Popular apps removed by Google

Recently, both Google and Apple have made it clear that any application that violates their terms and services will have to bear the consequences which is evident from the action taken by these tech giants against a few popular applications. The most recent one being the massively popular anonymous messaging application Sarahah, which has been removed from both the App Store and the Play Store for encouraging bullying.

Today we will list out some of the widely popular apps that have been removed from the Play Store for violating their terms in some cases or for any other reason that the company finds to be reasonable enough for removal of the app.

Sarahah App

Sarahah needs no introduction. Chances are that you might have used Sarahah once, so you may know that Sarahah allows users to anonymously send messages to other users which has encouraged users to share abusive and offensive language on the platform.

Sarahah, an app originally aimed at encouraging honest opinions for one another has now been removed from the App Store and Play Store for encouraging bullying.

TubeMate

TubeMate as the name suggests is an app that is related to Youtube. TubeMate helps users to download videos from Youtube on their devices without even watching them. However, Youtube now allows users to save some videos for offline viewing but still it was not comfortable for Google to have some other app allow users to download videos from their platform which might have led to removal of the app from Play Store.

Grooveshark

Grooveshark, again a popular app. Grooveshark allowed users to stream content as is an alternative to Pandora Streaming service outside the United States. After many legal battles between Grooveshark and Recording Industry Association of America, Google finally removed the app from the Play Store

Lucky Patcher

Lucky Patcher is a utility application that enables users to patch or modify the code of some other application (requires a rooted device) by removing ads or license verification. This is obviously not in regards with Google's terms of services despite of which Lucky Patcher managed to rake in downloads by being available on the Play Store for a long time, but now Lucky Patcher is removed from the Play Store.

UC Browser

UC Browser, a chinese browser that was quite popular for its fast loading speeds has also been removed from the Play Store after complaints of the app allegedly sharing user's information. Even though the app has been taken down from the Play Store, it can be downloaded from some third party stores.

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CM Installer

CM Installer is the official app of the CyanogenMod team that allows users to install the CyanogenMod ROMs without the need of rooting the device. The app has been removed from the Play Store for no clear reasons.

PSX4Droid

PSX4Droid is an application or better called an emulator that enables users to play playstation games on their Android devices. The app has now been removed from the Play Store for some legal and copyright issues.

Popcorn Time

Popcorn Time is another popular app which allowed users to stream popular TV series on their Android devices. The app has now been taken down for allowing illegal downloading of copyrighted content.

So, Google and Apple have taken a step ahead in the direction of scrutinizing the plethora of apps that are uploaded daily on their stores with the aim to protect their users from indulging in any illegal activity and also protecting their privacy. So, Did the removal of any of these apps had affected you in some way? Let us know in the comment section below.