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Xiaomi, the parent company of smartphone brands MI, Redmi, and POCO, is all set to remove its GetApps app service, reported TechCrunch. The app store, which came pre-installed on a majority of the company’s smartphones will be completely removed with system updates starting from January 2025.
Notably, the smartphone maker plans to swap GetApps with the Indus App Store, an Indian app distribution platform developed by PhonePe. Launched in February 2024, the Indus App Store provides better privacy and security to Indian users as all its data is stored locally, in servers spread across the country.
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Holding about 20% market share among smartphone brands in the nation, Xiaomi'smove is bound to impact thousands of people. In a major positive, the PhonePe-developed app market is available in 12 Indian languages and provides user-friendly logins, even allowing mobile numbers instead of emails unlike Google’s Play Store, which improves user accessibility.
On the other side of things, GetApps, developed by Xiaomi, had a long list of complaints. Intrusive ads, bloatware, auto-installs, and privacy issues are among the major concerns that owners of the brand’s phones have long complained about.
As such, the Indus App Store is expected to resolve these issues while providing additional enhancements. A Launch Pad feature to support new developers and startup apps with no platform fees or commissions may allow more developers to push their apps without fear of losing out to Google’s dominance and high fees.
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Finally, the GetApps team is said to continue providing app installation and support services under the name Indus Services App, preventing any disruptions.
