Introduction:
I'm pretty sure you've heard about the Indian government banning. Fifty-nine Chinese apps from the play store in the App Store. And these include some really popular apps. Now, these apps have been banned as per the press release for engaging in activities which is prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defensive in the security of the state and public order. Now, that sounds serious. Now, according to Tik Tok's statement, this is an interim order and the banned apps will be given a chance to respond to the government's concerns before a committee.But there are a lot of questions right now. I mean, Tik-Tok is not available if a search on the play store. But if you search on Google and go to the link, it's still on the play store. So it's clearly not a permanent ban. But, yeah, it's confusing to a number of these apps companies installed on a lot of phones. So how about that? A number of people are actually using these apps on their phones.
So, will they continue to work? Yeah, there's a lot of questions and we will get the details from the Govt. soon. But if you want to move ahead, stop using these apps altogether. Well, each time we talk about some great alternatives, we're talking about the alternative to actually some really useful and popular apps and not apps like Synapse Cheetah Mobile, which are actually something you should never use. So if you have them, just get rid of them already.
Now, let's talk about the alternative to popular Chinese apps.
Chinese apps- Their alternative
CamScanner- Google drive, Adobe scan, MS Office Lens
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| Google drive- scan feature |
CamScanner is kind of something a lot of people use, and it has had its issues in the past. I mean, last year Kaspersky found a Trojan module in the app and it had gone away, but it came back and is now available again. But there are some alternatives you can use.
So there's Google Drive, which has a simple scan feature that not many people know about. And there's Adobe Scan. And Microsoft Office Lens, all of these apps have same features as CamScanner. But Adobe scan is something I prefer because I like the fact that it can detect the documents scanning, be the I.D. card or receipt or a whiteboard or your usual documents.
It also has different editing tools. OCR support and scanned images don't have any watermark on them. So it's great.
CM browser/Apus Browser - Chrome/Firefox/Opera Mini
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| Firefox window |
Through the whole
list of these banned, there is a lot of Chinese browsers there, CM browser,
Apus browser, and of course, the infamous U.C browser, which in the past has
been in the news for taking unnecessary permissions, showing spammy ads. So
yeah you shouldn't be using these
browsers anyway.
But the browser you should be using is Firefox. I know there's Chrome too obviously, but I'm recommending Firefox for its privacy-focused approach. First of all, Firefox brings a clean and blued free experience, unlike using a browser
But the browser you should be using is Firefox. I know there's Chrome too obviously, but I'm recommending Firefox for its privacy-focused approach. First of all, Firefox brings a clean and blued free experience, unlike using a browser
And like I said, it's focused on privacy and security. I
mean, it blocks a lot of trackers automatically. So that's great. Plus, it has
all the great features like visual tabs, truly secure, private browsing, etc. So Firefox is a great alternative to basically any browse out there.
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| Snapdrop.net - Home |
Shareit/ Xender- Snapdrop.net/FilesbyGoogle
So Shareit and Xender are another really popular apps on
this whole banned list, but offline they have become kind of spamming belote
especially shareit. Now, I personally used to use Xender a lot to share the files from my phone to PC.
But now I've been using something really cool and really easy called snapdrop.
No, snapdrop isn't an app. It's a Web-based service. So it works on basically
any platform. So I wanted to send files to my mac from my phone so I can just
open up snapdrop.net on both the devices, on any of the browsers.
And as you can see, the other device shows up. I just tap on
the device and send any file I want. How easy is that? And I like to find snap drop is open source and just clean all
around. Now I don't use Shareit for the phone to P.C. file transfer and also
use files by Google if you want to
send files between Android devices.
- ES file explorer- Files by Google
So, ES File Explorer is another infamous app that had its
issues in the past. The app has been reported to share app recommendations and
spyware to Android devices. Now, a lot of even, almost all the androids come with their own file manager apps. But if
you want to use a third-party file manager, there are a lot of great options. I
mean, if you want a simple file manager, there are obviously files by Google.
And if you want to get paid option there is Solid File
explorer. Now I personally prefer FX file explorer because it's privacy-focused. There are no ads. Its free version offers the handiest features
like multiple Windows, support for most archive formats. And I like the fact
that it's Android TV that works well too,
just try out FX File Explorer.
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| Chingari- Home |
So Tik Tok has been banned, and no, it's not the only video-sharing platform from China that has been banned. There's also like an app
kwai, but there are some good alternatives to Tik Tok that you can use. That is
Triller from a California-based company, and this is already a pretty popular
app. I mean, I tried out the app and it does not take any unnecessary
permissions. And I came across a number of celebrities posting videos on the
platform.
