Remove China Apps
  • The popular Remove China Apps utility has been removed from the Play Store.
  • It went viral in recent days, hitting five million downloads in India.
  • The app apparently violated the Play Store’s Deceptive Behavior Policy.

A new app called Remove China Apps went viral in India over the past week, becoming the top free app in the market. Now, it turns out that Google has taken action by pulling the app from the Play Store.

The app, which was downloaded over five million times, has been pulled because it violated the Play Store’s Deceptive Behavior Policy, according to TechCrunch. It seems like Remove China Apps fell afoul of the section regarding deceptive setting changes.

More specifically, Google says it doesn’t allow apps that mislead users into uninstalling or removing third-party apps/features. This section also specifically bars apps that “encourage or incentivize” users into removing third-party apps and features unless it’s a security app.

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Remove China Apps scans your phone’s list of apps and alerts you to any China-made apps on your device. The app also gives you the option of quickly deleting any offending apps. Presumably this latter feature is what caused Google to take action.

It’s not a complete surprise to see Remove China Apps pulled from the Play Store, as we initially noted that Google prohibits apps from interfering with other apps. Nevertheless, the removal of such a popular app is bound to provoke a response from many Indian users.

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