Data is a resource whose value cannot be ascertained. Now that all companies are vying for your data, your privacy is inherently at risk. Not only are advertisements catered to your tastes, but data can be misused by someone with vested interests as well. In a report, Intelligence Bureau has curated a list of apps that are sending your data to China. Subsequently, they have asked members of the Indian army to remove those apps from their personal devices, in lieu of a threat of being spied upon.
For certain good measure, it is recommended that you remove these apps as well if you do not want your data to be stored on some server in China. In this post, I will try and list out alternatives for the apps that are listed below.
The Do-Not-Install List
Let’s start off, shall we?
- Weibo:
Weibo is the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, and the entire UI is in Chinese. So if you want to use Weibo, I would recommend you stick to the web client, and not use the mobile app.
Alternative:
- WeChat
While it has been known for a while that WeChat shares all of its data with the Chinese authorities, another reminder always helps. I personally swear by Telegram, Whatsapp, and Signal for messaging, since all of these are encrypted messaging apps.
Alternatives:
- ShareIt
Unfortunately, there are not many good alternatives to this app developed by Lenovo. On top of it, a lot of phones in Asia come with this preinstalled, where the app is a system app, which makes it impossible to remove without using ADB. - TrueCaller
TrueCaller is a company registered in Europe. However, their primary revenue source seems to be from advertising, and the company has been dealing with shady practices for a long time. Google’s dialer has spam protection built-in, and that is what I would recommend. However, TrueCaller is definitely better at spam detection due to the large phone number database it has. - UC News
If you are looking for a news app, Google makes a decent news app which does the job without overly spying on you. I open it up once, and you can opt-in for notifications about breaking news alerts
Alternative:
- UC Browser
If you are looking for a browser, look no further. Google Chrome and Firefox are both excellent, and Firefox has an adblocker plugin available as well.
Alternatives:
- BeautyPlus
Call me old-fashioned but I would rather edit my photos offline. If you are really interested in editing, Snapseed is excellent and is my choice.
Alternative:
- NewsDog
See #5. - Viva Video – Qu Video Inc.
- Parallel Space
There aren’t many alternatives to this, but you could try out an app called island. In fact, Parallel Space in itself is slow and buggy.
Alternative:
- Apus Browser
- Perfect Corp
- Virus Cleaner – Hi Security Lab
- CM Browser
Please take a look at my post on CM Browser earlier. You know you don’t want to touch it with a 10-foot pole. - MI Community
You are better off following them on G+, and in my personal experience, the community is pretty cancerous. - DU Recorder
- Vault Hide – NQ mobile security
- YouCam Makeup
- MI Store
- CacheCleaner DU Apps Studio
Just clear cache from the settings app in Android. - DU Battery Saver
Just don’t. - DU Cleaner
- DU Privacy
“DU Privacy! Where we steal all your remaining privacy!” - 360 Security
Honestly, you don’t need any security apps on your device. Google Play Protect and a bit of common sense is all you need. - DU Browser
- Clean Master – Cheetah Mobile
- Baidu Translate
Google Translate should do all the necessary things that you might need to use this app for.
Alternative:
- Baidu Map
Alternative:
- Wonder Camera – Baidu INC.
There is no camera app which beats Google Camera with HDR+. I recommend sideloading it if you can. - ES File Explorer
Take a look at solid explorer! It’s a paid app on sale and is excellent too. If you are looking for a free and decent file browser, you will be surprised to hear that the two best file explorers are Asus File explorer and Google Files Go.
Alternatives:
- Photo WonderSeriously: Google Photos. Nuff said.
Alternative:
- QQ International
- QQ Music
- QQ Mail
- QQ Player
- QQ Newsfeed
Don’t get deceived by the cute QQ penguins! - WeSync
- QQ Security Centre
- Selfie City
- Mail Master
- Mi Video Call – Xiaomi
Google Duo is one of the best video calling apps out right now, even when the network is terrible.
Alternative:
- QQ Launcher
As far as launchers go, Nova Launcher and Microsoft Launcher are my two favorites.
Alternatives:
Conclusions
Just due to the sheer similarity in the type of apps that have been included in the list, I have left spaces blank for a lot of the alternatives. If you have any questions, hit me up in the comments section and I will try and find an alternative for you!
Source:Â Zee News
