Do you remember that game that went viral and everyone seemed to play it? Or, that popular app that people used to download videos? Have you heard of them recently? What happened to those apps? Why can’t you find them in the Google Play Store anymore? Time and again, Google bans apps and kicks them out of the Play Store. Apps get banned for a wide variety of reasons. They get banned if they contain or promote discriminatory content. Often times, collecting unneeded data also gets apps banned. Pornographic and cryptocurrency mining apps often get banned.
Sarahah
Have you heard of the app that got banned due to a petition signed by over 4 million people? Sarahah was a popular anonymous messaging app that allowed users to message other app users without revealing their identity. It landed in murky waters because it was used by bullies to harass people. After the petition, Google removed Sarahah from its Play Store.
TubeMate
Have you noticed the Download option in the YouTube app that lets you download videos and play them even when you are offline? That is a recent addition to the YouTube app. Earlier, people used to rely on TubeMate app to download YouTube videos on their smartphones. Google clearly wasn’t happy with this and kicked TubeMate out of its Play Store.
TV Portal
Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Now and other similar apps turn our smartphones into on-the-go TVs to watch live streaming of our favorite TV shows. You still need to pay membership fees to enjoy TV shows on these apps. In stark contrast, TV Portal app that allows you to stream TV shows for free. It naturally ended up in copyright issues and was shown the door by Google.
AdAway
It is usually easier to understand the reasons behind apps getting banned. However, every now and then a benign app gets banned that makes you scratch your head. AdAway is an example of one such app. It used to block all those annoying ads on your Android devices and one fine day Google decided to ban it on the grounds that it violates part of its Developer Distribution Agreement, according to TechCrunch.
Grooveshark played hide-and-seek by getting banned and unbanned from the Google Play Store multiple times. It was a Pandora alternative in countries where Pandora wasn’t available. It was banned by Google due to a copyright infringement complaint filed by Recording Industry Association of America.
PSX4Droid
The curious case of PSX4Droid is another AdAway type of head scratcher. PSX4Droid enabled users to play PlayStation games on their Android devices. It became popular as it basically turned Android devices into on-the-go Playstations. This unsettled a few bigwigs and another copyright complaint meant Google had to boot PSX4Droid out of its Play Store.
Rush Poker
Gaming apps getting banned is always a bit of a head-scratcher. So, what resulted in Rush Poker hitting the bin? It’s quite simple actually. It allowed players to gamble with real money and to make matters worse, underage players could also gamble merrily. Google wasn’t left with too many options and had to bin the app out.
Amazon UnderGround
This is the battle of the bigwigs, Amazon vs Google. Amazon UnderGround is Amazon’s version of Google Play Store that allows people to download and obtain in-app items that they would otherwise have to pay money to purchase. Google clearly didn’t fancy it and removed it from the Play Store.
ViPER4Android
The one that flew above the cuckoo’s nest, ViPER4Android enhanced the audio output of the phones and was developed for music aficionados. It brought Spectrum Extensions, x86 Support, Speaker Optimization, Differential Surround / Haas Effect, Headphone Surround+ and more. Strangely, it was banned by Google from its Play Store.
Popcorn Time
Popcorn Time is TubeMate and TVPorta combined and then some. It lets you watch your favorite movies or catch up on TV shows by downloading them. It also lets you pick the video quality and subtitles. Another matter of copyright infringement and the app is no longer in the Google Play Store.
How to download banned apps?
So, one of your favorite apps got banned suddenly. Or, you want to use the services of a benign app but you can’t find on the Google Play Store. So, how to find and download banned apps that no longer exist in the Google Play Store?
For the majority of us, Google Play Store is the de facto place to download and install apps. Therefore, we are unaware of alternate app stores that also let us download all kinds of apps. Uptrivial is once such app store that lets you download over 20,000 apps including those kicked out by Google from its Play Store. Uptrivial uses the most modern scanning technology to scan viruses and other malicious components like adware.
