Alibaba’s UC Browser Mobile App is Back on Google Store

The latest version of the browser claims to have removed pop-up ads on mobile.

Guess who’s back on the Play Store this week? It’s UC Browser. 

(Photo: The Quint)

After going off from Google Play Store for more than a week, a new version of Alibaba-owned web browser, UC Browser, is now available on Play Store.

The app was apparently taken down after Google said it violates its app store policies. The disappearance of the UC Browser app was first reported by Redditors, and then global publications like Android Authority brought it to our notice.

The new version is available for users with updated technical settings strictly in line with Google Play's policy, the company said in a statement.

During the brief absence of UC Browser on Play Store, we continued to meticulously check our technical settings while also witnessing an uninterrupted passion of our users for the product, who looked upon the alternative version, UC Browser Mini, and made it to the top of ‘Free Apps’ category on the Play Store

Young Li, Head-International Business, Alibaba Mobile Business Group

So, what changes have been made to the UC Browser that helps the app adhere to Google’s regulations? This is what we get from the Play Store description.

What the new version of UC Browser gets. (Photo: Play Store)

As you can see, the what’s new bar says that the app doesn’t offer pop-ads anymore. Is that the reason (one of them) why the app was taken down in the first place, and looks like Google has asked them to adhere to its policies.

We still don’t know the reason for UC Browser being removed from the Play Store by Google for over a week, especially when they still had the Mini version of the app, up and running.

With a user base share of 45 percent, UC Browser claims to be the most popular browser in India in terms of Internet usage on mobile platform, followed by Google Chrome, and the recent developments wouldn’t have helped its cause for sure.

But it’s good to see that Google, for once looks into the issues at hand, and gets them resolved by taking stern action against those who flout rules.

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