Best Alternatives to popular Chinese applications

There’s no denying the fact that we all get quite attracted to the skilful engineering of Chinese applications. But we also know that the Chinese government is guilty of spying over its own citizens, and along with its dream of developing a global digital silk route, it is accused of data mining.

The Statement of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology reported complaints from various sources including reports about China’s misuse of mobile applications for data mining to unauthorised servers outside India, and thus, The Ministry of Home Affairs sent “an exhaustive recommendation for blocking the malicious apps”.

It’s been over a month since the Government of India imposed a ban on Chinese applications with a huge Indian userbase including platforms like PUBG, TikTok, CamScanner, UC browser and more. The first ban was imposed on 59 apps in June, followed by 47 in July, and recently 118 applications were announced BANNED.

Indeed, these apps are engineered for carrying out our daily tasks efficiently.

Here’s a list of 11 Alternatives, we suggest you give a try.

1. PUBG BANNED! [with around 50 million active players in India]

 Alternatives:

• Call of Duty Mobile– Activision’s CoD mobile was already getting popular since its launch. A perfect battle royale with multiple game modes including 100 player battle royale battleground, fast-packed 5v5 team deathmatch, sniper vs sniper battle, and the dreading scary zombies,  CoD proves its worth.
• Also check: Fortnite [mobile], Garena Freefire.

2. Tik Tok BANNED [with about 200 million registered Indian Users]

Alternatives:

• Dubsmash –  A German Based app, first of its kind, and with a userbase stretching across 192 countries, available in 20+ languages.
• Also check: Triller, Mitron, Instagram Reels

3. SHAREit BANNED [With about 400million Indian Users]

Alternatives:

• Files by Google – Easy and comfortable, basically a file management app which supports file transfer.
• Also check: Z Share (A desi file sharing app developed by a BCA student in support of #boycottChina movement in India),  Zapya, JioSwitch, MX player (built-in MX share feature).

4. UC Browser BANNED [with 130 million active monthly users]

Alternatives :

• Google Chrome – Your default browser built into the Android OS.
• Also Check: Microsoft Edge, Firefox browser.

5. News dog/UC News BANNED [both accumulate over 200 million Indian Users]

Alternatives: 

• Google News / Apple News – Both these alternatives are already included in your operating systems(android/iOS)  by default. Receive the latest news and trends across various portals.
•  Also Check: Inshorts.

6. CamScanner BANNED [with approximately 100 million Indian Users]

Alternatives:

• Adobe Scan – With OCR(optical character recognition) technology and a built-in file converter makes it an easy recommendation.
• Also Check: Microsoft Lens, Scanbot, TapScanner.

7. Viva Video/ DU Recorder BANNED [together they generate an estimate  of over150Million Indian  userbase]

Alternatives:

• KineMaster – a Korean multimedia software company comes with a powerful video editor and video maker app.
• Also Check: AZ recorder.

[Tip: Look for your phone’s the inbuilt screen recorder, they’re quite common nowadays, It will do the trick and won’t ask for strange permissions]

8. Beauty Plus BANNED [with over a 100 million Indian userbase]

Alternatives : 

• Snapchat/Instagram – Convenient and full of picture editing tools and filters.
• Also Check: Candy Camera, Retrica.

9. V mate BANNED [with almost 50 million active users in India]

Alternatives :

• Tubemate, iTube go

[Tip: If you’re on YouTube, copy the link of a video and download the video via this link through various online downloading websites ]

10. Mobile Legends BANNED [ With over 100 Million Downloads and 75 million active users in India]

Alternatives:  Actually, You do not need an alternative when you have a playstore with you. You can pick amongst Clash of Clans, Tower defense 2D and many more.

11. Batter Saver / Cleaning Apps

You do not need an application for the purpose. All such apps that promise you a faster experience or battery saver do nothing revolutionary other than being a clever trick.

Important: Even though we’ve listed enough alternatives to use in place of the Chinese Variants, it doesn’t solve all your privacy concerns. If you’re installing an American, A Korean or even an Indian App, you’re just changing your data collector’s uniform. Your Data is valuable and data mining is a fact with most of the apps available. You should be careful about what you’re installing and most importantly, what permissions you’re giving to them.