App that detects and removes Chinese-made apps goes viral

[midian182]

A hot potato: The US isn’t the only country whose relations with China are currently strained. A border dispute in the Himalayas has seen rising tensions with India, leading to an app called ‘Remove China Apps’ passing five million downloads in just over two weeks, most of which came from within India.

Indian startup OneTouch AppLabs is behind the app. It scans a device and will either congratulate the user on having no Chinese-made apps or list them all, which includes the likes of TikTok. Rather than automatically removing any applications, users are presented with an option to uninstall these apps.

The Google Store description claims the app is “developed for educational purposes only to identify the country of origin of a certain application(s), we do not promote or force people to uninstall any of the application(s),” thought the only country of origin that’s identified is China.

The description goes on to say that countries of origin are detected based on market research, but there’s no guarantee that the results will be accurate. Android Authority writes that while it did detect TikTok and another Chinese-made app in its tests, PUBG Mobile, which comes from the China-based Tencent Games, was not identified. It also misses some Chinese apps that come bundled with smartphones, according to TechCrunch.

While the app doesn’t require an account to use, it does collect quite a bit of information from users, including device manufacturer and model, language, the versions of apps on a phone, the time, and more.

OneTouch AppLabs claims it has “experience of 8+ years in mobile and web application design, development and management,” yet Remove China Apps is its first product, and the company’s simple website only went live on May 8.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/85459-app-detects-removes-chinese-made-apps-goes-viral.html

 

[Uncle Al]

Kind of surprised we haven't seen this long before now ......

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Is there an app to remove apps on my phone being used by America's FBI, CIA and NSA to spy on me and monitor my uploads?

China is doing it - but America is doing it to.

Even Russia had that spy app for you to upload face photos to for digital aging.

It's like watching Russia, China and America fight over who gets to invade my privacy more...

 

[Ludak021]

So you are afraid of Chinese apps steling your data? Install and use app that steals your data while removing the competit...umm...Chinese apps. Noice.

 

[Hardware Geek]

I'm not touching this app. I'm willing to bet this will be outed for being spyware

 

[m3diapers]

Most Chinese apps are run by big companies, whom we can sue after once there is enough evidence that they were stealing our info. I have enjoyed the benefits of the class action lawsuit of ebay previously and like to get more. But this app is made by who? And this app targets on specific apps, it is a malware with user consents. I won't be surprised one day to learn that the Indian startup was previously scamming US consumers with the same app.

 

[Eldritch]

Most Chinese apps are run by big companies, whom we can sue after once there is enough evidence that they were stealing our info. I have enjoyed the benefits of the class action lawsuit of ebay previously and like to get more. But this app is made by who? And this app targets on specific apps, it is a malware with user consents. I won't be surprised one day to learn that the Indian startup was previously scamming US consumers with the same app.

There are endless news of chinese apps leaking data, sending packets to remote servers and straight up being malware.
To think one can win an lawsuit, much less an class action lawsuit, is far fetched. Possible but extremely hard.
For example : https://www.zdnet.com/article/milli...as-uc-browser-can-be-used-to-deliver-malware/

https://www.cnet.com/news/tiktok-accused-of-secretly-gathering-user-data-and-sending-it-to-china/

In the second link, there is indeed news of a class action lawsuit against Bytedance for many things including stealing biometric data. Do tell if it succeed. Seriously, I will be rooting for you but I am having serious doubts over the chance of success and ultimate recoveries.

 

[TheBigT42]

In US and get "This item isn't available in your country"

Time to VPN

 

[ShagnWagn]

So you are afraid of Chinese apps steling your data? Install and use app that steals your data while removing the competit...umm...Chinese apps. Noice.

google chrome inventories all software on your computer as well. It runs hidden in the background. "Chrome Software Reporter Tool"

 

[SilentMarket]

Most Chinese apps are run by big companies, whom we can sue after once there is enough evidence that they were stealing our info. I have enjoyed the benefits of the class action lawsuit of ebay previously and like to get more. But this app is made by who? And this app targets on specific apps, it is a malware with user consents. I won't be surprised one day to learn that the Indian startup was previously scamming US consumers with the same app.

You can sue for what? Money? No way. They will remove it at most and get all the money they already have. Look at the damn Tick Tok American loves so much.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

Why isn't Google using it to clean out the Play store then?

 

[IzzyBAIDJI]

Is there an app to remove apps on my phone being used by America's FBI, CIA and NSA to spy on me and monitor my uploads?

China is doing it - but America is doing it to.

Even Russia had that spy app for you to upload face photos to for digital aging.

It's like watching Russia, China and America fight over who gets to invade my privacy more...

No sir it's totally different. The US spies for national security reasons while others do it for all kinds of reasons including stealing and copying IPs and what not. I take it you're a butt-hurt European who can't wait to have Huawei's 5g tech deployed in their country. You're running windows and using either Intel or AMD cpu, guess who made those ?