- Earlier this week, ShareChat launched Moj, an app similar to TikTok. Moj has registered over 10 million downloads in a week.
Earlier this week, ShareChat launched Moj, a social video-sharing site. With anti-China sentiment prevailing due to tension at the Indo-China border and the government banning 59 Chinese apps including TikTok, ShareIt, etc., Moj registered over 10 million downloads in a week. Unlike the famous TikTok app, Moj lets users make short videos with special effects, stickers, and emoticons.
There is a massive rise in downloads since TikTok ‘s ban has led to the demand for alternative Indian apps. After more than eight thousand reviews Moj has received mostly positive ratings resulting in a 4.2 rating on the Play Store.
The app is designed to cater to the Indian public as it supports 15 languages including Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, and others. It isn’t supportive of English.
The newly launched app allows users to create 15-second videos with various filters, stickers, emoticons, etc. It also features a lipsyncing function to recreate film dialogs.
The app is likewise a counterpart to Chingari, an Indian app like TikTok. After three weeks of release, the Chingari app has over 10 million downloads and a 3.9 ranking on Google Play Store. So far the app has been checked by over one lakh users. One of the video-sharing platform’s creators, Sumit Ghosh, revealed that the app captured over 5.33.170 users live at one point in three minutes.
Amidst the increase in Indian app downloads, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Aatmanirbhar Innovation Challenge on Saturday, inviting India’s tech and community to build an Aatmanirbhar App Ecosystem. It also plans to promote existing Indian platforms and apps in categories such as e-learning, homework, gaming, business, entertainment, etc.
The Ministry earlier stated that the 59 Chinese apps were banned because they were “detrimental to India ‘s sovereignty and integrity, Indian defense, state security, and public order.”
Indian apps like Chingari, Mitron, and Roposo are also available and have been around for some time in the short-video space. In fact, they have gained a lot of coverage from the audience in recent weeks too. Roposo was launched in 2014 and has thus far crossed the 5-crore download milestone. Meanwhile, Chingari, who came into space in 2018, has now hit the 50-lakh-downloads mark. To a shock, only in April 2020 Mitron was released and has already witnessed over 1 Crore downloads.
The race to become India’s TikTok has picked up steam and we’re set to see dozens of apps trying to create a desi version of the most popular product bytedance. Yet the question remains as to what happens if and when the Government of India allows the Chinese apps to operate. We will keep you updated on the same.
