It’s been a month since the Government of India banned 59 Chinese apps over privacy concerns and other issues. In this list, the short video sharing app “TikTok” was the most discussed app in Indian Media. Before the government banned these apps, the very controversial (unofficial) battle of YouTube vs Tiktok was the top trending topic in India.
Recently, it came to notice of a few users, that “TikTok” is still available to download in the Google Play store. Several users Reported it thorough social media that they are able to download “TikTok” (with the date mentioned in it). According to some users, Tiktok was not shown on the list while searching “TikTok” in Google play store, but it was shown in the list while searching for other Miss-spelled keywords of Tiktok i.e. takitok , tikktok, ticktock, etc. It was shown as a Recommended app while searching it on the play store.
In addition to that, Tiktok was found in a similar apps list while searching for Instagram in the Play store. It was in the first position in the list. we can see the screenshots below.
Instagram App details page in Google play store Tiktok App details on Google play store No error on downloading tiktok
According to some users. They were able to download TikTok after the ban and removed from the play store and app store. Screenshots for the same can be seen in the above photos.
Google play store is available on Mobiles and also accessible from computers. we can install or update any apps in our Mobile (Android Mobiles) with Google account (Also known as Gmail account) associated with our Android Mobile. In the web version of the play store, TikTok was shown with its details, but upon clicking on Install button the error message saying “This item is not available in your country” popped up. screenshots can be seen below.
Tiktok searched on Playstore on Desktop This item is not available in your country error shown by play store
In the past, Google deleted nearly 7 million negative reviews to improve its rating, and now it adds the TikTok via backdoors. Which raises many questions among us.
PS: The TikTok was successfully installed in phones but it was showing network error as reported by the users. and it shows the same error while using VPN apps.