Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Wednesday, Oct 22, 2025

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

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.)

The short-lived rise of Chinese App Detector follows the demise of Remove Chinese Apps – another Android app designed to purge your phone of apps made in China. The latter became a top-trending app in India in early June, scoring a whopping 5 million installs before it was abruptly removed from Google’s app store. Both apps apparently violated Google rules banning most apps that encourage or incentivise users to remove or disable other apps unless they are part of a verifiable security service.

It’s true that users can’t delete any Chinese apps directly from inside Chinese App Detector. And the app store description only mentioned that it can find Chinese apps. The app developer Workholics Infocorp, however, posted on Facebook and LinkedIn, “We have started again a campaign to boycott Chinese apps from every indians [sic] mobile phone.”

We reached out to Workholics, but didn’t receive a response.

Tension between China and India reached its highest point in decades after a deadly military clash along their shared border last month. Anti-China sentiment has also soared among Indians in part because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
US and Qatar Warn EU of Trade and Energy Risks from Tough Climate Regulation
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
Ofcom Rules BBC’s Gaza Documentary ‘Materially Misleading’ Over Narrator’s Hamas Ties
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
Wave of Complaints Against Apple Over iPhone 17 Pro’s Scratch Sensitivity
Syria Holds First Elections Since Fall of Assad
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
×