The ban on Chinese apps in India has turned out to be fortuitous for domestic app developers and homegrown social media apps such as Bolo Indya, Mitron, ShareChat, Chingari and Roposo. According to media reports. Mitron has been downloaded by 17 million users in India currently.
Another app, Bolo Indya, witnessed over 2.5 lakh installs, with 87% of these signing up and creating videos and 1.27 crore videos have been created in June. Chingari has been downloaded by 10 million users. ShareChat has also witnessed a surge in downloads. The app has been currently downloaded by 100 million users in the country.
Let’s take a look at some of these apps:
Bolo Indya
Bolo Indya app is a short video app and comparatively recent. Similar to Tiktok, the app doesn’t have an unique identity of its own. Having a similar interface to that of TikTok is a huge advantage in acquiring the existing TikTok fanbase.
Roposo
Another video sharing and social media platform, Roposo has more than 80 million video creations monthly and more than 14 million video creators. The platform is available in 12 Indian Languages. TikTok influencers have migrated to this platform of late.
While the app has various bugs and technical glitches, the interface is not completely user-friendly and this might be the reason that it has taken a while for it to become popular.
ShareChat
ShareChat has been successful in carving a niche for itself among Indian audiences. There are more than 25 crore users of the app which is available in 15 Indian language. On offer are groups related to various domains, tips and tricks, hacks and vines, and video content for different areas of interest. The application has some glitches but barring that, this could be a potential replacement for TikTok.
Chingari
Chingari has positioned itself as the official TikTok replacement app. Downloads have crossed over 1 crore in the span of 22 days. Like other similar platforms, Chingari pays its creators on the basis of how viral the video goes and how engaging the content is. For every video there is a point score basis which can later be redeemed for money.
While there is a lot going for this app, interrupted videos and buffering are a concern reported by users.
While the current download numbers seem significant, how many of these apps will be able to sustain the interest for the long haul? Write in to us and tell us what you think?