So that's good. Because it brings Tik Tok all the features.
As you can see, you can create music videos and different tracks to choose
from, like Tik-Tok. And you also get the feature where you can collaborate with
other users. Now, apart from Triller, I also tried out India-based apps like
Chingari and Roposo.
- Vivavideo,VigoVideo- KineMaster
And, Viva video is a video editing app that has gone really
popular in India. Now, this is an app that was banned back in 2017 as well for
spying on Indian users. So it's obviously kind of shady, but there are some
great video editing apps you can use on Android. Now, there's a shot if you
want to see better UI or the tools similar to what you're getting in viva
video, or you can use KineMaster, which is a small feature back.
- Helo-Sharechat
The social media app that got really famous because of its
regional languages support, has been banned, too. And you can use Sharechat
instead which also brings us the same. So Share Chat is an app-based out of India
and it offers content in fifteen regional languages, which is great.
I mean, there's no English support. I'm going to try out the
app. I basically saw people posting meme shots, WhatsApp forwards, and things
like that. So I'm not a big fan of the app. I mean, why would people want to
use this? But people use helo, so I don't know.
- DU ScreenRecorder- Screenrecord-no ads
DU Screen recorder is an app that also got pretty popular,
but it's been banned now. But you don't really have to worry because there are
a lot of great screen recording apps on the play store.
My recommendation is to screen
record-no ads yet. Plain and simple. First of all, this is ad-free, like
the name says, and it brings all the features like support for different
resolutions, different themes. And on Android devices, the support for internal
audio recording, which is awesome, if you want to record gaming sessions.
So this is a simple, great alternative that just works when
compared to do you require.
- Vaulthide- KeepSafe
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| Keepsafe- Home |
Vaulthide is the photo and video hiding app. It was flagged
recently for its privacy issues. There are a lot of alternatives to hide photos
and videos.
But one app I like is keepsafe it keeps its users safe for 256
encryption, which is the same protocol used in many banking apps. And it's an
app that lets you protect or hide your private documents, videos, and photos. It
also has great features like a freeze on auto-lock, encrypted backups, trash
recovery, and breaking alerts. So it brings everything you need. So yeah, use
this instead of Vaulthide.
- TurboVPN- ProtoVPN
TurboVPN is another Chinese app that gained wide popularity
on the play store for its no speed limits and restriction features. It is run a
company from Singapore but has deep roots with China, as revealed by security
affairs. So, If you want its alternative, then ProtoVPN is for you because of
its privacy and it is protected by EU's strong laws.
- DU Privacy, Applock- Norton AppLock
DU Privacy and AppLock are other apps that are banned.
DU Privacy is now banned because of its privacy policy as it
states, "According to our privacy needs, we may read your
audio, video, text files".
Their alternative is Norton AppLock which is
privacy-focused and plain and simple.- WeChat- Whatsapp
As we know, China govt. has banned all other apps in their
country and people can use Chinese apps only there. But WeChat is a Chinese
Messenger which was available on the play store worldwide.
But because Chinese govt. monitors all the messages on
WeChat, It should be banned, no doubt.
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| Whatsapp-Home |
Its best alternative is Whatsapp by Facebook because of its
end-to-end encryption and is now used by everyone in the world.
- BeautyPlus- CandyCamera
By the way, It doesn't have privacy issues but It is based
in China, and giving access to private photos might not be a good thing.
You should use CandyCamera in the place of BeautyPlus and it
has all features same.
- UC News, NewsDog- Google news
UC news and NewsDog, both are banned but their alternative
is clearly masters in the list of news apps which is GoogleNews. It has a clean
user interface and is plain, simple to use.
- VirusCleaner- Avast antivirus
Most of the apps which claim to be virus cleaners, they just
serve ads and acquire information and sell it. Its alternative is Avast Antivirus which is great in the
list of antiviruses. I recommend you not to use any antivirus because Android
has very little probability to be harmed by viruses.
- ROMWE, SHEIN, Club factory- Myntra
All the three first apps which claim to be e-commerce apps
were just collecting credential info about users. Their alternative is Myntra which has a large collection of
merchandise and a celeb fashion section.
The remaining apps and their alternative are:
Chinese Alternative
WPS Office - Microsoft office
Parallel space- Clone app
Clean master/ DU cleaner - SD Maid
DU Battery saver - Greenify
MailMaster - Microsoft Outlook
Now, I end this post here and I can say in last that
Whatever has been done by the Indian government, It's for the welfare of us. We should
support it. If you have any Chinese apps, uninstall those all. They are not
safe.
Stay safe!
Stay motivated!
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