Over 50 lakh people have downloaded an Indian TikTok clone called Mitron and the app is still being downloaded because TikTok is going through a bit of a crisis right now.
Mitron's unique selling points appear to be its branding and the fact that it is Indian. While it's great that an Indian app is so popular, is this particular app safe to use? Should you download this app or skip it for safety's sake?
Mitron lets you upload short videos just like TikTok but unlike the Chinese app, Mitron does not have a privacy policy. The privacy policy defines how the app can use your data and it is supposed to mention important terms and conditions of using the app.
Clearly that is not important at all for Mitron. If you go to the Google Play page for Mitron and click the privacy policy link at the bottom, it will take you to a site called shopkiller.in, which is a blank page.
We did a basic whois lookup on that domain name, and the only information we got was that the domain was registered via GoDaddy and the address is Uttarakhand. Mitron was reportedly developed by an IIT-Roorkee student, so the Uttarakhand address does appear to add up. However, that's a weak connection at best.
Back to the app permissions. Mitron does ask for a lot of permissions on your Android phones. Again, a quick check on Google Play reveals that Mitron needs access to your photos, internal storage, camera, microphone, flashlight, and the ability to prevent your device from sleeping.
Now we know that most of this is needed for a video sharing app, but if there is no privacy policy and the developer is an unknown entity, how do you know that your data is not being sold to shady advertising companies?
The developer's website is mitron.tv and if you open that website, it would redirect you to the Google Play page for Mitron until recently but at the time of writing it just showed a blank page. There is no website for an app with over 50 lakh downloads, and no privacy policy.
Can you believe that? Mitron's developer was probably unprepared for its virality but you can't give people the benefit of the doubt when your personal information, your private videos, your stored photos, all of these are at stake.
Mitron needs to fix its privacy problems really soon, but until then, we wouldn't feel recommend using the app.
After knowing all of these things, do you still think you should use Mitron? Let us know via the comments.
