15 July is deadline for all Indian Army to uninstall these apps. Check out the list!
The Indian Army has 89 apps including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and a slew of dating apps that could be used to target Indian army personnel. Nationwide allegedly prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
When asked about the sudden decision to ban several apps, the Indian Army Spokesperson Col Aman Anand told this journalist for The Quint: “The information security concerns from social media apps were under the scrutiny of our experts for a long time now. There is adequate evidence to believe that some vulnerabilities are being exploited by the adversaries. We will continue to take measures that are considered necessary to guard our men, material, and information.”
The list includes both Chinese and non-Chinese apps ranging from messaging platforms to health apps to popular mobile games and more. Indian army asks soldiers and officers to delete 89 apps from their smartphones. The report first comes from news agency ANI. The agency posted a full list of 89 apps on Wednesday. Notably, the list includes more than just apps with China origin such as Facebook, Tinder, Instagram, among others.
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Due to the rising security concerns, the Indian Army decided to ban 89 apps on both Android and iOS platforms. While these apps will still be available for the civilians, it is the Army personnel that won't be able to access them anymore. The decision to ban several social media apps was made public (informally) on 8 July, but the instructions were given in an internal note – accessed by this journalist in the first week of June – to the plan which was under consideration for the past (over) four months. The note titled ‘Regulatory Measures for Social Media Platforms’ on ‘banned sites’ says:
“In view of the exponential increase in the number of cases being targeted by hostile intelligence agencies and existing vulnerabilities, the use of Facebook accounts by Army personnel is banned. Hence, the existing accounts are required to be deleted and not left deactivated by 1 June 2020.”
List of 89 apps banned by Indian Army
MESSAGING PLATFORMS
- Kik
- ooVoo
- Nimbuzz
- Helo
- Qzone
- Share Chat
- Viber
- Line
- IMO
- Snow
- To Tok
- Hike
VIDEO HOSTING
- TikTok
- Likee
- Samosa
- Kwali
CONTENT SHARING
- Shareit
- Xender
- Zapya
WEB BROWSERS
- UC Browser
- UC Browser Mini
VIDEO AND LIVE STREAMING
- LiveMe
- BigoLive
- Zoom
- Fast Films
- Vmate
- Uplive
- Vigo Video
UTILITY APPS
- Cam Scanner
- Beauty Plus
- True Caller
GAMING APPS
- PUBG
- NONO Live
- Clash of Kings
- All Tencent gaming apps
- Mobile Legends
E-COMMERCE
- Club Factory
- AliExpress
- Chinabrands
- Gearbest
- Banggood
- MiniInTheBox
- Tiny Deal
- Dhhgate
- LightinTheBox
- DX
- Eric Dress
- Zaful
- Tbdress
- Modility
- Rosegal
- Shein
- Romwe
DATING APPS
- Tinder
- TrulyMadly
- Happn
- Aisle
- Coffee Meets Bagel
- Woo
- OkCupid
- Hinge
- Badoo
- Azar
- Bumble
- Tantan
- Elite Sinles
- Tagged
- Couch Surfing
ANTIVIRUS
- 360 Security
NETWORKING
- Baidu
- Ello
- Snapchat
NEWS APPS
- Daily Hunt
- News Dog
ONLINE BOOK READING APPS
- Pratilipi
HEALTH APPS
- Heal of Y
LIFESTYLE APPS
- POPXO
KNOWLEDGE APPS
- Vokal
MUSIC APPS
- Hungama
- pk
BLOGGING/MICRO BLOGGING
- Yelp
- Tumblr
- FriendsFeed
- Private Blogs
Reaction of Truecaller
It called the inclusion in the list as “unfair and unjust.” “We would like to reiterate that Truecaller remains safe to use, both for our citizens and for our esteemed armed forces personnel. We see no reason for Truecaller to be on this list and will investigate the matter further,” a Truecaller spokesperson said. Truecaller provided a vital service to over 170 million people in India, identifying and blocking hundreds of millions of spam calls and SMS every single day, the spokesperson added.
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