®
[1] https://onetouchapplabs.com/
[2] http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chinaappsremover
[3] https://twitter.com/hashtag/BoycottChineseProducts?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[4] https://twitter.com/hashtag/AatmanirbharBharat?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[5] https://twitter.com/hashtag/ChinaIndiaFaceoff?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[6] https://t.co/cdUtiIrH8C
[7] https://twitter.com/GiridharMamidi/status/1266569763779534853?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[8] https://onetouchapplabs.com/products-remove-china-app/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/02/india_electronics_manufacturing_push/
Re: Remove China Apps
Actually it didn't. Preinstalled apps remained on the device.
I've seen a number of posts about this app decrying Google for banning it but from what I can tell looking at screenshots it violates several Play store policies. If I can tell that from screenshots imagine what else it must be violating. The surprising thing is that it was published in the first place.
You'd have thought China was at a level where the economic gain from good relations was vastly greater than the gain from 'winning' a border dispute.
Falklands
Gibraltar
Palestine
Kashmir
Just a few.
Never underestimate the desire for territory.
It'd be too easy to go further with the above list and point out the common denominator in all of those disputes.
the common denominator in all of those disputes.
Humans?
Sadly theres something weird about 'land' - nations get obsessed and will quite happily spend gadzillions of pounds defending or attacking their neighbours over 'soverignty '. Sometimes you can see a glimmer of rationality when the land is populated or has mineral resources, but far too often the fights are over barren hilltops or slips in a Victorian draftsman's pencil.
What other examples can you think of a country being prepared to sacrifice its economy on the altar of 'winning' a dispute?
What horrid security Android has to allow this in the first place
I'll say it again - Android is garbage.
How can one user app delete another app?
What sort of exotic root permissions are being given to the app to do this?
And if they can delete the app, then what else can they do possibly without the user knowing?
Remove China Apps
Well, at least it did what it says on the tin.
That's more than can be said for quite a lot of Play Store apps, I think.