Patanjali launched a messaging app called Kimbho days after launching their new SIM card.
Kimbho- ab Bharat bolega. Bharat will surely speak but I am not sure Ramdev Baba will like what people will have to say about his new app.
Kimbho was launched and aimed to rival Whatsapp. But hours after it was launched on Playstore, it was removed.
I went out to do a ‘LivED It’ on this new messaging app and this is what happened.
(LivED It is an ED original style where we write about our personal experiences on experiencing and reviewing any app/place/website which gives us a feeling of coming back for more)
The app starts with your regular verification by sending an OTP to verify your phone number. My account was verified but other people from our office are yet to go past the verification step. It was although weird that the app never asked my permission to access my messages and yet somehow the OTP got entered on its own. Strange!
After verifying the next step is the ‘avatar’ selection who to be fair all look dope. Not at all ‘desi’ though for the swadeshi messaging platform.
Then comes your standard data entry option of adding Name and Date of Birth. After adding those details the app is supposed to start.
But efforts to connect to the server with many devices and various networks failed. After more than two hours, we decided to give up.
Related: This Antisocial Media App Will Set The Social Media Obsessed Gen Free: We LivED It
I found from other sources that Kimbho is just like any other messaging app in the market. The only extra feature is following celebrities (if any celebrity takes it) and doodles can be made.
What others had to say:
Elliot Anderson a security analyst on Twitter had this to say
Hi @KimbhoApp before trying to compete #WhatsApp, you can try to secure your app. It's possible to choose a security code between 0001 and 9999 and send it to the number of your choice #kimbhoApp pic.twitter.com/YQqK8lfIeI
— Baptiste Robert (@fs0c131y) May 30, 2018
This is the same guy who found various issues in apps like Paytm, PhonePe, and also of few banks including RBI.
He even further claimed that he can access anyone’s chat
Another analyst found that all chats on Kimbho can be analysed by a third party.
What is good about #Kimbho #kimbhoapp ? It stores data on Mumbai Amazon s3 (s3-website.ap-south-1) . What is bad? All chats can be accessed by 3rd party. What is neutral? Like all chat apps, it requires many dangerous permissions pic.twitter.com/6ZEOLtkvU5
— Selva Rajan (@selvapersonal) May 31, 2018
There is another report going on that this app is an exact replica of another messaging app named ‘Bolo’.
https://twitter.com/ThakurrSaab/status/1002028117366423557
After Effect:
Patanjali took down the app and claimed that it was just a trial version. Like anyone would believe that. Hopefully, the so-called second version will be launched soon and I can finally move to the part where I actually get to use the app.
It’s sad to see that just by adding the words Swadeshi before anything Patanjali tries to attract people into using their products. The audacity they had to call it an app which will rival Whatsapp which has more than a billion downloads is astonishing.
What might be the biggest blunder of this app is that they used the pic of Mawra Hocane, an actress from Pakistan on their Play store display image.
#MakeInIndia? L.O.L!
https://twitter.com/SirJadejaaaa/status/1001871027381485568
Let us know your Kimbho experience in comments!
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Times Now, NDTV, Times of India + more
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