WhatsApp has a ‘swadeshi’ rival in India with Ramdev launching the Kimbho app.
Update: The Kimbho messaging app appears to have been taken down from the Google Play Store.
WhatsApp has a new ‘swadeshi’ rival in India called ‘Kimbho’, thanks to yoga guru Ramdev’s company Patanjali Ayurved. The messaging app is up against WhatsApp, which has 1.5 billion users worldwide and over 200 million in India. The tagline of the app says: ‘Ab Bharat Bolega (Now India will speak)’. Its launch comes after Ramdev recently announced a tie-up with BSNL to provide employees of Patanjali with a special SIM card, featuring low-cost talk plans.
Patanjali’s spokesperson SK Tijarawala tweeted from his handle confirming the launch of the Kimbho messaging app. “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,” he tweeted.
अब भारत बोलेगा…!
पूज्य @yogrishiramdev @Ach_Balkrishna के मार्गदर्शन में उनके शिष्य नवदीक्षित साधुओं और राष्ट्रनिष्ठ विशेषज्ञों ने #स्वदेशी तकनीक से इजाद कर बनाया यह #KIMBHO एप#भारत #स्वाभिमान
Patanjali’s new app to challenge WhatsApp @bst_official http://t.co/hxBCbwdrnV— tijarawala sk (@tijarawala) May 30, 2018
While Ramdev has not spoken about the app yet, his official Twitter handle retweeted an article about Kimbho.
What features does the Kimbho messaging app have?
The messaging app is listed on both Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. On the Play Store, the developer is listed as Patanjali Ayurved, but on iOS the developer is Appdios.Inc. However, both apps have the same features, user interface and design.
Kimbho has many features that are similar to WhatsApp. It allows users to send messages to individuals or gives them the option to create new groups. The app also allows users to broadcast messages to multiple users simultaneously. A user can also follow a favourite celebrity on the app and send doodles as well, feature similar to those offered by Instagram or Snapchat. The app appears to support video calling. Other features include voice calls, and allowing users to share multimedia and stickers.
However, some are pointing out that the Kimbho messaging app is a clone of an earlier messaging app called Bolo. The Bolo messaging app had the same description on the Play Store, and a link was shared as well. French Security Researcher Elliot Alderson shared a tweet pointing out similarities between the two. Another user shared how the OTP they got for setting up Kimbho was from the Bolo app.
Check out his tweet below
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 pic.twitter.com/gOKOhash5X
— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) May 31, 2018
The launch of the app comes soon after the announcement about a partnership between Patanjali and BSNL to launch ‘swadeshi’ SIM cards and talk plans for employees. There is a special Rs 144 plan for Patanjali employees, which gives them a daily data limit of 2GB and allows them to make unlimited calls.
Ramdev says these initiatives are part of the group’s ‘swadeshi’ mission to promote indigenous products. Clearly the yoga guru is now expanding into ‘swadeshi’ apps as well.