With popular short video-making app TikTok down in India, rival apps have lately been all the rage in the country. After a border clash with the neighboring country China went on to eventually generate an anti-China sentiment across the nation, a total of 59 Chinese apps were banned in India at once over security concerns, including TikTok. Now rival apps including Mitron, Chingari, and Roposo are rising up in download numbers. Also Read – TikTok chief says China never asks for data of Indian users
TikTok had 200 million users in India. After the ban came into effect, all these users were suddenly left with no content to post or view content off. A lack of options led to alternate short video-making apps becoming popular in the country. Also Read – TikTok’s Indian alternative ‘Chingari’ crosses over 10 million downloads on Google Play store in 22 days
One of the alternatives, Roposo, which has existed since 2014, saw its user-base jump up by 22 million in just two days after the app was taken down. “In the last few days I’ve slept for a total of five hours, and it’s the same for our entire team,” Bhangadia said. “The load is so much and we’re just ensuring that the experience is as smooth as possible,” said Mayank Bhangadia, Roposo founder in a report by Reuters. Also Read – TikTok India ban could make ByteDance lose crores
Roposo now has over 80 million downloads on Android. As per Bhangadia, this figure may cross 100 million in a few more days. Roposo had about 50 million downloads before TikTok was taken down, which is still a considerable share amidst the 500 million smartphones in India.
The Bengaluru-based company is run by about 200 people but plans on going international over the next two years. It will also reportedly be hiring an additional 10,000 people in this time frame for the same. Meanwhile, other rival apps like Mitron and Chingari are riding over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Atma-Nirbhar’ wave and enjoying popularity. These apps too have seen a rise in user-base after the TikTok ban.