UC Browser gone missing from the online marketplace (Google Play Store)

If you have been using Android for a while now, you must have heard of UC Browser before. It is one of the best mobile browsers for me which has a very fast downloading features. It has served a massive 500 million downloads on Google’s Play Store. And that is no small feat. However, just now, UC browser is no where to be found on Google PlayStore again.

If you search for “UC Browser” on Google PlayStore Now you will only see the Mini Version of UC browser at the top follow by other Android Browser. Apparently, the mini version is still there and can be downloaded.

No reasons have been declared yet, on the App either from Google or UC Web. However, recently the mobile browser owned by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba came under Indian government scanners. Investigations by top ministry officials led the government to believe that the browser was sending Indian user data to Chinese servers.

This privacy issue came to light in August at which time some publications sought clarification from UC Web. A UC Web spokesperson said: “At UC Web, we take security and privacy very seriously and work hard to comply with local regulations of each region we operate in… We have strong measures in place to encrypt the data while we transmit it.” He also said that they have not received any notice from the government.

At the same time, he didn’t deny that user data was being collected but assured that UC Web would do not breach user trust in any way. It might very well be that the government might have approached Google on the issue asking for a ban. Whatever the case, the app still remains invisible on the Play Store. At least that the case in India.

If you are UC Web services Die Hard just like me,  you are free to download the mini version as it is still there.