Garena Free Fire, 53 other Chinese apps banned by Indian govt in fresh move (With list)

In a fresh blow to apps belonging to foreign companies, India has banned an additional 54 apps, blocking access to them through app stores. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has released a list of 54 apps that are recommended for a ban, and, interestingly, it includes Garena Free Fire, which is a battle royale game owned by Singapore-based Sea Ltd. The government said that it has the “power to issue directions for interception or monitoring or decryption of any information through any computer resource”, India Today reported.

While the list includes several lesser photo editing, video editing, app cloning apps, the biggest name is Garena Free Fire’s, which is one of the top downloaded games in India. Garena grew in terms of popularity after the ban on PUBG Mobile in 2020 threw a wrench in India’s mobile gaming industry. Nearly a year later, Krafton launched Battlegrounds Mobile India as a censored version of PUBG Mobile, highlighting that the game has no Chinese connection.

The ban on Garena Free Fire, however, does not apply to the publisher’s second game called Garena Free Fire Max. At the time of writing, Garena Free Fire Max was available for download on the Google Play Store. Coincidentally, the list of banned apps released by the government does not mention Free Fire Max either. However, Apple has delisted both Free Fire and Free Fire Max from its iOS app store in India.

Here is the full list of banned apps:

1. Beauty Camera: Sweet Selfie HD
2. Beauty Camera Selfie Camera
3. Equalizer Bass Booster & Volume EQ & Virtualizer
4. Music Player- Music.Mp3 Player
5. Equalizer & Bass Booster Music Volume EQ
6. Music Plus MP3 Player
7. Equalizer Pro Volume Booster & Bass Booster
8. Video Player Media All Format
9. Music Player Equalizer & MP3
10. Volume Booster Loud Speaker & Sound Booster
11. Music Player MP3 Player
12. CamCard for SalesForce Ent
13. Isoland 2: Ashes of Time Lite
14. Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade
15. APUS Security HD (Pad Version)
16. Parallel Space Lite 32 Support
17. Viva Video Editor Snack Video Maker with Music
18. Nice video baidu
19. Tencent Xriver
20. Onmyoji Chess
21. Onmyoji Arena
22. AppLock
23. Dual Space Lite Multiple Accounts & Clone App
24. Dual Space Pro Multiple Accounts & App Cloner
25. DualSpace Lite 32Bit Support
26. Dual Space 32Bit Support
27. Dual Space 64Bit Support
28. Dual Space Pro 32Bit Support
29. Conquer Online MMORPG Game
30. Conquer Online Il
31. Live Weather & Radar Alerts
32. Notes- Color Notepad, Notebook
33. MP3 Cutter Ringtone Maker & Audio Cutter
34. Voice Recorder & Voice Changer
35. Barcode Scanner QR Code Scan
36. Lica Cam selfie camera app
37. EVE Echoes
38. Astracraft
39. UU Game Booster-network solution for high ping
40. Extraordinary Ones
41. Badlanders
42. Stick Fight: The Game Mobile
43. Twilight Pioneers
44. CuteU: Match With The World
45. Small World-Enjoy groupchat and video chat
46. CuteU Pro
47. FancvU Video Chat & Meetup
48. Real: Go Live. Make Friends
49. MoonChat: Enjoy Video Chats
50. Real Lite -video to live!
51. Wink: Connect Now
52. FunChat Meet People Around You
53. FancyU pro Instant Meetup through Video chat!
54. Garena Free Fire Illuminate