UC Browser has mysteriously disappeared from the Google Play Store (Updated)

It’s getting down to seem like UC Browser abrupt removal from the Play Store can be temporary. A Twitter user claiming to figure on the browser reportedly received associate degree email confirming that the app was “removed from play store for thirty days as a result of it used “Misleading” and “Unhealthy” strategies of promotion to extend installs.” This tallies with a Reddit post by humanoid Police founder Artem Russakovskii that details associate degree email received many days past from UC Union, UCWeb’s advertising and affiliate network.

The email, meant for advertising partners, outlines that the corporate “prohibits any and every one misleading/malicious advertising method(s) to acquire new users once promoting UC Browser campaigns.” The temporal order of the e-mail seems to recommend that sure UC Web’s affiliates are exploitation deceptive advertising to extend UC Browser downloads. Considering Google’s recent announcement that it's cracking down on this kind of Behaviour on Chrome, it wouldn’t be stunning to visualize it applying similar rules to Play Store links.

Both Google and UC net have however to treat true.

Original story (11/14): UC Browser for humanoid seems to possess been taken down from the Google Play Store. The mobile-friendly version of the online browser apparently disappeared while not a trace earlier nowadays, simplyweeks once the app screw-topped five hundred million downloads on Google’s mobile store. For those unfamiliar the name, UC Browser is developed by UCWeb, that is closely-held by China’s Alibaba cluster. additionally as being a vastly well-liked different to Google Chrome in its home region, UC Browser has a huge base in India. While Chrome has since reinstated a number of its dominance, back in Gregorian calendar month, UC Browser became India’s favorite mobile browser and at one purpose grasped over fifty p.c market share. additionally, it's the sixth most downloaded humanoid app in India.

 UCWeb has additionally claimed that Indian users structure a hundred million of its total monthly active users from round the world, with the latter figure reportedly reaching 420 million, per reports from 2016.

As a result, its removal could be a surprising step to mention the smallest amount. it'll additionally result in variety of key queries, most notably: why was it removed on balance now and once such a big amount of downloads? UC Browser’s disappearance was 1st noticed by the presbyopic netizens on Reddit, and its users have a noteworthytheory.

Reports began whirling in August that claimed UC Browser contains a rather nasty habit of stealing sensitive user knowledge that it then sends back to remote servers in China while not the user’s consent.

As a part of a widespread investigation into knowledge security, Indian brass expressed considerations that the UC Browser app continues to gather this knowledge when it's been uninstalled, per a Times of India report. UC Browser has return beneath scrutiny relating to knowledge security considerations within the past. In 2015, Canadian researchers claimed that the Chinese and English-language version of UC Browser “made simply obtainableto 3rd parties in person classifiable data like location, search details and mobile subscriber and device numbers.” Many of the Reddit posters addressing UC Browser’s surprising disappearance appear to assume that the recent allegations ar accountable, because it had been thought that the app might be prohibited in India ought to the accusations hold any water.

 At present there's no proof to either make sure or deny these suspicions. UCWeb has antecedently denied any wrongdoing, stating that it “will not do something to breach the trust of our users” which it takes “security and privacy terribly seriously.” There’s actually a lot of to the current story and we’ll be keeping an eye fixed out for any official word on the matter. within the in the meantime, it’s value noting that the UC Browser mini, an alternate app designed for fewer powerful devices, remains survive the Play Store.