Experts ask users to be careful while uninstalling Chinese mobile apps

MANGALURU: As #BoycottChineseApps began trending on social media and the calls for giving up Chinese products were made by many celebrities, several social media users are now posting screen shots claiming their phones are now free of Chinese applications.
This online campaign gained momentum after Sonam Wangchuk, an engineer turned educator asked people to use wallet power to boycott made in China software in a week and hardware in a year.
However, amidst this growing trend, cyber experts warn of greater threats that includes data breach as they claim apps must be uninstalled with caution.
Speaking to TOI, Ananth Prabhu G, professor, Sahyadri College of Engineering and Management and cyber security expert, said India reportedly had 1,026.37 million active mobile users — on 2G, 3G and 4G networks – in 2019 and the number would have only increased this year. The budget segment phones are dominated by Chinese smartphone brands.
“Even as we have listed alternative non-Chinese apps, data breach is a major concern. For the user, it is important to delete the account first before uninstalling the app. The biggest blunder most people do is to link Facebook and Google accounts to the app to register and login instead of creating a new account. Users must create separate profiles for apps, deactivate/delete it before uninstalling an app.
“It is also recommended to download an antivirus and scan the phone after uninstalling the app. There have been several instances of users saying they are no longer on a particular social media platform, but their profile being still active. China is not only earning thousands of dollars per day as revenue through its apps, but has also received all our data,” he said, adding that ‘Remove China Apps’ has been pulled from Google Playstore, but those who have downloaded it are advised to uninstall it as it has many security loopholes.
Gagan Jain, CEO, Cybersafe Bangalore said, “Budget range phones are dominated by Chinese phone brands and these phones come with certain inbuilt apps and uninstalling them would have an impact on the functioning of the phone. Privacy invasion has been happening for long. Many Chinese companies are making money by selling cheap phones and getting more personal data. Often mobile users fail to read the agreement in detail before logging on to the phone,” said Jain, adding that data breach risks are high when using electronic gadgets such as security cams connected to the apps.
What’s lacking in India
In India, most of the app-based startups are service related. The need of the hour is to make investments in R&D and develop groundbreaking apps. New technology and gaming should be taught as part of engineering curriculum so that India develops its own games. India also needs to develop an indigenous operating system, hardware and software, which should be encouraged and promoted by the government under the Make in India initiative, said Ananth Prabhu.