Government of India ban on many VPN apps-websites; Google and Apple also removed
The Home Ministry had ordered Google and Apple to remove these VPN apps. This request was sent to Google on October 29, the information of which was seen on the Lumen database.
An enormous amount of VPN apps were removed from Google Play Store and Apple App Store in India. The step has been taken under the rules issued by the government in April 2022, which mandated VPN service providers to take and store information of their users, a report said by TechCrunch. In this regard, a long dispute was going on between VPN companies and the government.
According to TechCrunch, the Home Ministry had asked Google and Apple to ban these VPN apps. The request went to Google on October 29, and that information is available within the Lumen database.
List of major apps removed
- 1.1.1.1 App (Cloudflare)
- Touch VPN
- X-VPN
- Hide.me
- PrivadoVPN
However, other VPN apps like Proton VPN, Express VPN, Private Internet Access, and Mullvad are still available on both platforms.
In April 2022, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) directed that VPN providers store their customer information, such as names, addresses, IP addresses, and contact details, for five years. Many VPN providers shut down their physical servers in India rather than comply with these rules, but continued their services. This action is believed to be the first major action under these rules.
