Updated
New Delhi, May 31 (IANS): Yoga guru Ramdev's so-called "swadeshi" messaging app "Kimbho" that aimed to take on the giant WhatsApp abruptly disappeared on Thursday from Google Play Store amid security and "heavy traffic" concerns.
Several Android users took to Twitter and Facebook, displaying their frustration in downloading the app from Play Store. Some fake iterations of "Kimbho" app and even a "Kimbho" messenger too appeared on Play Store, leading to more confusion.
"We are facing extremely high traffic on Kimbho. We are in process of upgrading our servers and will be back shortly. Sorry for the inconvenience. Please stay tuned," tweeted the "Kimbho" app team.
Kimbho is a Sanskrit word and according to Patanjali's spokesperson SK Tijarawala, it means "How are you? or What's new?"
"Now WhatsApp will be given a competition. Our own #SwadeshiMessagingplatform. Download it directly from Google Play store," tweeted Tijarawala on Wednesday.
But the day one experience raised several concerns, including security.
Famous French security researcher who goes by the name of Elliot Alderson called "Kimbho" a security disaster on Twitter.
"Ok, I will stop here. The #Kimbho #android #app is a security disaster. I can access the messages of all the users," he tweeted.
"The @KimbhoApp is a copy paste of another #application. The description and the screenshots in the app stores are the same. Moreover, the #Kimbho app is making request to bolomessenger[.]com," the security researcher added, advising people not to install the app.
"This @KimbhoApp is a joke, next time before making press statements, hire competent developers... If it is not clear, for the moment don't install this app," Anderson further tweeted.
The Patanjali app guide available on Play Store also failed to get users to download the app. While clicking on how to download Kimbho app inside the guide, the message poped up: "We are sorry, the requested URL was not found on this server.
Most of those who succeeded in downloading the app thrashed the experience.
"first make it robust and fix all bugs then launch," tweeted one user.
"Even a 12th grade kid can build a better app than this," said another.
A mail sent to Google for the sudden disapperance of the app went unanswered.
However, the app was still seen on iOS App Store.
According to Faisal Kawoosa, Head New Initiatives, CyberMedia Research (CMR), it will not be easy for "Kimbho" to create a space dominated by WhatsApp by just on being "Swadeshi."
"So far, just around 5k installations and reviews are full of issues and concerns. Nevertheless, seems Patanjali is getting serious about communications," Kawoosa tweeted.
Earlier Report
Challenge to WhatsApp – After Patanjali SIM, Baba Ramdev launches Kimbho messaging app
New Delhi, May 31 (FE): After launching Patanjali-BSNL Swadeshi Samriddhi SIM cards, Yoga guru Ramdev on Wednesday launched a new ‘desi’ messaging application to take on WhatsApp. Named as ‘Kimbho’, the app has been launched under Ramdev’s flagship company Patanjali.
The Ayurveda company’s spokesperson SK Tijarawala tweeted: “Now Bharat will speak. After launching SIM cards, Baba Ramdev has launched a new messaging application called Kimbho. Now WhatsApp will be given a competition. Our own #SwadeshiMessagingplatform. Download it directly from Google Play store.”
The tagline for Kimbho is “Ab Bharat Bolega”. Earlier on May 27, Ramdev launched Patanjali-BSNL Swadeshi Samriddhi SIM cards. Initially, only the employees and office bearers of Patanjali will be able to avail the benefits of the SIM card. After its full-fledged launch, people will reportedly get discount of 10 per cent on Patanjali products with this card.
About Kimbho
“Kimbho is a real messaging app and empowered private and group chat with free phone and video calling. It has dozens of amazing features to share text, audio, photos, videos, stickers, quickies, location, GIF, doodle and more,” reads its description on Google Play Store.
Patanjali Communication, as mention on play store claims that the app is fast and it’s powered by advance socket technology which ensures instant, real-time messaging. Also, every message sent is encrypted by AES. Kimbho supports ghost chatting, auto delete messages.
Apart from this, the Patanjali Communications on Google Play Store wrote that Kimbho privacy feature and saves no data of the users on their servers or cloud.
The app can also be personalised by creating themes. Users can pick their favourite wallpaper and get fresh experience every time. The app currently has 1000 plus downloads and is 22 GB in size.