Photo Credit: Indus Appstore
Xiaomi will likely soon discontinue its GetApps app store for Indian users. Although the company has yet to officially announce the store's discontinuation, information regarding the same has surfaced online. The Chinese smartphone maker is said to replace the app store with Indus Appstore, an Android-based mobile app marketplace by PhonePe. The Indian digital payment platform introduced the storefront in the country in February. Indus Appstore supports English and 12 Indian regional languages.
According to an X post by user Aryan Gupta (@SavageAryan007), Xiaomi has begun notifying Indian users about PhonePe replacing its GetApps store. The move will affect Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco devices purchased in the country. The post claims that some Xiaomi users in India have started receiving a notification about the impending change within the GetApps store.
MAJOR NEWS: Xiaomi is phasing out and removing GetApps for Indian users!🤯
— Aryan Gupta (@SavageAryan007) November 15, 2024
Some users (including me on my Xiaomi 14) have received this notice within the GetApps store on Xiaomi phones.
Here are the changes:
✅ Indian users will no longer get GetApps on existing and future… pic.twitter.com/tP6gcMzXhj
The post shared a screengrab of the notification, which suggests that Xiaomi users in the country will not have access to the GetApps store from January 2025. The marketplace is said to be replaced by the Indus Appstore, which was introduced by PhonePe on February 21 this year. The transition is expected to trim down bloatware on Xiaomi phones.
The screenshot of the notification suggests that Xiaomi users in India need not take any action for the transition. As per the notification, the GetApps team will continue to provide installation and support services for apps under the moniker of "Indus Services App".
The Indus Appstore is available in English and 12 Indian regional languages like Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, and more. The app storefront launched with 200,000 apps, including several thousand games. App listings on the developer platform will be free for the first year, however, an annual fee will be charged thereafter. Additionally, PhonePe announced that the marketplace would not impose any platform fees or commissions on developers for in-app payments if they use separate payment gateways.
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